Fished summer's last session a couple days ago. Water still 10+ degrees above normal up here, carp are still in summer patterns, as a most other species. Tested 2 new boilie flavors (peanut butter, pond flake), both did very well on first try, hooking 7 carp in less than 3 hours.

Brand new Lightening rod did well, hooked this fatty to end my summer:

Nice fish. Looking forward to seeing some fall/winter catches.

What banker said, nice one!

Freshwater Phil,
I am trying to learn carp fishing using boilies. Right now I am making my own (just a basic recipe I found on u tube) and I am getting good bites fishing in the Brazos river just west of Mineral Wells. The thing is I am losing big ones, either the line frays between the hook and swivel(30# powerpro braid), or the hook pops out of the mouth. I ordered 30# Dacron fishing line, but after further research not sure if I should use that for leader or anything else. Can you tell what size hook you are using, hair rig length, maybe a pic of your set up. Did you make your own boilies or do you order them from Big Carp tackle or United Kingdom. Yes I agree with the other posters it is a nice fish. Appreciate any info your willing to part with. Tks. I am using #6 hook, hair rig about one and half inches. Leader is about 15 inches and a slip weight above the swivel.

That fish and many of my others are caught in very bad areas for line cuts. Blasted shale rock covered in Zebra mussels cut any braid with the slightest amount of pressure.

I use a 40 foot shock leaders made of 80 lbs mono. Not ideal to work with, nor for distance casting, but you get used to it. Tie it to your braid mainline using the "FG Knot", best one I've used to date, just make sure it's done right and pull as tight as you can to test it before. Youtube video is at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pjzUb5QRKuk

For hair rigs, I use 50 lbs power pro with size #4 curve shank type hooks. Either Kamasan b725 or 775, or Fox Arma point SSC. Hair length distance from leader is roughly 12 to 15 inches. When I need to use popups (fishing over decayed weedbeds), I adjust my length as needed, staying as close to bottom as possible.

I make my own boilies since years. No preservatives, I freeze them until use otherwise they go moldy within 5-7 days. Mix of semolina, corn flour, soy flour, some seeds and dry flavours like hazelnut creamer, chocolate, cinnamon, peanut butter, garlic, paprika, fishmeal, just to give you some ideas for flavours.

If your hook keeps popping out of the carp's mouth on a run, you may be setting the hook to hard, assuming your rig properly tied and rigged. Boilie shouldn't be to close to the hook, nor too far. 1 to 1.5 centimeters is about right, if your boilies are different sizes, adjust your hair length accordingly. I do sell some hair rigs on my web site if you want to try them, see:
http://www.freshwaterphil.com/hair-rigs.cfm

Thanks dude, hope to put in some time one some "size" spots instead of "numbers" spots now that I'm just about finished guiding for the season. I tend to get busier at work from mid October until xmas, going to be crazy juggling it with fishing, homework with the kids, and probably some extra work shifts. Not to mention all the other species I like to target this time of year.

So many fish, so little time

Thanks a lot for taking the time to put all the info into a reply. Appreciate it a lot. I looked at part of your web site, good information. Thanks, I booked marked it for further study,

You can also check out my blog at http://freshwater-phil.blogspot.com .
It's mainly about multi species fishing up here, but of you go through ther pages, you'll find lot's of posts related to carping, some of them may come in handy for your Southern winters.

Nice post and fish. Good job.