Is this a carp?

[CenCal fisher]

I went to the river I live by to see if there were any bass in it and all I could find was this guy 

I wasnt really set up to catch any sucker fish and ended up catching it on a red shop rag. The fish was really curious so I put a small pice of a shop rag on my hook, shook it on the bottom for a second and when the fish picked it up to check it out I set the hook

 

I dont know if it was the current but it fought like a titan and took a solid five minutes to reel in on 6lb test 

 

[Dyerbassman]

That's a carp.  Nice way to be innovative!

[CenCal fisher]

43 minutes ago, Dyerbassman said:

That's a carp.  Nice way to be innovative!

What bait or lures do people normally use for carp? I saw a few others swimming and would like to try again with actual carp bait 

[Ratherbfishing]

I'm not a ichthyologist but i'm pretty sure that is not a carp.  It is a sucker.  And not the kind that is born every minute.

[CenCal fisher]

I looked at the California fish and game website and it might be a flannelmouth sucker. It doesn't look like any of the carp listed on the website 

[Jar11591]

Carp? No. 
Sucker of some sort? Yup!  

[IndianaFinesse]

It's definitely a sucker, although I couldn't tell you what kind it is.  Carp have smaller mouths, larger scales, and a taller body.  That being said, sucker will eat most anything but there favorite food is night crawlers.  For carp use.either bread or corn.

[Kevin22]

Hognose sucker maybe? Some type of sucker no doubt. 

[BASS fisherman]

When I was out fishing a few times I seen some pig carp and wanted to catch them. I tinkered around a few years and below is my advice if you want to catch carp, but you will need some things, and you need to learn one new rig. 

You will need a......

- Canister of Old Fashioned oats, not instant but instant can be used in a pinch. 

- Can of creamed corn. (Dollar General 2 for $1.00 or Aldi's 2 for .98 cents.)

- 2 cans of whole kernel corn. (Dollar General 2 for $1.00 or Aldi's 2 for .98 cents.)

- Baiting needle and bait stops. 

You are going to want to learn to tie what is known as a basic hair rig.  Search it on youtube and watch the video by the "Catfish and carp" channel.  He shows how to tie a basic hair rig that works very well in hooking the fish in the bottom corner of the mouth rather than gut hooking it. You can use thick mono fishing line like 20# test and higher to keep the corn on the hair if you don't want to buy some bait stops. 

Once you get to the lake, take and open all 3 cans of corn.  Dump the creamed corn into a medium sized bowl or small bucket.  Take the 2 cans of corn and drain the juice into the empty creamed corn can and use it to "clean" the creamed corn from the sides of that can. Set the corn juice and creamed corn mix aside.  Add in 1/3 of the first can to the creamed corn. Slowly add the oats until it makes a thick, slightly moist mixture that you can mold into a ball to throw out into the water.  This is called a ground bait and is going to be used as chum.   Let the oats sit for 5 minutes or so to let the oats soak up the moisture.

While the oats soak, bait up your hair rig. I can have 3 rods in the water at once. The more kernels you use per hair, the bigger fish you tend to catch.  You will need to either purchase or fashion some bait stops, used to keep the corn on the hair.  Look it up you will understand.  I have a bunch of small plastic cups that I cut up into teeny tiny pieces and I use a pair of hemostats to position them in the hair. 

After the rods are rigged, cast them out as you see fit.  I loosen my drag 95% and sit them in the rod holder. I made my rod holder out of pvc. Made 2 for about $30.  A stick works too though. 

Now take your oat mix and mold it as best you can into a ball shape and toss them out around your baited lines.  Take the cans of corn and periodically throw handfuls out around your lines.  Remember the can of corn juice and creamed corn?  Take and dump half of it into the water.  I do a few spots rather than a bunch in one spot.  

I use this technique in lakes, ponds, and rivers with a 90% success rate.  But this technique really depends on you finding a spot that will hold carp.  You can't fish for carp in the tailwaters of a dam.  They prefer a slower moving back area of flowing water.  For a lake I like an area that has a shallow flat that has a dropoff close by. 

For my setups I just use a few of my old bass rods and baitcasting reels. Reel type doesn't matter much as long as you have a fairly high line capacity. Sometimes carp like to run for the other side of the waterway.  I use 15lb trilene big game line and I use a 30# moss green sufix braid leader for the hairs. 

  Be sure to check your local fishing regulations.  Some places do not allow corn, and others do not allow chumming.  But there are work arounds with such things like sprods, spods, and method weights.  Look em up and make sure if you can use them or not as well. Lots of other things work great for carp most of which is super low priced.  Feed corn or deer corn can be boiled and used as bait. 50lb sack for $11-15 dollars.  Birdseed can be boiled and used as well. 25lb sack for $10. And a 50 lb sack of unrolled oats is around $13. Protip....save the juice once you drain the boiled grain and dump it in the water to help attract the fish.   Never feed dry grains to fish as it can supposedly swell in their gut and kill them or so they say.  I boil mine, but I guess it used to be the norm to not boil them.  Carp fishing is as huge in the UK as bass fishing is in the US.  Those guys are happy if they catch a 30lb carp.  My largest was around 14lbs which was still huge. 

[avidone1]

Yeah, that's a sucker.

I caught a 24 lb carp once on a 1/32 oz white maribou crappie jig

UL rod and 4lb test line.

I was in an aluminium jon boat and he towed me for about 50 yards

It was really something

[Hurricane]

On ‎4‎/‎8‎/‎2016 at 4:08 PM, Ratherbfishing said:

I'm not a ichthyologist but i'm pretty sure that is not a carp.  It is a sucker.  And not the kind that is born every minute.

Agree....

[IndianaFinesse]

3 hours ago, avidone1 said:

Yeah, that's a sucker.

I caught a 24 lb carp once on a 1/32 oz white maribou crappie jig

UL rod and 4lb test line.

I was in an aluminium jon boat and he towed me for about 50 yards

It was really something

Lol, I once caught a egg laden 40.1 pound, 43 inch carp from a canoe!  I was really bummed that it wasn't a state record, missed it by just over a pound.  Caught it with a trd on a medium-lite rod of all things, the carp towed the canoe around for over a half an hour!  And it pulled me through a group of people swimming in front of there dock who weren't very understanding, but I couldn't exactly control it.  That was definitely the most exciting fight I have ever had, and the closest I've ever come to breaking a state record!

[avidone1]

4 minutes ago, IndianaFinesse said:

Lol, I once caught a egg laden 40.1 pound, 43 inch carp from a canoe!  I was really bummed that it wasn't a state record, missed it by just over a pound.  Caught it with a trd on a medium-lite rod of all things, the carp towed the canoe around for over a half an hour!  And it pulled me through a group of people swimming in front of there dock who weren't very understanding, but I couldn't exactly control it.  That was definitely the most exciting fight I have ever had, and the closest I've ever come to breaking a state record!

I'm really glad you posted this because the truth is that the big boy towed me for over 100 yards over nearly a half hour, but I scaled it down because I didn't think anyone would believe me.  I'm new here and didn't want to get a reputation as being a bigger liar that most fisherman already are >LOL.....

[IndianaFinesse]

1 minute ago, avidone1 said:

I'm really glad you posted this because the truth is that the big boy towed me for over 100 yards over nearly a half hour, but I scaled it down because I didn't think anyone would believe me.  I'm new here and didn't want to get a reputation as being a bigger liar that most fisherman already are >LOL.....

I have found some people that don't believe me when I mention catching abnormally large fish, but I don't worry about it that much and figure it's there problem if they don't believe me.  So I just go ahead tell the truth without trying to scale it down from what really happened.  Most people will usually take your word for it anyway.  I'm amazed that you were able to catch it on four pound line, it takes a lot of skill, and a bit of luck, to be able to do that!

[avidone1]

 I'm amazed that you were able to catch it on four pound line, it takes a lot of skill, and a bit of luck, to be able to do that!

 

Not as much as you might think.....The fish inhaled the tiny jig just like a crappie would.   there was no "jolt' like a big bass might make.  then he just sort of casually starting swimming away, like he didn't even know he was hooked.  There was no sudden tugs, no head shaking, no nothing.  Just this behemoth out for a sunday stroll with a tiny jig stuck in his mouth LOL.    It was one of my more memorable days on the water.

[Kevin22]

While I have never had one tow me, I have had to chase them down with the TM to avoid losing a bait. Back in 08-09 I had 4 days in a row where I pulled a 19-25# carp off of the same dock. Every one was the same, set the hook and off they go! chase them down with the TM for 15-20 minutes until I could get my bait back. 

[Master Bait'r]

Calling it right now-  The Rag Rig is going to take the world by storm.