[Bronzebacker]

My girlfriend has caught the fishing bug (finally!) so I thought some carp fishing would be a great way for her to practice. I had recently retired my salmon gear for the time being and she was using my bass set up so I rigged up my 7'6" ultralight with a size 25 president reel spooled with 4lb test I use for panfish and off we went.

The bite was steady with a few smaller carp here and there and a nice chunk of a warmouth that my better half pulled in. The sun was setting and we still had to get home to get our scratch made Friday pizza cooking.

The dog was getting anxious and I was about to call it when BAM! Fish on! This beasty fought like no carp I've ever hooked before. It ripped line off my reel like a fall king and pulled me through countless patches of lily pads. Thirty minutes into the battle I started to question my choice of tackle for the evening and another thirty minutes later I was netting it and pulling it up on shore.

Not a bad night at all. We caught others, but this was the biggest.

[SNick]

Really nice catch Justin. What bait were you using.

[Bronzebacker]

A little mashed up corn and dough under a cheap float.

[jmdog]

Wow bud that's a long battle and huge fish!

[Bronzebacker]

Thanks guys! It was pretty ridiculous. We're packing up and heading back out in a bit. Hopefully we'll pick up an even bigger one tonight. Time to battle some weekend traffic.

[Sailbad the Sinner]

Really nice fish. Carp put up a great fight.

[Bronzebacker]

Thanks! Yeah, this one especially. It was a serious brute. It bolted into some lily pads at warp speed and tangled me up real nice. By the time I managed to get my line free I thought I lost it, but it had charged about 50 feet down into another patch of pads. From there it was dive and run after dive and run for an hour.


We went back out tonight and only managed a mixed bag of panfish.

[Sailbad the Sinner]

What size and type hook was used?
I have only fly fished for them with very natural looking flies. Fun fights.

[Bronzebacker]

It was a 2/0 circle octopus hook.

[Bronzebacker]

Nothing again today. I'm hooked on this though.

[rustedshack]

Dude you just might be my hero! Awesome!

[Bronzebacker]

[Bronzebacker]

Got back out to a different body of water over by my dad's around 'the region'. I lost another big carp after a 15 minute fight, but my partner landed her first decent carp which made up for it. I'm so proud of her. We cooked some coho on the grill afterward and it was delicious. We also caught about 80 small bullheads.

[dacas1]

Wow. I can't believe you guys landed that fish, pulling through lilly pads with 4 lb test.

Awesome.

[Bronzebacker]

I lost PLENTY of others before that one.

[Bronzebacker]

Ok,

So I upped my braid from 4 to 10lb test. I also spoke with some dedicated carp anglers who really chewed me out for holding a big carp so far off the ground and with a hand under the gill plate. We're heading back out today with some different dough baits and corn that I whipped up. I'm hoping for an even bigger carp this time. Hopefully the cold front will keep the undersized panfish at bay.