[Mike48]

I need some carp help.i understand that carp will be spawning soon. do any of you know what types of areas they spawn in. are the carp agressive. i Will be fishing the North Branch of the Chicago River near niles. i know there are alot of carp where i go because i catch them in the fall. i use worms but corn doesent want to work for me. also what temp. do the carp and cats usually turn on.
Thanks
-wannabe carper

 

[Gills]

I'm suprised that corn doesnt work for you in the Chgo river. I've killed 'em at Foster on corn before....

Try Hungry Jack biscuit dough (or any other biscuit dough for that matter), it stays on the hook pretty well and carp love it.

From what I've seen, carp don't seem very choosy about spawn sites-any flats with shallow water does the trick for them. My log book says that carp will be spawning the last few weeks of April-at least in the few Chgoland ponds that I fish for them....

Have fun!

 

[Chris Taglieri]

I Fish all year long on the river for carp. They hit all year long. If you can get by a water out put even better. I caught 7 of them on the big snow storm this year.
Chris

 

[hulagrub]

When using corn, trying loading your hook with it. Sometimes this helps. Are you chumming? I always throw a handful of corn out when I show up. Haven't gone carping in about 3 years now...maybe this summer???

 

[Mr. Bill]

I've been a carp fisherman since I was about 10. I've converted a whole lot of people to the joys of the carp in the 34 odd years since then. About the best bait I've ever used is an old boilie bait my aunt taught me to make. Everyone was right about the need to chum, unless you have enough people fishing the same bait in the same general location which does the same thing. Please note that the spawning carp won't bite. You will pick-up a few but nothing like summer when the spawn is over and the water warms up. Mid summer at night/early morning can be killer. I have caught over 100 carp a night on the fox river. Note that the average size of the carp I catch out of the fox are 2 to 8lbs. with a few over 10lbs on most trips. Use 6lb test line with a 1/4oz lindy sinker, small ball bearing swivel and a 6lb 12-16" leader with a single size 4 gamakatsu hook. Mold the dough bait around the single hook and cast towards the center channel, near shore in backwaters or under overhanging trees. A quick bait that a friend uses is Wheaties cereal mixed with water till it forms a ball or canned bread dough. It works fairly well in a pinch. Mix in a little anise seed for extra punch! BTW... my largest carp from the fox... bottomed out a 25lb scale. I know I'll catch hell for this but even with carp please CPR. If you have a garden, keep a few and bury them about a foot down. Your plants will love you for it. Best of luck and enjoy catching one of the most bad-ass fish in the world. Don't beleve me, just wait till a 20 pounder opens up a big old can of whoop-ass and runs your reel.

 

[Hawk]

A friend and I fish for Carp at Busse Lake in the warm weather. They are always in 1 to 2 feet of water. Corn always produces very well but it works great if you mix it with vanilla or strawberry extract and you keep it cool (it stays on the hook better when it's cool). Also, use a small hook, like a 10, and a sinker. The size of the sinker depends on how far you have to cast. Where we fish, you have to throw it a pretty good distance so we use heavier weight. I have seen 15+ pound carp taken out of Busse at many different spots. Good luck!
HAWK

 

[OZ]

Where do you fish at Busse? I don't fish there very often, and when I do I fish the North pool. Plenty of carp, but very weedy. Looking for a more weed free area to fish for them.

 

[Guest]

Add a pkg. of Jello to that wheaties/water mix. They like the sweet stuff.

 

[Mike]

I haev been told, by a very reliable sourse, that it is illigal to relese a carp back into any ILL. river system. Does anyone know of this law?

 

[OZ]

On 2002-03-31 14:41, Mike wrote:
I have been told, by a very reliable source, that it is illegal to release a carp back into any ILL. river system. Does anyone know of this law?

Your reliable source isn't very reliable. If he/she doesn't believe there are no rules about mandatory carp killing, have him/her (try to) find a mention of it in the IL fishing regulation book!

 

[Mr. Bill]

Thought you could use the information located on this carp anglers web page. There are techniques, baits and locations as well as some great pictures. Check down near the bottom of the page. There is a section for baits that will get you going in the right direction.
http://www.geocities.com/cyprioman/
Mr. Bill

 

[Mike]

OZ My sourse was our local paper. Last summer they dredged the lagoon in DeKalb. When they did there were huge carp flopping on the bottom. I believe it was our P... friends, but not sure, tried to rescue them. They did not stop untill they were told by the DNR they could be fined for reliecing them into the kish. It had something to do with erosion of the banks caused by carp. I had never herd this either. I was just wondering if anyone else knew of this.

 

[Mr. Bill]

Mike, the big difference would be that they were relocating the carp as apposed to releasing them.

 

[Chris Taglieri]

The law is the law!!! Thats why I go 55mph on the dan ryan. How could there be a law that says kill fish?? I fished the river this weekend caught a whole carp load of carp with one 18lber on the river. I think it even wrong to kill gobbies. Its not the gobbies falt some one screwed up. OK enough. Fun Fun.
Chris

 

[Guest]

where in niles are you fishing for carp. i live in niles and wondered where everyone fishes for the carp

 

[jaytheno1]

carp have the biggest brain of most of the freshwater fish in IL. every time i fish for thhem they seem to get smarter. Fished for carp on the fox we used to use weaties on a treble hook. now if u used that bait it dont work. now the only thing u can catch them on is some type of bread.

we catch 20 to 30 a day on a good day on my secret spot