I've never fished for carp before, but I would like to try either this weekend, or sometime during next week after finals. I've read the beggining carp article on carpanglersgroup.com and some posts on this forum, but I'm still unsure of how to rig the sinker and bite indicator(is that necessary?). Also, if somebody could point me to a good spot for a beginner to catch carp/buffalo/drum, I would appreciate it. I live in richardson, but anything within an hours drive is fine.

We could always do a session at Grapevine if you are up for it. Its been hot but I'm game. Friday after work or Sunday are options for me. Frank lives up your way so maybe he could point out some local waters. His handle is KatyCarper. If you want to try and fish a session this weekend let me know. I'm sure a few of us will be free to meet you somewhere. I really think its time to do a fish in at the Cliffs or somewhere on Grapevine. You game Starless? Zach? Donny? Mike Ryan?

all that gear is not required to catch big carp.

these guys are quite helpful and can put you on some large fish as well (if not, email me, and I can point you to a few spots where you are guaranteed to catch a carp or 7)

now, once the hard pull of a carp gets you, that gear is quite nice.

I don't even have a unhooking mat, I simply unhook the carp while in the water and watch 'em swim off from there.

I'm new to carp myself, but after all the years of fishing local lakes, and seeing the carp doing their thing, I've had a decent idea of where to find some, and I managed well enough.

but this is a great group of people who care about these carp, the sport and other carp anglers.

enjoy.

PS, I'm headed out to a great spot Friday at some point, if you've got some time.

Bret, local? I might be interested. I can't get out til 5:30 or 6 but if you're around let me know. If not then Sunday will most likely be my fishing day.

yeah, local, see thread (GV Friday) below.

I'll be at grapevine either in the morning, or afternoon/evening. (if someone else is headed out there in the eve, then thats when I'll go).

I'm 1/2 after cats (food) so I'll be behind the cliffs (still a great spot for carp, as its the spot that got me into them to start with).

check other thread, It'd be cool to see some other folks out there (I'm introducing a buddy of mine to carp that day as well).


-b

He's a big, long post I wrote recently when another carp beginner asked us for some help. I edited it slighty so it would apply here, hehe.

I've been fishing carp for many years, and I really like to keep it as simple as I can, especially on short trips.

One of the best baits to begin carp fishing with is definitely sweet corn. Canned whole kernal sweet corn.

Here's all you really need to start fishing for carp. Small hooks, #6 is good, and several cans of whole kernal sweet corn. And with sweet corn, circle hooks and octopus circle hooks seem to work best, but any hook should be effective.

When you first get to your spot, chum the area with a few big handfuls of corn. Throw it out as far as you can, which can be tough if you're facing the wind, easier if it's at your back. Don't worry too much if you can't get it too far from the bank, feeding carp are very happy to come near shore.

Once you've chummed, thread a few good fat kernals onto your hook. I like to go into the bottom of the kernal where it was cut from the cob, and out the top. I usually prefer 3 or 4 kernals, just enough to cover the hook, some like to thread it up the line. Both are effective.

Make sure to leave your hook point exposed.

Cast it out in the area you've chummed, or just beyond it. If you have more then once pole, you can put them all in the same area, or chum a few spots, try one near shore, one a little further out, etc.

Unless you are going to leave your bail open, or your reel on free-spool, make SURE your rods are well secured.

Even a small 2-3lb carp has absolutely no trouble yanking a rod in the water in the blink of an eye.

My last trip out I had 3 carp on and all three of them hit so hard that my poles completely doubled over my tackle post, and the fish started screaming off drag before I could even lift the pole to set the hook.

Needless to say if I hadn't had the poles weighted down with a heavy tackle bag, they would have been gone before I could touch them.

You also want to make sure your drag is set well, you want it set for about half your line weight. A gallon of milk weighs about 8 pounds. So if you have eight pound test...fill up the gallon jug about half way, and hook it onto your pole...then set your drag so that when you lift up your pole, the weight pulls out just enough line to keep the half full jug on the floor.

You don't have to be that technical about it, but you do need to keep your drag set well. Even if you are only getting small fish, they have soft mouths so if you try to horse them you're likely to pull the hook right out. Plus you never know when you're hook a big carp who can easily snap your line if your drag isn't set well.

Besides, the whole reason I fish for carp is the fight, and you wanna hear that drag scream right? I know I do.

Anyway...

Continue to chum your "Swim" now and then with a few more handfuls of corn. If you start getting a pod of fish in, you want to keep enough chum out there to keep them feeding, but not totally fill them up.

Doughbait also makes a very good carp bait.

Doughbait is fairly self explanatory but there are so many kinds...

One of the simplest and sometimes most effective doughbaits for carp is a wheatie ball. Take a handful of Wheaties cereal and crush it up in your hands, then get it wet with some lake water, and knead it together until it's a good dough.

Be careful with your consistency as you want to make sure it stays on the hook, but when a fish runs with it, and you set the hook, you are able to easily pull the hook through the doughbait and into the fish.

You want to roll the dough into a ball around the hook, though if you can manage to roll it around the shaft of the hook and leave the point exposed, that helps with hook ups sometimes.

Another good carp bait is a good, old fashioned night crawler, but of course with those you're likely to hook just about everything in the lake.

Bring a net, a scale, and a camera!

Best way to weigh a carp is to weigh the fish while it's in the net, then subtract the weight of the net. It supports the fish that way, and you don't have to poke a huge hole in their mouth. Plus, as soft as their mouths are and as heavy as carp are, the scale is likely to rip out anyway.

Hope that helps, and let us know how you do. Good luck!

I might be available for some local carping Friday. Don't know yet. Saturday is the last day our guests will be here, and my parents are taking me out for a belated birthday dinner Saturday night, so I probably won't be available for carping then.

But we definitely need another big Fish-In!

Don't know when I'll get a chance to wet a line, but there are some big buffalo waters somewhat close to you and they have plenty of carp as well.

Lake Lavon spillway is free, allways open, and hold many carp and some huge buffalo. You have to chum with alot of corn sometimes, but I've caught many carp this time of year without chumming. Lake Ray Hubbard has a couple barges off of I-30. One is Dalrock exit, on the north side of the highway. I've caught many carp there and plenty of 20lbs + buffalo there. I chum out with rabbit pellets(rabbit food from wal-mart) or corn. Corn is definately cheaper, but in my experience there, a spellier chum like rabbit pellets seem to bring in more buffalo.

I'd definately listen to these guys on methods and fish with them a couple times before you go for it alone. There's nothin' worse than losing your rod...carp have pulled the rod strait out of my hand...and I'm talkin' about a little 2lbs carp, lol. Good luck and hopefully I'll see you on the banks one of these days. When I visit Ray Hubbard, I'll give you a shout.

-Alan

somethingsmellsfishy or anyone of you, this weekend would be perfect, just let me know what times/day. And when you say KatyCarper lives up my way do you mean Richardson or Katy? Is there even carp fishing in the Katy/Houston area- I live there in the summer when im not in college, so that would be a change from the saltwater fishing I generally do down there. And thanks to everyone for the help- it'l be nice to fish with you experienced guys the first time at least to get the hang of it.

they are catching some really nice fish in huston latley yeah frank lives down that way...anyone seen frank??

Hardhead - One of the spots in our area, upper DFW, that we fish for carp a lot is Grapevine Lake. They have a really good population of carp and buffalo in there. You probably won't run into anything too insanely big, but it's not unlike to get carp up to the 10-15 lb range, and occassionally larger. Tons of 5-10 pound carp in that lake. There are also a lot of smallmouth buffalo, averaging probably 8-12 pounds, though there are a lot of 10-25 pound buffalo in there as well.

I could be out on sunday for a little while (depending on when the Stars game is). Let me know if your going SSF.

Looks like we may be researching a new area Sunday. If not then I am up for a trip to the vine or somewhere. I have to find out when we are hiking up to a new area to check access.

Grapevine sounds good, if anyone's going fri,sat or sun, I'll go. Just bought a huge can of sweet whole kernel corn from Sam's for 2 bucks so I'm ready.

I'll be out there Friday afternoon/evening.

Email me and I'll point you directly to the place I'm planning on being at. (north side of lake)

For anyone else, I'll be right behind the cliffs, where Rudy found me last week.

-b