[swbuckmaster]

What does everyone think about carp?

I have never given them much credit. I don't fish for them specifically but when one get hooked it is a bonus. They are usually caught by a foul hook but on occasion fishing for musky I have witnessed them hit my lures.

My job takes me all over the world and on my days off I fish. On a recent fishing trip to the Arkansas River I was fishing for stripers. The fishing was slow but we still caught a few stripers on the small side. The big ones just took your line and lure. I was using a spinning rod and 6 lb line. "Not the best combo for this river but that's all I had." I couldn't wait for night time on this river because nobody would fish it at night. So a friend of mine would have the river to ourselves. I tell you what the stripers hit better after dark but there were fish in this stretch of river that would send chills down your spine. On several occasions I hooked into fish that didn't even know they were hooked I couldn't pull them off the bottom. They would swim up stream a few feet pause and than swim back down. I would do this for a few minutes just applying as much pressure as I could without breaking my line. When I would get tired of this and wanted to see what I had I would pluck my line a couple of times. This would usually wake them up and send them pulling my line and screaming drag down stream. I don't know what kind of fish I had on but I did see huge 20 to 30 lb gar swimming by my feet. Maybe it was one of them. On this week of fishing my best fish ended up being a carp. This fish pulled my drag as hard as any fish I have ever caught. It took me down stream nearly 250 yards. I could hardly keep up with this fish. The current was extremely strong. It was at night and I only had one stretch to land this fish on. I had to get into the river and wade out around a tree that was in the river. When I did the ground disappeared. I was now swimming in a dark muddy river thinking how bad it could turn out. I didn't let go of my pole and finally landed the carp. It wasn't incredibly big, probably over 10 lbs but man did it fight.
We ended up catching tons of carp, crappie, flathead catfish, stripers, white bass, and several other fish I can't identify.

Dont know what kind of fish this

average striper

one for the wall 9lb 10 oz 45 inch long gar. Not the biggest but will look good next to my 51 1/2, 31 lb utah tiger muskey

average flathead

 

[americanforkdude]

Amazing picture thanks for sharing. I've never heard of a gar, that's a interesting looking fish. I think carp are deffinately fun to catch. I would hate to see more carp in the waters here in Utah, but I do enjoy fishing for them w/ a rod and a bow in the water that they are in.

 

[Nibble Nuts]

Carp are amazing fighters. I caught a 15 pounder this summer at Starvation that took over 45 minutes to land, using 6lb test.
After seeing those pics, I would sure be nervous about wading through that river. Do you know if that river has alligator gar in it? If so, that really took some guts to wade into that water.

 

[Nibble Nuts]

Forgot to mention, that one fish you are unsure about looks like a drum fish.

 

[ScottyP]

Cool pictures! In a couple of John Geirach's books (popular fly fishing author) he talks about fly fishing for gar using frayed nylon rope as the fly-- but with no hook. Supposedly they grab the nylon rope and their teeth get caught in it badly enough that they can be landed. Seems like it would be alot of fun.

 

[swbuckmaster]

Yes there is alligator gar in the river but they are rare.
I am at Center Hill Dam in Tennessee right now. This river is probably the neatest river I have ever seen. It has an eerie dense fog on the water every morning and evening. The water is clear and packed full of fish. Earlier this year when I was here I caught 9 different spices of fish in one night alone. You never know what is going to bite next. Yesterday I took a walk up near the dam where a leak is getting through the hill. I had to put an electrode in the leak so I can map the leak. As I laid my antenna and set my electrode I watch a pod of carp and long nose gar below me. The carp were 20 to 30 lbs and the gar were 4 to 5 feet long and were just as heavy. My fishing pole got broke while shipping my equipment here so I won’t be able to fish on this trip. I however will be getting a take down bow and a better break down rod that I can put in my suit case when I get back into Utah.

 

[swbuckmaster]

Proctor Reservoir in Texas was the best fishing I have seen. I was there only one week and I only had a half hour to fish on one day. The fishing was awesome the average wiper I caught in that half hour was near 4 to 5 lbs. I ended up catching 3. But these fish come even bigger in this lake. On that week I saw a 40 lb flat head catfish cruising the bank sucking down dead shad. I also saw the biggest large mouth bass I have ever seen doing the same thing. Most of the fish I saw were around 18 to 24 inches in length. In the week I was there working I didn’t see one jet ski, party boat, or one fisherman. The only reason I didn’t fish this reservoir was we put in long hours and the drive back to the hotel was 45 minutes. The guys I was working with weren’t fishermen and didn’t want to watch me fish.

 

[swbuckmaster]

Here is a picture of the fog lifting on the river coming out of center hill dam.

Here is a picture of a dead flat head catfish on Proctor Reservoir. This is a little one I saw much bigger ones.

 

[Riverrat77]

Wow.... those are some sweet pics. Mmmm flatheads. I hear they have them down south in AZ where my folks moved so I might have to go visit and fish. Did you eat that catfish?? If so, how do the flatheads taste?

Oh and for what its worth..... if you're not into eating fish, grab worms, a light rod and your kids and go hook carp. You can teach catch and release, its easy fishing with a great fight when one latches on.... my daughter loves it.

 

[swbuckmaster]

No I didn’t eat the cat fish. I just picked it off the bank. I just took the picture to show what was swimming near the shore tempting me.

 

[Riverrat77]

No I didn't eat the cat fish. I just picked it off the bank. I just took the picture to show what was swimming near the shore tempting me.

Oh, not the dead one... yeah, I could see that not being a good idea. :lol: I meant the one by your pic of the gar. Nice pictures though... sounds like a fishing smorgasbord where you're at.

 

[Leaky]

Ok, let's see how open minded and educated you guys reeeeeeally are! :lol: Not are carp great fighters, tough to catch but are goooooood eating! :shock: :shock: :shock: Yep, reeeeeeally, don't knock it until you try it. 8)
Leaky

 

[swbuckmaster]

I have been to England several times in the last two years. You should see how many people fish for carp over there. In the stores there aren’t any magazines on trout it is all about the carp. They tell me carp are good. But they would rather eat lamb than beef. I wont even eat their beef because it is always cooked on the same grill as there grease gross lamb.

I might try a carp out of this river in Tennessee if someone offered it two me. But I won’t go out of my way to cook one up.

 

[waltny]

Cool pictures! In a couple of John Geirach's books (popular fly fishing author) he talks about fly fishing for gar using frayed nylon rope as the fly-- but with no hook. Supposedly they grab the nylon rope and their teeth get caught in it badly enough that they can be landed. Seems like it would be alot of fun.

Yes this is mostly correct. They make the flies or jigs out of long frayed nylon or similar material as the gar comes in with an open mouth and rolls when it hits. So it wraps up their snout and makes it near impossible for them to get loose. I think they end up cutting the flies/jigs to get them loose as it is almost impossible to untangle them. I caught a few in the north end of Cauyga lake(finger lake in NY) at the spill way fishing for smallies. We were somehow hooking them in the tail with a rapala, j7 blue shad countdown...

 

[waltny]

Carp are amazing fighters. I caught a 15 pounder this summer at Starvation that took over 45 minutes to land, using 6lb test.
After seeing those pics, I would sure be nervous about wading through that river. Do you know if that river has alligator gar in it? If so, that really took some guts to wade into that water.

If it was the lower Arkansas river the gar would be the least of my worries. Rattlesnakes, copperheads, water mockisans anyone??? Very brave indeed.

 

[Nibble Nuts]

Carp are amazing fighters. I caught a 15 pounder this summer at Starvation that took over 45 minutes to land, using 6lb test.
After seeing those pics, I would sure be nervous about wading through that river. Do you know if that river has alligator gar in it? If so, that really took some guts to wade into that water.

If it was the lower Arkansas river the gar would be the least of my worries. Rattlesnakes, copperheads, water mockisans anyone??? Very brave indeed.

Don't forget the snapping turtles. I might have to be heavily inebriated to enter that water.

 

[JAT83]

Those are some nice pics! Nice work