Already posted this in the Bank fishing and catfishing forums. Never fished for Carp, don't know if the gear I have will work for it either, but you guys always seem ready to help out:

It's spring break for some of the young folk/school employees. I have another coaching buddy and two more buddies still in school who are coming in tomorrow for the rest of the week. They all want to do some fishing and I am about 5 minutes from Grapevine.

With their gear and mine, we can set up for most any type of fishing. Crappie, Bass, Catfish...maybe even Carp. Problem is my john boat is a 3 hour drive away and my buddies pontoon is at Lake Travis. So, we are land bound.

I have been experimenting at Denton Creek of late and haven't been out to Grapevine since last summer. And even then, I didn't have much success. So, all that said:

1.) What parks, and what trails in those parks would you recommend?
2.) Is it feasible to fish for carp without carp specific tackle?
3.) Bait...I am clueless.
4.)Any creative carp fisherman with ideas for someone who has gear set up for crappie, bass, and catfish to use one of those setups (I'm guessing catfish) to target carp instead?

If you have secrets to keep, no problem, but any advice/info/suggestions would be much appreciated.

i will be out there tomorrow afternoon crappie fishing, across from the resturant. swing by if you can

The Cliffs location 4 down from the top....

Click for Map

Just PM'd you mate

Went out today before my buddies got in town and drove by where I think you were talking about LoneStar. We will be going out either all day tomorrow, friday, saturday, or sunday...maybe two of those days. Anyways, plan on targeting Catfish, maybe some Crappie if we can find any good spots, and hoping to go after some Buffs/Carps...not that I would know the difference at this point.

Something tells me it will be more of a learning experience than a catching experience, but I've wanted to give it a whirl for a while and some have my friends. So, any suggestions on time of day, bait, and the easiest way to rig for Carp/Buffs with my catfish gear would be much appreciated.

Sounds like you will be in good company with Lonestar; TxEng is a great resource to cultivate as well.

Have fun, and treat the fishery with respect.

canned sweet corn will work on a small circle hook like a #6 or any kind of dough bait just stay away from treble hooks

what's wrong with trebles?

if you break off or you get snagged up after hooking up with a fish chances are good the fish will die as a treble will sew its mouth shut so to speak....plus its very very rocky at the vine and trebles are kind of like velcro to the bottom there

If your line breaks and the hook is positioned just right (or just wrong if you prefer), a carp's small mouth can be locked closed. Also, if you get one that swallows the hook, I would think that the fish's chance for survival would be much higher with a single than a treble.

I started out using treble hooks too with dough bait. But after destroying several fish's mouths unhooking them I quit using them. If your dough is the right consistency, it should stay on a single hook just fine. Or you can look into those "dough bait hooks" that catfishermen sometimes use that have a little piece of mesh attached to the hook to help keep the bait on. I bought some of these a while back but never ended up using them as the ones I bought blind on the internet were way too small for a freelined doughball.

Another tip for dough bait is to run a spring from a ball point pen over the shaft of a single hook and secure it with a drop of superglue if necessary (obviously you need to do this prior to fishing to let the glue dry). This also helps keep the dough on the hook.

they also really really damage the fish....trebles are only good if you plan to harvest the fish

i quit using trebles too awile back . i had fished with them so long that i didnt think i could make the transition . guess what ? i did and am catching . everyone seemed to recomend using a hair rig with braid or special leader materials but now i am down to using 20 lb mono ( thx to a clip i saw on youtube ) and its working too ! i started out with a straighten out 2/o bass hook to use with the hair rigs and now i bought one of those thingys . also treble hooks can be dangerous if the fish decides to jump right as your going to unhook it . a friend of mine was using them back in january and the carp jumped and embedded the treb right into his knuckle and he yelled . i think he yelled harder when the fish jumped a second time and the hook pulled thru the finger. but hes a an old country boy and still using them lol

OUCH

I got a single hook stuck in my index finger a few weeks ago. I was tying it off, pulling the tag end with my teeth and cinching the knot down. I have had my fingers slip before and the hook would just kind of poke the top layer of skin. This time, my finger slipped and the hook went in past the barb.

I hadn't ever had it happen so all I thought I could do was yank it out with pliers and open a big hole in my finger from the barb or push it back through and cut the barb off so I could back it out. Luckily (for me) the friend I was with had done it twice, both with treble hooks from lures.

He looped some 15 lb. line between the hook and my finger and had me press the eye down to my skin. Counted to 2 (he told me he was going to 3) and yanked the thing right out. I had a little blood but it honestly didn't hurt at all. I had never heard of it, but from what I hear now it is pretty standard hook removal.

Here is a video of it (not me, just an example if my description didn't work):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sKAAGWZskGg

I didn't need a bottle of whiskey for mine, but the hook was not nearly as big as the treble stuck in that dude's hand.

By the way, I got some sweet whole kernel corn and have plenty of circle hooks already.

I have also read on here about wheat bread, vanilla, and syrup for a dough bait. Any thoughts on that?