After a long time lurking on this forum, I've posted a couple of reports in the past two weeks. Today's post on introducing a young fisherman to carp fishing has already drawn a big response. That got me thinking about what experience(s) get people started in carp fishing...

1 - When I was about 14 I was staying with my grandparents and decided that I was going fishing (Dad was out of town and Granddad was working). I packed a lunch, my fishing tackle, some doughball, and rode my 10-speed bicycle 18 miles to the fishing hole. When I got there I discovered that the low-water dam and the deep hole in the creek had been replaced by a new bridge and the creek was channelized (20' wide and 1' deep). I assumed that there would be no fishing and sat down on the bank to eat lunch. While I was eating a BIG carp started working up through the shallows. I real quick baited up and cast out in front of him. He took the bait and when I set the hook he took off upstream and instantly broke my line. Whoo!Hoo!

2 - Dad and I went fishing at one of our usual spots. We usually caught yellow perch and catfish. This day we weren't getting any bites. Dad must have planned for it because he had a can of corn. We had other rods, but both of us had a light spinning rod (6# line). We wound up carp fishing with those light rods all day and caught a bunch of fish. We didn't catch anything big, but 2-3# carp on that light tackle was loads of fun.

Cheers,
Kelly McCoy
West Texas

the fight on an ultralite! i heard that pound for pound carp are the best fighting fish but didnt really beleive it til i saw it first hand. and wow! cant wait to land my next!

I was pretty much raised on carp fishing, have an uncle that fished Lewisville barge in the 90's just about everyday and all weekend long, he had a boat slip on grapevine towards the later part of the 90's we started freqenting more often, but i caught my first carp at the age of 4 and what can u say, once u catch a carp do you really wanna fish for anything else? he lives in NM now but his name is (james) or Jim Crago if anyone knows the name

I had caught a few on the fly but didnt really get into it until a few years ago and it was the sheer power of the runs they make.

The fight they put up is what got me hooked. The first few I caught, almost pulled my pole in the lake.

When I was growing up, my grandparents lived on the Fox River in northeast Illinois, where we spent many happy hours catching carp up to about five pounds on home-made dough bait.

Four years ago I decided to get back into fishing, partly because I wanted my kids to experience more of the outdoors. While searching for information on where to catch fish, I came across this forum and was shocked to see how big carp could be. It took me a year or so before I learned how to catch them with any consistency, but I've had a ball ever since.

My cousin Fishinfiend called me up one late afternoon and said "hey man, wanna catch a gold fish?" I was already on my way to being pretty drunk when I showed up, so I kinda just sat and watched for a min. well it wasnt too much longer after I got there that a fish had yanked someones rod into the water. I sat there for a bit finishing my beer trying to figure out what in this small pond we where fishing would be big enough for that. When the beer was finished and the curiosity wouldnt leave me alone I stood up and said." im gonna go get that rod" and my drunk self did just that. I swam around out there for a few min pulling up mud and sticks untill I grabed a rod. with a very big fish still attached to it. I lost the fish in the stumps, but I was forever changed. I had never cought a freshwater fish that big in such a small body of water. went home and drowned myself in carp info on the net. The next weekend we went out to the same small pond with a bait we made out of peanutbutter and oatmeal. and caught about 14 mullet all 5# and up. if you ever caught a mullet that size on rod and reel you'll understand why we quikly became adament about mullet fishing. We will forever be known as "Team Mullet".. we did eventually catch some nice carp in the 10-12# range in that small muddy pond. the pond doesnt seem to have any fish in it anymore and a serious algea problem has replaced all our mullet. but our life in fishing has changed forever. we now are full euro and have had multiple Carp over 20# but we'll never forget that pond and those memories. and we'll always be "Team Mullet" for life!

The first carp I caught was at whiskey flats fishing for sand bass 2 springs ago. I caught it on ultra lite and it had hit a mister twister jig. The fight was tremendous. The fish was in the 5 pound range, but it fought like it was much bigger. From that day forward I knew that I just had to catch one on purpose and set out to do so. Thanks to the fellas on here and the info they shared I was carp fishing in no time. Ain't turned back since.

Age 7 or so, Sefton Park lake in Liverpool, float fishing for roach, rudd, crucians etc, maybe the occasional tench, when I hooked into a carp. I couldn't believe the fight it put up on my light float gear. Always preferred carp fishing after that and from the age of around 16 I've not really specifically targeted anything else.

Looking back, that first carp was probably just a couple of pounds.

I first heard about it when I was a kid; one of my good friends had caught one in Minnesota while visiting relatives and went on and on about the hard fight.
About thirty years later I read this story about a guy (you know who he is) that won $250k by catching a carp in Austin. That got my attention!
I found several websites dedicated to carp fishing in the US, and read about how to do it. I tried a half dozen times over the next year and a half, blanking each time. Finally, in March of 2008 I hooked one while fishing for small bass and sunnies on the Medina River, on a small black beetle grub. What a fight!
I've since been to a CAGI and several LSCB fish ins, and now go whenever I can. Still enjoy other fishing too!

i got into it by going to a fish inn at grapevine a few years ago, i met a friend out there and he set me up with some corn and told me where to cast, then i caught a 17lb buffalo on a euro rod, after that i went and orderd all the gear. its just to much fun.

Just like most everybody else, it was the fight for me.

When I was 12 years old (way back in '84), I hooked into a 6 lb'er at a paylake in Indiana that gave me an intense, 10 minute fight on my cheap light tackle. All I remember are the endless, drag-peeling runs that seemed like they would never end. I caught that one and then spent the next couple of years off and on trying to catch another one while I was out bass fishing. I was unsuccessful, probably because I was using a lot of that worthless store-bought dough bait.

I didn't catch another carp until 2007 when I started to target them full-time after moving within 6 miles of the only paylake in Illinois. This time, I used homemade dough bait almost exclusively and I hauled and got hooked. The rest is history.

I'm glad I put my beer down before I read this post so I didn't spray my keyboard.

Good stuff everyone. Thanks for your thoughts.

Cheers,
Kelly McCoy
West Texas

hey kelly,

just check out my post from a few days earlier... i posted pics/videos of my first ever carp on an ultralight rod/reel... what an awesome fight... and have never looked back since~

http://texasfishingforum.com/forums/ubbt...car#Post3612882

MY FIRST CARP WAS AT jOE pOOL BOUT 2 YEARS AGO. I COUGHT HIM IN THE DEAD OF WINTER WHILE CRAPPIE FISHING ON THE BARGE. HE HIT MY 32ND OZ ORANGE AND YELLOW PANFISH ASSASIN WITH 4LB LINE AND THE FIGHT WAS ON!!!!!! I FOUGHT THAT FISH FOR AN HOUR BEFORE I EVER SAW IT AND IT WAS WORTH EVERY SECOND!! HE WEIGHED 17LBS.

Wow that's awesome! I can't imagine my first carp being that big. I didn't catch one that size until my third year carping (this year). And to get it on 4 lb. test crappie gear, must have been a thrill.

yea my fishin buddy freaked out when that monster broke the water. it was about 2 in the morning and we were both already tired as ??? when i hooked up with that fish so it was a blast for the last fish of the night!!

We used to go to my Grandparents' house on Lake Kiowa starting when I was about 10. We would fish for whatever was out there...and there was PLENTY!

We started using worms and liver fishing for Catfish, but we started catching Carp on the worms. They were bigger, stronger, and WAY more fun than anything else we could get a hold of; so we started targeting them. We used Doughbait and Bread and caught a bunch of Carp, but we hadn't found the monsters yet...

One day we took a day trip up to Lake Texoma- There was a tournament going on at "The Donut Hole Fishing Barge"(It's not there anymore)- The Lake Texoma Carp and Buffalo Club (I haven't heard anything from that group since then, and I think they are defunct) were a bunch of old timers fishing PayLake style on the barge with their Abu Garcia reels. That was the coolest thing we had ever seen- Their balancing systems, their complicated rigs... It was too much to resist! One of the guys gave us a book of recipes(survives to this day), and we got back and started our love of creating our own baits.

We researched as much as we could (pretty tough before Interent Days), and heard about guys in the UK using 13' Rods for Carp- WAY too extreme for me! lol We looked at Lake records for Carp & Buffalo, and saw some monsters had come from Lake Athens- I've been looking at East Texas since 1989 ;-)

Somewhere in our travels, we happened upon the Lewisville C&B Club. Those guys pointed us toward Possum Kingdom, so one Spring Break my Dad took me to the barge on Fox Hollow Camp (Camp is still there, but that barge is gone). We caught several Buffalo over 20# and we thought that was as big as they got...lol My Dad and I were so excited when we got home, I called my friends and told them we were going back! The next day we all loaded up in our van and headed back to PK. We caught a bunch more 20# Buffs up to Walter's 29#'er- I caught a long-standing PB of 24#, and we had quite a few Carp.

My friends, my Dad, and I all made several more trips our there, but late High School and College drew us further away from fishing; and my pursuit was put on hold until 2004 when I started fishing again.

That's how I got started. Maybe a little more than you were looking for, but them's my roots.

Chad

I have been fishing since I can remember. I actually started carp fishing back in 1998 after seeing a 12yr old girl catch 2 10lb carp. Then she walked away and her rod went down and I reeled it in for her. I was hooked after that.

Remember how hard that was? Used to be that if you wanted to learn something new, you had to have someone teach you, read about it in a magazine (if you could even find a magazine on the topic), or hope your local library carried a book or two on the subject. Lot easier these days.

dose anyone remember the listserv days??

My dad and I used to go fishing for carp in the black hawk creek when I was a kid, we called them tuna.

I decided that carp wasn't "trash fish" at the Lewisville Barge in '97. Went up there a couple times with no luck. These guys were in the next well over tearin' up the carp and buff. I was gettin' skunked. So, not too long after, I started getting the scoop on these bottom suckin' fools. Didn't take long for me to realize they were much prettier when you learn the pure beauty of their fight and sometimes timid feeding habits there. Not to mention they were fun to catch and what would be a big bass, is only a moderate carp in the grand scheme of things. So, when I started getting run off of my favorite spot at the river, carp and buff soon became my primary fish to angle for.

I was hooked.

Like many or most of us I have to thank my dad for turning me on to fishing. He taught me that any kind of fish is a good fish as long as the pole is bending. He and my mom and I would go to the original Lewisville barge during my preteen years. We would fish exclusively for carp and buffalo. Now in my late 50s I look back at the great times I had with my parents. Those of you that are blessed to still have your parents or your mentor that turned you on to fishing, thank them if you can.

I was hooked for life when I caught my first double digit carp on a Zebco 33 and 12lb line at Lake Arlington. Now I only fish for trash fish (bass) every once in a while....

The other thing that got me turned onto carp fishing are the carpology fitties!