What would your first carp catch be like?

What would your first carp catch be like?

One of my regular clients after some prompting decided to try something new and attempt to catch his first carp. He brought his fishing partner along and they met me at 3:30. I prefer morning trips. I firmly believe the morning bite is better then the evening bites. There was blue bird skies, it was hot, and a 30 mph wind to deal with.

I called fellow DuPageAngler.com member Joshua Bennett for a little help. He is a carp angler and photographer. It was great to have the extra rods out for the guys and having awesome photos shots of the guys fishing!

http://www.sunshinephotography.net/Outdoor-Sports/2014-07-27-Fishing/

http://www.sunshinephotography.net/

The first spot we chose was a new but reliable spot plus it was sheltered by the wind. After and hour of soaking carp bait,I see my 14 year old client playing on his phone and I know it is time to move.

Joshua had been fly fishing carp at a new pond with some great results. It has a nice lawn, a parking lot close, and a good carp population. The problem was its next to a corn field so there was no escape from the pounding winds.

We set up on a small point when lady luck struck a corn rod. (We had both float rigs and bottom rigs setup using corn bread and boilies.)It was a nice fish! The kid was excited and the look on his face was awesome. Then it was George’s turn they both seemed surprised at the strength and bull runs the carp made. I think I was more excited then they were.

Joshua for some crazy reason brought an ultra light and of course it gets bit!! We handed the kid the rod and said good luck with smirks on our faces. He didn’t have a snowballs chance in hell of landing that fish. He surprised us big time! He reeled against the drag for a moment then calmed down and settled in for the fight. Kid has his second carp ever on and he was fighting it better then most. We were both impressed as the fish was landed.

We were running out of light and George decided to call it. Just then one rod bent in half and he landed the biggest fish of the night!!

It was a fun evening. The guys had a great time and so did I. Joshua’s photography services will soon be available on any trip from shore! So please check out his site and his shots from the trip.

If you would like to have an Angling Adventure of your own just visit dupagefishingguide.com

Great Start to the Ice Season – Jackpot Bluegills

This Ice Season Started for us early! A good old fashion winter, who would have thought it after last year’s warm short season. Looking for safe ice was our first concern. We drove north because we heard of safe ice up at the top of the county. Every small pond Sooner Bass (Ted) and I stopped at my spud bar went through( this is a heavy bar use to test ice before you walk on it). Surprisingly, it was the large ponds or small lakes that had safe ice. I believe it was the lakes with wide open areas where the frigid winds aided the ice creation.

 We had checked several places all unsafe. When we were about to give up Sooner who said hey it cannot hurt lets check this bigger pond I fished once a while ago. This lake is surrounded by cat tails and is sort of hidden as well as old. When the spud bar could not break through we ran to the car to get our stuff. It was about 7pm and dark. Right away we started nailing huge gills! The small ones would be considered ok at many of the ponds we fish! The night bite ice fishing historically has not been good to me so this was awesome.

Since this was the only safe ice, I and other DuPageAngler.com Members returned a few times. Beard Heads on and every time produced something. I even took my daughter in seven degrees. The heater was blasting as she caught 17 gills and loved using the Fish TV. Five trips I fished with JC Crappies (Chusum), Dark Star (Jason), Crankin King (Scott), Brim (bob), and Fluke (Alan) all hardcore DuPage Anglers. All had their Beard Heads on and we were all staying warm.

We used many techniques. Straight lining, floats n jigs, floats n minnows, Little Atom plastics and our new weapon, Magic Maggies from Aurora Lure Company. The Maggies are awesome, if you put one in your hand next to a real wax worm there is not much difference except one is trying to get out. These come in red and white and caught a ton of fish. We are field testing these now and are excited at the early results. I will revisit these plastic baits once Aurora Lure Company has them on sale.

Getting out more then a couple times in December was awesome. Catch and releasing a pile of full grown bluegills was the star on top of the angling tree. I am looking forward to the rest of this season.

Late Fall Live Bait Walleyes

 Every year in the Midwest there is this awkward time between open water and ice. Many anglers put the rods away and park on the couch.

Fish can be caught during this time, especially walleyes. Around the dams of the Fox River each fall are walleyes. The best approach is having an industrial pair of neoprene and getting out there with them. If  the conditions are right they can also be caught from shore.

We started fishing in the dark to make sure we had the top shore spots. I would have preferred to wade however it is time to retire my old Hodgemens. This pair is more Shoe Goo then neoprene at this point and it is always a gamble if they are going to leak each time out.

Since it was in the teens when we arrived a layered dress approach was needed. I had 3 bottom layers four top layers, two pairs of gloves, hand warmers, and of course a Beard Head.

We used our live bait drift rigs. These rigs consist of a Raven float, Raven shot or similar, Raven specialist hooks.(octopus hooks size four or six) The rod I used was a Bass Pro Shop 8.5ft Float and Fly rod paired with a Shimano Reel. For more details on this rig  click here.

HeadHead

We managed to catch about 15 fish between us. That sure beat sitting on the couch. The walleyes were small but we had continuous action for a couple hours. When you find yourself stuck in angler’s purgatory grab your longest spinning rod some quality floats and some live bait and get yourself some late fall live bait walleyes.

Back to Perch in Chicago

Mike C (www.Dupageangler.com member mcalla) Called me and asked if I would like to join him on a guided trip to Chicago on Lake Michigan for jumbo perch. His partner had to cancel so I quickly jumped at the chance.

Thinking on perch fishing, I was brought back to my youth powerlining www.powerlining.com for perch on the lakefront with my friends. We would wade creeks the day before catching crawfish and walk the tracks looking for railroad spikes to use as weights. We would arrive at the water in the dark and catch perch all day then go home and clean perch all night.

This was my first time back since I was a kid. We used Captain Ralph Steiger. http://captainsteiger.com/ We left the dock with high expectations for a quick limit.

When we started trolling our spinner rigs tipped with crawfish, we realized that it was not going to be an easy day.

We trolled near Navy Pier at around 1.3 – 2 miles per hour just tapping the tops of the weeds. The fish were there we just had to keep at it. Slowly but surely the fish started coming in. The sight of my first perch over 9 inches in years made me very happy. We caught a pile of dinky fish that had to be released. Capt Ralph said “we are staying out here until we get them.”  These words I was impressed to hear and this showed me that he was a good choice as our guide today. We trolled, talked, laughed, and caught fish. We grinded it out and left the lake with 20 in the box and day full of memories.