Carp fishing in AZ

rogan · October 20, 2015, 04:01:14 AM

As a new guy here on the forums, I posted first in the new guy section and explained why a desert rat with no ocean access would subscribe to a reel repair page that caters to ocean fishing...well, I fish for large flathead catfish in the large AZ reservoirs and carp in the urban lakes and canals. Both require reasonable stout gear and since I'm a "do it yourself" kind of guy, I wanted to know how to maintain and fix my gear, so here I am.

When I made my first post, I got several warm welcomes and one member, Steve-o, suggested that I share some of my urban experiences catching carp. So here it goes:

Background: AZ actually has a strong urban fishing program with several of the cities though out the state participating with our fish and game department to stock fish (mostly channel catfish and rainbow trout) in the small 2 to 15 acre lakes. We also have an extensive canal system for irrigation and power plant usage, which is stocked with grass carp (catch and release only) for weed control and any other species that wander in from the feeder reservoirs, which include flatheads, largemouth bass, bluegill/sunfish, channel cats, common carp mirror carp and various other pet store fish like koi that get added to the system.

I got started 4 years ago trying to catch some carp from an urban lake in the Phoenix area. Why catch 1/3 lbs trout and 1 lbs cats when 20+ lbs carp are swimming around and no one else is fishing for them? I spent several weeks with several skunked sessions as a result. I gave up for a while...

Then last summer, my interest was rekindled and I did some more research. Found out I needed more specific bait and LOTS more of it, ie, I needed to chum. Since chumming is legal here in AZ, I tried again. In my research I found boillies and hair rigs. This is all European based carping, but man, those guys were catching some impressive fish. And they practiced catch and release, which worked just fine for me since I would be fishing small lakes that have small stocks of fish. If I kept them, there would be nothing left to fish for.... So I learned a bunch and tried again.

So what's a hair rig? A simple method for attaching a bait to your hook, sort of like snelling the hook but leaving the tag end available for use as a bait attachment point.

So what's a boillie? Dough bait that gets rolled into round balls and boiled for a minute or two to toughen the exterior. Then it can be easily stored and easily added to the hair rig. Try googling boillie recipies or checking youtube for some ideas. The list of potential ingredients is staggering. The Europeans, due to land mass, lake ownership and high population concentrations, fish on highly pressured waters most of the times they fish. So bait becomes a big issue. I had to wade through it and figure out that I could keep my baits simple for the unpressured fish in my area. I started with simple paste, then tried some homemade boillies.

rogan · October 20, 2015, 04:07:23 AM

And here is the result of my first try with my new found knowledge: A 12lb mirror carp. (sorry for the bad cell phone pic, it was all I had at the time) There was a second fish too, a 12lb common carp, but photo didn't turn out. Needless to say, I was now hooked on carp fishing. To be continued...

Steve-O · October 20, 2015, 05:01:59 AM

Right on!, rogan!

Not only did you catch a nice mirror, but you have yourself a linear, leather mirror. Quite a rare variation.

A real Euro carp angler could pop on here and chime in with a correction, if I'm wrong, but I'm close.

Linear for sure due to the straight line scale pattern and leather due to the overall lack of scales and lots of "leather" skin showing.

I had a nice 8 fish session last week and should post it. Mine went from 2 juniors of 6-8 pounds up to 13.

My state neither allows chumming nor corn for bait due to some major faux pas anglers chumming trout to death with 100's of pounds of feed corn in stocked reservoirs back in the day.

So it's boilies and bread for me, plus pack and method.

Nothing quite like having a real fish fight one your gear vs. waterskiing a 7 oz albino trout caught on some pink or lime green foam to you!

Glad to see a post, keep 'em coming! Maybe we'll stir up some converts.

HOLEINTHEWATER · October 20, 2015, 03:44:55 PM

rogan you belong to Jesse face book site? https://www.facebook.com/groups/1458151887778334/ carp fishing site.

Steve-O · October 20, 2015, 08:28:43 PM

Rogan, hope you don't mind I enhanced the pic a little. Too nice of a fish to leave in the dark.

ChileRelleno · October 22, 2015, 01:13:17 AM

I've an online gaming friend in Italy who is a huge Carp fishing fanatic.
He spends at least one weekend a month camped out (in-style) carp fishing.
Very serious sport to him.

Steve-O · October 23, 2015, 02:24:09 AM

The epitome of carp angler "grip and grin" poses....only no grin...just an admiring gaze upon the carp over the mat.

Looks like at least a high 20 or low 30. The bivvy is a nice piece of kit for the all night sessions.

I'm not quite there as my sessions are mostly under 5 hours.

The first hour is the obligatory " get the scent out" waiting period.

All the UK and Euro carpers are very dedicated to that species. They have an entire dictionary and language carpspeak which would numb your brain to interpret.

rogan · October 24, 2015, 02:43:46 AM

@ Steve-O: Thanks for the photo enhancement!

I'll post more in the next few weeks, the schedule isn't leaving me much free time right now. These first two fish were caught last summer and resulted in much more fishing and gear collecting. I started out with a 7'6" med lite catfish rod with an Abu 6500c3 and 12 lb line and an 8'6" med salmon rod, also with 12 lb test. After these fish, I realized I was under-gunned and started the search for upgraded gear better suited to this style fishing.

That's when the neighbor had a yard sale and put out some reels he hadn't used in 15+ years. It was a gold mine, with the piece de 'resistance being a shimano 6500 baitrunner in lightly used condition! Exactly what I was looking for.

So now I needed a better way to monitor the rods as I waited for a bite. I came across a homemade rod pod made from PVC pipe. Simple, cheap, portable and a great way to hold my rods and showed me a simple way to greatly enhance my fishing experience. Not my idea, so thanks go out to zirjacks for posting photos of his on another site (he also gave credit to another poster, but I'll give credit to my source). Less then 20$ and I was fishing in style after a paint job in carpy colors.

The pink float was used as a bite indicator. A little slack in the line, held down by the wire and float, allows the fish to run off with the bait without tension. When the float moves, set the hook. Except when the float rips off the ground and snags around the rod cause the fish ran off so fast there is no time to react to the bite! Grass carp did that a lot until I figured out how to use a "bolt rig", which I'll save for another post.

rogan · October 24, 2015, 02:50:14 AM

@ holeinthewater: Yes, I've seen Jesse's site and fished with him a couple times. Great guy and I learned a lot from him in my first summer of fishing for carp. You and I have actually met on the water, I fish with a certain "varmint" that just got a new, really nice boat! I also go by the same name on another fishing site where all us Arizonans talk about catfishing. I have always enjoyed your photographs, they do "briten my day".

rogan · October 24, 2015, 02:53:55 AM

@ Chili: Your friend has a great set up, I'm working my way there. I would love to try for carp and Wels cats in the Ebro river. A trip to Europe needs to be in my future.