Carp in the shallows.

[king fisher]

I had great success for big fish at a small reservoir that I started fishing this summer.  The fish were in 30 feet of water suspended in large trees. The water temperature was in the low 80's and with around 2 feet of visibility.

    The rainy season came and the lake level came up 10 feet.  The clarity is under one foot, and the water temp is 78 to 80.  I assumed the bass would move into the newly flooded tall grass, and rocky shoreline, with now flooded bushes.  I have had very little success fishing the grass edges, and no luck fishing the rocky shoreline.  I have tried to punch the thick tall grass, with no luck.  I am in a kayak, and try to be very stealthy.  Every time I pitch a bait in the grass, 5 or 6 big carp take off as if I just threw a big rock on top of them.  My question is will the bass spook and run with the carp, or will they stay?  Will bass even be in the grass with so many large carp?  The water is 6 feet deep, and the carp are next to the surface.  I don't know if there are bass near the bottom, that don't spook or not.

     I still catch baby bass suspended in the deep water by the trees.  My time is limited, so I don't want to send too much time trying to fish the grass if they just spook out with the carp, or are not there.  I am very quite and my casts are low with zero splash, but the carp act like a bomb went off.  Has anyone had experience fishing around spooky carp?  Thanks in advance.

[Bird]

When I see a surplus of carp, especially in coves, I move on......they disrupt the the solitude. 

[scaleface]

Carp are so spooky that I imagine bass are use to their goofiness  . A month ago I spooked a grass carp in a shallow cove and it slammed into the bottom on the aluminum boat .

[camman]

I've fished around a few larger schools of spooky carp and haven't had much luck catching bass when the carp take off. 

 

I remember a few times in Arizona a friend and I would find a large school of carp and toss a kernel of corn on 4lb test and get one heck of a fight landing them. 

[scaleface]

I caught a really  big bass under a school of carp that were sucking on the surface . Tied a floating jerkbait and ripped it through the carp trying to snag one when the bass hit . Gar too . I routinely catch smallmouths in the same areas occupied by gar .

[Tatsu Dave]

I really dislike carp, with that said I have caught bass under carp when they are up on or near surface. They can be spooky and other times you don't know your casting in to them. Fishing dam tailraces they will hit small plastics and good fight or not I hated it cause it wasted my time when I could be catching a striper or big smallmouth  Moved north to Maine and left them behind  now its bass or my new disliked friends pickerel. Always something I guess.

[Koz]

2 hours ago, Tatsu Dave said:

I really dislike carp, with that said I have caught bass under carp when they are up on or near surface. They can be spooky and other times you don't know your casting in to them. Fishing dam tailraces they will hit small plastics and good fight or not I hated it cause it wasted my time when I could be catching a striper or big smallmouth  Moved north to Maine and left them behind  now its bass or my new disliked friends pickerel. Always something I guess.

Yep, always something. Especially when I throw a Booyah Pad Crasher. I got one back with the little one. The big one there is trying to swallow it after I had to cut the line so I wasn't dragged in.

 

 

[Tatsu Dave]

1 hour ago, Koz said:

Yep, always something. Especially when I throw a Booyah Pad Crasher. I got one back with the little one. The big one there is trying to swallow it after I had to cut the line so I wasn't dragged in.

Wow I guess that's hard on tackle for sure  pickerel aren't so bad I guess ?

[soflabasser]

I have caught bass in the same places there where carp. They seem to get along and don't bother each other. You can always move to another spot where you do not see carp to see if they make a difference in the place you are fishing in. You can catch carp on lures so do not be surprised if you hook into one while bass fishing.

[Big Rick]

In my years of shallow water fishing experiences in the south I have never caught bass around carp. One thing I noted in all the responses is bass were caught UNDER the carp. Where you are fishing there is no "under". So, I believe the bass move out and let the carp have the shallows in that general area. That's been my experience. Water deeper than 6 ft changes the pattern, I believe. But in my super shallow waters bass and carp do not play well together.  

[OCdockskipper]

When carp are grouped up shallow, I don't see bass around them.  However, when a single carp is in a foot or two of water, mucking stuff up, I typically find a bass or two hanging out behind him.  Close enough that they can see what the carp is dislodging and be able to swoop in & eat a fleeing crawdad or minnow, but not right in there with them.

[Paul Roberts]

On 10/1/2020 at 5:25 PM, scaleface said:

Carp are so spooky that I imagine bass are use to their goofiness.

^^^

 

Well put.

 

[Bluebasser86]

Spawning carp I avoid. If they're feeding, or just hanging out, I don't mind them. I've actually caught some really nice fish, especially smallmouth, around feeding carp. I think the rooting around the bottom probably dislodges craws and minnows that the bass are there to grab an easy meal.

[king fisher]

Thanks for the replies.  I'm going to fish the lake this weekend.  I will spend some time fishing around the carp in the grass in the morning.   It didn't rain much this week, so I hope the water cleared a little. I plan on spending most of my time off shore, fishing, the big trees, where I had my success, before the rain came. 

[joshuaray83]

I have a good amount of carp in my local waters as well. How'd you fair fishing around them?