I've been seeing 1 to 3 ft long carp in a local shallow lake runnof creek. I really would like to catch one of them. I made some boilies and hooked them on with nothing else, letting them sink to bottom. I've have had 2 strong bites where I thought I had'em, but both times, after a few seconds, an empty hook came back to me. Should I use a certain size hook, or perhaps a treble hook? Does corn work better? What strength line should I use? Any other advice on catching them? Can you belly flop a carp once caught? (OK, ignore that last question...the others ones are serious though)

I know those are not the best quality pics, but can anyone tell what type carp they are?

use a size 6 not 6/0 hook some 10lb line a 1/4oz sliding weight and some sweet corn thro a hand full in the water and thread 6 to 8 kernals on the hook and toss it in the area where you threw the corn losen your drag so the fish wont pull your pole on and wait


im sure someone will post a pic of the setup

probley common carp

For boilies you need to use a hair rig, not just hook them.

looks like common carp to me

if you dont want to get all crazy with it, use bread and sweet corn for chum and put some on a little single hook

First thing you really need to know is that once you hook one, you must let it take line. You try and horse one and the hook will just tear out. You have to apply very light drag and finess him back to you. Fun stuff!

Sweet corn on a size 6 hook and 6-12 lb line. Sweet corn or bread for bait.

Enjoy!

forgot about the light drag.

carp have pretty soft mouths, so you have to play them for awhile (which is awesome)

In addition to what's already been said, keep in mind that carp are naturally wary fish. If you can see them, they can see you!

You might want to try chumming an area with corn for a few days first, or maybe a week, and then fish it, so that they're used to that food being in the water.

You may also want to cast, then walk down the bank a bit from where your bait is, so that the fish don't notice you while they are feeding.

Well, I owe you guys one. I set the drag really low and fished with dough, potatoe, and sweet corn. I got bites on all of them, but the sweet corn hooked me a 13 pounder. At first I didn't think he fought very hard, but once I stepped close to him, he took off like a bat outta hell...he did that about 5 more times. It was great! I'll post some pics tomorrow.

Thanks for everyone's input!!!

Score another for the "Trash fish". He'll never be the same.

Awesome, glad to hear it!

that is awesome man. Congrats!

I love when people get "hooked" on carping, and yes the "fight" only really begins when you think you are about to land the fish!

Congrats!!
Can't wait to see the pics!

GG

That is a good size for a first carp.
The carp will spoil you for other fish.

As promised, here are a few pics. Since I was by myself, I never really took him out of the water, except to briefly weigh him. Without a net, I thought he would probably flop around too much to handle with hands only.

I wasn't really sure how to correctly weigh him either, so I connected the scale to the swivel and lifted him up for a few seconds. How does everyone else weigh fish?

Growing up in Germany, I caught approx 10-15 mirror carps and 2-3 common carps (mostly with floating bread), so this wasn't my first carp ever, but it was the first in US and first in 25 yrs.

Thats a white Amur (what most call grass carp)!!!
Nice job!!

GG

oh, and most people use a weigh sling to weigh carp. you can get them at most carp shops on-line. but you can weigh them in a fine mesh net too.

GG

Nice fish! That's actually not a ( Common ) carp, that's a White Amur, rather mistakenly nicknamed Grass Carp for their resemblence and the fact that unlike common carp, they mostly eat vegetation.

Fun to catch though!

Unless you have a weigh sling, I'd suggest getting a net, and weighing your fish in the net.

nice grasser. way to go man

Very cool! A grasser!

I am still hoping to catch my first one...

Ugh!!! These carp can elusive creatures.

Went fishing for them again tonight. Chummed up the area with some left over sheep food pellets (per someone's advice in the forums)...also threw in some bread....I started seeing lots of activity...I could see 2 at a time in the shallows, but my corn was getting passed up...they would swim right by it.

I hooked up pieces of baked potato and started getting some quick bites, but none would stick. After 2 hrs, I finally did get one hooked on a size 4 hook and had him on the line for a good 5 minutes...he seemed more powerful than the 13 pounder from last weekend...he never once surfaced...I was all happy thinking I had'em...then pop...empty hook snapped back at me.


Very frustrating!

That sounds like a common fight to me (common carp)
almost always the grassers come up and give up until they are right next to the bank. Even a common half the size of taht grasser will fight twice as hard. It is awesome!

Brewboy,

I went to Academy sports last weekend and looked at hooks. Size 6 hooks seem really small. The 13# grasser I reeled on on a 4/0 hook which is probably a bit too big.

What size hooks does everyone else uses when going after carp?

Carping Update and some more beginner questions:

Yesterday I hooked about a 6-7 lbs carp on a size 2/0 hook with sweet corn...I think it was a common carp since it seemed a bit darker/greener and the fins looked orange. It did put up a good fight and stayed in the deep for much longer than the grasser from last week. I took my time reeling him in and I thought I got him tired out pretty good. Since I don't have a net yet, I went to lift it up out of the water with my hands and it started flopping around like crazy...he fell back in the water and the line broke since I had my foot on it....so he swam off with a hook in his mouth...I guess I really need to buy one of those scooping nets asap.

My question is, at what point can you hold a carp like you see in other people's pictures and signatures? ...and how long can carp stay out of the water?