Bass or Carp?

[Bassackward]

I've recently found a secluded pond that is covered in some kind of floating algae, not anchored but floating.  I've been fishing it with a frog, and have gotten some huge explosions on the surface.  For some reason they never seem to take the frog.  Every now and then these huge fish bolt around on the surface.....looks like chasing baitfish.  They almost look too big to be bass.  Is there a type of carp that will attack a top water frog?  If not, any advice on how to catch these monster bass?

[Raul]

and have gotten some huge explosions on the surface

Carp do run away from lures with huge surface explosions, specially when the bait is right over their head.

They almost look too big to be bass.

Carp grow to gigantic proportions.

[Mattlures]

This time of year the carp are spawning and thats what they do. They find what ever type of vegatation and thrash around in and on top of it.

They are dificult to catch when they are doing this as they are more interested in breeeding than eating

[BrnzeBckStalker]

is there actually baitfish in the pond for the "fish" to chase? and one thing to do is throw out more than just a topwater frog. use weedless rigged worms or lizards or anything of that sort and try to get them that way. i catch bass year round on slow action plastics. takes a bit of time but is worth the process. or you could wait till the summer comes and if that floating junk disapates you could throw poppers or buzzbaits in early morning or late afternoon and have luck too. if you do not catch whatever they are on those minor tips then they are not bass for sure. hope that helps a bit

B.B.S.

[Bassackward]

Aha! Solved my problem.  Just hooked into a 4ft alligator gar on my spro frog.  Good news.....I solved my question.  Bad news......No way I could have gotten the frog out of its mouth=$8 down the drain.  I didn't know alligator gar lived in ponds.  Oh well, guess they do

[WRB]

See the post "The term cruising bass"

The easiest way to tell the deference between a carp and bass jumping is the color of the fish; bass are green, carp are brown or gold color and slap the water load when jumping. A bass feeding on baitfish will chase the bait out of the water and you see the bait jumping.

Algea is tiny green particles, not weeds. You may have duck weed that looks like floating clover leaves. Try letting a top water lure sit for 30 seconds, then twitch it a few times and repeat, big bass feeding on the surface will return to pick off an injured critter.

WRB

[slomoe]

I learned the hard way two weeks ago. Spent about 3 hours throwing lures at a group of carp.  ;D I didn't know carp would jump out of the water, but I eventually snagged one on accident and brought back a scale the size of a half dollar on my hook.

[Sam]

I would have guessed it was a catfish.

They will hit topwaters.

Wow, an alligator gar in a pond.

Someone put him in there.

I guess all the bass are gone.

[thetr20one]

How in the world can you not tell a carp from a bass? carp are at least twice the size of bass and move a whole lot more water than bass. If they are shallow is the water so dirty you cannot see them? If the water is clear and you cannot tell the diff than something is wrong. carp are way more social than bass and usually their are large numbers of them in the shallows together making all kinds of splashes chasing each other and what not. I was out Sunday and could honestly tell the carp from 50 yards away. Polarized glasses will help if you cant see through the water.

[thetr20one]

Sorry. I just reread the thread and the algae may hinder you, but still if you cannot tell the difference from the amount of water being moved try something else. carp are ugly but they are also very sensitive to noise and have a very keen sense of smell. they will bolt sometimes from the sound of my TM from 50+ feet and it is very quiet.

[Bassackward]

Yeah. If i could see the fish i probably wouldnt have asked the question.  The whole pond was covered in algae, and the fish weren't jumping out of the water, they were just hitting at the frog. Anyways, problem solved

[BrnzeBckStalker]

so you were able to ensure that it was an alligator gar and not another type?

B.B.S.

[Bassackward]

Yeah. I finally hooked into the fish and drug it out.  Found out it was an alligator gar.

[Rayraff]

A 4ft gar would have been a hell of a fight, good catch.  Gars are know to be extremely hard to catch because of their long mouthes so it makes sense that you never hook him.

[Rob Faddis]

There Carp.   Fun to catch!

[Maxximus Redneckus]

Aha! Solved my problem.  Just hooked into a 4ft alligator gar on my spro frog.  Good news.....I solved my question.  Bad news......No way I could have gotten the frog out of its mouth=$8 down the drain.  I didn't know alligator gar lived in ponds.  Oh well, guess they do

back away slowly from this pond being that its a pond (small) most likly the gar have taken the spot of main predator and anything that swims bass included are food

[B-Ass-Mad]

Try a 1/0 hook with a piece of dry dog food (kibble) glued to it's shank, fished weightless throw a handfull out there first to see if you get any interest. If he takes it, hang on!! Pound for pound they are one of the best fighting fish I have ever caught.

Don't suppose you've ever heard of hair rigs and boilies??

[JerseyBassin]

i got some monster carp in my local lake 40+ pounds that nobody really knows about or tries to catch....what are some of the more popular baits to get them on? i think i've heard corn, bread crumbs, and now dog food.

what tackle would you recommend for a beginner carp fisherman?

[B-Ass-Mad]

You can check out some of the UK's carp fishing magazines such as bigcarpmagazine.co.uk or carp-addict.com; the fish over here in the US are a lot less wary than those in the UK so you needn't worry about the more technical type rigs used, but you'll see the multitude of baits and tackle used.

My favourites are boilies, corn, a good hookful of worms, or dogbiscuits fished weightless (you'll need to get them feeding on them first, may take a couple of trips to get them going).

I use an 11' rod with a 2lb test curve and 12lb mono (cajun) along with a light braid leader.