Minnesota Carping

Yearly Synopsis

2007-12-24T11:28:00.000-08:00

I have not posted on here for a LONG time. So far 2007 has been my absolute best year of fishing yet. i caught many large fish. including a few odd and rare catches.

this year i began fly fishing for carp cand landed my biggest carp ever with 6 lb test tippet! it took 2 hours to finally subdue the fish.

I caught my new PB channel catfish that shattered my old pb of 12 lbs by 10 lbs!!! the cat weighed 22 lbs 6 oz.

i caught this small channel catfish in lake agnes! channel cats arent even know to be in any lakes around here. sorry for the blurry pic

the day after i caught that catfish i caught a 4 lb 6 oz largemouth Bass in the same spot... weird huh? that won me the weekly winner for the Jr. age Largemouth bass section.

i caught a rare mirror carp on lake winona weighing 4 lbs 6 oz.

i caught a 2 snapping turtles in 2 days.
this one while fishing for crappies. he took a yellow twister tail grub.

and this on took a jig and nightcrawler while fishing for bass off the Lake Geneva pier. he was HUGE i would have gotten him onto the peir but there was a little boy and his dad there and i didnt want to take the chance so i cut the line.

i caught this AWESOME bass on lake geneva. set my rod down with the shiner 2 feet under the peir just to get a drink before i recasted and my rod started bending toward the water. pulled it up and brought up this BIG bass.

I caught this HUGE goldfish off lake geneva peir.

i caught my first 2 bowfin
this one was my first weighed 6 lbs 15 oz

and this was my second weghed 7 lb 6 oz.

i caught my 2nd walleye and 3rd walleye ever off the city park peir. (i caught alot of walleyes from other lakes though)

i also got my friend cody into his first carp and addicted to carping

i caught 3 deformed carp. 2 in one day. but all in the same area! in my backyard going to Lake Le Homme Dieu
this one was on of the 2 caught on the same day. he she weighed about 18 lbs.

this was the other one that day. she weighed about 15 lbs. i dont know what that is but it was like an extra appendige.

and i caught this one in august. he weighed 6 lbs 15 oz. and had a deformed mouth but he was healthy so he must have been eating well.

and i won the jr best story and jr best photo on the CAG (carp anglers group) discovery month. the prizes i won were a scorpion tackle 5 play rod pod. and a DAM quick finnesa bait feeder reel and a DAM telescopic green cross power carp rod.
DAM quick finessa bait feeder reel.

rod and reel collapsed

rod and reel together.

rod pod, rod, and reel

A long awaited catch

2007-07-24T18:30:00.000-07:00

today I went to a like I like to fish for bass. it is part of a large chain of lakes that we call the le homme deiu chain. I was fishing on a peir surrounded by lily pads and I was casting a slug go. then I noticed a bright orange thing floating on the surface about 5 feet away it was a dead gold fish. and there was one swimming below it!!! I quickly tied on a smaller hook and put on 2 kernals of corn and made a cast toward the fish.
suprisingly it took it and I landed it and took this pic. it was a really fat one.

close up

eventually I snagged the dead one.

I brought both of them home and buried the dead one. the live one is swimming in my fish tank right now. and I just fed it a couple meal worms. and it ate them.

Taters + An Awesome malenistic sighting!!!

2007-07-19T08:28:00.000-07:00

July 18th 2007
went fishing today. the bait of choice was... hair rigged potatoes!

i was out there for5 hours until i couldnt bear the heat anymore. it was a good day. caught many carp. but the highlight of the day was about an hour before i left. you'll read that soon.
i had just got down to the lake and got my rod rigged up when i started hearing alot of splasshing in the overhanging trees about 25 feet away. i casted out my line toward the center of the lake. and turned down the drag. then i went to go check it out. The noise was carp tailing carp (as i thought) i was able to get 1 ok picture.

shortly after the i took the pic my drag was shreading off the reel. i ran to it put my hand on the reel and set the hook. then tightend my drag. it wasnt a big carp but it was a carp none the less. i got her landed and took a pic.

then my cameras batteries started to die and i decided not to take anymore pictures. so if i get a big one the batteries arent dead. i continued fishing i caught a bunch more carp around that size. then i decided to move to a spot i just recently discovered. it is a big strip (only about 15 feet across) of land going out into the lake about 200 feet and then widening to make an island. (from a birds eye veiw it would kinda look like a thermometer) i got to the island and went near a big fallen log that extends about 15 feet out. where i usually see carp feeding. i casted out and before long i got a slow run. it turned out to be a really small carp <1 lb. i recasted then sat down on the log over the water. i wasited there for over 1/2 hour and was starting to doze off. but then i looked down and seen a HUGE melanistic carp!!! as black as could be. i froze and tried not to make a move. it came up to the log right by my feet and sucked on the log once then swam off. i was shaking so much i almost fell of the log. it was just so exciting being next to that beast. i hope someday i could hook up to her and do batttle. and hopefully land her.

Flavor Show down... Anise vs Vanilla!!!

2007-07-19T08:23:00.000-07:00

July 16th 2007
me and my friend kyle went fishing to day. i just bought a bottle of anise. i decided to have a little experiment i bought 2 cans of corn. and i flavored one can with vanilla and one can with anise. we each got 1 hour per flavoring same rig and every thing. i started with vanilla flavored corn and he had anise. in that hour i caught 5 fish. to his 15. not all were big but they were carp. then it was my turn for anise. the 1st fish ended up to be this awesome carp

at the end of the hour 1 had caught 21 fish and he had 8. so the anise out fished the vanilla by about 300%.
after the 2 hours. kyle had to leave. i decided to go get some on the fly. i caught 2 fish one was around a pound. and then i caught this one. sorry the pic is bad. im not very good at self photos.

Progress

2007-07-11T15:14:00.001-07:00

i put together this little slideshow of my new favorite thing to do... fly rod carping. it has photos of my first carp on the fly to the most recent. enjoy!!!
Carp On The Fly Slideshow

July 3rd - 4th fishing

2007-07-05T18:53:00.000-07:00

went fishing with my friend cody for the past 3 days. here are the stories of each day:

July 3rd-
Today i took Cody out to get his first carp. all day it looked like it could start raining any second. but it didnt. when we got down to the lake i immediatly had him get down and i pointed to the water. there was swirls from gulping carp everywhere. vthere must have been over 50 gulping. i told him to try and get down to the cat tails but avoid all the goose poop. he mad his way down to the cattails and i stood pretty far away watching with my polarized sunglasses. he almost immediatly had a nice carp on. he battled it for a while before i was able ho get the net onto her. here she is!!! his first carp and a nice one to boot!!!

we got a few more carp that day but not may. and they were small.
so we went down on a bike trail and caught a few bass.

July 4th-
today i went to codys house and we went down to a lake about 300 feet from his house. we were going for bass. we caught alot but none of any real good size. 1lb max. then later cody went home and i caught a few more bass then i seen a bowfin!!! a nice one too!!! i casted my worm she shot at it and missed. i recasted she hit it again. but i set it too soon and it came out of her mouth. i recasted. this time she got it and the fight was on i got her close enought to shore so i was able to grab her. then i put her in my trailer and took her to up[ to cody's house to get her pic taken. she was 25 inches long and 13inches in girth and according to the weight table on bowfin anglers group she would weig 6.1 lbs. pic of her with the tuler

pic of me and her (i look really stupid on this pic beause i was about to sneeze and when he took the picture my camera went dead and we couldnt get it back on.)(it didnt even say low battery)

Todays Carp Expedition

2007-07-02T19:50:00.000-07:00

i took my friend, kyle, out carping today to get his first nice carp. we did pretty well the numbers were good but they werent as big as usual. when we first got down to the lake i explained a few things he needed to do to catch these carp.
after i got done explaining he was soon hooked up with a fiesty little guy. then i was hooked up as well about 20 seconds later. and walla a nice double

after they were realeased kyle went to the other sided of the road and dropped his corn in a caulvert. and bam another nice carp. after 5 minutes we were able to take the picture.

then i casted out and set my rod i a shore made rod holder (rocks) and waited. my friend got a small carp and needed me to unhook it. then IT happends my rod almost goes flying out of the rocks but i got it before it went into the water. then i fought the fish for 2 minutes then my line broke from the rocks. i never got a look at the fish. it never came off the bottom.
after a while kyle was hooked up with another good carp. and fought for a while then we were able to get her to shore and take a pic.

then kyle decided to take a rest for a while and just watch so i got 2 carp.
1st one was a 5 minute fight.

and another 2 minute fight

then we started getting alot of smaller ones around a pound. and then we left kyle did very well for his first carp trip. and i am bringing my friend cody down there tommorow to get his first carp ever. i guess im becomimg somewhat of a guide. haha.

Disapointing first session... Then ANOTHER NEW PB!!!!

2007-06-27T18:59:00.001-07:00

went fishing twice today. the first session ended with many disapointments. first my rods got all tangled up on the bike ride to the lake. then i hooked up to a big carp but it broke off when my line got angled aroung the tip of the pole. so i tie on another fly and walk down the shoreline some more. seen another good carp got a solid hookset. he tore into my backing and then my line went limp. another line break!!! i decided to go home and go back tommorow. then 1 hour after i get home my friend calls and asks me to go fishing. and i said yes i can never turn down a fishing trip. so i bike down to the lake. and waited for him to show up. i started fishing 1/2 an hour passed and he didnt show up. so i said i guess he's not coming. i stayed and fished though and i was rewarded with 2 fish. i walked along the shore line and noticed 2 logs that looked like a good spot. when i got to it i noticed 3 tails. i dropped my fly where they were headed and got a solid hookset. after 7 minutes fight around the 2 logs. i finally was able to bring her close to shore and grab her. a nice thick female. pic.

after about another 1/2 hour i started hearing pops. pop pop pop . i walked along the shoreline to find out what it was. i had never heard anything like it before. and before i knew it it sounded like i was right on top of it. i looked in the water and seen a huge carp eating against the shore. (it drops right down to 2 feet. so its just like a wall) i dropped my fly right in front of it. it turned and ignored it and began feeding again. i put it in front of it again... and it took it!!! after 1/2 hour fight over cattails going up and down the shoreline i grabbed her. she was a long thick female. i just sat there holding her and admiring her huge bronze scales for the longest time. then a girl who worked for the local park department who was cutting the grass along the shoreline and seen the fight came down and volunteered to take the picture. this carp is a new pb by a long shot. the last one i got was not even close to this heavy. i think this one is again around 2 pounds heavier than my previous pb!!! pic of her

Another Nice MN Bass

2007-06-24T19:23:00.000-07:00

went fishing today on a small stream leading out of a lake. i tied on a new inline spinner. first cast WAM!!! i set the hook. after staying on the bottom for a while it started coming uf anfd jumped threw the hook but luckely it hooked the top jaw. after a little more fighting i was able to grab her. pic of her

pic of the realease

after i released her. i barely caught anything. i got a crappie, a sunny, and a bullhead.

NEW PB ON THE FLY!!!!

2007-06-22T18:28:00.000-07:00

went back out today. i seen very few feeding fish. right when i got down there i seen a small pod of gulpers. but they were big. sadly one of them saw me and darted off and the rest followed. i was blind casting for 2 hours because there were no signs of feeding fish. i casted towards a log. i got a hit. i brought the fish in and relized it was a bass!!! pic

another hour of blind casting brought out no results. then i seen a big tail come out of the water about 5 feet away from me. i dabbed my fly down were i thought the mouth would be. i felt it and set the hook. but missed the fish. luckely it just swam about 10 feet further down the shore line the started feeding again. i set the fly down again it took it. i set the hook and had him. the fight raged on for a whole half hour until i was able to grab the fish. by then i had a crowd of about 7 people around me watching. it is by far the biggest carp i ever caught on the fly. she had to be at least 2 lbs over my previous pb!!! pic of her

June 20th Carp on The Fly Report

2007-06-20T15:40:00.000-07:00

Boy am i getting into this!!!
went out on the lake again today. i immedialty noticed alot of tailers but theye were behind some trees. so i couldnt get to them. i walked down the shoreline and seen alot of gulpers. i set down my fly and immediatly had a fish on. after 5 minutes she got under a log and wrapped around one of the branches. i slowly eased the fish back out. after 5 more minutes of fighting she was in my net.

after i released her there was no signs of carp activity. so i walked along the shoreline aimlessly for over an hour. until i seen a big swirl of a tailing carp. i walked down to it and dropped my fly. it took the fly. and i set the hook. but unfortunatly i set it too late. another 10 minutes passed and i seen 2 more gulpers passing by. i dropped my fly. WAM!!! a hard hit. and after a short 5 minute battle he was in my net. unfortunatly my net broke when i netted him. he was really fat. i thought he was a female but he had no eggs. pic of him.

another 10 minutes later i decided to blind cast around a calvert. first cast a baby bluegill. the second cast i got a huge hit. i thought i had a big ol' bass. because that is what i usually get out of that caulvert. then it took off and it didnt stop until it was about 100 feet (out of my 200 feet) into my backing. i kept on letting him run and finaly i got him near shore close enough for me to grab. i noticed he had a wierd scale pattern on the top right side. pic of him.

close up of his scales.

i left after i realeased this fish, because my wrist started hurting. i dont know i think it might be sprained. has this happed to anyone???

June 19th Carp On The Fly Report

2007-06-19T17:16:00.000-07:00

I went out to my new hotspot again today. The side i usually fish had 20 mph wind blowing in my face. with no signs of fish. i decided to got to the other side. which was calm. the only water movent pretty much was from the tails of carp. They were every where!!! i started out casting a size 8 dragonfly nymph. but with no success. i switched to a size 6 bunny leech. still no success. i kept trying all different flies. then i tied on a size 12 woven bitch creek nymph i tied last night. first cast a big hit. i knew that this was a hot fly. i fought the fish for about 15 minutes before he gave in and came into my net. i didnt have a scale with so i dont know the exact weight. he was a lean mean male though. pic of him. (sorry the pic is blurry i didnt notice until i released the fish.)

i walked along the shore line and passed up many small tailers until i seen a nice big tail.
i casted out to it. but with only about 2 inch water clarity it was hard to tell when the had it. i just kept the line somewhat tight. soon after the fly touched the water. the line started moving to the left. i knew it had the fly. i set the hook. and after a gruelling 10 minute battle the fish was in my net. pic of her. (my net is 22 inches from let to right, and 24 inches from top to bottom)

after that i had to blind cast for a while. catching 4 small carp which would be less than a pound. then i seen a group of tails (right next to shore) down the shoreline. i slowly walked to them and noticed they were the tails of 3 nice carp. i slowly dropped my fly right on their face or atleast where the would be (i couldn't see them). and almost immediatly i felt a big hit. and the fight was on. about 10 minutes later. another lean mean male was in my net.
pic of him. i used my hand for scale.

Different catch

2007-06-18T20:59:00.000-07:00

i havent been on my blog much lately so heres the low down from the past few days. i have been fishing off a local pier. i usually catch alot of bass but last friday was a day that i would remember. i was fishing for bullhead and catching alot of perch. i was using a cut shiner. and i just lifted up my bait and felt a little resistance. i immediatly set the hook. i thought i snagged a carp. this fish was taking line!!! then it came to the surface and did a backflip. it was a big bass!!! i started freaking out. i grabbed my net and eased the bass toward it. once it touched the rim of the net it darted and wrapped me around the pole on the pier. i slowly eased it back out and finaly got it in the net. i jumped on my bike and brought it to the local bait shop to be weighed and put in the fishing contest. it weight 4 lbs 6 oz a good size bass for minnesota.
pic of her

June 11th Carp On The Fly Report

2007-06-11T20:06:00.000-07:00

went back to my new hotspot today again. my friend brandon came with. we arrived down there at about 1 o'clock. right when we got down there we seen around 4 carp feeding very near the surface. we played rock, parper, scissors to see who could have the first fish, i won.
so i dropped the fly right in front of its nose. she hesitated a little bit. then turned to the left. i twiched the fly a little bit and she took it. i made a solid hook set and the fight was on 5 minutes later she was in my net. she was about 3 lbs 8 oz.

a little bit later we seen a few more carp feeding on the surface. it was brandons turn. he dropped his hook and corn in front of the biggest ones face. then right awy a small one came up and took it and darted away hooking itself. so after a short battle she was on shore. she weighed about 3 lbs 4 oz. he didnt want a pic of it.
the next fish was mine. but i had to wait a half an hour before we seen some. i dropped the fly and immediatly the carp took the fly. it was a big one i fought her for about 10 minutes then she broke off in the rocks.
brandon's turn again. he seen a small group of carp further down the shoreline. he dropped his hook in and immediatly had another carp. very small one less than a pound. he didnt want a pic of her either.
then i seen another group feeding on the surface. with about 10-12 carp!!! i dropped the fly in front a the closest nice one. she took it immediatly. i set the hook and began the battle. she was in the net after 10 minutes. she weighed about 10 lbs 3 oz.
(ps it was very windy today as you can see by my hair)

June 8th carp on the fly report.

2007-06-08T19:08:00.001-07:00

went out to my new hotspot today for 2 hours. there was alot of feeding activity. mainly gulpers. i caught 10 fish. 3 were very good sized. and the rest were around 1 pound (which i didnt take pics of). all the carp were caught on a cathair leech i tied (with my cats shed hair). i would just pick out a fish i want that was gulping and set it in front of its nose. i couldn't see if there were any fish feeding on the bottom beacause the lake only hase about 2-3 inch clarity. so i could only get the gulpers. here are the pics.

Why Fish For Carp???

2007-06-07T13:42:00.000-07:00

Why Not???

First off they are a very large fish. They can grow to over 20 pounds easy.

Secondly they are a very tough fish. They can and probaly will rip the line out of your reel. Also they will test your gear to the limits. Making several long runs before giving up.

Thirdly they are very common. They can adapt to almost any enviroment. From the heat of the austrailian summer, to the cold winters of minnesota and canada. they are found on all continents except Antarctica (but no one lives there anyway).

And finaly the can be caught on almost anything. they will take worms, leeches, jigs, flies, corn boilies, dough bait, and much much more. i have even caught a few on daredevles and rapalas (a prime example of trying to be something your not (these carp must have been trying to be northern pike)).

Welcome To Minnesota Carping

2007-06-07T08:36:00.000-07:00

I am Jake Didier. I live in a small town in central Minnesota. And i have been carping for 1 year now. i have caught many carp. most around 6-7 pounds. but the average weight has been going up as of this year.