How do they get So Big?

[ChemMechanicInc]

Carp...How do they get to be 20 pounds when they scatter and scare at every shadow and flicker?

I've seen schools of these things, and if I even flick a tiny jig towards them, they scoot away like shiny kettled witches.

Can you catch these things with anything other then corn or a pointy thing whizzing off a big stick and oversized rubber band?

I'd like to eat one for supper, but I can't seem to get them to bite.

[Corey Bechtold]

Selective Harvest + Catch and Release.

Good luck,

Corey Bechtold

[Ralph Wiggum]

The problem is finding them when they're feeding. They are very skittish when they're just cruising. Find them feeding, though, and you can sight fish them--very fun!!!

That, or get a bow. Both are ridiculously fun.

[The Grebe]

Those big carp are harder to catch then a musky! They are like a nucular sub, once you connect and unless you are very lucky, standard fishing gear isn't gonna get the job done.

First, go out to somewhere you can catch a small one, maybe 8-12 pounds. The river is a good bet.

Once you catch one of those freight trains, it will give you some idea of what you would be up against if you were lucky enough to hook say a 30 pounder.

I accidently hooked one years ago, while fishing for walleyes with a nightcrawler....that thing towed me and another guy around in a 14 foot alum. boat for aways, then it decided to get serious, turned on the after burners and that was that!

I sure don't know about eating one of those big monsters? I've eaten really little ones smoked and they weren't to bad, but I've heard a carp can live for 100 years...thats alot of that 3-M contaminant and fertilizer, sucked up off the bottom! You might only make it through 1 or 2 bites before you start to glow and keel over?

[Weed Shark]

Growing up on a lake, my neighbor would chum them in; throwing out field corn in front of his shoreline. They would be in feeding in like a day or so. He also soaked the corn in a bucket of water for maybe two days, so it was soft enough to put on a hook. I never caught any monsters, but alot of 3-7 pounders.

Canned corn, rivers, I haven't heard of a better way.

[mtrue68]

I have used dough balls (1 part flour 1 part oatmeal and 1 part cornmeal) mix with enough water to hold about a 1" ball on a hook. This worked very well below the Ford dam.