Carp and Bass in the same water

[LooksLikeSinbad]

I have recently been fishing a small pond near my house and it's stocked with carp.  While bass fishing, I sometimes see the carp moving in and out of the area I'm fishing. I don't know anything regarding how the 2 species cohabitate. Is there anything I can learn from the carp's behavior regarding the location/mood/presence of the bass?   Would seeing carp indicate that there are more or less likely to be bass present?

[SteveFinMD]

I don't think so.  I have been fishing water with both species for many years.  I have never observed any interaction or indication that one species behaves any differently when the other is present.  Good luck in your search for knowledge, though.  We are never too old to learn.

[SPEEDBEAD.]

As a disclaimer, I have no scientific evidence to back this up but......

I can't buy a bass wherever I find carp (immediate area). Perfect example, last weekend BK42 and I were out fishing in a great looking area. 60 degree water, cover, great weather.....the stuff dreams are made of. Apparently, it was the carp and not the bass that found this area so perfect. We didnt catch a thing until we found areas with no carp in them.

Carp are typically bottom feeders, lending itself to the idea that bass are not going to bed in areas where their nests are going to be disturbed by these considerably larger fish.

My estimate, see if you can avoid the big brown fish.....

Wayne

[Guest Bountiful_Waters]

Don't know if I can shed any new light on this, but two weeks ago, My daughter and I were fishing a tournament. We were fishing a rock bank about 50yds long and had pulled two keepers off of it. I turned the boat for another pass and made a long cast parallel to the bank with a Bandit 100. I thought I had hung my crank on a limb as every time I would pull, it sorta pulled back and did not move much. I stepped on the trolling motor to try and recover my bait, but my bait kept moving. I then realized I had something on the other end quite large. My pole was doubled over and this fish started pulling the boat down the bank. By this time, I had the attention of another boat who stopped fishing to watch. After pulling the boat all the way down the bank, I finally got the fish up (on 10lb Evolution line) and told my daughter she needed to net the fish when it broke surface because I wanted my Bandit back. This fish, what turned out to be about a 30 lb carp, rolled to the top and the Bnadit popped out to which I am very thankful. So, I am assuming that carp and bass can be located together.

[David P]

Just this past weekend I was fishing on a small dock in very shallow water, 1-2 ft deepest was 3ft.

I saw two huge carp what seemed to be playing together, swimming in circles and that stuff. I saw they swam back into some branches and disappeared. At that point, I had not caught many bass, and figured to screw around and see if I could get one to bight. I threw a Fluke right over the branches and let it drop, the second it dropped BAM got a hit and the line just took off.

I figured, dangit I just hooked a 10lb carp on 6lb line and 2 seconds later, a bass surfaced with the fluke in his mouth.

In a 4ft by 4ft area, there were at least 2-3 carp, and I caught 4 bass in the same spot within 10 minutes.

It's obviously possible, not sure if that's strange or common.

[Dan:]

I fish a small pond loaded with carp and an "OK" number of bass. I often see the bass swimming around with the carp, as in, virtually touching. Normally those are smaller bass, but still, I catch a good number of bass very close to large numbers of carp. I would say that they don't interfere with each other, although, I have noticed that carp do not always locate to areas with bass, that is, carp will occupy areas that bass will not so don't automatically think that if there are carp in an area that there will be bass as well.

[Mak]

Carp are typically bottom feeders, lending itself to the idea that bass are not going to bed in areas where their nests are going to be disturbed by these considerably larger fish.

makes alot of sense.  but i fish areas alot that brokejew was talking about. tons of carp, and good amount of bass, but its not a good spot until postspawn

[BucketmouthAngler13]

I'm not sure how the two get along, but i fish for bolth. Carp are very smart, hard-to-get-to-bite, big, hard fighting fish. Carp fishing is a bore when your not catching, but a blast when you get one on. I like to throw out a line for carp while I bass fish. Carp are not anymore "trashy" than catfish, and are truly a sportfish worthy of fishing for.

[LooksLikeSinbad]

Wow, thanks for all the responses.  This topic has got me wondering about the whole eco-system - the fish, vegetation, animals, weather, etc - of small ponds and lakes in general. Can anyone recommend some good books or online articles?

[BucketmouthAngler13]

http://bassresource.com/fish_biology/about.html

http://bassresource.com/fish_biology/about.html#fish

Those articles have alot of info.

[MakhuluBass]

Here is South Africa, most if not all our bass waters have carp.  Both fish compliment each other in the food chain, bass eat carp fry and carp vacuum the bass nests after spawn.  Alot of success can be had with yellow/gold coloured lures and watermelon gold flake flukes seem to produce across the board.

Carp angling is most probably the most practiced and popular form of inland fishing in SA.

[justfishin]

I don't know how the two interact together but, I do know on that sometimes on the Susquehanna in PA I have had some big carp pick up my tubes and make a two Zip Code run. I have caught them up to 40lbs. Put the trolling motor on high, loosen the drag some and hang on!!! Its he** on the old #8 test line,lol.

[T-rig]

Don't hesitate to cast your lure into a school of carp! Alot of times there are some large bass just below them. I have seen some big bass swimming around carp.

[Turtle.]

Well ,all I know is what Papaw told us when we were kids

Where carp will play

The bass won't stay

Don't know if thats true or not

But if I see carp screwing around I move on.

[Dan:]

Well ,all I know is what Papaw told us when we were kids

Where carp will play

The bass won't stay

Don't know if thats true or not

But if I see carp screwing around I move on.

That has not been the case in my experience.

[Raul]

I catch bass where carp are all the time. So much for: Where carp will play

The bass won't stay   :

[MALTESE FALCON]

Every spring the carp come into my canal to spawn, and the whole time they are there I'm catching largemouth. I don't see them as a problem, but an indicator that the bass will be present.

Falcon

[Turtle.]

Well ,all I know is what Papaw told us when we were kids

Where carp will play

The bass won't stay

Don't know if thats true or not

But if I see carp screwing around I move on.

That has not been the case in my experience.

Yes you said that already. But it has been the case in my experience.

I was just posting my opinion on this.Thats ok right? I can do that here right?

I sometimes forget some of you guys know everything there is about everythig :

[NJfishinGuy]

well never thought about it before but one lake i fish has alot of shallow flats with pads and the carp and bass are scattered all throughout it. alot of times ill cast and see like 4 huge swirls of them carp taking off and then ill lay into a bass.

[Dan:]

Well ,all I know is what Papaw told us when we were kids

Where carp will play

The bass won't stay

Don't know if thats true or not

But if I see carp screwing around I move on.

That has not been the case in my experience.

Yes you said that already. But it has been the case in my experience.

I was just posting my opinion on this.Thats ok right? I can do that here right?

I sometimes forget some of you guys know everything there is about everythig :

No offense, but you didn't state your opinion, or at least, you didn't say that you had any direct knowledge relevant to the topic at hand. You said you had heard something about the subject but had not tested it based on your trust of your grandfather. I just repeated my opinion because I have seen evidence that contradicts what you heard. I didn't mean to be obnoxious, I was just offering my experiences to you as well because it didn't sound like you've really tested it. Just a miscommunication, not trying to be a jerk, sorry I sounded that way.  

[Guest avid]

Here in Florida carp will be stocked into a lake as a natural weed control measure.

In that regard they can have a positive impact on bass and bass fishing by keeping shallow lakes from getting weed choked.

Of course the down side is if they become too abundant and can strip a small lake of virtually all grass and weed cover.

I have caught bass and carp from the same spot so I don't think there is an automatic aversion.

But I would like to see a big carp move in on a bass bed full of eggs and see what happens  

[Cravin]

From what I've noticed carp are always moving looking for a meal, I don't think Ive ever seen one just sit. Where bass will hold to cover at times and strike at food that happens upon them. I can see where a group of carp might  wonder in to an area that bass are holding. There eating habits are so different I think neither one sees a threat as long as their past eating size.