How "Common"

I walked the shores of Lake Proctor today jogging for crappie. Imagine my surprise when my drag began screaming from a common carp that hit the pink jig! After the first carp I began sight casting to them and ended up with 3 carp ON JIG'S! Wow! I intentionally fish for them occasionally but never with jigs. Is this common?




And some bycatch.

Not real common, but it happens. Buffs will also occasionally show up on artificial baits. Catching 3 on a trip is uncommon.

Dang photos won't load!
They would only hit pink. Might be sissy carp! They sure fight harder than crappie though! Lol

Awesome I was fishing for sunnies about a week ago and was reeling in a worm and a nice one cruised by seen the worm and crushed it took me straight to a brush pile and broke me off I thought I was odd but many since they are coming off the spawn was the reason

Nice! I've never caught carp or buffalo on artificials, but I've sure as hell tried! When I started fishing, I always saw huge fish right in the shallows that I casted everything in the tackle box to with no luck. Then I learned how to catch 'em.

This is really interesting, I have a feeling you found a post-spawn carp that is trying to fatten up and took your jig for a worm or crawfish. It's important to remember that carp are true omnivores, they will eat plants, crustaceans, worms, insects, and even other fish.

I've grown obsessed with fly fishing for carp and have found that the tricky part isn't selecting the right kind of fly, it's finding the fish in the right mood to eat and presenting the fly in a manner that won't spook them. They've got great vision, a keen sense of smell, and aren't naturally inquisitive like bass or other predatory fish so smaller and more natural presentations are preferable. If you see a tailing carp rooting around in the bottom, you've found the most willing and hungry fish, so presenting anything remotely edible in it's direction will probably yield a hookup.

I've caught them on wooly buggers (leach imitations), clousers (minnow imitation), floating foam grasshopper imitations, and a huge variety of insect patterns, so I have little doubt that a slimmed down and natural artificial pattern on conventional tackle could yield great results with carp.

Interesting! Well after I accidentally caught the first carp I started sight casting at the cruising groups. I would bump the jig along the bottom in front of them. I actually watched the second and third carp turn and go after the jig. I tried 6 different colors in 1/16 oz. all fish caught were caught on pink. Yes they are post spawn.

Good day on the water! Nice fish.



Side Note: I have never caught a carp on a jig or any other artificial baits.

Carp on the fly is my new target...caught many as a kid on doughball. Found a local lake, and got excited to see many spawning, but as I confirmed, not eating. I couple of days ago I saw many "clooping"...threw a small foam beetle on top of them...no takes. Yesterday, I snagged two high sticking against the bank, and snagged is the operative word. I think now they were laying eggs, so out of bounds behavior to target. I think they're just not eating yet, but I did manage a nice drum, which was kind of a shock and it definitely ate my fly. So, for now, I'm gonna have to blind cast until I find them tailing, and maybe the drum will keep me busy.

Nice slabs. Bet the carp fight was awesome!

There is one well known artificial for carp called "zig rig".

I've caught them on a few lures early in the spring up here. Here is short video of one that hit a big Mepps spinner I was casting for pike.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B5-0Uqm0luU

Little update: I went jigging yesterday in my same spots. The last front pushed the fish deeper early but they returned shallow late. Was catching nice crappie between rocks very very shallow. A lone carp fed along so I flipped her a jig. Bam! First try and she was on. She was maybe 5-6#. Funny thing was that a guy was fishing down from me jigging too. He looked at the carp and said, "I never caught a carp jigging but those dang Buffalo eat my jigs frequently". I looked and he was using, an orange and pink jig in 1/16 oz. must be something to this! Thanks for the replies/input