No idea what I'm doing

[mcfishin]

I'll preface this post by saying that I've caught thousands of fish in my lifetime, and probably close to 100 different species... but I've never caught a carp, and I've decided it's time. I just moved to Oregon 3 weeks ago so I've been exploring the area, and there seem to be a lot of places for carp fishing.

Last week, I was walking my dog around a little pond/lake in the area (I think it's called Commonwealth Lake, in Beaverton) and saw a half a dozen carp ranging from about 3 to 6 lbs. One swam right up to me within 2 feet of the bank where I was standing. I thought it'd be fun to fight one of those on my light tackle, so I did some Googlin' and went back this morning with a can of corn and gave it a shot.

I only saw two this time, both had to be 5 lbs or more, and I casted my improvised carp rig towards them. Both went up and sniffed it, one even seemed to open its mouth like he was gonna eat it, but neither took it. I expected them to be a little less finicky.

Can anybody offer me any help? My rig was pretty ghetto looking, but I used what I had handy -- trout rod and reel with 6 lb test, a small weight with a lil corky floating a size 6 egg hook loaded with shoepeg corn. I was mostly just planning on sight-fishing and casting at the ones I saw. I tried to be stealthy but they may have seen me.

Appreciate any advice on how to pop my carp fishin' cherry... is there a place and technique I can expect to have easy success? I could've snagged one, or shot it with a bow and arrow, but that doesn't really seem like fishing to me (still fun, but I want to feel like I outwitted a mud-sucking fish ).

 

[GaryP1958]

Why would any sane person want a Carp?

 

[montym]

Ever seen a completely sane person spend hours, and some very good money; getting drenched by rain/burning in the sun to throw funny things in the water to catch somethings that only gets thrown back right into the water? Sometimes doing that days on end without even a fish to show for? Naaah.

 

[mcfishin]

thanks montym for pointing out what I thought was obvious. I fish for fun most of the time, and catching a big fish on light tackle is about my favorite thing to do -- I'd throw back a 5 lb bass too, but nobody would question why I was fishing for it. Anyway, how the heck do I catch one? :bleh:

 

[montym]

Beats me to be honest! I started fishing after some 30 odd years last year only, so I am usually after stuff that are easier to catch. Have tried for carp a few times, got skunked every single time. Having said that, this may not be the best time to have a go at carp, they are probably spawning and not eating much. Google will get you plenty of stuff. Not too many folks in this forum go after carp, and those who do have been very quite this year.

BTW Bethany pond is also a good place for carp, I've seen folks catch a few nice ones there.

Cheers
M

 

[FishOn420]

thanks montym for pointing out what I thought was obvious. I fish for fun most of the time, and catching a big fish on light tackle is about my favorite thing to do -- I'd throw back a 5 lb bass too, but nobody would question why I was fishing for it. Anyway, how the heck do I catch one? :bleh:

I have caught some decent carp but I was never targeting them when I caught them. I used live night crawlers with a Carolina set up and a 1oz sliding egg. I have caught them in the Willamette river and Multnomah channel and they were decent size. I have heard that the Colombia Slough off Kelly point park has some good carp fishing but I do believe they are in spawning season right now.

 

[troutmasta]

Why would any sane person want a Carp?

Id imagine the same reason anyone would want to catch a bass, tarpon, OS sturgeon, or any other C&R fish. For the fun of fishing. Carp are a hard fighting bone fish that, as McFishin pointed out, can be very difficult to fool. Plus they are abundant in the area...

As for advice McFishin- The reel diehards use a fly:yikes:. I've never targeted them but I have heard of hair rigs using corn or bread balls. Dont ask me for more details cause I dont know. We used to have the best carp fisherman in oregon on here but I havent seen him post in a while.

Tight lines-

 

[hobster]

Why would any sane person want a Carp?

Uhhhh because they are a fun fighting fish? Isn't that why we fish...............the tug is the drug.

igquick is a carp catching machine, maybe pm him. I know doughballs work well, also 6 lb. test may be a little low, hook a big one and it'll snap that in a sec. I've tied up some carp flies but have yet to use them, i have only carp fished once before. Good luck out there!

 

[hobster]

Id imagine the same reason anyone would want to catch a bass, tarpon, OS sturgeon, or any other C&R fish. For the fun of fishing. Carp are a hard fighting bone fish that, as McFishin pointed out, can be very difficult to fool. Plus they are abundant in the area...

As for advice McFishin- The reel diehards use a fly:yikes:. I've never targeted them but I have heard of hair rigs using corn or bread balls. Dont ask me for more details cause I dont know. We used to have the best carp fisherman in oregon on here but I havent seen him post in a while.

Tight lines-

Best carp FLY fisherman you mean.

 

[mcfishin]

Uhhhh because they are a fun fighting fish? Isn't that why we fish...............the tug is the drug.

igquick is a carp catching machine, maybe pm him. I know doughballs work well, also 6 lb. test may be a little low, hook a big one and it'll snap that in a sec. I've tied up some carp flies but have yet to use them, i have only carp fished once before. Good luck out there!

I hoped the 6 lb test would be good enough, since I was sight fishing and could see how big they were. I figure a 6 lb fish on 6 lb test puts us on a level playing field, right? If it snaps it, it is probably my own fault... or the fish earned the win.

If I get desperate, I might throw my bass rig with braid and a grappling hook.

 

[DrTheopolis]

I used to fish for carp in Commonwealth quite frequently (grew up next to it). We'd tie a #2 (?) hook directly to 6#, and take a fresh loaf of Wonder bread (they must put some chemicals in Wonder to make it form doughballs -- importnat to have fresh, soft bread, or it doesn't stay on the hook), and toss it into the shallows (tough to cast with no weight, you might need a small split shot to get it down and away from the ducks... very important to not hook ducks in front of small children and old ladies). We'd catch them by the dozens. I'd recommend just cutting OFF the hook to release them, since if you handle them, the slime seems to soak into your skin, and it doesn't wash OFF easily... and it stinks. We'd typically fish at night, but could catch them any time of the day.

 

[mcfishin]

I used to fish for carp in Commonwealth quite frequently (grew up next to it). We'd tie a #2 (?) hook directly to 6#, and take a fresh loaf of Wonder bread (they must put some chemicals in Wonder to make it form doughballs -- importnat to have fresh, soft bread, or it doesn't stay on the hook), and toss it into the shallows (tough to cast with no weight, you might need a small split shot to get it down and away from the ducks... very important to not hook ducks in front of small children and old ladies). We'd catch them by the dozens. I'd recommend just cutting OFF the hook to release them, since if you handle them, the slime seems to soak into your skin, and it doesn't wash OFF easily... and it stinks. We'd typically fish at night, but could catch them any time of the day.

thanks, that was exactly the tip I needed! Wonderbread huh? gonna go out and catch me some duck... er, carp.

 

[cdumitru78]

There is some big fish in that lake, thats for sure! I think you were going about it the right way, sometimes they can be picky, especially as the weather warms up! I've caught them on corn, bread, and worms, they all work. I fish for them at the bottom, that works best, and I seem to catch them early am or during the evening time. if you want to get technical about it, google the hair rig technique, that will GREATLY improve your chances to land carp.

 

[DrTheopolis]

There is some big fish in that lake, thats for sure!

As kids, me and my friends figured those must be some huge catfish that would occasionally spool us when dunking a worm. Then we saw a sturgeon pulled out. I guess it wasn't catfish taking a whole spool of 6#.

 

[cdumitru78]

Haha, that would be absolutely awesome, hopefully they threw the monster back in for someone else to enjoy. Have you ever caught decent catfish there?

 

[BaldTexan]

We would catch them in the south on mini-casts and canned sweet corn. We'd toss a handful of the sweet corn out (chumming? Don't know if it's legal here), wait about 10 minutes, then toss out a hook with a single kernel of the sweet corn and hang on! A lot of giggles catching 15# carp on 4# line and a mini-cast rig.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[DrTheopolis]

We'd catch some pretty decent yellow bellies in there. All the fishing I did there (hundreds of times, since I lived there) was before it was redone and the ODFW took it over.

And I heard a story in recent years about a foreigner keeping a sturgeon out of there, which resulted in a confrontation with bystanders. But that's just what I heard.

Way back when, the crappie were so thick, you couldn't keep them OFF the hook when the water first warmed. I believe the state record black crappie came from that turdpond.

 

[troutmasta]

Best carp FLY fisherman you mean.

John Montana is the best, ...(at least IMO)

He just happened to use a fly.

 

[hobster]

NFL kickoff, awesome I guess we'll be giving eachother some crap come the Skins/ Cowboys games huh?

And John Montana is the best no doubt.

 

[allaboutfishing88]

Hey mcfishin. I live in Beaverton. I've fished Commonwealth. First thing you have to realize is the amount of fishing and people that come to commonwealth. The fish are going to be hard to catch. One thing I recommend is a good sized "bait hook" and put a worm on it. About 1- 2 inch worm and nothing else. No swivl or weight. If you use the worms head rather then the tail you'll cast farther. And use that when you can see them. Cast ahead of them and twitch and retrieve to get it where there headed or stationed. Hooked two couple weeks ago fishing for bass and there was like 20-30 in this slough. 3-4 were 15+ lbs. Got a 10+ lb and 12+ lb carp to bite doing what I suggested. Just wait longer then I did. Got a little ahead of myself. If you fish worms on the bottom they bite (taste) spit out, repeat. Good luck!