those books rock i have the fox guide to carp rigs, although you will never use most of the rigs here in the us, i have tries a couple and my catch rate has improved.

I agree this is a very good post for newbees like me. TY

How do you make boilies and/or where can you buy them. I have used them before and was told how to make them but that has been a long time ago. Any help would be appreciated.

youtube will prob have some info or just type "making bolies " in google search box

Thanks Jesse,
You were right youtube has quite a few.

for store bought baits check bigcarptackle.com its in OK buy mistral or solar brand..

for store bought baits check bigcarptackle.com its in OK buy mistral or solar brand..

never liked carp till i caught one! now im hooked, and hopefully they are too!

Pretty cool....

Im doing my first carp trip soon...flyfishing..can't wait

Good info

on occasion I try and share info on other forums in this case , www.nefga.org

in Nebraska this upcoming Saturday, They hold the Carp O Rama, so I poster this Tutorial last night as a help under a nonmocarp name

I get up this morning and the post was deleted and this was on my acct

"You have been banned for the following reason:
No reason was specified.

Date the ban will be lifted: Never"

You were obviously guilty of plagiarism.

Here's an interesting exchange from that forum:

Post: "Favorite carp bait?...i always use corn, but i think that's too simple."

Repy: "I do not see what you mean too simple. Often simple is the best, unless you go into euro-style and make carp fishing as some kind of useless artistic style"

Another quote from the same guy:

No matter how desperate you become catching carp....

Do not go toward so called 'Euro-Style'

Supposingly, carp in Europe are much smarter than the ones in the US, they has to use so much of fancy stuff....

Some uses ....hoping to get attention/respect from other angler and wanted to be told 'COOL!!' ....but in reality, most other angler will look at you and whisper....'dumb *****'....

Afterall, carp around here are not so intelligent and can be caught with regular hook/weight/corn

Also as well, no need to use this to chum corn....

Also, MoCarp seems to have a bit of a negative reputation on that forum, so I'm not surprised to see that his article was deleted and his sock puppet account was banned. Not that I think it was right, just that I'm not surprised.

I am guilty the heinous crime of promoting fishing for carp and not tossing them on the bank, vilified as I am is SOME forums this quote from an "other methods" forum poster,

OK, a newb question here.

So this setup is sophisticated, and looks cool.
BUT.. if I were to do the very simple approach, basically
a simple rig with a sliding 1/2 Oz weight, swivel, and 1ft mono leader, and simple hook, and impale the corn on the hook, would this euro-rig totally outfish it? By what ratio?
I guess I've never thought of carp being that smart, and that you needed sophisticated rigs to get them

the euro style is geared more towards LONG session of fishing

and the hair rig is gear towards better hooking ratio on fish

but either style, euro or tradition will catch fish

European gear and techniques were developed because their fish received far more pressure than ours do (their fish probably see baits with hooks in them hundreds of times more than our average fish). It's not that their carp are smarter, it's just that they are confronted with more learning opportunities than ours.

Each piece of the Euro carping gear has evolved for a purpose. The long rod allow fishing at greater distances, over 150 yards if required. There's really no way to fish at these distances with American gear; in this case, longer is not just better, it's required. Fortunately we don't have to fish at those distances too often.

The baitrunner reels provide a tiny amount of drag when a fish "bolts" right after it is hooked, and a larger amount of drag when you want to fight it. You can get the same effect by just backing off the drag on a standard reel before the fish is hooked, then tightening it up to fight the fish. It's just easier with a baitrunner reel, which switches from the lighter (baitrunner) drag to the main drag as soon as you start reeling.

The tiny hooks (typically size 6 or smaller) make sense when you realize how truly small a carp's mouth is. A 20-pound carp probably has a mouth the size of a 1- or 2-pound bass. You can catch carp with larger hooks, but your numbers will probably go down.

You can certainly catch carp with just a Carolina rig, but it requires more skill to set the hook at just the right time. A bolt rig is basically a small hook on a modest leader attached to a weight of about 3 ounces. When the carp takes the bait and hook into its mouth and moves away from the sinker, the leader tightens and sets the hook automatically. A bolt rig allows you to just "set it and forget it" while you do something else. Most of the "fancy" features of bolt rigs (like safety clips or anti-tangle tubing) either increase the chance that a fish won't die if the main line breaks, or they help ensure that your cast does not result in a tangled mess on the bottom of the lake.

The other stuff, like pods and bite alarms, basically help keep your rods and reels in a predictable place and help you detect bites. Again, you don't need this stuff, but if you're fishing in the middle of the night, it's nice to know where you gear is in case you have to stumble out of your tent to find your rod and fight a fish. The alarms are not necessary, either, but it beats having to stare at your line for hours on end looking for a bite.

I could go on, but you get the idea. The only things that are necessary are a rod, reel, line, hook, and bait, and most American fisherman already use these. If the fish are feeding heavily, you can catch carp on just about any gear. But if conditions are tough or you're fishing for more than just a couple hours, or you're trying to catch fish that weigh more than a kindergartner, the European system makes catching carp a lot more enjoyable, more effective, and maybe just a little bit cooler.

Thanks Brett for the great info.