Any carp fishermen here

[DogBoy]

My sister went fly fishing a month or two ago and said it was quite good fun. she ate what she caught too which was pretty cool. Let me know how you and your son get on, i've not fly fished properly before but we did talk about going on a day course to learn recently. looks like it could be quite pleasant and peaceful. Any tips you pick up would be gratefully received! lol

I'm surprised to see so many Americans familiar with carping, i was always under the impression you guys were more bass etc oriented and didn't know that carping was good over there too. Do you know what sort of carp are there? Were they stocked, are they English or French if so.

 

[lordbudly]

no idea dogboy, i enjoy a good bass fish, just not as much carp, they fight like crazy, same with northerns, they arent stocked... your encouraged to kill them upon landing in my area

 

[shaunmulok]

Hi DogBoy, I fish with a float and bait about a meter out from the reeds, Worms,maggots,corn or a product called powerbait are my weapons of choice
I have been told they will bite on lures but there is no water flow there so fly fishing wouldn't suit that area it is just a large dam at a sport recreation field
They stock it with 400 trout 2 weeks before school holidays as part of the future fish foundation which my son is a member, They try and promote fishing for the youngens which I'm proud to support
The funding goes into future breeding not only in trout but other fish as well(Murray Cod,Yellowbelly perch,redfin,barramundi)and i think some bass up north
My son is on Holidays now so there should be fish there
The carp we have in oz are the English and were stocked here(I think for pest control originally)

Like lordbudly we are told to kill and discard away from high water

 

[DogBoy]

Wow, i cant believe you guys are told to kill them, i wasn't aware they were a threat species and dont breed too quickly so i'm curious why that is the case? Glad to hear about your son. I love the idea of keeping the sport alive by passing it on, it's how i learnt and i hope my son is as interested as i was ( though hopefully not as thick as i am! ).

I'm known to float fish sometimes if i am not having any luck or fancy a change. That's where the Sweepfire comes into it's own. It's a great reel for small fish and quite responsive. I've had some lovely specimen fish with it including good size Roach, Rudd, Perch etc. I prefer to fish right into the reeds for the stealthy fish but it often costs me a rig when i get tangled up. Getting pretty good at making drop knots now though which help preserve all but the hook. At least that way i can get the kit back if i get a snag and the fish can easily spit a barbless hook so no harm comes to them if i snag up and tear off.

 

[lordbudly]

if i recall for our area its because they are destructive to underwater plant life and small fish (perch crappy sunfish) habitat



not that long ago there was a lake with only carp in it, but it was rippin up reeds or somethin where some minnows lived and spawned,and there was a species of waterfowl that would eat those minnows and lived primarily on that lake, but the carp were making the amount of reeds smaller and smaller
so they poisoned the entire lake with a fishonly poison which suffocated their gills

 

[DogBoy]

Ah, i see. The fish poison is often Cyanide. It stops the gills taking up oxygen but does not kill them. A handy side effect is that the fish become stupified and start to float to the surface and are easy to catch/count. It's often used in tropical reefs to capture tropical fish for the pet market trade.

Didn't realise they could be so destructive but i guess they must be if so many places have rules on them.

 

[shaunmulok]

Here they are overtaking our natural species mainly the Murray Cod, The cod dont breed until they are about 5 years old, their growth rate is slow fish have been recorded upto 110+kg and can reach an age over 100 years old average age 30 years about 25kg
The small cod are prime food for the carp, The carp seem to thrive in our environment i think they can breed twice or 3 times a year here and grow big 30kg they also thrive in waters where the saltwater meets the fresh but they prefer the fresher water
They are considered pests and there are now people getting payed to send small electrical pulses between 2 nets and the fish are stunned the collect the carp and leave the native fish
But the problem is their eggs survive deep in the mud for years and when there is a flood they get washed into the main waters and the problem starts again

 

[DogBoy]

Learn something new everyday. Aus seems to have serious issues with introduced species and i was aware of some of them but didn't know carp were among them. Is it just mirrors and commons or did they introduce the other species like Grass and cruscian?

On another note, i was looking at how much it costs to buy a lake recently and was shocked at how cheap some of them can be now. There are some really nice 1-5 acre lakes at the same price as a normal family car. Stocked too! Might start looking into how to start a charity and buy up some lakes!

 

[shaunmulok]

Learn something new everyday. Aus seems to have serious issues with introduced species and i was aware of some of them but didn't know carp were among them. Is it just mirrors and commons or did they introduce the other species like Grass and cruscian?

On another note, i was looking at how much it costs to buy a lake recently and was shocked at how cheap some of them can be now. There are some really nice 1-5 acre lakes at the same price as a normal family car. Stocked too! Might start looking into how to start a charity and buy up some lakes!

Ya got me there i dont know what species i just remember my pop telling me they were english carp, Ill see if i can dig up a pic

We can but trout findlings here 100 for about $25-40 they are about3" long
I have gone around to new house estates and retirement village with dams and have stocked them
I have't been back but i know at my grans village they are catching trout there now, gives the oldies something to do

 

[DogBoy]

Do you remember colour and what the scales looked like. If fully scaled it's probably a common, if partially scaled along the lateral line or only has a few it's likely to be a mirror. commons tend to be a little leaner than the fatter mirrors though. There are a other species but these are the most common two.

 

[shaunmulok]

they are a goldish color with very large scales all over, Like the size of a bottle top

 

[DogBoy]

Sounds like a common maybe?

 

[shaunmulok]

I think so

 

[Nordle]

well, put todays trip off till fri, main reason bein was reccy'in a nice stretch of canal right in the middle of the country side thats done some large 20's years ago and they never get fished for anymore.

shit day for it, got soaked, but did i find some awesome lookin spots, where i know the fish have been got from the past, inclkuding a 25lb ghost carp, i knows its an ornimental, but at that size its gonna look sick.

gonna be a nice change from the 110 acre lake i been fishin recently, nice under arm casts the order of the day ans nice small little traps.

only prob i can see is that the places ive looked at are all right in the middle of a large lock complex, at least 15-20 of them over a 2-3mile stretch of canal-should make things interesting for sure.

gonna do some pre baiting with 25kg of maize and same again of hemp seed(seems strange sayin that here!!lol)-should at least stop them for a while and keep em lookin in my spots(at least i hope so)

tight lines guys

 

[buddymate]

Ah, i see. The fish poison is often Cyanide. It stops the gills taking up oxygen but does not kill them. A handy side effect is that the fish become stupified and start to float to the surface and are easy to catch/count. It's often used in tropical reefs to capture tropical fish for the pet market trade.

Didn't realise they could be so destructive but i guess they must be if so many places have rules on them.

Cyanide does kill fish,I have been out with a few tropical fish collectors in the Philippines,cyanide doesnt only kill fish it kills corals and most other things as well,a tiny does will stupify them but theres a lot of casualties when collecting tropical fish,better in a lake is a fish stupifier like MS222,or if you want the fish to float to the surface use an electro-fishing kit.

 

[buddymate]

Shaun,if your looking to control carp you can get cheap electro-fishing kits in asia and eastern-europe,computerised,decent bits of kit.

 

[DogBoy]

Thanks for the update, i knew of the cyanide and it's effects but did not know of the other chem. I'll look it up later today to learn about it.

The hemp seeds are crazy. We sit here talking about them all the time and in some cases treating seeds like royalty and then us lot go throw a kilo or more into a lake to feed fish! It does make me chuckle. When i make my ground bait sometime i soak a load of them and they germ. Seeing a few thousand germing hemp seeds and knowing their fate would make some of the people here wince!

Nordle, you gotta take a camera on that trip mate, a 25lb Ghost would be supreme bragging rights. We have nothing even remotely like that near me and i would love to see what one looked like. Imagine the silvery whites that would shine from under the water! I wonder what they fight like.........

 

[buddymate]

If any of you carp guys ever get the chance fish for them in their home region,asia,the best freshwater fishing I ever had in my life was in Thailand,20 & 30 lb'ers every cast,I also remember fishing for them in Hong Kongs New Territories and I was catching a turtle every single cast

 

[shaunmulok]

Hi, Thanks buddymate
I had to delay fishing today to attend to my garden and it was too cold by the time i finished, hopefully tomorrow

 

[DogBoy]

I guess it's much easier to fish catch and kill sites. I have a problem in that most of the fish i catch have been caught many times before and so are wary and cautious. It's not unusual to wait hours for even a bite, let alone a take. If Thai fish are screaming on the drop that would be carnage! Pulling in 20-30lb over here on the drop would never happen. I'd love to have a look at one of those places as i've never been, is there a link to a site that does this?