My grandparents own property on Coleto Creek in south Texas. I've fished there dozens of times and literally 90% of the time I land a carp in the first five minutes and then sit actionless for the next 2 or 3 hours. I always chum up the hole I fish a day or so in advance and I've tried evrything to get the bite back after that first fish but nothing seems to work. My thinking is that the commotion of fighting the first fish spooks the rest out of the area. Does this sound plausible and if so is there anything I can do about it? I fish Lake Travis fairly often and don't run into this issue. I'm starting to pull my hair out and would love some advice from someone more experienced who may have encountered this before.

I don't think it scares them away, i think that there just arent that many in the area. Are you chumming heavy right now or in the spring summer months? Heavy chumming in cold water will turn the fishing off. Also fish in the winter only feed occasionally and they might be sitting on top of the bait but not eating yet. If I catch 2 carp in 8 hours I consider that a good session

First off I live in PA but I have a very similiar situation. I have had a few fish only to wait for hours till they return. The biggest thing that helped me is this. First the fish don't scare to the point where they won't come back fast to eat the rest of the free dinner you put out so then you have to think that when you got the run that may have been close to the end of the food. I have seen carp eat 10lbs of bait in minutes. We had a clear day and I watched the fish move in and eat it all amazingly. After this I changed how I do things.

First it you get a fish or even if you get some twitching I do this. If you catch a fish I have a few small golfball size balls of groundbait to chum immediately after I land the fish. That way if there are fish there I provided more food and they will hang around.This has worked great for me over the years doing this technique.After I chum a few balls I then photograph and release the fish. It only takes 30 seconds but worth it.
If you feel there are fish in the area fire a ball or two just to keep them interested. They may eat fast and move on so by giving them a little extra it holds them also. It takes a little getting used to when to do the second part but with some practice you can hold the fish nicely.

If you are landing a fish in the 1st five minutes, they might be attracted by the splash. what bait are you using? you could try catapulting(slingshot with a scoop) some bait right in the area of the hookbait.

When I catch a fish I spod out two spods of bait. Seems to work for me to keep the fish there as well.

Thanks to all for the advice. I'm more of an oportunistic fisherman so it's good to hear from some specialists. Sounds like I'll bring a couple extra cans of corn next time. I was just wondering about them being spooked since it's fairly small body of water. Full of fish for its size though, I've even seen some smallmouth buffalo in the creek as well but never have caught one. My grandpa says he's seen the buffalo jump out of the water and pluck mustang grapes off the vine but I get the idea that might be a tall tale. I'm sure they wouldn't pass up a grape that fell into the water though.

First of all thank you for the reply's. Next good luck to all the teams in the ACT. I will be checking the reults while in England. It is a different type of fishing in the matches in england and where you draw is very important. But when in the correct area the fish definitly respond to the bait going in to keep them occupied. When i use the method feeder over there much smaller than what is going in here i only leave it out maximum of 10 minutes before loading up again and back in. Sometimes the bites are instant. And yes they are responding to the noise. The current 6 hour match record is 631lb. I peronaly have had 350lb in 6 hours and did not get in the money.From this you can see that the bait is going in all the time. Again all the best in Austin