My Biggest Carp
By Scott Lux
Scott wading in the Scioto River
I started carping last summer. I had been catching small bass and other things (rock bass, catfish, shiners, turtles) but I kept seeing these big (to my eyes) carp. I read up on carping and tried it. This is the story of my biggest carp. I fish a river that's not huge, the fish are not monsters, but they are strong. And fun!
This was the perfect November day to fish here in Central Ohio. The previous few days had been unusually mild with night time lows in the 50's. The day before was in the high 60's with warm winds out of the south, and few clouds scattered here and there. I snuck out from work early and went fishing on the Scioto River north of Route 36. I was fishing for carp, as I usually do, using canned corn for bait. (It's tough to get the can on the hook, but you can cast it a mile ; ) I should point out that I am fishing a river and the only access I have is by wading. The neighbors know me (or at least know of me) and don't mind, but I can't fish from the banks just anywhere. Most of the time I wade until I "kick-up" carp, and then fish that hole. I cast my rig to a likely spot, and then toss a little corn around it to attract the carp. It's important to not cast farther than you can throw corn. I usually cast first then bait, as I can throw more accurately than I can cast.
Wading upstream has the advantage of not clouding the water I'm about to fish. So, I went upstream to check out some places where I've seen carp before, but not had consistent success. No luck at the first place. I stopped short of it, cast, baited, and waited. After a respectful time (10 minutes? I try not to wear a watch when I fishing, ruins the mood) I moved through the hole and upstream. Didn't even spook one on the way by.
At the second place, I saw a cloud of silt, as if a carp had recently left in a hurry. I tried there. Not only did I not get a hit, I didn't even see any movement in the nearby water. Typically when I spook them, it takes 5-15 minutes for them to return to the baited area. During this time, I will see swirls, fins, and if I'm lucky, roils. This time, nothing. But I did see a largish swirl two holes up. That was my intended destination anyway, so off I went.
That particular stretch of the river is 2-3 feet deep (we are in the midst of a monster drought), about 80 feet across, has a nice house 50 yards off the east bank, and State Route 257 ten yards off the west bank. So I waded across to the road side, found a comfortable looking rock on the edge of the water and got settled.
I cast my rig out 20 feet or so, baited the area, and waited. Nothing happened right away, but I saw a tail swirl nearby. (Maybe it was a fluke ;) I was watching my line closely, when it started to tighten. I paused a moment and set the hook. The fish rolled and headed downstream. The next second my hook was sailing through the air at me and the fish was gone. Oh well, you can't win them all.
I had been seeing movement fairly close in, so I removed the sliding sinker (Carolina style) part of my rig, cast, and baited again. More movement, getting closer now. My line stated out slowly. I paused, my line went taut, and I set the hook. This time it set. He fought hard, but I got him in fairly quickly. I had grabbed the leader (20lb test braid) and was about to grab him out of the water when he shook the hook loose and took off. Oh well, I was going to release him anyway. He looked to be around 5 pounds.
I cast to the same area, baited, and waited. A little longer wait this time. But when I got this one, he was only 3 pounds, so I got him in easily enough. Measured his length, 19", took his picture, weighed him, and let him go. He took off like a torpedo. I guess I hadn't exhausted him.
I had been seeing some serious ripples out farther and thought I should go for them. I put the sliding sinker back on. I got it out maybe 50 feet or so, diagonally, across and upstream. It was far enough that I had to really throw to get the corn out there. Again, I waited. I have found that carping consists of baiting and waiting. Or as a catfish man once said, "Chunk and Bunk." Fortunately the river I fish has a fair population and I rarely have to wait more than 20 minutes. This time it was not that long. My line started to move, and I set the hook. It seemed like half the river moved just then. There was a massive roil in the middle of the river, and a large wake took off away from me.
I was using a very cheap Johnson outfit consisting of a 5' light-action rod and a spinning reel. It is one of those outfits intended for beginners, but I have been using it all year. As a result of my success with carp, the drag has worn down to the point that is nearly an all-or-nothing proposition. A miniscule turn of the knob makes a huge difference in the drag. Also, the reel squeaks badly every time line is pulled out. It is kind of like having a trumpeter sound the fish's charge. The reel's anti-reverse feature is all but dead too. If you tighten the drag all the way down and pull the line, the reel will hesitate, then spool off line, spinning the crank backwards. As the fish took off, with my reel spooling out line like mad, I tried to tighten the drag. On this reel, the drag knob is on the front of the spool. To adjust it mid-fight, you must reach around the spool and tweak. This, of course, puts your hand in the way of the bail, so as the thing spins, it hits your fingers and changes whatever it was you were trying to do. I eventually got the drag adjusted to where I thought it should be. Turns out I was right. What are the odds of that?
By this time, the monster had gone clear across the river and was threatening to go into some tree roots in the water. I hauled back on the rod and actually turned his head. He took off upstream. I was using the drag to its best, and cranking backwards when I needed to, to keep him from breaking my line and/or my pole. He slowed a bit and I recovered some line. He was now over twice as far away as when I hooked him. I began "pumping the rod". Hauling it back, and reeling in line on the downswing. This worked well enough, he only took out line when he wanted to.
I got him within 20 feet of me and saw him move in the water. He certainly seemed bigger than any I'd caught before. He took off again in what can only be described as a "screaming run." Of course it was my reel that was screaming. He went back across the river and was threatening the roots again. I hauled back again, and this time he went downstream. I eventually got him close to the bank, but he took off again. At this point my right arm was getting sore and starting to cramp. As he zoomed off, I switched the rod to my left to give the right a well-earned break. He went downstream again, as far as he had gone upstream the first time. I finally got him headed back my way and was making some progress He was maybe 20 feet out when I noticed he seemed to be hooked oddly. When he pulled, the line seemed to come from underneath him. It's not too unusual (or illegal in Ohio) to snag a carp, so I didn't worry, except that he might dislodge the hook. I really wanted to get the measurements on this beast, so I redoubled my efforts to keep him on , - - - - -
I knelt down to get my silhouette below the trees. I figured if he couldn't see me, he'd be less likely to spook. I got him in and strained trying to pick him up. Measured his length, 27", weighed him, 11+ pounds, and took his picture with the scale next to him to show size. I had hooked him in the muscle of the left (port?) pectoral fin. The hook was in deep, but since it had no barb, came out easily. As I put him back in the water (out and back in under 40 seconds) he took off with a strong push and disappeared in the river. He will be there next time I go.
I figured I had "fished out" that hole for tonight, so I threw two additional handfuls of corn and headed back down stream, halfheartedly trying a couple of places on the way. Anything I caught then would have been anticlimactic anyway.
11Lbs of golden fighting fish !