Carp fishing advice

[RyanDR]

Today I was out on my kayak and found a really nice spot for carp in a bay in a river. The edges on one side is all weeds and it was swarming with carp. The biggest weedy area was a few hundred yards long and about 30 yards wide.  Literally every 30 seconds or less at least one carp was rolling and jumping out of the water. I brought only bass/pike gear and tried to snag one but it was too hard. At one point a carp jumped and hit my kayak. So that should give you an idea of just how many carp there were and how active they were. This is up in MA by the way. It killed me that I had to go home and couldn't catch one of those. I am going back tomorrow morning and I hope they are still fairly active. 

Anyway, my questions are. How should I fish for these carp? I have never caught a carp before and it is on my bucket list. I know all the rigs and such so I don't really need help there. But should I put my bait on the edges? I didn't see any carp outside of the weedy section, but it is way too weedy to cast in there. What should I use worms, bread, corn? One thought I had was to use bread and cast it out into the weeds and wait since it would float more than the other baits. But I'm afraid of fighting the fish in the weeds because they were just so dense. 

My kayak situation is not ideal right now as it is a sit in kayak not meant for fishing. So I'll be limited to one rod which I will be holding/resting on my body. I'll throw out my little anchor somewhere and wait. 

[MassBass]

It might be a good idea to kayak out to the spot and then beach your boat and set up on the bank if there is a nice spot. A very long leader is best in heavy weeds.   

[kcdinkerz]

When they are spawning and jumping around like crazy they usually won't eat. Bring your treble hook game if it's legal their

[everythingthatswims]

A bow is the only legal way in VA to catch them while they spawn. They will not eat at all when spawning.

[MassBass]

I would be willing to bet that not every carp in the area is locked on spawning. There will probably be a group of fish that is prespawn and another group of fish that is already postspawn. If you have a real fishy area like that just get a line out it might get bit. A little chum might help. Good luck. I lost one today, I horsed the little hook too much. I very small light hook will get picked up better than a bigger thicker hook.  

[scaleface]

I fish for carp often . I like to chum the area with whole kernel corn. Use a couple of cans and save some for bait . I use a 7.5 foot flipping rod baitcaster and 15 lb Big Game . I tie a small octopuss hook on a Carolina rig and a 1 ounce weight . Then bait with two or three pieces of corn .After the cast I reel all the slack out then put the rods in holders that the carp cant pull out .Carp spook easily , so I use this to my advantage .When the carp sucks in the bait and feels the resistance of the heavy weight , it will bolt and because the line is tight it will hook itself . The rod will lay flat , like its going to get pulled in but I haven't lost one yet . It gets  pretty intense , they fight  spectacularly .

[BASS fisherman]

On 6/2/2016 at 2:36 PM, scaleface said:

I fish for carp often . I like to chum the area with whole kernel corn. Use a couple of cans and save some for bait . I use a 7.5 foot flipping rod baitcaster and 15 lb Big Game . I tie a small octopuss hook on a Carolina rig and a 1 ounce weight . Then bait with two or three pieces of corn .After the cast I reel all the slack out then put the rods in holders that the carp cant pull out .Carp spook easily , so I use this to my advantage .When the carp sucks in the bait and feels the resistance of the heavy weight , it will bolt and because the line is tight it will hook itself . The rod will lay flat , like its going to get pulled in but I haven't lost one yet . It gets  pretty intense , they fight  spectacularly .

I do pretty much the same exact thing but I mix about 2-3 cups of old fashioned oats with a can of sweet corn, then mix it up and add more oats until it can be rolled into balls(I do about 8-10 and make then a bit smaller than a tennis ball).  I cast out my baited lines and make note of where they lay.   Then I throw out some of the oatmeal balls around my lines, and save a small one to throw out in front of my spot to see how long it takes to break down.  I also use what is called a basic hair rig.  You can youtube it.  Very easy to tie but you need a baiting needle to thread the corn on.  The hair rig helps the fish to hook itself when it bolts.  Once you get into carp fishing it is really just as technical as bass fishing is.  I know we are not supposed to promote on BR but I found it very very difficult to find carp specific gear like hooks and baits , but if you search for a site called big carp tackle, they have a bunch of stuff in a range of prices.  I have ordered a few times and shipping is always quick.  Although the site seems to be out of stock on several items, and the descriptions are not always great, it is still a place to get decent carp specific stuff is the US.