Carp Anglers Group

PO Box 69, Groveland, IL 61535 USA

Call us at 309-387-2277 (CARP)

Tony Dilworth with a small carp taken on a boilie

Hi all, Gary asked me to say something about the fish-in at Kent Lake . . . . . . . .

Bloody hard; most probably sums it up the best It was not a day to sit back and relax and let the fish come to you My dear wife laughed at me when I got home and said I was exhausted from the days fishing I know for sure if I hadn't been I would not have taken the 8 fish I managed to catch

About 15 anglers showed up throughout the day and the fish were far from cooperative

When I left at 5pm I think there had been about 22 fish taken, with me and Tim picking up 13 between us on boilies The rest fell to corn or maize Although Tim was using different boilies to me I think the amount I had put in got the carp feeding on them and as Tim was next too me the sight of anything resembling a boilie was up for grabs. Gary tried some of mine, but he was a ways from my swim and consequently didn't fair as well

Best fish honours went to Tim with a porky and well in-spawn 19-9 common. A lot of the fish were in the same condition but smaller Len "is it a 20" Dinko's 13-13 was the next biggest Due to the cool weather we have had this year I think the fish-in fell a little too early As Paul suggested with the WI fish-in . . . . it could be worth a revisit in a couple of weeks

It was good to meet up with Gary again, along with Mark, Len, Tim and Ron plus all the othersIt was also good to meet Paul Willison who had traveled across from the other side of the state to find the venue in maybe it's worst productive mood I've ever seen.

Tony

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Tonys Perfect Boilie Quest at the Michigan Fishin

The plan was simple – formulate a boilie recipe that would out fish corn or maize. The problem ? This was to be accomplished in the corn and maize stronghold that is the United States. Carp are to say the least easy to catch over here in the US, so something more challenging was needed. The ultimate goal was to try it out at the CAG fish-in at Kent Lake in Michigan on June 9th 2001. Gary Gillis and his associates prebait with 500lb+ of maize a few days before the event, so what tougher scenario would there be to try out my little experiment ?

Len with his 13-13

January 2000 saw me start out on an 18 month journey that would end at Kent Lake in June 2001. The 1st problem was to get a boilie the carp would eat and keep on eating. I had no automatic bait rolling equipment, so all of the boilies would have to rolled by hand. No mean feat, especially when you consider that I am talking about 1000’s and not 100’s. Still, undaunted, I set out reading magazines and writing to the carp list in an effort to at least get a good start. A month passed and I had 4 penciled recipes. Based on completely different mixes I started to roll a few hundred and freeze them ready for spring time to arrive in Michigan. I was lucky to have a couple of local lakes that are full of carp, so these would become my guinea pigs.

Marks second fish taken on float fished sweetcorn

Time with the biggest fish of the weekend, a 19lb 9oz spawn laden common taken on a tutti fruiti boilie fished at distance

By the end of March I had got 700 of 2 of the mixes stored away in my old freezer. The base of one mix was cat food, the other was simpler, but had strawberry flavour added. Just for the hell of it the strawberry boilies were coloured red, whilst the cat food mix was left natural. Neither were too complex as ingredients were limited to what I could buy from the local health stores. It always made me smile when I went into these stores to stock up, and the lady behind the register would smile and nod approvingly as she scanned the items, unbeknown to her that they were going to be used as a fish food and not some really weird healthy something or other !!!

Another one of Len's mythical 20's Well it would have been if we hadn't got a set of scales : ) At 13-13 it was good enough to be the 2nd best fish of the weekend

With the 1st batch of boilies now made I got down to tying some hair rigs. I opted for a ‘family’ of rigs, which would give me a coverall depending on the situation I was fishing in and the willingness of the carp to bite well or be finicky. The range went from size 2 hooks on 10lb line to 12 hooks on 4lb line. I standardized on 2 hair lengths – short and long. I decided on this as my hand rolled boilies were all sorts of shapes and sizes, so I wanted to make sure I had the correct hair length for the size of boilie I was going to use. I tried to store them on the Fox system rig boards, but I didn’t like the way the line retained the kink where it had passed around the rubber corner, so I ended up using the small plastic bags that loose hooks and the like came in. I kept one rig in one bag and labeled them according to size and line strength. This was not so much as to know what is in them, but in the case of a broke or lost leader; what was in there. I made a dozen leaders off each and by the time I had got all that done the ice was melted and I was ready to try out the baits.

Tim nets Len's 13-13

The 2 lakes I was going to try were conveniently located just a few miles from work, so it was easy for me to pop out at lunch time and throw a few in and get back to have my food as well. “Been out to feed the fish Tone ?” became the regular line used by my work colleagues when I came into the lunchroom. I just smiled. For some reason they thought I was giving my self an unfair advantage ? They didn’t know the carp as well as I do ……………. Into one lake went the strawberry boilies and the other was laced with the cat food ones. I was soon through the initial 700 and was busy most nights making more to throw in for the next day. For 3 weeks I visited each lake on a Monday, Wednesday and Friday lunchtime and in the end I had thrown in just over a 1000 boilies into each. The signs were encouraging, as the boilies that were being dropped in shallow water were usually all gone when I went back a couple of days later. It was getting close to trying them out for real. So early one Saturday morning in late June I was heading for the ‘strawberry’ lake filled with anticipation of things to come.

Gary & his 12lb'er

I arrived to find a lot of fish in the shallows, grubbing around and stirring up the mud. A good sign. I set up 2 rods; one with the boilie, the other with plain corn. Onto the boilie rod I attached a stringer of 4 boilies and cast out. No sooner had I placed the rod in the rest then off went the line and a spirited 7lb’ish carp was quickly in the net. What a great start, far better than I could have hoped for. I quickly recast and waited for the next bite. It was to be a bit longer wait than the 1st time. In fact I had plenty of time to set up the 2nd rod with corn, cast out and even land a fish before there were any beeps from the boilie rod again. So it was boilie 1, corn 1. The rigs and set-ups were identical, but the score quickly went to 3-1 for the corn and my initial enthusiasm was waning quickly as to the effectiveness of my home made baits. I carried on fishing for the next couple of hours and ended up with 11 fish. 3 on boilies and 8 on corn. Not what I had hoped for, but at least I had caught something on the boilie. Maybe it was the plainness of the ingredients that made it unattractive to the carp ? Maybe I never threw enough in to get them really used to a new bait ? The next weekend I would go to the ‘cat food’ lake and see how that goes.

Ian - another relocated Brit. Old habits die hard with these ex match fishermen

For a couple of days during the week preceding my Saturday fishing trip I threw in another 200 boilies, so by the time I got there in the morning the carp had seen around 1200 freebies over a period of just under a month. On paper the cat food boilie had a distinct edge over the strawberry one, but would the fish think so ? Again 2 rods were cast out, one with boilie and stringer, the other with corn. It was quickly 2-0 to the corn and again I was getting disillusioned. All my hard work and efforts were seemingly not up to the task of taking on corn and beating it. I switched rigs and boilie sizes, but to no avail. I never had one fish on boilie !?!?! 6 carp on corn, but a big fat zero on my home mades. I was devastated.

Tony sling shotting out some 'magic' boilies

For the next couple of months I regrouped and started to plan my 2nd batch of boilie introductions. I made one change to the fish food recipe, I ordered from The TackleBox in the UK a couple of bottles of MultiMino. This was to be the turning point in my search for that elusive “magic” ingredient that would make ordinary bait into great bait. I made the decision to feed the ‘cat food’ lake with the fish food boilies and the ‘strawberry’ lake with the scopex ones. The ‘cat food’ lake was obviously going to be more of a challenge so I figured if the carp eat them in there then I must be closing in on a winner ?? Throughout September I was busy making boilies one night and throwing them in the lake the next day. My wife hated the scopex smell, so I was secretly hoping that the effectiveness of it would not be as good as the fish food one. As it turned out, that was the case.

Mark with the larger of his 2 fish of the day

The weather as usual for Michigan in late September was gorgeous. Since my last boilie try-out a few months previous, the lakes had been flooded so any remnants of old boilies were well and truly washed away. I had to try the scopex boilies first, just to keep the wife happy. I have to admit I fished half-heartedly, but still had some reasonable success, taking 5 carp on the boilies and 4 on the corn. At least I had found something that could compete one on one with the corn. I took into account that the corn may not have been quite so effective this time of year due to the locals using it throughout the summer and the carp becoming more wary. To counteract this I fished the corn with an open-end feeder to attract and feed the carp in a localised spot. I was happy with the results, but was keen to try the fish food/MultiMino boilies next week.

Len and his 2nd biggest carp (not weighed)

The week passed by quickly and my hopes were high. I settled into my favourite swim along the wall and again used a string of 4 boilies alongside my hookbait and an open-end feeder with the corn. The carp were feeding well ……….. on the corn !?!?. 3 fish in quick succession to corn made me start to question the real need for boilies in the US over again. After all, why was I bothering ? I could catch fish on corn, I didn’t need this hassle and aggravation – I was beginning to get stressed out !!!! For no reason ………….. Suddenly out of all the gloom the boilie rod beeped and kept on beeping – a carp. I lifted the rod and struck into a solid fish. Some time later I netted a superb 12lb 5oz carp. The fish on corn were all around the 7lb mark. Could this be the key – less fish but bigger ? I quickly recast with renewed hope. A beautiful 10lb 10oz mirror carp to boilie followed 2 more corn carp. I was over the moon. Even though I was catching less I was picking out the bigger fish on the boilies. Something I never thought of, but I was not going to complain. I ended the day with 12 fish. 4 carp all over 10lb on boilies, and 8 carp on corn, with 7 of those under 10lb. I prebaited some more the following week and was back again the next Sunday.

Tim's 1st carp to tutti-frutti boilie. 2 more would follow inside 15 mins culminating in his 19-9

I took 14 carp that day. 13 on boilies and 1 on corn. Admittedly the 13 carp weren’t all over 10lb but my baits were beginning to be accepted. I fished throughout the month of October on my local lake and down on the River Raisen where I had great success with boilies and corn taking 2 carp over 20lb. I was allowed to fish a private stretch of the river which ran along the bottom of a friends ex-work colleagues back yard (7 acre back yard to be exact !!)

Len bends into his 13-13

By mid November I was done and the weather was beginning to cool down. I had finally found a good boilie mix, and the number, and quality, of carp on the bank gave me the confidence to plan my assault on Kent Lake and the CAG fish-in next June. I rested until after Christmas and then the big push to make a “ton” of boilies was underway. The Guru’s of prebaiting all leant towards an introduction of 1000’s for prebaiting in order to get the carp quickly onto a food they would eat, but up until a few days ago they would not have given it a second glance. For 4 months I worked beaverishly making batch after batch of between 130 & 140 boilies at a time. My little freezer was getting full. I had bought some containers from Meijer and found that they would comfortably hold 300 boilies apiece. By the time I had finished, I had 10 containers sitting in my freezer. That was 3000 baits …………. !!! I decided to stop there. I figured 3 days of prebaiting was going to be enough, and if 3000 baits didn’t do the trick then nothing would.

Tim nets Lens 13-13

May soon arrived and I started to think more about my mission. Was it going to be Mission Impossible ? One thing, it wouldn’t be too long before I was going to find out. Throughout May I tidied up my gear, got new line and made up some new leaders. My ‘family’ of rigs had worked great last year, so I stuck to that. By the end of the month I was ready. 17 months had passed since I first had this hair brained idea; there was now less than 2 weeks to go. Time to put the plan into action.

Another one of Tim's 'tutti-frutti' carp

I checked the calendar and planned the bait introduction carefully. I wanted to be at Kent Lake Monday, Wednesday and Friday the week leading up to the 9th. Monday and Tuesday at lunchtime, and Friday morning at 6am. I like to get some of the baits in at a time close to when I would be fishing, so as I was planning to be at Kent Lake at 6am on the Saturday, then Friday at 6 was perfect for the last lot of boilies to be introduced. In between time I was starting to make some boilies to use as bait on Saturday. I planned to take around 500 with me. Some I didn’t mind frozen and then thawed, but a final batch would be ‘fresh’. The fresh batch was made Thursday night and I was all set. The bait introduction had gone well also. Monday I managed to get out from work on company business, and made a little detour on the way back to throw in the first 1000. Wednesday saw Big-Jim and myself travel out from work at lunchtime and get rid of the next 1000. It was a lovely day, the lake looked perfect and ready for some serious fishing. I think if I had had my rods with me I may not have made it back to work that day !! Friday was even easier. I just got up a bit earlier than usual and took a drive out to the lake before heading back to work for my usual 7am start. The wildlife was in abundance, and again the lake looked fantastic. In went the last 1000 and all was set. I would be back in 24 hours …………….

Tony lazing the afternoon away - typical carp fisherman pose : )
(Didn't know Gary took this ............ !!!)

Everything was packed into the car Friday night for a quick get away the following morning. For a backup I had 3lb of boiled maize soaked in MultiMino. I hoped I would not be needing it ?

Even the head ranger and DNR guy wanted a piece of the action. Trouble was he took the shortest route to the bank .......... right thru' our swims : )

I arrived at the park just before 6am and drove slowly past all the deer to the car park. A few anglers were already there and getting their gear unpacked. I walked down the hill to the bankside and started to set up my rods. I chose a swim about in the middle of the area I had been prebaiting. One bait was placed just a few rod lengths out to be in the vicinity of my chumming, the other would be cast 50+ yards to the edges of the weed beds on the other bank. Both rods had a stringer of 4 boilies attached to the hook. I set up the buzzers and settled back. It was strangely quiet. No fish were ‘topping’ and there was no sign of any feeding activity i.e. bubbles or swirls. This was a little disturbing, but undaunted and confident in my approach I stuck at it. By 6:30 a few more anglers had arrived, one of them being Gary Gillis. I inquired as to how the pre-baiting had gone, but was taken aback and saddened to hear that he had not done any this year. My 18 month preparation was blown right out of the water. A disaster in the making. Knowing how Turtle Head had fished over the last couple of years I knew it was now going to be tough. It was made even tougher when 15 minutes later a carp was taken ………. on corn. I sat down and rethought my strategy.

Len and another Kent Lake carp

I figured that the carp were now more likely to be on the edge of the far bank weed line, so changing to an ounze lead I launched my 2 boilie baits out across the lake. It wasn’t long before I had a fish. Not huge at around 6lb, but a carp, and all of a sudden it was corn 1; boilie 1. I recast with great anticipation but the time ticked slowly by and after a couple of hours I was down 3-1 to the corn fishermen. It was as I had expected – tough going and it was only going to get tougher. I started to vary my presentation. Smaller hooks, lighter leaders, 2 boilies on a stringer, 5 boilies on the stringer, PVA bags with cut up boilies ………… on and on the list went. Out of all of this I took one more carp. Not what I had hoped for. Next door to me was Tim. He was using maple flavoured maize and had taken a couple, but was interested in my use of boilies. He had some old Tutti-Frutti long life boilies in his bag and fishing them alone; no stringers; he launched them out into the middle of the lake. Within 30 minutes he had taken 3 carp, including a porky in-spawn female of 19lb 9oz. Then as quickly as his bites began, they stopped.

Ron and his one and only carp of the day - taken on strawberry flavoured sweetcorn

Mine had been stopped for a while, but at least I was kept busy netting and photographing Tim’s fish !?!? Then it hit me ………. freebies, freebies and more freebies. During the past week the carp were used to finding hundreds of boilies lying around on the bottom of the lake, and maybe, just maybe that’s what they were looking for now. Out went the baits and about 30 boilies followed via the catapult. Within 15 minutes I was into a fish. Was this the answer ?

Paul Willison came over from the west side of the state to find Kent Lake very uncooperating to his fly fishing methods. In the end he ended up using corn and took a couple of fish, of which this is one

Well as it turned out it was; but the results were disappointing for the effort I had put into my campaign since January. I ended up with 8 carp and lost 2. Tim next to me had 5 fish, but the rest were nowhere. Apart from Tim, I ended up with more fish than the other 12+ anglers all put together. I suppose success in a way, but I wonder what might have been if the pre-baiting had been carried out as normal. Still as they say, there is always next year

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For more information on the Michigan Fishin, contact Gary Carp On.