Well, I decided to head back out to the vine to get some more carp fishing in today. I figured I need to use up some more of the bait I made before it goes bad so back out to the cliffs I went.

Today I was fishing with two poles, one 8 foot spinning surf rod and one 5'5" heavy action rod with a zebco mercury reel otherwise known as "Stubby".

When I got there, I first baited up Stubby and tossed my bait out to where I was having some success Saturday evening and yesterday. As I normally do, I then leaned the pole against a rock and placed another rock on the handle to secure it.

Directly after getting that pole situated, I set up my surf rod in the same manner, tossed the bait out, leaned it against a rock and secured the pole with a heavy rock on the handle.

After that, I threw 3 handfulls of chum to the area in which my bait landed to try to bring in the carp.

So, by now, I've been there a total of about 3 minutes. Normally, I've found, it takes a little while to bring in a pod of carp so I casually walked over to my big umbrella to set it in the ground and get my stuff all situated.

In the process of getting my umbrella up, I leisurely take a glance at my poles to make sure everything is well and I think to myself, hmm, thats odd, something doesn't look right... I thought I put out 2 poles... I DID PUT OUT 2 POLES!!!!!!

I then realized, my Stubby pole was gone... I don't mean doubled over, or fell over... I mean G-O-N-E!

So there I am frantically thinking to myself...what do I do??? what do I do??? So, learning from Starless, I decide there is only one thing to do... Go in after my pole!

In no time I find myself neck deep in the lake, walking back and forth dragging my feet along the bottom trying feel any sign of a line or a pole or something.

After a couple passes in the area I think my pole may be, hoping it has been caught on a rock or something, I felt what I believed to be a line on my toe... Could it be? I reached down, pulled on the line and up comes my pole...NO WAY! What luck!

Just in case the fish is still on my line, I started reeling and walking to shore and sure enough, there was something there.

Turned out to be about an eight pound carp. Fiesty little devil. I had a heck of a time unhooking him and getting a picture (which I will post later). I wasn't going to let the fish that almost stole my pole get away without a pic!

Whew, what a rush that was!

Later, I got a couple more runs and caught a little bitty 3 pounder but that was it... Not bad for and hour and a half of fishing.

Lester showed up as I was getting ready to leave at 630. He said he was going to be staying out until midnight or one so I'm curious how he did... Lets hear a report Lester!

Anyway, I'm looking forward to doing it again sometime... maybe tomorrow

Stubby returns! And with a vengeance! LOL! That is great! I always warned you to secure your poles didn't I? You never know when there might be a carp in the area, even right away.

I'm glad you decided to do the crazy thing like I would and jump into the lake! See? It's not so easy to just stand there, knowing some carp is swimming away with your pole is it! LOL.

Actually I'm really surprised you got it back! All the times I've done that I was standing where I was able to actualyl see the pole go in, so I had a pretty good idea of where to find it. The two times you saw me go in, I jumped on top of it, and just had to reach down to the bottom and lift! Lol. Makes a great dramatic hookset too.

Anyway that's totally awesome you found the line, lifted it and got the pole, AND the fish was still there!

Looking forward to that picture!

If you're going out there tomorrow, what time are you going, and where will you be?

I keep expecting to see you guys fishing in wet suits,fins and googles,Man that's funny!!!Belive it or not that happened to me at a concrete pier at Joe poole my reel had a bad rash from skidding across the concrete and I was also able to salvage it right at the waters edge and still hook a 4 lb.carp.Stubby may turn out to be your good luck charm.I'm still laughing.Thanks Donnie made my night.

Glad you got the rod back DH.Had that happen while catfishing before and yes I got mine back as well.And if y'all are going out let me know I ain't been in a little while do to working.

DH-
That happened to me many years ago and only that one time. I am sure there was some carp swimming around the DesPlaines River north of Chicago just laughing at me !

Went to the links on carp gear that lonestar posted couldn't find a stubby w/a zebco mercury,what gives? Probably listed in the pro section,not available to the general public! :p

The same thing happen to me at Lynn Creek Marina at Joe Pool. Not once but TWICE!!!! THe 2nd time as i saw my pole heading to to water, I went to reach for it and SPLASH me and the pole in the water!! If anyone knows abt the barge at Joe Pool, then u know how deep it is. Needless to say, I never got the pole. So what I started doing was take a fish string and tie it to the my rod and the other end to the pole on the barge. That way when the carp would take off and pull it in the water, I would just pull the stringer and up comes to rod out of the water. Had to think of something. Was getting tired of spending money on fishing rods!!

Well I went back out to Grapevine to fish with DHfisher again tonight. I got there around 5:30 or six, and he'd already caught 3 carp, and landed another right after I got there, a real little one. His largest had been just over 10 I think he said.

But the most interesting thing, was that he landed a Mirror Carp!

Zack - There are Mirrors in GV!!! Not a very big one, he said it was only about two pounds...but he described it too me, said it only had a few scales on each side of it's body, and was almost entirely smooth-skinned like a catfish! Really cool. Sadly he didn't have his camera...so he didn't get a picture. Wish I'd gotten there about 10 minutes early so I could have gotten a picture of it for him!

Anyway I set up, and within 5 minutes I landed my first fish, a 7 pound common. Really stubby fish, short, but very chunky.

I ended up catching 5 carp, and 2 catfish, and I'll probably post the pictures and tell the story tomorrow. Though I may fish again tomorrow, so it might be the next day lol.

My biggest fish was only 7 pounds, so I'm not in any hurry to post it lol. Though 5 carp and two cats in a couple hours is pretty sweet.

Sorry Rudy, Stubby is a custom piece. Not another one like it in the world!

I caught all my carp on that pole tonight. As Starless put it... the trip in the lake must have given it some MoJo.

About that Mirror Carp. When Starless got there I told him I had caught this really odd looking carp that was totally smooth with some scales along his dorsal fin and a clump of about 3 or 4 scales of widely varying sizes on each side of his body. I thought the fish was shedding his scales or was suffering from some disease but as I told Starless about it, he seemed to get a little excited and started drilling me about what it looked like.

After I told him about it, he said it was a mirror carp and that that was kind of a big deal to have caught that... I knew I should have brought the camera!

And by the way, here is a pic of the little devil that tried to steal Stubby. He went about 8lbs.

Yeah lol. Catching a Mirror is a huge deal to some carpers. Zack calls one of the ponds in Carrolton the Mirror Swim I think, just cause it's the only place he's caught Mirrors before. They are pretty rare! it's a shame you didn't have the camera lol, would have made a great picture.

And yeah I think Stubby has some extra mojo now from that little swim lol. And that's a cool picture of the carp who stole your rod yesterday...Looks like a carp from england in all that green grass lol.

That's cool Donnie!I doubt Lonestar can get an audible alarm like yours(SPLASH!!!!!!)anyways.

Donnie, The other night after you left the bite was slow but my G.F. Wound up hauling in a 15 lber. I had a tremendous run on my long rods but as soon as I disengaed the baitrunner whatever it was ran straight to a snag and broke me off with in 30 seconds. I don`t know how big the fish was but He made my alarm scream like I have never heard it before. He hit it while I was netting Candie's fish and the alarm screamed for a solid 15-20 seconds. I`ll try to post the pic of candies fish later 2night.

Hmm...I'm supposed to be back out there right now. Told Donnie I'd probably head out by 1, here is it, 3, and I'm still here lol. Sorry Donnie! Got caught up with some errands and stuff this morning, debated about going out in the heat, and then ended up browsing the forum a while. Should be leaving soon lol.

Something about the way that picture was taken makes me feel like I am about to fall on my face. Very trippy feeling. Maybe I should go laydown

Well I made it back out there and fished with Donnie for quite a while this afternoon. I ended up with a total of 8 carp, and 3 catfish!

The funny thing was, all but 1 of the carp were 2 pounds and under! Pretty sad. If I wanted to catch 2 pound fish all day I'd spend more timing bassing lol. Just kidding.

But it was pretty funny to catch all these tiny carp...Like carpin' at Joe Pool or something. Especially in a lake where the average size is usually more like 6-8 or 10.

Ah well, at least it was fun catching a bunch of carp, even tiny ones.

Somethingsmellsfishy showed up and fished for a while too, saw me land a few, and I gave him and his buddy from work some tips on rigging for carp. I don't think they got any, but they may have after I left. While I was talking to them, they had one big hard carp run, and if I'd been thinking, I would have grabbed his pole and set the hook for him. I was standing right next to it, and he was a ways off, and by the time I told him he had a fish on, and got the pole to him, the line had gotten tangled in a bush ( THE bush, Zack. It claimed another fish! ). So he didn't get the fish. Sorry, shoulda set the hook as soon as I realized the line was going out.

Anyway, good seeing you guys again, and hopefully I'll see you again this Friday/Saturday.

May post the big story tomorrow, or I may not...had one moment of drama that involved losing my shoe while trying to get the biggest fish of the day in...The only carp I had with any real size, was also the only fish all day that I lost. Figures lol.