Clayton's Quest to become a Certified Elite Texas Angler
Just wanted to share a quick recent capture with you. 22lbs 10oz Smallmouth Buffalo from Lake Grapevine. I caught this big guy on Big Bob’s tutti frutti sweet corn.
I’m not investing alot of time on this post because Papa Whiskey’s Fishing Journal is undergoing a design change and possibly a hosting change. More on this later. Until then, enjoy my big catch.
Good Stuff!
Papa Whiskey
2009 was not a stellar year for Papa. A lay off, transitioning into a new job and an all around glum attitude kept me off the water most of the year, but keep an eye peeled for 2010. Papawhiskey will be back on his quest to become a Certified Elite Texas Angler and he’ll share the journey with you.
Thanks for reading.
PapaWhiskey
I had the opportunity this weekend to fish the familiar banks of Lake Gladewater in piney woods East Texas. Lake Gladewater was my childhood stomping ground where the fish practically know me by name. I spent most of my innocent years here pulling sunfish from the water with my trusty Zebco 33.
The Spot: Lake Gladewater, below the spillway
The Story:
When I set out this morning I was hoping to spot a certain feature in the water–summertime spawning beds. Sunfish will shape the lake bottom into circular beds where they will spawn throughout the hotter months. Lake Gladewater is a very clear water lake and finding these beds is easy. They are normally located in very shallow water, close to the bank and in many cases have no obscuring cover. You can literally look down into the water and see the sunfish hovering over their beds protecting them. This kind of feature ensures a good day of fishing (See picture below). A pair of “Polarized” sunglasses would eliminate the reflective glare on the water allowing you a clear picture of the beds. If you fish, you should have a pair of Polarized Sunglasses.
The fishing was great. Any fisherman knows if you can catch a species at spawn you’re in for a good time. I caught roughly 24 sunfish (longears, redears, and bluegills) and even managed to land four bass.
The Bait: Rebel Crickhopper
If you go outside this week look around and I’ll bet money you’ll see grasshoppers or crickets. This is exactly why I chose a REBEL CRICKHOPPER for my session this morning. You always want to try to match the available bait source on a given body of water. Its cricket and grasshopper season so you should use something cricket-like. I strongly recommend this little lure. It’s a shallow diving topwater lure that really produces. You throw it in, let it float a bit and see if you get a reactive bite, if nothing bites then S-L-O-W-L-Y retrieve it, with a pause every few turns on the reel. A slow retrieve really makes this baby waggle seductively. You can give it a quick yank here and there too. Basically, you’re tring to imitate what a grasshopper would do if it fell in the water. If you like to fish for sunfish, you should have two of these in your tacklebox.
A couple of the little love birds.
Did you Know?
There are a number of reasons fish bite. They could be feeding, it could be a reactive bite, anger, protective instinct, curiosity, competition, territorial instinct, killer instinct or even ignorance.
FEEDING
Most novice fisherman think feeding is why fish bite. If they ain’t feedin’ they ain’t bitin’..right? Wrong. Fish do bite because their feeding, but this kind of bite is actually hard to get. You have no your target fish’s pattern. Fish will feed at certain times of the day, under certain conditions, or when there is ample opportunity (such as a school of bait fish in the area). If know these factors you can take advantage of the Feeding bite.
REACTIVE
This is a fairly common bite motivation. It occurs when you first cast out and you get that immediate pop on the bobber or tug on the line. Thats because the fish is reacting to the sudden introduction to your lure or bait. It’s a clear sign your in the right spot because your casting on top of where they are holding. If you can find a reactive bite, keep hitting the spot till you land the fish or the reaction stops. I experienced this today fishing a shallow creek draining out of the main pond. There was a cut in, where I could see a space under the visibile bank. I dropped my lure right against the bank, over this cut-in and POP. I pulled three bass out of this pocket.
Cut-ins are a great place to fish on a moving water creek because fish will hold in these pockets to relax, but that’s another post…we’re talking about bites.
ANGER
Yeah, fish get pissed off to. “If that blue worm comes through one more time I’m gonna…” the black bass thought to himself.
PROTECTIVE INSTINCT
This is the bite I was looking for. During a spawn, fish are very very protective. They will protect their eggs from any invasive predators, even an innocent lure. You can practically drop an empty hook into a spawn bed and get a bite. The catch is they will only bite in a certain radius. Draw the lure out too far, and they’ll turn back. Protective Bite is probably the best bite you can hope for. It’s quick, it’s aggressive and predictable. You can cast twenty times and get twenty bites.
CURIOSITY
Sometimes a fish just wants to know what the hell just floated past them. Some lure are pretty creative, designed to catch a fisherman’s eye more than the fish it’s targeting. A fish doesn’t have hands to manipulate a strange lure so the take a nip. If the hook placements are good, and more importantly sharp, you just might hook-up to the fish.
COMPETITION
In carp fishing this is what you’re aiming for. You want to develop a competitive situation where fish are gobbling up food quickly..carelessly.. before another in their school can get it. It’s very similar to feeding ducks. Ducks are cutthroat eaters and will go to great lengths to short the buddy on their left and right.
TERRITORIAL AND KILLER INSTINCT
Some fish have locations they claim as their own. Spawning beds could fall into this category. Anything, including other fish of the same speices aren’t welcome so anything entering the area, including your lure, will get a bite from the landowner. Some fish are more aggressive than others.
IGNORANCE
This doen’t need an explination does it? In some cases, fish have never seen a plastic worm or a crankbait. They bite it because the simply just don’t know any better. I’ll promise you one thing though, fish are quick learners and if they survive the interaction with the plastic worm, they’ll remember it next time.
Good Stuff!
PapaWhiskey
Now that it’s gotten cold and I’m in my off season, I thought I would post up a recent thought I had about rough species fishing. One night, about two weeks ago I spent the evening on the bank of Lake Grapevine waiting for the bite that never came. While I was waiting I had plenty of time to consider the finer details of specimen hunting and how it compares to others sports, deer hunting in particular.
My brother has been interested in deer hunting and even went out on a trip in Arkansas to try to get his first buck. Like me, he sat all night (or morning) with out any action–a similarity I’ll touch on in a second. Anyway, this was on my mind as I waited for a patrolling carp or buffalo to take my bait and I started to realize that specimen hunting and deer hunting are surprisingly similar.
Setup and Wait:
In deer hunting you have to setup in a location that is likely to hold deer. You climb up in the stand with all your gear and watch the wilderness for any sign of your prey. Well, in carp fishing it is very similar. Once you pick a spot on the bank to fish, you’re there for the long haul. A carp fisherman simply has to much *gear* to change locations. Likewise, once you’re setup and in the water, you watch for signs of your prey. You look for boils in the water, line taps, even raising bubbles from a carp rooting the lake bottom for forage.
Baiting the Area:
Deer corn, Scent, Buck Jam…all strategies for attracting deer into range for you to strike. Oddly enough, all three are also used in carp fishing. Deer Corn, also known as Maize, is soaked and boiled, then threaded onto a “hair” and cast out for Carp. Carp and Buffalo love deer corn and most of my captures have come on this bait.
Scent is also used in the form additives to bait. I guess it would be more accurate to call it “Flavor” in carp fishing, but it is the scent of the flavoring in the water that draws a carp in. Technically, deer hunting uses the scent of urine to attract a buck, and would you believe urine also works on buffalo. Yes sir, drink a few Monster energy drinks and urinate in the water where you’re fishing. Sounds gross, but it works.
Popular flavors for carp are the fisherman’s favorite, Strawberry along with vanilla, pineapple, bananna, butterscotch, tandori spice and countless others.
Buck Jam, is a product used to attract deer and it can also be used for Carp. It’s also oil based so you can use it in a PVA bag–you get that Tip for Free.
Captures and Photos:
Deer Hunters and Specimen Hunters alike are very proud of their captures. Deer hunters count points, Carp fisherman count pounds, or length in inches. We both love having our pictures taken with our captures as proof of our epic achievement.
One difference I can point out…I have never seen a Carp head mounted on someone’s wall. That would just be wierd. But, there’s a good reason for that. Unlike, deer hunters, carp fisherman allow their capture to go back into the wild, where as deer hunters captures are killed in the process. There really is something to be said for “Catch & Release”. Releasing a wisened carp back in to the lake allows you the opportunity for a rare event–the Re-capture!
I’ve seen recaptures years apart. Its like catching up with an old friend.
Camo:
You guessed it, both hunters and carp fisherman dress head to toe in camo. Deer hunters are admittedly more dressed out, but Carp fisherman do take special care in masking their presence on the bank. Carp are very smart fish and if they detect that someone is “fishing” for them, they move out of the area.
All-in-all, the two sports are fairly similar with a few subtle exceptions. What’s strange to me is that specimen hunting isn’t more popular. Most fisherman still angle for the bass, crappie or catfish and old Mr. Carp continues to be calleda “Trash Fish”. We’ll have to work on that.
Good Stuff!
I had an opportunity last weekend to learn a new style of carp fishing called “Balance Fishing”. Balancing is a form of veritcal fishing where you are dropping your line straight down, usually off a boat slip or dock. In my case, I was on a friend’s boat slip at Lake Ray Hubbard in Garland, TX. (No map was provided for privacy reasons)
There are a number of advantages to fishing off a boat slip. One, you have a roof over your head and having the cover seemed to cut down on the cold–a big plus. Second, the slip provided a nice, clean platform to fish from. It beats the heck out of fishing off a muddy, limb-strewn bank. Third, there is no need for accuracy because there’s no casting involved. You’re simply dropping your line straight down. Chumming is very easy, you just dump the bait straight down over your hook bait.
There are a few tactical changes to consider as well. Because you’re fishing vertically, you have to set the hook. Unfortunately, this means watching your rod tip all night. In bank fishing you rig up with a heavy weight that will help you cast out and set the hook when the fish bolts and hits the resistance of the larger lead. In fact, its called a Bolt Rig. Your bite alarm screams once the fish hooks itself.
Bolt Rig
This rig was named because of the effect that it has when picked up by the carp. The bolt rig has a ‘semi-fixed lead’ attachment not allowing any ‘free running’ of the fish without resistance. This means that when the fish picks up the bait and starts to move away it feels the resistance of the lead weight and bolts partially setting the hook in the process.
Bite indication while balance fishing can be as noticable as your pole being yanked into the water to a subtle bouncing of the rod tip. The point being, you have to be prepared to strike if your rod broadcasts any activity. For this reason, it’s advisable you use a Medium rod with a Fast Action tip to detect the lightest tugs.
Another consideration is how you hook your bait. In bank fishing the Hair Rig is paramount. It leads to more hook-ups, period. But, in balance fishing you want to fish directly on the hook. This way if your rod tip is moving you know the fish has the hook in its mouth and not the hair. I have to tell you it felt a bit crummy to sit and cut the hairs off my rigs after spending time tying them up.
So where’s balancing come in? The balancing part of Balance Fishing refers to how the rod is placed once you’ve dropped your line and tightened the line. To balance fish you need a fulcrum, or a support that will allow your rod to pivot under pressure. A full water bottle will do the trick.
Once you’ve tightened up your line, you balance your rod and reel on the water bottle’s cap and continue to tighten the line until the resistance of the dropped line balances the weight of the rod and reel. This allows for a very sensitive bite indication because any movement of the hook bait by a fish unbalances the rod and reel and it raises or dips depending on how the bait is being moved.
If the rod dips or raises significantly, you strike! by setting the hook.
A quick word of wisdom: you’re going to strike alot and not get a fish. Buffalo love to push the bait around and the big bodies will sometimes brush the line as they move around the bait. This will cause false indications and missed strikes. Its just a fact of life when balance fishing.
Eventually, you’ll strike and your rod will just bend over. You know you got a fish on at that point. The rest you know already. Reel it in, net it, weight it and take the fish’s picture to show your buddies.
Now the bad news. During my trip to the Ray Hubbard slip I did hook up to a nice 20+ buffalo. I got him reeled in and ready for the net, but before we could get the net under him, he shook the hook out. I was pretty upset and even smacked my rod around a bit, but I regained my composure.
I plan to hit the slip again real soon and I’m confident I’ll bag that 20-pounder.
Good Stuff!
Papa Whiskey
I recently took a brief (3 hours) fishing trip to Lake Hawkins while I was in town visiting family. I didn’t really expect to catch anything and my expectation turned out true–I blanked. But not all was a loss. I learned a valuable lesson, see below:
“Water Clarity and Tackle”
As I’ve expressed in earlier entiries there are two approaches to Carp fishing that produce fairly consistent results–The Method and PVA Bag fishing. My trip to Lake Hawkins taught me when to use each method. Before Hawkins, I kept wondering which technique was better. On one hand you have The Method, which is very cheap to deploy. You just need a few method cages and calf manna (maybe some sweet corn thrown in for excitement, ha!). PVA is consumable, so you have to keep buying it the more you use it, but its a much cleaner technique–no hands covered in goo.
Cost Comparison:
PVA = $30 per 20 meters of PVA Mesh, $14 for 5 meters. (price based on Korda Funnel Web System)
METHOD = $ .50 per lb. (price based on Calf Manna)
The Lesson:
My trip to Lake Hawkins finally nailed down the theory for me. When fishing a CLEAR water lake, Hawkins is remarkably clear, you want to use PVA.
Why PVA? Because PVA dissolves leaving only a pile of bait and your terminal tackle (hook and sinker). The idea here is that there is less tackle at the bait to spook a fish. Method Cages are bulky and once the method mix breaks up there is only this big black cage hanging out at your hook bait. In clear water a Carp of Buffalo will see this contraption and know it to be unnatural.
So, the opposite is true. The Method is best deployed in STAINED or MUDDY water where a fish is hunting by scent, not sight. The bulky tackle used in Method fishing will be masked in the murky water and won’t be as visible. PVA bag fishing would still be good in these water conditions, but as metioned above its more costly.
The Bottom Line:
CLEAR water = PVA
STAINED / MUDDY water = METHOD
lesson learned….
Location: Murrell Park @ Lake Grapevine
The Stats:
Temp - 50 degrees
Weather – Clear (Night), 5mph Wind SSE
Water – Clear
Bait: Meaty Marine Boilies, Strawberry Deer Corn, Calf Manna
Tackle: Eagle Claw Baitholder #6 and a Method Cage.
Rig: Hair Rig
The Story:
Tuesday I was contacted by a fisherman via private message on the Texas Fishing Forum, a fantastic resource for all types of fishing. He mentioned he had seen my recent captures (posted below in my “Riding Catfish to Carptown” post) and felt his chances of learning how to catch carp would be best if he joined a “Pro” on the bank for a session. I immediately responed that he had the wrong guy, I was just learning myself, but I would enjoy his company all the same. Fishing at night is very quiet business and it can get a bit boring if the fish aren’t biting. We arranged to meet at Lake Grapevine on Friday.
I picked out a nice little spot, put my lines out and waited for Danny (dkinla on the forums) to show. 5:30 he calls trying to find me. I talk him on and meet the guy. Right off the bat I could tell I was going to like him. He was all smiles and very eager to learn. Before we got him setup to fish I decided we should move to a better spot. The location I had picked was very shallow and would be problematic to net any fish we might catch. I packed up and we moved over to my old sweet spot.
We went over all the basics as far as how to tie rigs, apply bait and chum. We both put our lines out and settled in for a night of carping. We discussed some of the finer points of rough fishing and shared our backgrounds. Turns out Danny is an eye surgeon and had a case where he had to remove a fish hook from someone’s eye. God forbid I hook my eye, but if I do, I know who to call.
Anyway, I start catching catfish right off the bat. A couple small bait stealers, nothing too special. I hooked one decent (3lbs) catfish but he jumped off at the bank while Danny was trying to net him. About five hours in I was starting to feel sorry for the Doctor. He hadn’t had any bites and I think he was starting to get a bit discouraged. I asked him to reel his lines in and I’d fix him up with a proper rig. I had tied a few extra hair rigs and had an extra method cage. I get his rods setup and we have a quick lesson on Method fishing. I introduced him to my Method Mix (Calf Manna and Creamed Corn) and we went over how to pack it so that it stays on the Method Cage. All set now, he casts back out and gets setup.
It didn’t take 20 mins and his rod was bouncing (he didn’t have the fancy alarms I use so he was fishing by sight). He pulled it fast, nothing there. I told him you have to wait for the fish to take it, that his rod will double over and stay that way. Any other activity is just the fish knockin’ the bait off the Method Cage.
The rod finally goes and he snatches it up…..catfish, but it’s a start.
A couple hours and a few catfish later, we’re watching his rod again. It started dancing and we remind each other to wait. Sure enough, it doubles over. He grabs it and relays that it feels like a good fish. I ask him what it feels like and he says he thinks its a catfish. I grab the net and take a position on the bank, shining my light in the water to get a look at it when he gets it close enough. Well, when the fish sees my light it bolts and nearly yanks the rod out of Dr. Danny’s hands. I knew at that point it was no catfish. Catfish don’t run from the light.
He fights the fish back to the bank a second time and the darn thing darts right across my lines, getting tangled in them. My alarms are going crazy and Danny’s hooting and I’m trying to get a look at this beast. It finally breaks the water and I see this big white fin, “It’s a Buffalo!” I hollered. I pull my rods out of the alarms to stop the beeping and wade into the water to net this monster.
Danny raises his rod tip and the Buff’s head breaks the water. I push the net under him, and lift up. I could tell right away this was a big fish. I carry him over to the landing mat and weigh sling while Danny is literally dancing with joy behind me snapping pics like Britney Spears just showed up for a concert. I unhook the buff and weight him….
16lbs 2oz, Danny’s Personal Best. Note: This beats my personal best by 9lbs.
I spent the rest of the night wishing it had been me, but I was glad we were able to put him on to a good fish. Not only that, but by teaching Danny, I have expanded the *sport* of rough fishing a bit further. It’s a worthy sacrifice.
I told him next time we fish together it’s my turn to catch the big fish.
Good Stuff!
Location: Murrell Park @ Lake Grapevine
The Stats:
Temp - 80 degrees
Weather – Clear (Night), Windy (12mph from the SSE)
Water – Stained
Bait: Strawberry Ice Cream Boilies, Deer Corn, Calf Manna
Rig: Hair Rig w/ #6 octopus hook and 3/4oz sliding egg sinker, Method Cage, PVA mesh bag.
The Story:
A Lone Star Carper once told me that you have to wade through alot of catfish to get to the carp and last night certainly validated his statement. I don’t think I’ve ever caught so many catfish in one session. Don’t get me wrong, if it has fins and will take my bait I’ll have fun catching it, but when you’re targeting a specific species of fish, catfish can be an annoyance.
I decided to go back to my little spot at Murrell Park for a quiet night of fishing. White Rock Lake had been my original plan but with the Texas-OU game in town, traffic would have been a bear. Besides, the Fisher Ramp swim has been hit hard by the Lone Star Carp Brigrade the last two weeks due to an upcoming tournament. If you’re wondering, I won’t be participating cause I won’t have competitive gear until after christmas. All I have to say is “Watch Out for Papa in 09!”
I settled into my spot at about 5pm, baited up and threw my lines out. There was a boy scout troop setting up camp about 50 yards away and I was hoping to put on a show. As you’ll see, I didn’t disappoint them. I sucked down an extra-long cheese coney (guilty pleasure) while the scouts search the bank for beasties and anything else of interest.
Carrion birds were circling in a flock over the far bank.
At 6:40 I got my first alarm. Now, let me tell you something about Bite Alarms. You can tell what’s on the line by how the alarm chirps. Carp are insanely aggressive on the hook and will run for deep water if they get hooked up. A buffalo is kinda fat and gets winded so they’ll make short runs and a catfish will just poke around playing with your bait until he realizes he’s hooked.
CATFISH:
BEEP…………….BEEP BEEP……………….BEEP
BUFFALO:
BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP…………………………..BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP
CARP:
BBEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEP!
First catfish came in at 1lb 7oz.
I offered the cat to the Scouts to clean and eat but the look of horror on the Scout Master’s face told me he wasn’t interested. He yelled out later, “Thanks though!”
At 8:50 I had another slow beep and I kind of just smacked my lips….catfish. I picked up on the rod and this one was a little bigger.
Catfish #2 weighed in at 2lbs 5oz.
At 9:30 the Boy Scouts came over to ask me about my fishing gear and what I was fishing for. I told them I was fishing for Carp and Buffalo and I got a lot of blank stares. Something told me they weren’t familiar with any fish other than Bass, Perch or Catfish. Either that or they though I was crazy trying to catch a grazing animal out of the water (Buffalo….get it?…nevermind)
They finally got bored and moved on until the sound of my bite alarm brought them back. It was another at 2lbs 6oz.
Tired of catching catfish, I changed my rig slightly to a “Greedy Pig” rig. The Greedy Pig is designed to present a much larger bait that will frustrate the smaller fish and attract the larger fish. The idea here was to present a bait to big for the catfish but tempting to the carp…if they were out there.
At 10:15 this wierdo comes out of the hills and asks me if I, ” Have a gun?” Needless to say I got to my feet and put a hand to my pepper spray. He was pretty lankey and didn’t look to threatening so I answer, “Nope”. Turns out he thought my rod tripod was a sniper rifle (his words) and he’d been watching me for sometime before he came down to ask if I had a gun. I put a light on my gear and showed him how the rod pod work, pulling on my line which beeped as the bite alarm picked up the line movement. He thought it was the coolest thing. He left after telling me I should be fishing with bacon. I wrote this down despite what I thought about his mental stability.
At 11:11 I had officialy stepped off the Catfish bus and had entered Carp Town. My alarm went nuts and I’m sure I was smiling because I knew what that meant. I pulled in my first carp for the night.
He weighed in at 4lbs 13oz. Little fella.
If I know anything about Carp, I know they travel in schools. and it didn’t take long….
At 11:20 my alarm goes and *Crap* another catfish. This one was a bit of a chunk at 3lbs. Good eatin’ size.
11:40 my bite alarm goes nuts. This is on my little rod so I’m a little nervous I’ll lose her. This fish fought like the world was ending. Everytime I’d get her to the bank she’d bolt. It took about 3 minutes of careful give and take before I net her.
She’s 7lbs 12oz. A beauty!
At straight up Midnight I get another screaming alarm. I could tell this one was better and I was hoping it would put me in the double-digits. I had a heck of time netting this guy. He did not like the site of the net in the water and would charge away everytime he got close to it. I was actually wearing out at one point so I just hammered the net on top of him and he flipped hard enough he netted himeself. Phew…
Sorry about the bad picture below, but it ain’t easy pushing the button with an angry 9lb carp held between your legs. Think I’m kidding check the picture, you’ll see the fish impression on my jeans
9lbs 8oz my new Personal Best by an ounce.
My last carp came at 12:38. I was pretty pooped at this point and was hoping I wouldn’t catch anymore fish for awhile. I probably groaned when the alarm went off again.
8lbs 6oz Look at the head on that beast!
God listened and stopped the fish. Menal note, be careful what you ask for. I didn’t catch another until my older brother Bo called nearing 2am. It was a 1lb catfish of which I promptly threw back without a picture.
It was a good night. Murrel Park didn’t let me down. I had 8 catfish overall (woud have made a great fish fry) and four carp (total weight of 30lbs). That’s a tournament placing night.
Good Stuff.
Location: Fisher Road Ramp, White Rock Lake
The Stats:
Temp – 90 degrees
Weather – Sunny, Windy (15mph from the South)
Water – Stained
Bait: Strawberry Ice Cream Boilies and Deer Corn soaked in Strawberry Syrup
Rig: Hair Rig w/ #6 octopus hook and 2oz Method Lead set 6″ above hook.
The Story:
I ventured out of my comfort zone this morning and made the long trip out to White Rock Lake in Dallas, TX. The Lone Star Carp Brigade has been buzzing about this lake and pulled an all nighter last night. I chose to stay home with Jenny and Mr. T. Besides, after a night of baiting the water, my selected fishing spot would be nice and baited for when I got their in the morning.
Now for the bad news. It was super windy today. The wind was blowing around 15mph and gusting up to 25mph. There’s nothing that can kill a fishing trip faster than a stiff wind. Despite this setback, I decided to bait up, put my lines out and see if there were any fish poking about.
While waiting for the Carp to come in, I ran into a fellow Lone Star Carper. I quickly moved my gear over to his setup so we could swap stories. Turns out he had a wealth of info on carp fishing locations. I have four new places to try out, Yipee!
It took about an hour (this is normally how long it takes for carp to pick up and follow a bait trail) and I had my first carp on. He didn’t feel to sporty and with a little bit of a fight I got him in. I had hooked him in the side of the mouth, solidly. The hook had to be bent to get it out. This carp couldn’t have jumped off if he was superman.
Weighed in at 9lbs 6oz, my new Personal Best!
I didn’t measure him for the 30″ trophy requirement. Honestly, I was so excited by the catch I forgot to. Notice the look of joy on my face. I doubt he would have qualified anyway. I imagine I will have to land a carp in the 20lb range to hit the 30 inch mark.
No other fish found my bait. With the heavy winds blowing my chum to all corners of the lake and a fair amount of lake debris into my peg, I finally called it quits and cherished my 9-pounder.
Good Stuff!
Location: Murrell Park @ Lake Grapevine
The Stats:
Temp - 74 degrees
Weather – Clear (Night), Calm
Water – Clear
Bait: Strawberry Ice Cream Boilies and Deer Corn soaked in Strawberry Syrup.
Rig: Hair Rig w/ #6 octopus hook and 3/4oz sliding egg sinker set 6″ above hook.
The Story:
I know I said I was going to fish Bachman Lake this weekend but I decided to go with what was familiar. I have been to Murrell Park on Lake Grapevine three times and never caught a fish. You may recall my “torturous night at Murrell Park” comment in my Scott’s Landing post. I was determined to defeat Murrell Park and I wasn’t leaving until I was covered in fish smell.
I had loaded the car up that morning and went directly to the lake after work. This would give me all evening to finally net a fish. I arrived at 5pm and picked out a choice spot on the edge of a rock outcropping that extended over about 25 ft. of water. There was a lower cliff that jutted out at water level so I could play a fish to it’s edge and scoop it in the net. I baited up, put my lines out and began chumming some deer corn into the area.
I was trying two new techniques this trip. One is called “The Method” . You cook up a sticky pack bait and literally pack it around your weight. I use special leads that are designed to hold packbait called Method Leads.
The second technique is called PVA Bag Fishing. PVA or Polyvinyl alcohol is a product originally designed for use in hospitals for “soluble” laundry bags that dissolved in water. Being soluble it therefore has the qualities of being able to dispense bait in water accurately, presenting a ’concentrated’ pile of bait to any cast-able distance.
At about 6:30 I started seeing some boils in the water out in front of me. The fish were moving in. It wasn’t long after that I got my first screaming bite alarm. Whatever it was it was running for dear life and taking my line with it. I leapt out of my chair, grabbed the rod, and pulled it back. I could feel a Chunk on the other end and I’m sure I had a big goofy grin the whole time. A couple feet off the rock projection, he makes a run for the rock face, taking my line across the cliff edge. I had to pull him fast and keep him off the rocks to prevent any line cuts. I finally got him to the net and scooped him up.
What a beauty huh?
He weighed in at 7 lbs 14 oz, my new personal best.
While waiting for the next one I noticed I had a fishing partner. A little field mouse was searching my gear and carrying off the dropped pieces of corn. He was cute, but once her ran past my feet and I practically jumped on top of my fold out chair. I didn’t even know I was afraid of mice.
I fished these cliffs for another few hours with no luck. There was a tremendous amount of boat traffic and I believe they were running my fish off. One guy in a boat actually came right across my lines, so close I could have sling-shotted some chum in his boat…the thought did cross my mind. Fortunately, I use a 17lb copolymer line that sinks in water. It keeps the line on the bottom so fish don’t run into it and get spooked.
Just after dark a group of young men moved into the area and seemed particularly interested in me. They kept walking buy and looking. It was enough to make me relocate. They were drinking and appeared to be getting braver by the minute. Just to ease your mind, I care law enforcement pepper spray and would have no problem giving them a dose had they caused any trouble.
Anyway, I moved to a quiet cove were the boat traffic was next to none. The location has bouys that require boaters to pass through slowly. I set back up, got my lines out and chummed up.
I started catching catfish on my boilies so I switched to Maize.
At 2am, the fish became really active. They were crashing like car wrecks out in front of me and I could hardly sit still. I equate the feeling to watching a NASCAR race and Jimmy Johnson (#48) is in the lead holding off Jeff Gordon for the win. My stomach was in my throat. Basically, the fish were feeding on my free offerings I had thrown out and I just had to wait until they found the bit with a hook in it.
My bite alarm chirped…but nothing else. They were at my bait and were testing it. A couple minutes later it goes, my alarm is crying and my reel in stripping line. I’m on it like a starving dog on a t-bone steak and set the hook. It’s not as big as the first but I can tell it’s decent. I reel him in and scoop him up.
Awww… a face only a mother could love.
Throughout the rest of the night I had one missed fish and two fish on that broke my 10lb hooklink line (Mental Note: I need to switch to braided line hooklink, 40lb test).
I didn’t catch a Carp, which was my target species, but the buffalo made up for it. I feel certain that the line breakers were carp. I just need to upgrade my hooklink line and I’ll land my trophy carp.
Good Stuff!
