Carp Fishing Tips for Beginners

A friend of mine is an avid carp fisherman and suggested that I join him for a day of fishing for what I considered just a giant goldfish. I prefer the action of bass or crappie fishing but I decided to give it a try. Actually it wasn’t that bad although it was frustrating at times

You see, carp eat by sucking in and blowing out their food. They’re suspicious by nature and if they don’t like your bait, they’ll spit it right out. But, when one takes it, the excitement begins.

Carp Bait Tips

Carp happily devour inexpensive baits like feed pellets, chic peas, bread, and corn. Just attach them to your hook and you’re good to go. I have used a bread mixture to catch bream and other panfish before so I used about the same formula of dipping the bread a mixture water and flavoring. Then I got the mixture into a good sticky consistency to stick to the hook.  My friend said that he’s heard of some carp anglers using glues to get the bait to stick better but he thought this scared the fish too much because the taste was bad to them.

Since carp are slow and sensitive eaters who’ll taste their food before they commit, use gloves to prepare the bait to prevent transferring too much human scent to the bait. My friend mentioned this is particularly critical for smokers since most carp don’t like nicotine at all.

The trick is to throw out some of the bait without a hook first. Once the carp start feeding on your bait, they’ll get used to it and won’t be as cautious. If you can work a pond for a few days, regularly feed the carp without trying to catch them. Carp will show up at their new ‘cafeteria’ like clockwork and they’ll be less suspicious of the food.

When you see them feeding, it’s time to cast the baited hook. However, make sure you don’t drop the bait directly on where the carp are feeding.  Cast across the baited area and then slowly reel it in position.

Carp Fishing Gear Tips

A good, heavy duty, rod and reel is needed. Anything light or medium weight will probably be broken. I used my rig that I normally use for stripper or catfish fishing. 50 pound test line is recommended since these are heavy fish that can put up a bit of a fight. They don’t fight like bass though, more like catfish. They’re strong and steady fighters.

A large, weighted, float can improve your casting distance and accuracy. We used different colors so that we could tell who’s was who’s. Some big time carp fishermen have more extensive rigs especially made for carp fishing but I’ll talk about those later.

If you get a chance, try out carp fishing. It’s a bit different but it can be rewarding.