Glad to see you guys scored, OZ,

The jinx is behind you, eh?

The carp all look like common except the one showing its fins... Is that a different variety, like a silverside, or something?

The sunfish hit corn too?

 

What is with all this chumming? Seems to attract a less desirable crowd.

 

Au contraire, Great Blu One, :lol:

Chumming is used by offshore fishing boats to get the fish concentrated... In the Big Lake, various "trees" of multiple flashers are placed ahead of the lure to simulate baitfish being chased by a fish the salmon would like to eat... An attractant... Like spraying your lure with a scent to keep that fish holding on to the lure for enough time to set the hook... Variants on chumming, I would say... All to make it more likely to attract fishes.

Some of these are highly desireable fishes.

Chumming in local lakes is designed to hold the baitfish in one spot so that you can catch fish where YOU decide it would be convenient, not where the fish make you lose rig after rig fishing unfishable structure...

Now, given a feeding population of baitfish in any water, I would guess that you will soon have predator species checking out the action. That is why catches of bass, crappie, perch, walleye, channel cat and carp are not uncommon when fishing just for gills with the bank angling techniques.

You may use corn instead of other chumming material to increase your chances of catching carp. If so, then the carp IS the desired crowd, and your incidental catches of gills, channel cat, bullhead, browns or rainbow trout are the "less desireable crowd", eh? But always welcome in the bag. :wink:

Chumming is used with discretion... Obviously, you don't chum with live fatheads or shiners, but when you use a freshly cut 'gills or roach, you are counting on the scent of the fish's blood to draw in the target fish, right? Usually don't chum when I use 'crawlers, either, just corn or waxies, when you can have a fish on virtually every cast.

Not preachin', just explaining. 8

 

Glad to see you guys scored, OZ,

The jinx is behind you, eh?

The carp all look like common except the one showing its fins... Is that a different variety, like a silverside, or something?

The sunfish hit corn too?

Silverside??? Bio ID'ed as a common carp. I think I used a flash on that one, so color slightly distorted. Sunfish were hitting the waxies fast and furious (Palos was using them) but I caught some on the corn(I was only using for bait). I also had a gill and a nice (all be it small) pumpkinseed that slipped from my hands so no photo.

Three years from now, when the 8''/10 fish gill creel is lifted (I hope) Tampier will be a good bank angling venue.

 

OZ,

What setup do you use when fishing Tampier? Rod and reel or pole and float?

You've been in this game a lot longer than I have.

Have you put together another bank angling club yet? The Marquette Park scenario seems tailored for the kids... Hope it goes VERY well, we need new anglers to feed this sport, and they need to learn the ETHICS as well 2 I'm sure few of us are available on Monday's during working hours...

GLGF

 

Rod & Reel Zonk. Only poles I had were some 20' wonderpoles. Got ripped by Shirley's. One lasted me two hours before it broke on a blue gill hook set! I'm guessing it was dry rotted from being in storage for so long. They wouldn't replace it 3 The sad thing is, it was a replacement for another one that broke after two weeks, by a gill no less.

A pole would be much better though for Tampier as they can be caught by even a 20' one.

I forgot to add in my first post, the hits on the floats were light. My first carp I was kidding with Palos that a gill was playing with my bait. Nope, a carp. Float moved less than 1/2''. On the other hand, some of Palos hits(bottom fishing), the line screamed off the reel. Go figure.

As to bank angling club, no-way could I even think about starting another one, absolutley so little time on my end. Besides John's club is fishing more of the southern lakes 2

 

Try Lake Arlington with corn. You'll be amazed how wild the sunfish go over corn. I basically catch one after another when I use corn there.

What did you catch the carp on? Corn or wax worms?

Good job. I usually bottom rig for bigger carp but the small ones are great to play with. I have to get me one of those poles. It's sweet for float fishing. I used a pole back in Europe all the time. How much does a 15-20 footer run for and where can you get a quality one? Hearing about Ed Shirley's poles doesn't give me much confidence to get one there...

 

I will pass on chummimg and adapt my technique for location and structure. I know how to get snagged up and lose hooks but I also know
how to fish areas others avoid or leave decorated. From what I have seen from Oz's posts I think proper use of chum technique is to bait the dinks to an area and fish elsewhere. I don't see myself becoming a bank angler soon although 90% of my fishing is from bank.

 

LmB,

I got my 16.5' Black Widow at Fishing Connection in Tinley on 159th Street. Been real good, telescoping, not piece together.

My 10'er and 20'er are both Wonder Poles that I got from Gander Mountain in Geneva... Used the 10'er a bit but not the bigger one...

I mostly float fish, setting the float so the bait just settles onto or just above the bottom... Most of the time, the hit is on the drop, and many are rising hits. The float, as I'm sure you know, will give a great indication of these "lifting" hits.

OZ,

I got a heavy hit today at Plum Grove. Hit like a freight train, did the back and forth a couple of times, then I lost it. The carp I landed hit very lightly though, and I had several hits where the float disappeared quickly. Setting the hook immediately was nonproductive, but, Hey!, I was using barbless hooks and you can't futz around with those or the fish will throw it bigtime!

These fish came from corn. Waxies only produced 'gills. Got a couple of 10" channel cats on the corn, too. I usually fish waxies with a breadcrumb/corn meal chum, and do real well for gills with that.

 

Can you take a photo of your setup? I'm interested to see what kind of set up you're using. I've been fishing in Europe all my life, probably using a lot of the techniques that Mick Thill talks about in his seminars. I know how to float fish finese style, etc. A lot of people wonder how I catch so much fish when they can't catch almost anything. It's true, sometimes you don't catch much when there's no fish around but if there's fish there you learn ways to make it hit that bait. I fish live bait most of the time and it's great. I've learned some things about lures and stuff but live bait will always be my preference of fishing. It's natural and effective. As John like to say, I like CATCHING FISH which is why I go there. Relaxation is a combined bonus.

Last night I was at Lake Arlington using a live worm and a tiny sinker (no float) and simply fishing almost parallel to the shoreline. I got a few decent basses, a couple bullheads and a lot of gills. There were about 5 or so other fisherman around me and they didn't catch anything. They thought I was somehow cheating and hooking up the same fish over and over agian which was quite funny. Once they started watching me fishing they realized I was actually CATCHING FISH which is what this is all about. Recreational enjoyment of catching fish. I LOVE IT!

Btw, a good float that I use on occasion is from a duck's feather. You cut the part where there are no hairs (white plastic like stuff). Once you cut it, you need a little rubber and you're set. It's very sensitive. I used to use that back in Europe all the time so I don't pay for floats but here in the US the good ones are pretty cheap so it's worth to pay for a nicely made float.

 

Largemouth Bass,

You are talking the European style of match fishing, you are undoubtedly more advanced than I am (which wouldn't be that hard to do)...

I paid about a dollar a foot for my poles, all made in China... :-?

So, you end up spending more for bait than you did for your tackle... :lol:

Mick's Forum has more detail on technique, but the essence for me is the float, balanced so that the small shot on the light fluorocarbon leader will produce a nice "settling" that sets up the system to detect ANY hits on the #12 to 16 hook.

And, blu, I mostly chum in matches only, or when practicing... I agree fishing structure is very valuable, but that's if you can move around to find the structure and move again when the bite drops off, right? In match fishing, you draw a peg, or spot, and that's where you fish for up to four hours, no moving. So, in a way, chumming is creating structure where there is none, and you have a competitor on either side of you, trying to draw and hold the fish just 20 to 40' away from you. If you're not chumming, you have little chance to win. This style isn't for everyone, and isn't the only way I fish, but it is the most consistently productive fishing I have ever done, bar none.

 

Like I said I will pass this sport up. I have access to unpolluted sources of water and relatively free and open spaces with varied and healthy shorelines. Today we celebrate our liberation from the British. Gather up some pegs and roast a soccer ball.