First fish of 2014

[igquick]

Made a few hair rigs before I started my first trip of 2014

 

[Raincatcher]

As always it looks like you had a great time and it paid off. :thumb: Can you explain the "hair rig"? Not so much the how, but the why. Why are the carp attracted to it? Is it the only method you use?

 

[igquick]

As always it looks like you had a great time and it paid off. :thumb: Can you explain the "hair rig"? Not so much the how, but the why. Why are the carp attracted to it? Is it the only method you use?

Thanks

The method is helping with the attractiveness factor, but there is no doubt that the over-all effectiveness is mostly caused by the "hair rig". The hair rig was developed because the carp has the ability to reject a hookbait multiple times in a fishing trip which also results in losing fish when fighting it, and hook pulls. So when using a hair rig, the main idea is to get the carp hooked when it spits it out. In essence, this eliminates the carp's ability to reject the hair rig; and results in less "bites" and more banked fish.

There are also different types of ways the carp/fish can get hooked from this rig. One being, the carp mouths the bait, tries to spit it out, and the hook catches the bottom part of the lip. Another way is that the carp/fish mouths the bait, tries to spit it out and swim away at the same time, and the carp gets hooked on the side of it's mouth; this usually happens in my experience.

Some fisherman put an enormous amount of weight on their line so the hook "sets" harder. Some fisherman, like me, have a better experience using a sliding sinker, so the fish doesn't feel the weight as much; and I use the rods bending motion when the fish runs as a "hook set".

Here is a video example:

 

[bass]

Great job on breaking the ice! That carp was bigger than most of my sturgeon this weekend

 

[igquick]

No way u caught smaller sturgeon lol,, the carp was pictured in this thread is a 12 LBER

 

[cdumitru78]

Nice job man, way to get things going. Weather was soo good these last few days, I wish I went too.

 

[igquick]

yea, now the weather is way too cold!

 

[cdumitru78]

yea, now the weather is way too cold!

I was actually there over the weekend, did not have much time, nor was I properly prepared! I was there for about 90 minutes and they were actually bitting OK. Got a small ish carp, about 5 to 6 lbs and a feisty sucker fish, biggest one I ever caught. Both on them on bread, but I did not use the hair rig or anything special, let's say I was less than prepared. I like the way you set up your hair rig with the twisted thin metal, that's not how I used to do it, but I typically set mine up for corn. Bread will stay on longer the way you show it, much better chance to get a strike.

 

[igquick]

Damnit...I was getting bites also but my stupid boilie I was using was probably too big for a 5 to 6 lb carp...

 

[cdumitru78]

I am not sure if all the fish are smaller or if that is what I ran into. I would imagine the big ones are there as well, maybe harder to catch, who knows. Weather will suck, but as long as is dry and not too windy, I will try to go if schedule permits, that has been my biggest issue. I have tried boilies there in the past, no luck though.

 

[igquick]

What kind of boilies were you using? And ehat kind of bred were you using when you were fishing?

 

[DrTheopolis]

Is that Kelly Point (don't answer if you don't want to)?

In my teens, I spent a lot of time catching carp in the lake behind my house (Commonwealth). Used to catch them by the hundreds. Might have to get back into it one of these days, since I spend some time in St. Johns, which is a good place to be for carp.

 

[cdumitru78]

Is that Kelly Point (don't answer if you don't want to)?

In my teens, I spent a lot of time catching carp in the lake behind my house (Commonwealth). Used to catch them by the hundreds. Might have to get back into it one of these days, since I spend some time in St. Johns, which is a good place to be for carp.

I will let igquick answer your question since this is his thread really... I always wanted to try Commonwealth lake, I heard there is carp there, never tried it. How long ago was that, it would be nice to try it one of these days.

 

[igquick]

Yes it is Kelley point

I've always wanted to try at Commonwealth, but are theh even biting right now?

 

[DrTheopolis]

Don't think I've fished Commonwealth since I moved away from the hood over 20 years ago. I know it's changed a bunch, and bank access isn't what it used to be. I think they might have even poisoned it to get the planter trout going. Back when, we'd usually fish the east (Huntington Ave, across from the other park) end for carp (much shallower). The end by the main entrance on Foothill is much deeper down by the dam. In the deep end, we'd catch big bullheads, and occasionally hook a sturgeon, which we'd never land. When the water would warm in spring, we'd catch crappy by the buhzillions along the banks.

But it was out my back gate, so me and my buddies would fish it daily, year round. No idea if it still has carp -- used to be thick with them. The ODFW took it over since then.

 

[cdumitru78]

They are definitely still in there... we went for some pictures on the park in August, and there were some monster carp under the dock. I am just not a fan of fishing urban overpopulated parks.

 

[DrTheopolis]

With you on the urban parks. We'd usually go at night. Some days. Was less crowded back then, I think.

Not surprised there's still plenty of them. Average size wasn't huge -- I'm guessing due to overpopulation. They were really thick then. Maybe they are now?

 

[cdumitru78]

I did not see more than a few, but the ones that I saw were over 10 lbs, large fish.

 

[cdumitru78]

They are definitely there, the ones that I saw seemed to be over 10lbs, cruising under the dock all the way to the other side of the pond.

 

[igquick]

Yea but right now it's different than it was August....Honestly I'm just too lazy to go unless there are carp biting over there