Carp fishing made Easy with Outrageous Baits

Carp fishing is a challenge to angler and equipment if a big carp is on the end of a line. A big carp can easily spool off lot of line from your reel with its blistering runs when hooked. The fight with this bulldozer will be a non-stop scenario from beginning to the end with dogged resistance till the last bit of line is pulled in.

Distribution

Carp are a universal freshwater fish. They can be found on every continent. The number of anglers stalking this fabulous fish is large. It’s one of the most popular of all the freshwater species in Britain and Europe. Carp are regarded as trash fish in N. America and Australia. Elsewhere in the world carp are an important food fish.

Originated in Asia, carp are farmed for food way back in 400 BC. Spreading across Europe and Britain in the 15 century and was only introduced to N. America in 1876 by the U.S. Fish Commission. Today carp is the most common freshwater fish on the planet.

King Carp forms the basis of carp fishing which consist of the common, leather and mirror carp. These carp are larger and heavier than the wild carp. These different strains of king carp were produced from the wild carp through selective breeding on fish farms.

Carp are not the easiest fish to catch. These creatures spook easily. They’re ranked among the hardest freshwater fish to catch on rod and line by many Europeans anglers. Most of the time carp are caught by anglers when they’re bait-fishing for other species.

Diet

Carp natural diet consists of snails, various kinds of worms, mollusks, crustaceans, insects, insect larvae and aquatic plants. These creatures feed day and night.

Best Fishing Time

Most carp anglers will say early in the morning or late evening is the best time for carping. I agreed, but my favorite time is night-time, night fishing. Since carp are spooky and weary creatures, with the cover of darkness and the quietness more bites are registered.

Tackle

Tackle for carp fishing varies. It all depends on the location, habitat, and whether one is going for trophy-size or smaller fish. If the place is snag-free a 6 lbs. ultralight outfit or even less for maximum pleasure will be just nice. Always have quality, thin-diameter line, and the drag of the reel must be real smooth. Heavier gear with line of 15 lbs. and above is needed for snags-infested waters with trophy-size carp. For normal situation where carp below the 15 lbs. range 8 lbs. line is more than sufficient.

Rod long or short is a matter of choice and technique. But if you’re fishing the edges or margins of ponds or lakes, a short rod will do the job well. A long rod will be useful if you need to cast out far when targeting fish at a long distance. As carp fishing is a waiting game I prefer to use both, a 6-7 ft. rod for close range and a 10-12 ft. long rod for longer range. 2 rods are my maximum.

Bait

Carp’s bait is wide. Anglers all over the world use all sort of food offerings as bait. Some are even considered strange or shall I put it, outrageous. Dough-balls, dog biscuits, corn, carrot-cube, cucumber, worms, peanuts, rice, cat food, luncheon meat, bread, cheese, potato and pizza are some of them.

Dough-balls are by far the most popular item used for carp. These are often homemade mixture of fish pellets, animals feed, fish paste, bread, biscuits, banana, cornmeal, flour and many other items that anglers can dream of to roll them into sticky balls. My favorite is a simple mixture of fish pellets, corn flour and my important addition of banana essence. The mixture must be sticky enough. It must not be too soft to hold on to the hook and too hard for the fish to bite.

Bait Rigs

There are quite a number of bait rigs used by carp anglers. Some of them are ready-made available at most tackle stores. One of this is the bomb-rig which is made out of few small hooks tied in a way that look like a bundle of grapes when the sticky dough is put in place ready to fish. This type of rig with too many hooks can be tricky for snag-infested waters. The hook-up rate is high though with this rig.

Personally, I prefer a simple single-hook rig, because the chance of getting snagged is less. Furthermore, the chance of a dying snagged-fish when the line is snatched is high. After all it’s only sport fishing I’m looking for.

Anyway, carp fishing is so exciting and great opportunities await you wherever you’re based, don’t miss it, just pack your gear and grab whatever food from your refrigerator as bait and you’re on.

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