Big Carp eat lures!

[Bdnoble84]

This bad boy crushed a hybrid rubber skirt rabbit zonker jig. Thought it was a huge northern as my buddy just caught a 40” earlier in the week. Absolute pig for a small stream.
 

this is why I stopped using live crayfish years ago. Carp love them more than the smallies do!

[JackstrawIII]

This year alone I’ve seen carp eat a red colored lipless crankbait in a river and one eat a perch colored trout style crankbait in a small lake. 
 

I was always told that this DOESN’T happen… but clearly it does. 

[Kirtley Howe]

I have caught carp on several different lures. They include: Deer hair jigs. Ball head jigs with grub tail trailer. Texas rigged worm. Carolina rigged worm. Slow rolled spinnerbaits with various trailers. Suspended jerkbait. Flatfish lure worked digging into the bottom. Tube baits.

[Bdnoble84]

1 hour ago, Kirtley Howe said:

I have caught carp on several different lures. They include: Deer hair jigs. Ball head jigs with grub tail trailer. Texas rigged worm. Carolina rigged worm. Slow rolled spinnerbaits with various trailers. Suspended jerkbait. Flatfish lure worked digging into the bottom. Tube baits.

I catch more red horse and sheepshead than carp on lures, but yeah, it happens. I also snag them in the fall when im snap jigging hair jigs.

[Woody B]

I've never caught a carp on an artificial lure.   Decades ago a friend of mine (who was fishing with me) caught a 21 pound carp on a crankbait.  It was snagged in the tail, so it was double strong.  He's now an avid carp fisherman.   

[roadwarrior]

21 hours ago, Woody B said:

I've never caught a carp on an artificial lure.  

 

I wish I could say this was true for me, too.

[Bluebasser86]

This one shot off the bottom in a small pond and T-boned a 168 S Waver right in front of my buddy and I. Never would have believed it if I hadn't seen it. 

 

[Bdnoble84]

They dont get that big and powerful on just phytoplankton or whatever the hell they eat.

[gim]

On 9/24/2023 at 2:41 PM, Woody B said:

I've never caught a carp on an artificial lure

Me neither. I’ve actually never caught a carp, period.

 

If I’m not mistaken, @NorthernBasser caught a sizable one this spring by accident when he was bass fishing.

[Tackleholic]

I've caught and snagged lots of them.  When caught on a crankbait they have usually sucked the lure all the way in.  It is a B____ to get that lure back because of the small mouth and the fact they can't be lipped or held like a bass.  On the other hand, when snagged, a carp could make a person think they have hooked a nuclear submarine.

[flyfisher]

I target them on my fly rod whenever i see them.  Most underrated freshwater fish in my opinion or maybe tied with the bowfin.

[NorthernBasser]

3 hours ago, gimruis said:

Me neither. I’ve actually never caught a carp, period.

 

If I’m not mistaken, @NorthernBasser caught a sizable one this spring by accident when he was bass fishing.

Good memory! But the one this spring I actually accidentally snagged one with a squarebill. But the previous spring (or was it the one before) I caught a huge one that ate a KVD 1.5.

[casts_by_fly]

I spent a year in Cleveland for an internship in college. I managed to fish 250 days that year.  It was steelhead from late august or early September through April or may. Then the smallies would run the river and be there for the summer. One day targeting smallies with a little 5wt I saw carp eating like trout. It was the cottonwood tree seed dropping time and the carp were gobbling them up. I threw on a light white clouser and caught the biggest carp of my life. It was well over 30# and 40”. I used to fly fish for carp a bunch with bread flies and nymphs and caught a bunch of double digits but nothing like this before or since. Carp are awesome. 

[Bdnoble84]

15 hours ago, flyfisher said:

I target them on my fly rod whenever i see them.  Most underrated freshwater fish in my opinion or maybe tied with the bowfin.

Not on a flyrod but the other times is when the mulberries are dropping and they will hit small lures in that viscenity. Coincedintally, that carp was under the mulberry tree but obviously no mulberries.

[Bigassbass]

I caught a 30lb carp on a black ant one year out of a pond.  The reel was a cheap closed face Daiwa and was toast when I got the fish in.  It was super fun!

[Bdnoble84]

On 9/25/2023 at 12:17 PM, Bluebasser86 said:

This one shot off the bottom in a small pond and T-boned a 168 S Waver right in front of my buddy and I. Never would have believed it if I hadn't seen it. 

 

When they are that big its well worth the experience.

[Bruce424]

ive caught carp on jigs

chatterbaits

frogs... that one was surprising

and lipless

just makes ya mad when ya think you hooked a record bass

[pdxfisher]

I caught several carp twitching a rapala topwater in NC. It was in a pond where people used to throw bread in to feed ducks. I think the carp would see something white floating and think food. First time it was about a 20lber right at dusk. My buddy and I thought I had a new state record bass on for a good 5-10 minutes.

[Friggs]

I don't like carp. They fight well. I never caught one until this year. I have snagged 2. I think the same one twice. Second time I snagged the tail with a Mepps. Took me 13 minutes to land it. I was using my ultralight rod with 2 pound test. Ended up being a 29 inch 10 lb carp. This was in a small pond. I am disabled and have severe back issues. And landing and releasing them hurt my back. Was a great fight. But I would rather not catch another one. If I caught a 10 lb bass the pain would be worth it.

[Susky River Rat]

In the river during the winter it’s very common to catch muitlple carp on a jig and Mr twister. 

[clayton86]

I got one punching mats with a Tokyo rig and put boss a few years ago. Went 17.79 though I had a record bass for a minute. In the kayak also it was a blast have pics but won’t let me upload them. 

[FishTank]

I caught a couple of nice ones last year on Karashi. There are a ton in a pond I fish. A guy supposedly caught a state record grass carp out of there. I saw a picture of it. They said it was 90lb+.  The guy that caught it didn't want it recorded. He thought it would draw people to his honey hole. 

[TOXIC]

Big carp on St Clair ate a tube and the smaller one ate a blade bait here in Virginia.  

[WRB]

Yep! My late son Tommy caught a big carp on his light rod / Zebco trigger spin outfit when he was 8 on a blue back Rapala CD07. All could talk about was the big “Clark” he caught, they are hard pulling fish.

Tommy also caught a 26 lb Channel cat on his little rod at Castiac, a lake record at the time, one ugly fish.

Carp and big Blue or Channel cats eat several lures from spoons, soft plastics, jigs, crank baits alway a ah ***** moment.

Tom

 

[AlabamaSpothunter]

I caught one last week on a blade bait that was the biggest freshwater fish I've ever caught or seen in person.  

Absolutely blew my mind, didn't fight nearly as hard I thought it would have.  Thing was easy 3-4ft, 25-50lbs.   Just massive.