what do you use for carp bait. I see lots of them on the river from the bridge and I was wondering what kind of bait to use to get them out
Printable View
what do you use for carp bait. I see lots of them on the river from the bridge and I was wondering what kind of bait to use to get them out
Corn works great -- just plain ol' Jolly Green Giant straight out of the can.
I will try that I tossed bread out there and none of them touched it they kind of vacating the area where it was
Carp are very spooky. If you can see them, they can see you.Quote:
Originally Posted by sparky405
If you're fishing above them from a bridge, they will be very hard to hook.
Instant oatmeal continues to work for us. I've been fishing it in a ball about the size of a nickel on a #6 or #4 1/32nd or 1/16th oz steel head jig. I get those 2X strong jigs from Nimrod who is on this list and powder paint them black myself. (I also use them for anything else I need a plain ballhead jig for in any color required as long as it is black.)
We follow the carp upcurrent and dip the doughball to settle down to the bottom in current breaks, using only enough weight to get to the bottom and straighten the line. The oatmeal baitball stands up to repeated nibbles, and is very hard for the fish to steal. This is not bolt fishing. The bite tends to be very soft and tentative, with the carp usually returning a number of times before the complete take. We are not allowed to chum here in Minnesota either and only get one rod at a time. In other places I would guess instant oatmeal would chum pretty well, as it sinks after getting wetted. Plain instant oatmeal works just fine for us, no special flavors required.
Last Thursday evening I took three carp on oatmeal, the biggest was about 30", one of several that size oatmeal has produced this summer. All bite was very soft, and just barely visible on the soft rod tips used. Bite was very slow and mostly right along the river wall, the carp bite that is. My fishing partner also took a 5# smallie and I a largemouth about the same weight from along that same stretch of river channel, while casting bigger plastics during carp lulls. Real nice bonuses. We also tried for catfish but the only one we took was a little flathead of about 15", ugly little thing, it was. There were also some bluegills, a couple of them beat 8" and were wide fish as well.
Nice enough spot with multiple species available, including some very nice carp, but the carp bite has tapered off there as summer has progressed.
I probably sound like a broken record on this, but you should really try to float tactics. The "lift method" would be a good way to start. Bites are very positive with a sensitive float. If you want to stick with "tight lining", I highly recommend a feeder (quivertip) rod. They are specially-designed for bottom fishing and have super light tips designed to show light bites. Wacker Baits sells a couple of models.Quote:
Originally Posted by no1son
Yup, corn works greatQuote:
Originally Posted by deathb4disco
I already use rods with ultra-soft tips, and I fish on the bottom with a bit of slack, too. One thing I don't or rather haven't yet done is fish with leaders on my high vis yellow line. That will be the next addition to the pattern using fluorocarbon, next time I get out, which will likely be next week sometime or maybe tomorrow pm for a while if I can get out at all.Quote:
Originally Posted by deathb4disco
- been sick but am much better now... I also work weekends so if not tomorrow then it will have to be next week.
Quivertips are on a different level of "soft". Trust me. :biggrinQuote:
Originally Posted by no1son
I highly recommend a clear or lo-vis line.Quote:
Originally Posted by no1son
Glad to hear you're feeling better.
Don't have to - I have rods with "spring bobbers" built in both for open water and though the ice, as well as after market addons. That sort of thing has been around in a wide variety of weights, sensitivities and styles in American fishing for decades. I have fished that sort of tip signal for a long time (it actually accounts for most of my crappies year around).Quote:
Originally Posted by deathb4disco
The clear leaders are a very good idea. They seemed out not to be necessary for carp at least in the beginning. That was probably a mistake.
I forgot where you were from and that you had probably used ice tackle. The quivertip is similar but can handle bigger weights and long-distance casting.Quote:
Originally Posted by no1son
Things were dead slow last evening, except for what was apparently bluegill nibbling on the oatmeal. Some of those bluegills run 8-10 inches; so we decided to switch targets, but I forgot to toss the nightcrawlers in on the way down to the river. So in digging around in the trunk, I turned up some GULP ALIVE. My fishing partner gets the brainstorm to use the juice on the oatmeal doughballs and down size them to about the size of a pea, puts one on his 5' panfish ultralight and almost immediately picks up a carp, maybe 8 or 9 pounds. And then a little while later a second. I took a carpsucker of maybe 3 or 4 pounds. We never did catch a bluegill for all that we had peck, peck, peck pretty regularly all evening.
Carp do eat a lot of small things, so that makes sense. I've caught lots of carp on a single grain of corn.Quote:
Originally Posted by no1son
We have been using plain instant oatmeal doughballs at this one point in the river for the past three years and with diminishing success - less bite and what there was much less aggressive. There is not much recruitment possibility just at that point; we have become convinced that we are fishing pretty much a captive population. The same fish over and over essentially and that they have learned to be cautious of plain oatmeal.
Changing the formula on the doughballs has changed that. Good solid takes and runs are back. Last night we had 16 or 17 good takes and landed 5 fish. Only five, because we foolishly went so small on the hooks due to the tiny size of the doughballs that we weren't getting a hook set - the hook was pulling right out of the fish's mouth when we went to set the hook. What we ended up settling on and getting good hookups with was a 1/32nd oz ball head jig (no collar) with a size 6 hook. I have a stock of those that Nimrod poured for me on the steelhead/salmon heavier black nickel hooks. I powder painted them black (I powder paint all my jig heads smaller than 1/4 oz black... and I seldom use anything over 1/8 oz anyway). Of course we net all the carp, or the hooks would fail when we lifted them from the water. In the water they have not yet failed once in several years now with fish up to and over 20 pounds.
Lesson 1 is that while you can go very small on the dough ball, you can go too small on the hook.
Lesson 2 change bait when the bite slacks off and you know the fish are still there. You may not have to change much though.
Pretty basic stuff aint it, but it takes getting one's nose rubbed in the basics once in awhile...
We still like oatmeal as the basis of our dough balls for carp. Last night we used an oatmeal based putty that my partner mixed up on a whim, when his missus brought home raw oatmeal instead of instant. He ran it and some other items through the blender and moisted it with corn juice from a can of sweet corn, even a touch of flour when the result wouldn't stick together. And some other things from out of his pantry. This putty was not cooked. The dough balls we used were some where between a pea and a small marble in size. They stay on the hook as well as plain oatmeal dough balls do as well and stand up to a sting of bites very well.
Interesting since my usual size hook is a #14 fly hook. (Fits a grain of corn perfectly.)Quote:
Originally Posted by no1son
With a bolt rig, I do use a bigger hook, though.
I certainly got bolted 5 times last evening. A size 2 octopus circle hook set itself just like it was supposed to. I was complaining earlier about an increasingly soft bite, but my fishing partner got creative and worked up a doctored dough ball paste (still based on instant oatmeal) that has turned that around. The 5 carp ranged from about 22" to about 28"; so I had some drag screaming in the process.
We got 4 more nice fat carp last evening, (that is 9 now on as many bolt strikes and their bent rods in just the last couple of days!) and we learned a couple or three things in the process.
1. I do not like Matsuo circle hooks. I found a bunch on sale and loaded up only to find that they don't seem to have enough "belly gap" to give a good self hook set. Not like the Gamakatsu Octopus Circle hooks I normally use. I kept getting bait stolen all evening, until I switched back. All hooksets were still in the corner of the mouth. I can't remember the last time we had a deep hooked carp, if ever.
2. Instant oatmeal makes a firmer, longer-lasting dough ball than raw oatmeal does. This summer we switched over from plain instant oatmeal to a doctored oatmeal paste with very positive results. The base is about 4 or 5 parts instant oatmeal to 1 part drained sweet corn kernels, blended and then "seasoned to taste". My partner's wife brought home raw oatmeal for him, and we found it doesn't gum up properly to make a good firm dough ball. I found I didn't need to add additional moisture to the mix to get a very usable paste. The resulting paste has a long shelf life as well, and has remained in good condition for close to a week without refrigeration. That base is remarkably versatile and works well with a large number of different additional "spices". It also takes food coloring nicely for those who wish it.
Corollary 1: carp can become educated against a single bait if not varied, which IMO is why the plain oatmeal dough ball became less effective over the last three years. The doctored baits are now getting slammed again, while the bite on the plain oatmeal had gotten real soft and tentative.
Corollary 2: this should also make a good base for catfish dough with a somewhat different set of additions. It stands up to multiple bites and a number of casts if kneaded properly.
Now that we have a strong bite again we have gone to a sort of bolt rig with an ounce and a half sliding weight as an anchor with a size 2 octopus circle hook on about a 12-14 inch flouro leader holding a marble sized dough ball. Chumming is illegal here in Minnesota, but the tiny dough ball is enough once you have a general spot on the fish. This is a cast set on a tight line. We keep moving the bait to find where the fish are on each outing. Last evening they were relative close, little more than twenty five or 30 feet out. Then it can be pretty exciting action.
Make sure the rod is secure or it may get taken for a swim.
I know this is an old post, we used to make like a cornbread and flour mixture and make it into a bowl to catch carp. We would sell them to crab fisherman when we were kids we could sell the cart for about a quarter apiece. This was in Portland, Oregon many years ago..