CTFishTalk.com: Thompson Carping 4/3 - Connecticut River Reports ( CT River Reports ) - A Community Built for Connecticut Fisherman.

therieldeal · Joined: 20 Oct 2010 Posts: 245 Location: Thompson, CT

(I’m putting this in river reports because the location is a small pond located on the French River)

Early last week I went to a small local pond that I had good luck bass fishing at last fall. One of my normal fishing spots is right near a pipe where a small stream passes under the road and discharges into the pond. When I arrived I noticed a big school of carp, all different sizes, congregating at the mouth of this pipe! I didn’t have anything but lures with me that day, but I managed to hook a small one with a tiny yellow bug… a trout lure I think. Anyway, I decided to head back there this past weekend with a loaf of stale bread and a bobber.

I’ll pause here to mention that I’m not too diverse in my rods/reels... in fact I only have one setup. It’s a short medium/light rod with a spincaster reel and 8 lb mono. Using this to fish for carp wasn’t the best decision I’ve ever made…

Anyway, I broke up a couple slices of bread and threw them out in the water to bring the fish in, since they weren’t congregating as they were last week. The stream coming in right there helped spread the bait around and draw them in. Within a few minutes there were dozens! Some of them were absolutely HUGE! I put a lump of bread on my hook and tossed it out there with a bobber, and within a few minutes I had a hit. I played it for about 30 seconds, all the while this hog was running hard pulling out line. Suddenly it turned around and made a run straight for me, then whipped around and headed the other way… SNAP… I guess my drag was set too tight, it snapped off right at the reel Sad

.

I loosened the drag, and tied on a new hook. A few minutes later I hooked into another behemoth. This time, he snapped the line off down in the water. I’m suspicious that my round plastic 99 cent bobber had something to do with it. I’ve always thought it looked like the metal bobber hook might damage the line under heavy load.

Tried again… tied on a snap swivel and clipped on a snelled hook. Tied a ~10” piece of line to the bobber, and clipped that into the snap swivel as well. Chucked it out there, and it got slammed again. I wrestled with this guy for a while, finally got him over to the shore. My friend grabbed my net (which was borderline too small…) and scooped him up. I didn’t have a scale or tape measure with me, but I put my rod/reel in there for size reference:

I usually hate fishing with bait, but the action was relatively steady and I dare say that this was more fun than bass fishing with lures! No acrobatics, but my god these guys put up a good fight. I think I might make myself a strike indicator & rod holder so I can carp fish while I bass fish… the best of both worlds.

Somewhere in there I also caught a small grass carp, maybe 10-12” long. I thought I read somewhere that common carp are ok, but grass carp are an invasive species. I tried to find the reference today but I didn’t have any luck. Should I not be throwing them back? If not, what can I do with a grass carp aside from throw it away? Bury it in the garden as fertilizer? Cut bait for pike maybe?

I hope this wasn’t too long/boring! I can’t wait to try again Thursday afternoon if the weather is good. I’ll be shopping for a sturdier rod/reel and some heavier line this evening… any recommendations? I’m not a fan of spinning reels so I’ll be looking at either a larger spincaster, or perhaps a baitcaster setup.

PECo · Joined: 06 Oct 2009 Posts: 5203 Location: Avon, CT

I see carp in most of the waters that I fish and it's frustrating that they won't bite anything I throw. They and I developed an ignore each other relationship last year. I guess that I'll bring a sandwich with me the next time I head out and try to meet some carp. Thanks for the report.
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mustang11 · Joined: 14 Jun 2009 Posts: 65 Location: Deep River, CT

Not too bad. Those bigger carp are a challenge yet pretty fun on lighter tackle.

Where I fish in the summer for bass off of the CT river, if the action is slow, I will set up an extra pole with a bait casting reel and a weight, worm and small hook. Usually the carp won't touch it until it gets quiet with no other fish in the area. Then its a nice surprise when they start taking line.

The drag does have to be set right as I have even broken the hooks themselves on some of the bigger ones. It is good to know bread works well, I have heard the rumors that a lot of people use either that or corn to catch them.

Brian

Justin Tralli · Joined: 05 May 2007 Posts: 656 Location: Glastonbury, CT

theres no need to kill them.... they are asian carp and have been around for a long time....
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johnnybass860 · Joined: 28 Mar 2011 Posts: 30

Ive been fishing the french river a few times and see the carp there all the time. One time my dad actually caught a 10+ pounder on his ultralight gear with 4 pound test. Where exactly on the river/pond did you catch it?

Flipper · Joined: 21 May 2010 Posts: 347 Location: Enfield

I use bread for carp all the time on the CT river in Enfield. It works great! Here's a tip that it took a long time (and a few old timers) to figure out. Use a whole slice and rip all the crust off. Then fold it in half and squish it flat with your hands. Now wrap the folded bread around the hook and line untill it looks like a rolled pastrie. Next, squeeze the rolled bread until it becomes a solid, cylindrical blob. This will keep it from falling off the hook, even when it starts breaking apart, the edges will disolve and the main lump will stay on the hook. I use a large, long shanked hook so only the bend and barb are showing. No weight needed as it will sink. Make sure you have a good rod holder - I hammer a cut piece of PVC pipe into the ground - and set your drag loose. Get ready because these guys make long, fast runs. Very Happy

I have caught 20 lbers on this setup with14lb test and 6'6" Med action rods. I do prefer 20lb test and 7'-8' rods, though. They are a lot of fun! Razz

Don't worry about they grass carp - they were probably put in the small pond for weed control.
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therieldeal · Joined: 20 Oct 2010 Posts: 245 Location: Thompson, CT

Alright… if you are heading south on rt 12, go past Jasons/Busters/whatever that restaurant is called these days. Go through the light, stay on 12. At this point the pond to your right is Acme Pond, all the way from the bridge to the dam (as far as I can tell by looking at maps). A few hundred yards before you get to the small park on the right, the pipe I mentioned passes under the road. I’m sure you could catch them pretty much anywhere in the pond or river though, I just happened to notice them congregating in that particular area last week. I haven’t seen them there since, except for when I drew them in with snacks on Sunday Smile

. I remember feeding them French fries at Jasons when I was a kid! Might be a good bait to try…

Once my little jon boat is seaworthy I’ll try fishing for them all over that pond. I tied up some hair rigs last night, and picked up some 15 lb mono. Still trying to decide if I should pick up and learn to use a baitcaster and heavier rod for carping, or if I should just put the 15 lb onto my spincaster. Decisions, decisions…

Also I determined that what I thought was a small grass carp was actually a Fallfish, so no worries about invasive species!

mustang11 · Joined: 14 Jun 2009 Posts: 65 Location: Deep River, CT

What I use for them isn't actually a baitcasting reel, its really a spinning reel that they call a "bait feeder" by Okuma. It's got a lever underneath that instantly loosens the drag most of the way to allow line to be taken freely. This way when the picky carp are playing with the bait prior to eating it, they don't feel the tension.

When one is taking line, you can flip the lever back while setting the hook and the reel goes back to your specified drag for reeling them in.

I like it because it's versatile, you can ignore the lever and use it as a regular spinning reel, but it's there for when you want to use live bait or fish for those picky fish. It wasn't even that expensive either, I think I paid around $40 for it.

Brian

therieldeal · Joined: 20 Oct 2010 Posts: 245 Location: Thompson, CT

Hmm that sounds pretty interesting! Unfortunately I’ve never been much for spinning reels. I wonder…would it make more sense to learn to use a spinning reel, or a baitcaster? Technically I already know how to use a spinning reel, but I always seem to screw it up somehow.

therieldeal · Joined: 20 Oct 2010 Posts: 245 Location: Thompson, CT

Well I was at wal-mart yesterday when I came across these Berkley big-kahuna (or some silly name like that) rod/reel combos. Medium/heavy fiberglass rod with a big cheap spincast reel… spooled with 20 lb line. Half price, just over $20. Decided to grab one… if the reel ever fails i’ll get a decent baitcaster for it. Hopefully it will last through this year at least. I figured I was going to spend at least $20 for a heavier rod anyway, so this should work just fine (and it did, caught 2 more big-un’s yesterday afternoon!).

TurtleKiss · Joined: 09 Mar 2010 Posts: 1200 Location: central CT

If you aren't using a hair/blowout rig (and you should be) then a small hook is essential and you want to conceal the entire thing the best you can. Carp have small sensitive mouths and they spit out anything that doesn't feel like food. That's why you put the bait on the hair instead of the hook...carp inhales food...hook follows food into carps mouth. Carp notices the hook and spits it out, but hopefully by that time the bait is already far enough in that you can get a hookset. The type of reel shouldn't matter at all provided the drag is set right and the setup can handle the weight of the fish.

Look into getting some boilies too. They cast crazy far and won't fall off the hook. I use pop-ups, which are buoyant & can be set to rise off the bottom at whatever depth you want. The main reason I use them is because other fish & snapping turtles won't eat them (turtles love corn, bread, and worms.) If you do any chumming, sometimes the catfish/baitfish/turtles will clean up the area before the carp get a chance.

Grass carp are stocked to help with weed control and from what I've seen they do an admirable job. Carping tournaments generally require the use of a landing mat because dragging a heavy fish onto shore can damage them. If you can, bring along a folded tarp or something cushy to put the carp on when you unhook it.
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therieldeal · Joined: 20 Oct 2010 Posts: 245 Location: Thompson, CT

Thank you for all the tips! I have been using a hair rig with a #6 hook, and it does seem to work quite well. Unfortunately fallfish really seem to like breadballs as well, I seem to catch 2-3 fallfish for every carp that I hook. I ended up losing a carp yesterday while trying to untangle my friends reel… she was supposed to be watching my rod, but I guess she was watching me instead. It made a run for some brush and managed to unhook itself.

The spot where I’ve been going has a nice grassy patch that I’ve been using to unhook fish, but once I start fishing from my boat I’ll make some sort of unhooking mat to bring along. I do have an old tarp which I could wrap around a piece of foam, which should work pretty well. I haven’t looked into getting boilies yet, where do you buy them from? I think a pop up would work well at this spot. There’s a lot of algae on the bottom which probably hides my bait half the time.

PECo · Joined: 06 Oct 2009 Posts: 5203 Location: Avon, CT

Freakin' fall fish! Twisted Evil

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TurtleKiss · Joined: 09 Mar 2010 Posts: 1200 Location: central CT