Played hookey from work today and hit up the old Hole 33 spot today for the first time in a year. Nice hike down, not so fun back up. Just needed to feel a fish on my line, its been too long. Chummed up the area with my super secret homemade bait (corn soaked and frozen in garlic and other top secret things) and went about to removing some of the carp population. Say what you will about carp, but the SOB's fight hard. To make it more fun I used 6lb test and a light rod. Only broke of one fish. The biggest was about 10lbs and avg was maybe 5-6lbs. This is a great way to learn how to not "horse" a fish as my Dad would have said. Also got a couple of little stripers and a few small catfish. All in all a good time. Sorry for the low res. pic's. Forgot the good camera at home, these are from the cell phone. PS the fish did not go in vein, a nice pack of coyotes was waiting for me to leave. I am sure they are very happy tonight. PPS the catfish and the stripers were let go...bad day to be a carp.
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Hello Dan79,
Any day fishing is better than work. Carp fight very hard and they are great practice for fighting techniques. Your pictures turned out great. You should try crawdad cove not as far to walk.
Stripercraze
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Looks like it is time to get out the cut-bait! Great report.
BaySport
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great report and pics. I've been out to mead a couple times to soak corn but had no luck (once at Boulder Marina on the bank to the north and once off the point at Hemingway Marina). Both times no hits.
I actually am seeking to harvest Carp. It's good meat if
you trim the dark lateral meat away and soak it overnight in salt water in the fridge. The flesh becomes white. The meat below the ribs and the tail sections can be separated from the fillet and are boneless. They can be fried golden brown and are very good.
As far as the rest......bones!!!!! Have been canning quite a bit of Elk from this past year's hunt and stumbled upon
a carp canning method. It sounds like it might work. Here
is the link:
http://tabletophomestead.blogspot.com/20...-carp.html
maybe I'll try corn and garlic too. the two times I went I
just used corn right out of the can......chumming and on the hook.
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Nice report and catch. You just use corn ? Only catch Carp by accident.
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Tried eating carp once myself, I was fishing with a dude from Indonesia and he cooked it whole right there on the bank and had some sort of chili sauce that he dipped it in. It was not too bad. Figured I could try it once.
The spot is key for a good carp harvesting. You want to look for a cut or little pocket on the main lake. I have found the Lake Mead carp really gang up and feed in areas that are 6-10 feet deep near the main lake. You can see some very shallow but those are usually loners. I have never caught one deeper than about 15 feet. If you can find a point on the main lake with a small cut running in and moderate depth your good.
These feeding areas can also be found be paying attention to the carp gulping air or whatever the heck they are doing in those big schools on the surface. If you see those schools the feeding area is usually about half way between the school of fish and the bank. They will gulp air in the early AM and then move in to feed when the sun gets higher.
And chum chum chum. I start with four cans and add about a can an hour. Sprinkle a bunch of cheap garlic salt on it and your golden. Use as little weight as possible, they are smart, I use a BB size split shot about 18 inches up from a size 8 J hook. Also it helps to hold the rod, they will really bite light sometimes; all you will see is the line tick, when that happens set the hook fast. Using two rods was not working for me as they were biting way to steady. Sometimes as we all know the bite is not subtle and you will loose a pole.
So for all of those I know were clamoring for it, there is the 411 on how to catch carp consistently on Lake Mead. Works for me, always catch a ton, almost literally a ton of carp. They are fun to catch and heck, how else can you fight a dozen fish over ten pounds in a short afternoon?
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Sounds like a blast. Great report. What were you using on the hook? Chovies? Or something else?
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Corn, canned corn for chum and some corn that I had mixed with garlic and some other things and frooze; the frozen ones were the bait the fresh were the chum.
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Thanks for the "how-to" on Mead carping. (you're not English are you?). From what I've read, the brits, and
other Euros, take their carp fishing very seriously.
Again, very concise yet to-the-point tips from a pro.
thanks
will be putting this info to use soon
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Oh my god !!!!!!!! When you said you had a pic I expected to see you holding one carp not a whole school good job on that I bet that was real fun I've wanted to try and catch a few on my fly rod someday .
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They say that carp will take small dry flies and emergers.
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No not a brit at all. From Cali, but been in Vegas for almost 15 years now. In Europe carp are their bass. They catch and release; have tournaments; carp magazines and have some very specialized tackle and techniques. Lake Mead to them is like a lake casitas to us, it’s a trophy lake for carp. I met a few brits out there once fishing for carp and they were cool dudes with some really neat tackle. They use something called a bolt rig that employs a weight that weights almost a pound. I am sure you can Google it for info if anyone is curious. Pretty cool I guess. I kicked their buts though with my weightless set up. Score one for the Yank, which is what they kept calling me, limey SOB's [laugh]
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They are fun to catch and heck, how else can you fight a dozen fish over ten pounds in a short afternoon?
Excellent point.
Thanks for the info, keep it coming!
BaySport
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Hey Dan nice report on the carp fishing. I am really not into carp but I admit they are fun to fight. Another bait I found by accident that really seems to catch carp is hot dogs. I am not saying other fish like catfish or stripers wont bite it but it really attracts carp for some reason. Anyway just thought I would throw that out there[fishin]
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check your pm's dan
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Bump for those of you lookin for info on carp...
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Thanks for the info you covered it all. Nice pic too!
I think I hooked into another today not sure. I got a slight tug and set the hook and wham the fish gave a real few good hard tugs and the next thing I know I'm snagged on a rock or bush. The fish was like houdini.
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