Nigel Griffin was given the Champion of the Queen award, and Nick Simmons won the best fish of the year award. All in all a satisfying meeting.
As you know, most of the Annual Meeting takes place on the Chicago River and just a little of it in the meeting rooms of the Quality Inn. In this issue we will cover all aspects of the meeting, but will try to focus on catching fish and the lessons learned from the mix of American and British techniques that were present on those days. There was a lot to be learned.
The river was perfect, as usual, thanks to the team led by Warren Bird. There were over a thousand pounds of chum, mostly maize and wheat, put in the river during a two week period preceding the meeting. The fish were kept there in large numbers and according to my sources, have stayed there since.
The field for the Classic was at an all time high which presented some problems, but these were solved without too many difficulties and the match went smoothly. Even the food was good. Chicago lived up to its reputation as a friendly city. The newspapers covered the event well, local fishing fans were everywhere and were impressed with both our gear and our fish. We made a lot of friends and a number of new members. I had a great time.
So read on and let's see what happened. Those of you not able to make this year's event should plan to go in 1997. It will only get better!
Carp travel and eat in schools for the most part. The exception seems to be the larger (30 lbs. and up) carp which may travel in schools, but often eat on their own. Sometimes their meals may only be a few feet away from the main body of the school but it can be far enough away to be out of your range.
Traditional baits such as sweetcorn are eagerly taken by a variety of fish. Small carp are noted for their lack of caution and they will often dart in and out to eat while the larger and smarter fish are more wary. With corn you have to take what you can get, often a smaller fish, and also fight off the catfish, bluegills, trout and other nuisance fish.
Boilies offer you the chance to tailor the bait to a larger fish. While they are not an instant bait like bread and corn, they can be enticing enough to capture a large fish when the situation is right. It is your job as an angler to make sure the fish wants a boilie. So how is this done?
The English use boilies because they have no choice. Their fisheries are small, highly managed for the most part, and there are few virgin waters. The large carp are well known and have been caught or angled for to the point that fishing pressure is a major factor. This is not so in North America (NA).
Boilies are used in England because they have become the major foodstuff of many carp and because they are versatile enough to fool a very smart fish. But the catch rate for English anglers is much lower than over here. Most specimen anglers are after big fish and they target these fish by going to waters where there are a few big ones and little else. They are content with two or three runs a weekend knowing that each contains a big carp. Not only is this not acceptable in North America, it is not possible. We have too many carp to have a fishing culture like the specimen hunters of England.
What we have is waters in which the majority of the fish are cypronids, mostly carp, and a tremendous lack of interest in catching them. The result is carp of varying sizes (maybe) in large numbers in every body of water.
The trick is separating the big fish from the little ones.
We have profited from using English techniques, especially chumming and bite alarms, and there is still a lot to learn from these fishermen. But we don't have to use the rigs and ideas they use to catch fish. We will continue to profit from English ideas, however, and I think that the use of boilies is the next great one.
If given a choice of corn and never having seen a boilie
before, that charge is true to some extent. I have gone to waters which
have never seen a boilie and caught carp preferentially on boilies because
the fish have figured out what the corn on a hook does to them. By varying
the presentation and flavor of the boilies, I have continued to catch larger
fish, albeit at a slower rate than the small fish. In Chicago this year the largest fish was caught with
a double boilie. This fish had been caught the day before on float rigged
maize while grazing on a field of corn right next to the near bank. Paul
Ockendon put his hair rigged boilies against the far seawall to catch it
the next time. The fish had learned a lesson the day before and had to
be captured with another method. Other anglers were also successful with
boilies, especially on the Sunday after the Classic because they could
offer a reasonable alternative on a heavily fished water. The Chicago River was a heavily fed water, and this is
important. Boilies are the chateaubriand in the middle of a sea of hamburgers.
Bigger fish will often focus in on a more nutritious morsel because they
need to be efficient in their eating habits. While the little fish are
more aggressive, the bigger fish are, well, bigger, and are capable of
moving all small fish out of the way by just being there. If they take
a fancy to your boilie, you have a big fish on the line. You have to set them up, of course. The most successful
way in NA is to fish a boilie on one rod over a bed of maize and fish maize
with the other rod. If you are allowed three rods, the third is fished
with whatever is hot or a third bait. You should put a few free boilies
in with your maize mix. If you are really catching with the boilies, flavor
your corn with a similar or contrasting flavor, depending on what you are
trying to achieve. How do you make the boilie the most attractive bait to
the larger fish? Not an easy question to answer because there are so many
modes! Boilies are manmade and can be presented in a variety of ways. The
first thing to consider is size. Remember this fact, one inch equals 24 mm (approx.). Most
maize is in the 6 to 9 mm range, most commercial boilies are 15 to 18 mm
and a large carp (30+ lbs.) can accommodate a 30 mm object without too
much trouble. The old adage of a large bait for large fish does have some
validity in this case. Boilies cannot be split and passed out to smaller
carp the way paste baits, worms, and sweetcorn can. A fish either eats
the whole thing, or ignores it, even if it seems tasty and desirable. You
can make your own boilies to size and shape to suit the size of the fish.
Another trick is to put more than one boilie on a rig. 18 to 20 mm is a
good size to start with. But size is only one variable. By far the best way to
make your bait attractive is to add scents. Carp are not able to see very
far but have extremely sensitive senses of taste and smell. So much so
that they are capable of telling parts per billion in the water. If you
look at the most successful traditional paste baits they all have one thing
in common, they are loaded with taste and scent. These baits work because
they attract a carp to them and then the fish eats them. In the more modern
systems, chum is placed in the water and the fish has more to be attracted
to including your hookbait. The fish attracting role is enhanced by the
chum and your hookbait takes on a new role, becoming the superbait. Add
a different or stronger or more attractive scent/taste and you have a beacon
flashing in a sea of food. So how is this done? There are several ways. The first
is to make up special baits which have stronger flavors in them. These
leach out over time and attract the fish to them. If presented well (hair
rig and bolt rig) you will catch a fish. But sometimes there is a need
to change tactics and flavors. If the fish are cruising and not on the
bottom, you want to broadcast a little farther up in the water. If they
are on the bottom, it is better to have the flavor go out along the lower
layer of water to have them come on over to your hook. This is where dipping
your boilies comes in handy. While you can make up specific boilies with oil and water
based flavors, is easier to add the flavors later when you have decided
what tactic to use. Oils such as salmon oil float up from the boilie and
attract fish who follow the slick from the upper layers of water. This
is a good tactic when fish are active, such as in the summer, and can be
used with a variety of flavors besides the fish oils. You can mix other
flavors in corn oil and then dip you boilie in the mixture. Also you can
coat your boilies with peanut butter and achieve the same thing. In times when the fish are on the bottom, such as winter
or when you have them actively eating your chum, water based flavors are
more useful. As these flavors leach out, they will travel along the bottom
and call some of the other fish over to you. You might consider an oily
boilie and a "natural" boilie on the same rig if you are not
sure what to do. It is important to not over flavor a boilie. Remember
that was parts per billion that the carp can taste or smell. Too much will
warn them off. Once the fish sees your boilie, it has to be convinced that
it is safe to eat. Large fish are large because they are not fools. In
addition there are not as many of them so you have to have something spectacular
to get their attention. Presentation becomes all important. Again the boilie
comes to the rescue. The Hair rig was made for the boilie and remains the best
way to present a bait of any kind. There are many ways to fine tune the
hair rig and get the fish to take it, but in North America, two stand out.
The pop-up hair rig has been very successful over here and it is easy to
use. Carp take in food by vacuuming up both food and the surrounding detritus.
I watched a carp in a local aquarium taking in particles along with the
gravel on the bottom of the tank the other day. This fish was very active
and would eject the gravel through its gills while filtering out the food.
The pumping action was very powerful and it could get food from up to 6
inches away. Pop-up boilies take advantage of this feeding action by floating.
When the fish sucks in food, the floating bait comes in faster and the
fish has the hook in its mouth. Pop-up boilies are more visible as they
are 1 to 2 inches (or more) above the bottom and can catch the eye and
barbels of the carp. You can buy floating boilies or make them by adding
cork or foam to the boilie by way of special tool like the Marvic boilie
punch. I usually use a 4 inch leader on a bolt rig and may shorten it by
putting tungsten paste or split shot 2-3 inches from the bait. The other presentation is called a PVA stringer. PVA string
is made from a water soluble material originally used in the sewing industry.
(You could hem a garment temporarily and then wash it out. You can buy
the thread from Singer centers, the PVA String is available from EuroTackle
and CarpSense.) Thread a number of boilies on this material and tie it
to you hook. After a few minutes, your hookbait will be lying in a bed
of boilies waiting to be eaten. Pop up the hook bait, add flavor and you
have a fish catching machine! Boilies are not for the beginning carper. They require
a sense of tactics and an understanding of what you can do with them. They
are not magic. But you can do a lot of things with them that allow you
to catch bigger fish.To Index
Some years back I read of a 74-lb. carp caught in Mississippi by a fellow named Curtis Wade. Unfortunately, it seems the combined efforts of both Wade and his partner were needed to land the monster, so it didn't count as a U. S. record. What really struck my attention, though, was the bait the huge carp took-a full-size plastic worm. I mentally filed this fact away, but never gave any real consideration to plastic worms for carp until recently.
As I've written previously, I specialize in tricking carp into taking small jigs fished below slip floats. Often I've used small plastic twister tails, little tentacled tubes, or other very minuscule rubber-like artificials to supply action for my jigs. But many experiments during 1996 have led me to the conclusion that carp are usually best fooled when these tidbit-sized jigs are just inched in-so slowly, in fact, that I rarely am able to generate any meaningful swimming motion or side-to-side swishing action into my tiny plastic wigglers. But since much has been written on the almost-stop-action retrieves utilized by many successful plastic worm bass fishermen, I thought maybe an adaptation of their bait and technique could also con a few carp.
I had in mind several characteristics which would provide a good enough worm to tip my jigs and especially to supply maximum interest to carp. Worms had to be short-no longer than two to three inches, have a wiggle when even barely moved, be of relatively firm texture so carp would be encouraged to hang on, and, most importantly, smell and taste good. Now on the latter trait, much has been said about all the special scents, additives, pheromones, and formulas of modern plastic worms. The only problem is, all I've ever given a sniff test to merely smelled like rubber. Only one, which I recalled from fishing artificial worms years ago, really did give off a noticeable, pleasant aroma-the DeLong worm. You could detect its sweet licorice fragrance from across the room! Carp, then, must be able to inhale the anise-like fumes from many times that distance. Was this old company still around, though? After some serious investigation I located them at 23600 Van Dyke, Warren, Michigan 48089. And, yes, they offer their tough little baits in 1-7/8", 2-1/4", and 2-3/4".
My choice for a jig to lead the tasty DeLong worm into action was easy. Since the very beginning of the '96 fishing season, one particular jig style has leapt to the forefront of my carp fishing. This is a 1/32-oz. or 1/16-oz. leadhead tied in three colors, made of a special translucent material called "craft hair." This unique pattern has received considerable publicity during the past year in the In Fisherman and Bassmaster magazines due to the stir it created among small-mouth bass fishermen who worked deep, clear reservoirs. These jigs are produced and sold by Charlie Nuckols, P. O. Box 770, 3060 Highway 75, Blountville, Tennessee 37617. Charlie has also recently made available large swatches of craft hair in various colors for the home jig tier.
Carp love the action and texture of craft hair jigs. The limp material flows very easily, translating into a delicate, natural-looking shimmy when sinking, pulled slowly, or even resting below a slightly bouncing float. And, unlike other types of hair, fur, or feathers, this stuff has a crunchy, minnow-like feel when wet. Humans pinching a recently submerged craft hair jig or a carp-taste testing are sure they have hold of a for-real scaly critter. I'm convinced most other jig and fly materials are quietly rejected by our hero when he fails to detect any substance into what he thought was a live meal-he must feel like a dog trying to chomp snowflakes and wondering why nothing is there!
Early in the season I simply tipped my craft-haired jigs, predominantly in chartreuse color, with a single kernel of corn. Even though fishing mostly in one of the hardest pounded lakes imaginable-a stocked trout lake at the beginning of trout season in an immensely popular country park near Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania-I caught wary but hard-fighting carp every time out. Yet, as the water warmed, my "pets" craved a little more substance, so I eventually began tagging on the chewy little DeLong worm.
Fishing my jig and worm is very simple. Actually, in fact, every effort should be devoted to not doing much work at all with the little bait. When fished below a float, simply nudge the jig worm in slow 6" movements, then let it rest for several seconds. Sometimes I even gently haul the line in with my fingers like a fly fisherman would-ultra slow. An inch forward here and there is all it takes for the pliable hair and waving worm to look like a realistic, easy-to-catch meal. Fished without a float, this jig should be dragged slowly over the bottom, rocks, and logs with frequent dead-stop pauses.
A carp's take is almost imperceptible. Often this year I noticed my normally upright waggler-style float merely tilted off at a very slight angle. There was usually no twitching, bouncing, or submerging of its tip. Fortunately, carp relished the flavor and texture of the feel-alive jig because they allowed this somewhat doubting, slow-reacting, often-bewildered fisherman the very long time it took me to realize I had to tug back for a hook set. Apparently the bait was natural enough for my prey to just hang on without any suspicion or need to bolt. Now, whenever the float does anything even remotely suspicious, I lift back on the rod to determine if there's a plump carp contentedly slurping on my jig.
Experiment, because jig-'n-worm carpin' is such a new art form. I sure don't have all the answers, but it's such fun learning! And now that winter is close, it's rather pleasant to daydream and imagine possible applications as I tie up newly-perceived carp-oriented jig patterns. But, if you regularly work a tough, hard-fished lake like I must, plan to expose those wise-old monsters to a taste-treat they've never even imagined.
A: I would love to have your problem. Sounds like you have an ideal situation for carping. The only reason to bait/chum is to bring the fish to a known small location. From your description baiting would not help you at all. As I see your problem it is in getting the fish to notice/find your fly and then eat it without spitting it out too quickly. This has a number of dimensions:
1. Accurate casting. You probably know this, but for the record, the fly has to be positioned so the carp will either happen upon it or move to get it. This means right in front of its nose. Too far away it won't detect the fly. On top of it it will be spooked. Like bonefish, cast to where the fish is moving and let the fly drop to the bottom. Try moving it a few inches to attract the carp's attention if you like.
2. Scent. In my experience scent is more important to keeping the fly in the carp's mouth than in attracting it when sight fishing. And it doesn't much matter what the scent is as long as the carp treats it as food. I have been having good luck lately with the juice from canned clams, although bannana extract continues to work for me as well. I suspect, but am not sure, that only a small amount of scent is required and that too much or too strong a scent will actually repel them. For example, when I was using anise on a sponge corn fly I started out just tipping the extract bottle against my thumb and forefinger and then squeezing the sponge between them. I caught quite a few carp that way. Then I started dipping the sponge into the bottle of extract and my catch rate dropped off dramatically. The anise smell was so strong you could detect it all along my dock. Carp have very sensitive detection systems and a little goes a long way
3. Food detection. Use a seine or similar device and find out what is in the mud that the carp are foraging in. Then choose a fly/nymph that suggests whatever it is you find. If you really want to get fancy take some examples of what you find, throw them in an old blender with some liquid to make a dip that is kind of essense of what they are eating.
I would not change rigging. I use a 9 ft. 8wt. rod all the time and I think you really need it if the carp are in the 10 to 15 pound range. I would, however, change the leader system. Get, or build, a tapered leader with a piece of stretch material near the butt. There are several commercial versions but I get mine at Orvis. Cut off about 2 feet of the end and tie on a similar length of ten pound test flurocarbon tippet. If you want you can also then tie on about 18 inches of 4 or 5 pound flurocarbon. That should help with spooking problems. Most of the carp I catch I attract to an area with chum. I regularly put out chum in a area of the lake I live on, whether or not I intend to fish. That keeps them more or less in the area and when I do fish I try to keep the chum in a small area and cast there. Scented flies work best although you will have some success with just rubbing your fly with mud from the bottom. If you want to target just carp and not catfish, or bass, or bluegills, or the like then you have to use a scent that attracts carp and not other fish. Sweet scents seem to do that. I have had good luck with banana extract. Crayfish will work but you will catch catfish as well and other fish will mouth your fly and move it around. The corn fly I use most of the time seems to be the best I have used so far. It is easy to scent and like a real baited hair rig fish tend to hook themselves. More traditional flies that I have used are a small dragon fly nymph and a variation of the San Juan worm (also on my web pages). The San Juan Worm fly (and other traditional nymphs) I drift along the bottom through the swim with a small "strike indicator" attached to the leader. The strike indicator allows you to detect mouthing of the fly and set the hook before it is spit out (at least in theory). If you don't use a strike indicator then you have to have your line tight to be able to detect takes and that is very hard to do in still water, especially if there is any wind at all. You will catch other fish using these latter techniques. I only use them if I am feeling especially traditional some particular day or if I don't really care if I catch a fish.