Carp on the Willamette?

[kenr74]

Was out kayak fishing(bass) near Newberg over the weekend and thought I spotted a big salmon. Next thing I know I have 20 or so huge fish just circling my kayak. After some googling I am guessing they were carp. Most of them were around 2' long and must have weighed at least 20 pounds.

I couldn't get them to bite on anything. Google says use corn. Is there some magic to catching these or just patience?

 

[bass]

Carp are typically bottom feeders and are difficult to catch when they are near the surface unless they are feeding on something (berries, cottonwood seeds, etc). While we mostly fished them on the bottom we occasionally targeted the baskers. The technique that we used as kids was to use some white bread on a hook with a bobbler. It did not always work, but a good bit of the time the carp were will to eat that. Some times we would have the bread float and some of the time we would wad it up and let it hang down a foot or two. If using the floating bread after you make a cast you need to pull on the line enough to separate the bread from the bobber. It is cool when one slurps it down.

Best of luck!

 

[kenr74]

I will have to try the bread trick. Not sure if they just moved into this area or if they just happened to be on top that day. I don't think my little trout pole would have a chance so I guess I'll take the big pole with me next time.

 

[Raincatcher]

When fishing for carp years ago we used bread but we took the crust off and gummed it for a minute to make it into a gooey ball. The fish wouldn't stay off the hooks!

 

[bass]

I will have to try the bread trick. Not sure if they just moved into this area or if they just happened to be on top that day. I don't think my little trout pole would have a chance so I guess I'll take the big pole with me next time.

It is a blast to catch carp on an ultralight - unless you are fishing a weedy area. If the water is open the trout pole is definitely the way to go.

 

[kenr74]

The area I saw them in was about 4' deep with about 5' tall weeds. I catch a lot of bass on the edges of it but had never seen carp there. They sure look like they would be fun to catch. I couldn't believe how big they were.

 

[troutdude]

Years back, I hit an old stomping ground on the Long Tom River for smallies. I began tossing, my favorite surface plugs (chuggers and poppers). Bam! Caught one carp after the other! It blew my mind because as Bass mentioned; they are typically bottom feeders. And it may have only worked, in river with choppy surface water. So if you have the same conditions there; you might give surface plugs a try. Toss 'em in; and let 'em sit for a moment. Then twitch. Wait. Twitch again. Reel it in a bit. Let it sit again. Twitch. Repeat. Then reel it it. Also try varying the method--like toss it in, and reel rapidly back. Etc. Good luck.

 

[bass]

Years back, I hit an old stomping ground on the Long Tom River for smallies. I began tossing, my favorite surface plugs (chuggers and poppers). Bam! Caught one carp after the other! It blew my mind because as Bass mentioned; they are typically bottom feeders. And it may have only worked, in river with choppy surface water. So if you have the same conditions there; you might give surface plugs a try. Toss 'em in; and let 'em sit for a moment. Then twitch. Wait. Twitch again. Reel it in a bit. Let it sit again. Twitch. Repeat. Then reel it it. Also try varying the method--like toss it in, and reel rapidly back. Etc. Good luck.

I fished a lake in NC many years back and I was throwing a floating rapala right around dark and using a very subtle twitch and wait retrieve. I fish grabbed the lure and took off. The drag was just peeling off of my baitcaster (12lb test, tight drag). My friend and I thought I had the state record on for sure. I played that fish for a good ten minutes before we saw that it was a carp. It was around 20lbs, we could not believe it.

Turns out that folks in that section of the lake would often throw out bread for the ducks and the carp would munch on it as well. I think the rapala in this case acted like a bread lure. That summer we had a lot of close looks from carp and caught a few more, but after the first one it was easy to tell their sipping bite from a bass smash.

TD, it must have been wild to catch so many. Were the carp feeding on berries or cottonwood fluff?

 

[troutdude]

TD, it must have been wild to catch so many. Were the carp feeding on berries or cottonwood fluff?

It was a long time ago; but their was indeed cottonwood fluff on the surface.

 

[Pni_fisherdude]

I have seen carp eat popcorn off the surface. It probably wouldn't be to hard to keep on a hook either.
JB

 

[bass]

That is a really good idea!

 

[Pni_fisherdude]

Yeah you might even be able to use a fly rod to cast the popcorn. It would be an epic battle if it worked.
JB