Hey Guys,

As you can tell I'm down here in The Woodlands. Local lake is Lake Woodlands, go figure. It's about 200+ acres and I know for a fact that it has carp in it, and decent sized, too.

I've caught them in the past but never actually targeted them. Are they a good bet during the heat of the day? Often thought about sneaking down there and setting up a rig just for one of those bruisers. Are they structure oriented? Do they prefer shaded areas, say under bridges? Do you chum to draw them in, or just toss your line out and pray one comes by? Guess I'm looking for a primer on how to get started. The fish are there, just need to get started. Suggestions?

I dont know much about carp, only caught a couple, but most guys use some sort of chum. some use range cubes from the feed store, some use method mix (a kinda sticky chum that you put around a special sinker, and you cast it out with your bait). small number 6 hook, most guys started with a couple kernels of sweet corn.

on your first couple trips, i would chum with either sweet corn or range cubes, and use sweet corn as bait. see if you can hook one.

Im sure some of the experts around here will be willing to give you some more in depth info.

I'm not familiar with the woodlands lake. Is fishing allowed there? If so I would say the heat of the day would be leastlikely time to catch carp, but they can be caught in the middle of the day.I would start by going at dawn or maybe dusk, the fish will most likely be more active. Look for them surfacing and throw your bait to those areas.Caribou's advise is good.you can start using can corn thread some on a small hook and chum the area with the rest.Avoid treble hooks they will tear the soft tissue of the carps mouth,as most of here on the forum are catch and release carpers we want to release them in as good of condition as possible.Also you will need a large net because the carp in some areas near houston may be up to 3 feet long or more.We use special knotless nets 42" wide bought online espeacially for carp, but just at least have something to net them with of decent size.Read through the beginners section at the top of the threads it has much infoand good luck.

Chum ahead of time and do what Caribou said. The heat of the day is not the best, neither are blue sky days...although they can be caught that way. if the fish are there and they are hungry, they'll eat.

Thanks Guys. What about chumming under bridges? Will they tend to hang out in shade during the heat of the day?

I don't think Carp are super structure oriented. They have to scavenge for food and usually travel in pods scanning the lake bed for a meal. Once you have chummed, typically it is only a matter of time before a pod of carp finds it. Once the fish move in, holding them there without filling them up is the challenge.

I just started recently Carp fishing after I hooked up to a monster on a minnow. I never had a fight like that in my life thought I had hooked the worlds largest Bass. Since then I have been keeping an eye on there behavior and they seem to be most active from sunset to sunrise. They seem to school up and head to the shallows 6"-12" of water (have even seen alot go even shallower where half there body is out of the water). So I will usually take a can of cream corn and chum an area with that then take sweet corn and bait a 5/0 circle hook and land one after another

5/0 or number 5?

5/0 circle hook (what the package says) the circle is about the size of a Quarter.

^^ use a #5 hook bro

HAHAHA....I'm an idiot .....#5 circle it is. Sorry OP didnt mean to jack your thread with my crazy info......but the corn works great.

If its the size of a quarter, its a 5/0. Most guys use smaller hooks, but if it works, dont change it. Lol.

Ok......Ive made my self look like a jacka** today so im calling it quits. I have plenty of pics and video of my catches with the 5/0 circle. I will start another thread so I quit cluttering the OP's thread.

I know many many local buffalo food fisherman who use hooks about the size doc is talking about and buffalo have smaller mouths than commons.They use them with live crayfish.In general the smaller hooks size #10-#2 are what most carpers use.