I feel like an idiot because I haven't been able to catch a carp since spring

[Skeeloco]

Ok so I caught this fatgirl in April on some cornmeal jello balls I whipped up. Just thrown on a hook. What I didn't realize is that carp is one of the species on the list for a local fishing contest and this fatgirl would have held 1st place for awhile being 21lb. So I need to catch another one, however I can't get em to eat a d**n thing as of late! I fish an old rock quarry and there's a ton of big ones in there but they just don't seem to take bait. Tried my corn meal jello balls again, boilies, canned corn, feed corn soaked in water/ vanilla solution. I've even given the hair rig a go just in case they're being touchy. Still nada! Any advice?! I'm really not much of a bait fisherman anymore, but as a kid all my and my pop did was throw canned corn on a hook and chum with corn when river fishing for carp and that always did the job. I have been chumming plenty too. Thinking no bites has something to do with the spawn which should be about over?

[Eric 26]

@Skeeloco Although I don’t target carp even though I have 2 retention ponds near me where they are BIG and would be a great catch as I foul hooked one in the tail a couple years ago and it was a blast before the hook finally broke free, I’ve heard/read they are super smart fish so if you had a cicada hatch near you they may have been tuned into that or whatever else is flying/floating around on top. I just hit a local retention pond earlier today and I only had a mighty mite jig with me and the carp refused my offering even when I put it literally in front of their faces as I was watching them surfacing to suck in the bugs that were enjoying a cool drink from the water. If yours are surfacing maybe try a fly, small popper or even a foam spider. They used to and I’m pretty sure still do make an adjust a bubble made to fish these lures with spinning gear and from the photo you shared I’m sure it would work with baitcast gear although I used to use a tiny round clip on bobber with the foam spiders for bluegills. Just make sure the hooks are super sharp as they are pretty thin. Lastly that is one good looking carp with not a blemish on it and I’m sure one heck of battle 👍🏻

Edited June 29, 2024 by Eric 26
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[MassBass]

Try fishing at sunset in mid summer.

[CDMTJager]

NEVER purposely fished for carp, but I have caught some BIG ones purely by accident. Baits I was using was either night crawlers or fresh live soft shell crayfish. Place I use to absolutely slay the smallmouth was also absolutely infested with carp as in you'd see BIG schools of carp swimming all over the place. I fished on a brake wall in front of a power plant. The plant side had 90% of the smallmouth an only a few carp. The lake side of the brake wall had 90% of the carp fewer smallmouth but the smallmouth ran bigger in size. At least once a week I would hook a carp that sucked up my live softshell and then the fight was on. Takes a while to get a 20lb+ carp in when using 8-10lb Trilene XT.

[Bluebasser86]

Any time I try fishing for carp, I never catch them. I wish I had a good place to catch some smaller ones for catfish bait. They're everywhere in our lakes, but I can sit on the bank with crawlers or corn for hours and I'll only catch catfish, bluegills, and drum. 

[flyfisher]

If you see carp cruising you aren't going to catch them 99% of the time.  You need to find the ones actively feeding or chum them up like many do.  My best success has been on my fly rod when I see them rooting around the bottom and it can be any time of day it seems.  They are definitely finicky and can be quite line shy but man are they a blast.  If you get on them during a hatch and they are keyed in on it, hold on tight because it will be ridiculous action for a while.  

[Munkin]

Years ago I use to fish for them with my brother and friends. What we used was oatmeal with Koolaid mixed in. Grab and handful of oatmeal, put your hand in the water and just keep squeezing until it makes a hard ball. Treble hook with the oatmeal ball no weight has caught 100's of carp for me. My record is 32lbs and the average size we caught were 15-20lbs all day long. 

 

Allen