So,

wife wants to try out carp fishing at Canyon Lake (or the Guadalupe right above) this coming weekend. I want to give her and the boy the best chance of hooking into a big carp or two. I have read thru the carp fishing FAQ and here is my plan as of right now....we will be there 2.5 days

I know of a bend just down river of Rebecca Creek where I have seen Carp feeding in the shallows....so:

Shopping list
2 bags of Range Cubes
4 cans of sweet corn
1 can garbanzo beans - to mix with strawberry kool aid

Plan

Going to put out 25lbs of range cubes the first morning and try fishing with some sweet corn, then before we leave for the night, the rest of the bag.

Next morning, 25lbs more, and fish with corn/garbanzo beans on different rods, remaining cubes out at the end of the day

Last morning, throw out a can of corn or so, and fish for a cpl of hours using corn and any left over beans.

Help me get the wife and kid into some fish...shoot holes in my plan, or whatever. Not gonna' hurt my feelings.

Thanks,

sb

Sounds like a good plan! Day 3 should be your most productive day, if you bait for longer it'll only get better. Are you going to be using packbait and hair rigs?

Not 100% sure what packbait is....hair rig seems like the best method, not sure if I am going to be able to pull together a hair rig. Is it imperative to use a hair rig, or will my #6 hook with sweet corn on it get it done?

Willing to learn.

sb

If you throw out 25 lbs of cubes before you start, you will probably overfeed them. I wouldn't bait more than 10 lbs, unless the area was very bige, and only after you are done fishing. During your session, a few handfuls or cubes a corn should work.

It's not imperative to use a hair rig but it will greatly improve your hook up ratio! I'll post some links on packbait and hair rigs for ya below

Packbait/Method Mix Thread

Cool. Thanks.

Just watched this one, as well.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HyB6HZIrSfw



Thanks phil. Will definitely keep that in mind. MIght save me some chum, too.

sb

Are you going to be baiting the lake or a smaller water? If it's the lake I wouldn't worry about overfeeding them. I would bait "heavy" (10-20lbs) before fishing and slowly top it up throughout the day, every hour or after every fish. Then dump the remainder at the end of the day. If it's a smaller water I'd definitely bait less.

As an example when fishing Emma Long on the Colorado River in March of last year I baited 30lbs of cubes right when I showed up and tossed in the remaining 20lbs slowly throughout the day. We only stayed for one night and caught loads.

Planning to fish a bend in the Guadalupe River above Canyon Lake....think it's big water?

Simplest hair rig? I don't have all the gear yet.

sb

Best of luck. I would have strongly recommended Lake Dunlap prior to the dam break. Hope you do well!

Tie the rig exactly how he does using regular 15 to 30lb braid from 2:30 to 8:05. Rather than using boilies you can use garbanzos or sweetcorn, just size the hair to the bait as he does with his two boilies. The reason I linked to the video is because he explains very well the reasoning behind each and every small detail behind the rig, and it's very similar to the rig I use personally!

Yes I'd call that big water. I was fishing Emma Long which I'll link to show you how big that is Emma Long Park, Lake Austin

Packbait is essentially chum, and the #1 packbait we've personally had the most success with is a simple mix we learned from the Catfish & Carp channel and slightly altered. It has caught us carp all over Texas. We have a guide to exactly how we mix it on our blog:

https://texasroughfishing.wixsite.com/txrf/baits

Man, they make this way too hard. Throw some range cubes, dog food, or whatever in the water. The sooner the better, a day ahead is great. We used slightly soured grain or deer corn. Then catch fish with some oats mixed with Big Red or similar pressed into a ball around a treble hook. I started doing this at 6-7 years old with my brothers at the rivers around Ballinger and have NEVER had an issue catching rough fish.....
In fact, who can't catch carp. By far the easiest thing to catch. Easy to locate, easy to get schooled up (a little chum), and ridiculously easy to hook up.
Have fun! They do fight like a beast!

You're right, that's one way to catch them! There are better ways however, for both you and the fish. Treble hooks have an inferior hookup ratio and get worse hookholds than the hair rig. Not to mention trebles can really mess up a Carp's mouth. If you break off using a treble it could potentially stitch the mouth together eventually starving and killing the fish. Small Carp can definitely be easy to catch, especially after a good chumming. The big ones are a different story though!