Did I Snag A Carp??

[BigMinnow]

So I was fishing a local pond about a week ago and I'm just now getting around to sharing it here. I wasn't having much luck the day that I went but I stuck around because I knew we had some rain moving in and I was positive I could get SOMETHING to bite on a prefrontal day. So I had made my way around to one of the big rocks that jut out into the pond. The rocks are surrounded by some shallow grass beds and I figured it'd be a good area for me to fish my lipless crank. Well about 10 casts in the wind started to pick up and shortly after that it started to lightly drizzle. That's when I think I snagged a carp. I was reeling my lipless in ripping it off the tops of the grass beds and as I was reeling/ripping all the sudden something SLAMMED my lure and when I say slammed I mean that if I hadn't been holding onto my rod and had good footing I would be been easily knocked over and into the water. It peeled drag for a good 30 seconds before it just stopped. I didn't feel any head shakes and I had tension on the line the whole time but it was just like my lure just popped out of whatever it was. I was so shaken because I've never caught any bass more than 12" out of this pond. But I do know that this pond has a VERY healthy population of common carp and some nice size catfish too. But I've never had either of those fish take lures before, especially not a lipless crank. I looked around in the water below me and every now and then I could see some of the carp swimming shallow and I casted my lipless to them and none seemed even remotely interested. It was a pretty steady light rain by now and I was determined to hook back into whatever I had hooked into before so I stayed and threw another 30 or 40 casts before, WHAM!!! whatever it was hit hard again. Same thing, peeling drag for about 30 seconds but this time I gave a little give with the pressure I was putting on the fish to avoid my hooks popping out. I got some chances to reel in slack after some incredibly long runs but just like last time, all the sudden it was like I just hadn't hooked into anything. No head shakes, no acrobatics, no broken lines, no bent hooks, whatever it was seemingly just casually spit out my lure after it had had its fun. I was kinda frustrated and I was done getting wet so I made the decision to leave. 

 

So what do you guys think it was?? I think I just hooked into the back of a couple carp and not very deep either. Just enough for a good short fight and then the pressure on the line caused my crank to pop out. But I'm not sure. 

[Choporoz]

Pretty reasonable guess.  I've snagged carp with lipless cranks before and it is similar.  Snag the tail or dorsal, however, and the hooks don't always come out on their own.  I've been dragged around in my yak for more than ten minutes at a time....they just do NOT get tired

[MickD]

Probably a carp, fought like a carp.  And it might not have been snagged-carp will strike lures.  Not really common, but not that uncommon either.  I had an experience like yours one time on a flooded MI river mouth, fought the powerful but slow steady fish for about half an hour, then it was gone.  I think in time the hooks open a hole in the lips allowing a hook to come out more easily.  Mine took a Norman DBN, gel-craw pattern.  I never saw it , but cannot think of anything else that fought that way.

 

 

Last fall in a hot water release area carp were all over the place, hitting blade baits and cranks.  My son and I took probably ten or more from an area of about 2-3 acres.

[kenmitch]

Possibly. I think I've snagged 1 a couple weeks ago but it got away.I've bumped a few for sure. I caught on we the other day finally on a lipless crankbait. Rear treble in mouth so it was trying to eat my lipless. Nice fight and it was just shy of 6lbs....Toddler compared to the monsters that roam Lake Perris.

[Koz]

I agree that you probably snagged a carp. FWIW, I have caught catfish on a lipless crank. They seem to like the red ones in my neck of the woods. But they always get hooked in BOTH the top and bottom lip and are a pain to get the trebles out.

[EGbassing]

Either that or a 20+ lb. bass...  

[scaleface]

A channel cat will obliterate  a lipless crankbait . 

[N Florida Mike]

I snagged a carp near it's tail a few years ago, and it was like hooking a small submarine there for awhile. Had a heavy saltwater rod and reel but he peeled 300 feet off before I got him turned. Ended up weighing 23 pounds.

I have never had one hit an artificial bait, but have caught some big 'uns on bread balls.

[FishDewd]

Sounds like you snagged -something nice- twice! What exactly... I couldn't say! I'm yet to catch a carp, though I've never really tried. It's definitely on the list cause I'd like to! They actually don't taste too bad prepared properly. Key is a lot of strong spices.

[Ethan Zayets]

Yes, you probably had a carp on. I’m saying this because last night I had the exact same scenario play out, except I actually got the sucker. 
 

First time I got the fish I thought it was a huge striped bass because of how STRONG this thing fought. Just as you had, I didn’t really set the hook or anything and lost it. Literally five casts later I had the same thing out deep again! I made sure to keep constant tension on the fish, and after about a minute of the craziest fight I’ve ever felt (beating striped bass) I pulled the sucker out. 
 

snagged the dude right on his face, really close to his eyeball but fortunately didn’t touch the eye! But yeah, it was a fun experience.

[Alex from GA]

Last week.