My sister Kim was in town last week helping with my mom’s move to a new assisted living facility in Roswell.
After the move was completed, I asked Kim, “Why don’t we go fishing tomorrow morning?”
She accepted my invitation so I took her carp fishing on the Chattahoochee River.
Now, at the mention of the word carp, Kim gave me a sort of puzzled look, just as most people do who’ve never really tangled with an adult sized carp. It was as if to say, “Why would you want to catch a carp?”
Well, all I can say is, after she had caught her first one she clearly understood the WHY.
Actually that morning we hooked 12 fish but only landed 6 due to lots of underwater tree stumps. But the fish all averaged 8-12 lbs.
When it comes to brute strength and power, there is not much comparison between most other freshwater fish and carp. Largemouth bass, for instance, just aren’t built to do battle the way a carp does.
A bass may remain in one spot most of the day, just lying there waiting for an easy meal to pass by so it can pounce on it.
A carp, on the other hand, spends most of the day moving over vast areas looking for food. It works hard to find root out enough small crayfish, insect larvae and other small morsels to fill its stomach.
Comparing a carp to a bass is like comparing a jogger to someone who sits in a recliner all day long.
Carp have flat bellies and broad, muscular shoulders and huge, oversized forked tails. Bass, one the other hand, have fat bellies and big mouths and short slightly forked and rounded tails. (And if you will examine species with deeply forked tails, you will see that, almost without exception, they fight much harder than species with squarer tails.)
But then again, carp don’t jump and shake when hooked and they don’t give you those explosive strikes. They don’t put on as much of an acrobatic show as bass do.
So it’s all really just a matter of personal preference and difference in fishing styles. I just prefer to catch BIG fish that fight long and hard and refuse to give up and that’s what you get with carp.
I like to fly fish for carp and I like to bait fish for them also. Hooking a big carp on an 8 wt. fly rod in 8 inches of water is like hooking a go-cart!
Anyway, I’ve been an avid carp fisherman for well over 50 years now and I don’t imagine I’ll ever get tired of it. It’s just too much fun. And you don’t need to spend a fortune on boats, tackle and equipment to catch lots of big carp.
Later, I’ll share some of my secret techniques and baits, so stay tuned.
Thanks for taking the time to read this, and I hope to see YOU on the water somewhere soon!
Hal
PS. If you haven’t checked out my newest website, http://www.CarpFishingGeorgia.com, just click on the link and do it now. I’ll be posting new videos and new pics on a regular basis.
And please tell other carp enthusiasts about the website and tell them to subscribe to CARP NEWS too!
Thanks again.