Went to lewisville barge last night from 11:30pm to 5:00am, my buddy wanted to do some catfishin', so i figured while he was catfishin' i would give carpin a serious attempt. My bait of choice was sweet corn, and i attempted to make a hair rig but it didn't work out so well i couldnt get the corn on the hair at first and then i couldnt get the corn to stay on the hair(maybe there is a secret way of doing it) , so i just threaded some corn straight onto the hook, then i managed to fabricate a bolt rig out of two small split shot and a heavy bullet weight. After that, down it went to the bottom followed by a few handfuls of corn. Waited about an hour and half, then all of the sudden the rod tip twitched three times, then the carp took off almost taking the rod with it! Fought her for about 30 seconds before i got her to the surface, unfortunately none of the other people there would let me use their net so my buddy had to reach in and pull her out for me. After a sigh of accomplishment and two pictures later i had the most exilerating fishing experience i have ever had! Before i had never understood the obsession with carpin' but after reeling in my first carp i now understand what all the fuss it about! It was soo much fun reeling that fish in and it definatly wont the last, im hooked on carp.
now here is some poor quality pics taken from my cell phone

i know its small but im D@mn proud of it!

nice job man, we all started out catching average size fish except zach who caught a 40lb his first outing If you are doing the sweet corn route you don't need to hair rig it. Just thread a few kernals on a #6 circle hook and you will be fine

I think it safe to say....

WELCOME TO THE DARK SIDE!

Nice first carp dude!!!

GG

Awesome. Fun, ain't it?

Congrats.
Thats the first step then you will become more obsessed.
Your wallet will become empty and friends and family will
think that you have lost your mind.
Welcome to the group.

Congrats man! Did you weigh it? That's an established PB- Now the (neverending) mission is to break it! lol

Chad

Very cool.
Can't believe no one would let you use their net...man what is up with that?

Congrats

Josh,

the single most attractive thing about the carp as a sport fish in my mind is that they are incredible fighters at all sizes. Judging from the pictures, your carp is probably in the 3-5# range, right?

That fish put up a heck of a fight for you. I bet you're thinking "WOW, I didn't know 4 pounds could fight that hard!" Or whatever the number was.

Man, I love fishing for carp. Looks like you've been bit too. Congrats!

Josh -

Way to go. You will always remember your first carp! It's cool you got it at the Lewisville Barge too. That barge holds a special place in the history of DFW carping.

yea it does thats where i started carping at nice fish congrats on the first carp

Lol. Oh man, sorry to hear that. It's all down hill from here. They're a lot of fun to catch. Once you star buying Euro gear, that's the point of no return. At least, that's how it's been for me lately.

Very cool! Congrats on the first of what will likely be many carp!

And yeah, it seems that lots of people suddenly understand why we're all so addicted to carp fishing after they land their first carp, especially on lighter tackle.

As for no one letting you borrow their net...well, that's just one of the reasons I can't be bothered with the Lewisville barge.

Last couple times I've been there, the people have not exactly been the friendliest.

And as for sweet corn, definitely don't even bother with a hair rig. That's far more useful for hard baits that you don't really need to mess with just yet lol.

Thread the sweet corn straight on the hook as you did, and you're good to go.

thanks everyone, it was the most fun i have ever had fishing

long hair dave - i didnt weigh it but it was probably a 4 1/2 pounder, but your right i thought he was 30 pounds by the way he was fightin until i got him to the surface and saw his true size, i am truly bit

ebjr - im not sure why no one would let me use their net, usually people up there are friendly, but i did hear one guy mumble to himself that he didn't want to get his net slimey, oh well no biggy

now i need to figure out how to catch a buff too!

Nice story. Thanks for sharing and "Congrats!"

Lmao! If he didn't want to get his net "slimey"....Then why the hell is he fishing??!!

As for Buffalo, you'll catch them soon enough, they eat the same things carp do, and love sweet corn, as well as sweet flavored doughbaits.

But unlike Carp, Buffalo are much less likely to make a hard, screaming run that yanks your rod in the water. They'll do it, just no where near as often.

Instead, they usually bite very, very lightly, especially at Barges. Watch for your rod tip to just lightly bounce up and down, or twitch a little bit, or slowly, very slowly, start to bend towards the water.

When you see those things, you want to set the hook.

for buffs, try small strawberry flavored baits.... buffs LOVE strawberry!!!

grats onn your first carp. i agree with starless , ive never met seen so many coldish fisherman in one place at one time but there . years ago after saying hi to everyone near me ( which one replied ) i started hammering some nice crappie on a fuzzy green with orange tail i made .then everyone wanted to be freindly to see what i was using but by then it was too late .i payed them back with a cold shoulder lol

anyone know of a good website that would give me some examples of diffrent rigs and how to make different baits? i want to learn different ways to catch them

the website in my sig is a good place to start

awsome, thanks scott

I fish pretty much every weekend and you are welcome to join me on the banks and I can show you what I know. Although I have only been into it for a few months I study well and learned quick

hell yes scott! lol i will definatly take you up on that offer next time i get a chance to go fishing, i know a couple of places that have some good size koi maybe we could fish them somtime too.

Congrats! That's about the size of the first carp for most of us!

Angler_Josh, yeah, going out fishing with Scott would definitely help you out!

He's a relative newbie in terms of how long he's been carp fishing, but he's serious when he says he's a fast learner! That guy went from knowing very little about the sport, to fishing with all the high tech gear and catching all sorts of crazy fish in just a couple of months hehe.

And you'd be welcome on the bank with any of us, any time, as well.

But hit some ponds with ScottEvil and you're definitely gonna learn a few things.