Small Cove Fishing On A River

[Balshy Fishing]

I've been going to the same spot now for the past few days and see about 4 large fish surface and make a splash. The river is up and the area is loaded with vegetation and boulders so when I see these I usually switch to my Pad Hopper Frog & start throwing into the weeds but everything stops once I start doing that. 

 

Any advice on how to nail these fish when I KNOW they're in distance? 

[Scott F]

How do you know what kind of fish they are?

[Incognito]

    They could be carp.  That happens by me all the time.  If not carp, maybe you could try a weightless crawdad and pull it across the weeds,  When you hit an open patch, let it drop and flutter down.  Just a suggestion, but I'm not expert, in fact, I'm quite nooby.

[Balshy Fishing]

My buddy told me they might be carp too but it's been happening A LOT.

[Incognito]

     Carp regularly surface.  Not sure why, but they do.  It looks as if their breathing air when they rise. Do you see little circles on the surface when this occurs?  And they typically rise in packs....I've seen it with my own two eyes...It gets your heart racing with the expectation of landing a lunker,  and I can't stand carp because of that....

[Bluebasser86]

Carp jump a lot and if they're up splashing around in vegetation they're probably spawning. They make all kinds of commotion when they're spawning and can really tear a place up doing it. Gar with surface very often as well. Just because of your location I'd go with it most likely being carp though. 

 

Try to see if there's any baitfish scattering when it happens, that will help figure out if it's a predator fish chasing bait or just a fish jumping. 

[Choporoz]

I chased a lot of carp splashes before I learned there were carp in these waters around here.  Was fishing a Potomac tributary creek one morning and casting to opposite side where there was a ton of surface activity.  After maybe 45 min without a bite, I nearly fell in when there was a huge splash just a few feet away, but out of sight, in a little cut-in, behind a tree.  I walked over real stealthy like, and right there in about 14 inches of water was a carp which must have weighed 15 pounds.  Crazy.

[Bankbeater]

Could it be big turtles?

[bigbill]

I was logging near a popular lake here on a hill above it. It's off the main body of water were two dog leg shaped inlets are.

I watched for days two big pike working both dog legs together. They both had the baitfish boxed in.

You never know for sure till you see it

[Balshy Fishing]

That's crazy. I found out that they're carp for sure. It's hilarious seeing your lure literally run over their backs and they just twitch and act like nothing happened. 

[Snakehead Whisperer]

Even if they are carp you may still be in a good spot. When carp go sloshing around in vegetation they knock a lot of debris loose and into the water. Bait fish then are attracted to the area for an easy meal, and then the predators are soon to follow. 

[Balshy Fishing]

Yeah, everytime I bring my bait in I see about 100 minnies racing behind me. 

[Mike2841]

Get some corn or bread and catch one, they're an awesome fish to fight.

[Delaware Valley Tackle]

Spawning carp no doubt. They are a hard fighting fish targeted often in Europe and increasingly more often here.