Join me in 2010 on my journey to becoming an Elite Texas Angler.

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Papa Whiskey

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

Thanks for reading.

PapaWhiskey

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

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!

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

“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….

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: 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!