Beginner Carp fishing

[Pikeman12]

Hey guys,

 

I am looking to start fishing for carp just to change it up a bit. I was wondering what type of setups do people use for carp fishing? I was thinking maybe just a medium or medium heavy bass rod with a spinning baitrunner reel? Is flouro a must for carp fishing or does braid work fine too? 

[Luke Barnes]

I'll bump this because im in the same boat. Carp get huge and I want to fight a heavyweight! Ive got all sorts of setups and not sure which of mine is best suited. My big problem is I dont know where to go to target them. 

[Russ E]

 

If you want to catch a big fish, target flathead or blue catfish.  they get much bigger.

With any luck, here in the midwest carp may become rare.

according to some biologists, KOI herpes may be spreading across the midwest. Killing carp along the way.

Fortunately it does not seem to hurt any fish besides carp..

Carp are a destructive invasive species that does a lot of damage to our waters.

 

[Luke Barnes]

2 hours ago, Russ E said:

 

If you want to catch a big fish, target flathead or blue catfish.  they get much bigger.

With any luck, here in the midwest carp may become rare.

according to some biologists, KOI herpes may be spreading across the midwest. Killing carp along the way.

Fortunately it does not seem to hurt any fish besides carp..

Carp are a destructive invasive species that does a lot of damage to our waters.

 

Ive hunted big blues and flatties, but carp is something ive never caught. I want to catch one of everything and they are so different. So unless I get lucky and catch one my odds are low unless I target them. 

[RoLo]

 

Take the following advice in the spirit it's offered:

The critical factors are your location, your bait & your presentation.

When those things are mastered, your rod, reel & line will have remarkably little influence  ? 

 

Roger

[soflabasser]

I use the same rods and reels I use for bass fishing for carp fishing. For bait I mostly use bread. Have caught several carp over 40 inches long.

[NJBasstard]

I use to do a lot of carp fishing at night from the bank. Using little ultra light rods was fun but a 6' medium spinning rod, 2500-3000 size spinning reel, straight 8lb mono or 15lb braid to a 8lb leader and a 1/0 or 2/0 circle hook worked great. Corn and bread work but I had the most luck with corn meal. Make a batch by boiling 1 cup of water and then add in 1 cup corn meal, 1 cup flour, some vanilla extract and stir til it's like dough. About $7 in ingredients will make 6 batches so it's inexpensive. I'd make a dough ball around the hook covering everything including the eyelet/knot and cast out weightless. Use my backpack/rod holder/stick to prop the rod up and pinch a small dough ball the size of my pinky nail onto my line to make line watching easier. I'm not an expert and I've never caught anything huge but had a lot of 10+ fish nights with fish ranging from 10lb-30lb. 

[RoLo]

 

As a kid in Jersey, I accompanied my dad on carp fishing jaunts. Dad would gather up

all our bait-casting rods, conventional saltwater rods and fly-fishing rods (split-bamboo). 

He'd beach the boat, then set up all the outfits along the bank (slingshot branches for rod rests).

Nothing happened for about a half-hour, but after that, every fishing outfit got its turn fighting carp.

 

Paulinskill Lake, NJ | circa 1950

[Luke Barnes]

My big problem is finding them. I fish mainly ponds and I have no idea if carp have been put into them. Ive never seen one. I have 2 rivers close by and various lakes a bit of a drive away that ive bass fished at. There is a drinking water supply reservoir very close that I know has carp in it, ive seen the carcasses on the shore. The only problem is its a concrete, 1.5 billion gallon bowl. No structure, no features, just vast open water. So besides chumming the ever loving snot out of an area, I have no clue how to locate them. 

[Hower08]

I grew up wearing out the carp. We made it real fun by using ultra lights and 4 pound mono. Just gotta wear them out. Then I got into fly fishing for them. My biggest is a 60+# grass carp on a 6'6 medium action spinning rod and 8 pound test hard to beat bread for carp. Use to make my own concoction strawberry Jell-O flour and anise oil . Mix together then add water till it's the consistency of playdough. If you want to catch them on top chum them up with tore up bread, when they start feeding on it pinch a corner of a piece of bread on a size 4 Tru turn hook . The crust must be on in order for this corner piece to float.