Carp Fishing

Carp can be found in most bodies of water, but in this case smaller is better.  The best place to fish for them is in ponds or playa lakes.  You'll want to look at places with established duck populations.

The connection between ducks and carp can be summed up in one word, and that word is bread.  Instead of feeding the ducks on land, throw bread into the water.  Then watch below the ducks.

The water will start churning.  You'll see bread disappear under the water before the ducks can take it.  If you throw enough bread out, you'll see these giants come up to the surface.  They can devour whole slices in the blink of an eye.

At this point, you'll want to place the bait of your choice on your hook and gently toss it right in the middle of all that churning.  Take care to avoid hitting the ducks.

With regard to bait, carp will hit on a wide variety of items.  The tried and true favorites are bread, corn, biscuit dough, and night crawlers.  Make sure your bait complies with the laws and regulations in your area.  If you choose to put bread on your hook, roll it into a ball so that it falls to the lake bed out of the ducks' reach.

My favorite method is to attract the carp with bread.  Then I bait my hook with a worm and let it gently descend below the bread.  Worms are much more difficult for a carp to strip from the hook, and they like worms just as well.  

Make sure you've threaded that worm onto the hook multiple times.  Carp don't have teeth.  They have a powerful suctioning mouth that can rip bait off of a hook before the carp ever touches it.  Just look at that mouth!

Make sure the drag on your reel is set about half way.  These fish are large.  If there's not enough play in the reel to let them run, they will snap your line.

When you hook a large carp, you have what every angler wants - a hard fight!  The fish will run several times.  Be patient.  Let it run.  When the line goes limp, reel some in.  As the fish tires, you may be able to tighten up your drag.  It may take 15 minutes or more to reel in a large carp.

Have a net handy to land the fish.  If you attempt to lift a large carp out of the water with only your line and pole, the fish will snap your line.  After you take some pics, I would recommend releasing the carp.  In my opinion, the meat's not good.

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