First spring carps

This winter has been particularly long and cold. We're at the end of April, and still have floating ice on many of our waterways. As my son Ari was here for the holidays and heading back to Dallas in a couple days, I wanted to get some father and son fishing done before he leaves.

Headed out to my spring spot to test out some new boilies, as well as my new distance casting rod/reel combo, and Nash deliverance Cybershot throwing stick. Hit the water shortly before 10 AM, still cold and extremely windy. Set up my new 12 foot Shimano Beastmaster rod, was easily able to cast out a good 400 feet without too much effort, largely due to the ABF 90 series reel I mounted on it, spooled with over 1800 feet of 50 lbs Power Pro line.

First spot was yielding much other than lots of drifting weeds that kept catching our lines, so we switched spots after about 2 hours. Second spot was a lot calmer, set up on line at about 425 feet out, the second one a bit closer in, around 250 feet. Still decent distances, as the fish are nowhere near the bank yet due to the near freezing water temperature.

Precision chumming at 400 feet out is impossible with a catapult, as they don't have that range. I set up the lines with PVA stringers, but in order to draw carp from all around, I picked up a Nash deliverance Cybershot throwing stick over the winter. Good for boilies in the 14 MM to 22 MM range, using it requires a motion somewhere in between casting and using a tennis racket. It takes some practice and lots of boilies to get it right, but once you get a good shot, a 20 MM boilie can easily get out over 500 feet. Achieving accuracy is a work in progress for me, hope to post a video later on in the season once I get some more practice.

Took only 40 minutes at our second spot to get my first run, though it was almost non existent. Fish hit a new garlic/3 pepper boilie formula. I picked up the rod, set into the fish, and immediately got the line wedged in between some rocks over 400 feet out. Luckily, I managed to force the line out, with the fish still on. Landed it shortly after, a common carp in the 13 lbs range.

Got the lines back out. Nothing doing for about 1 hour, I decided to check my lines. As I lifted the first rod, I realized there was a fish on. Gave the line to Ari, he brought in the smaller carp. It decided to make a sharp run along the bank, and tangled into the other line still in the water. I managed to maneuver the lines and land the fish, another carp in the 9 lbs range.

After releasing the carp, I checked the other line, and was shocked to have another fish on it, second one in a row that didn't run at all. Unfortunately, didn't get a good hookset on it, the carp spit the hook about 10 seconds into the fight.

That was all for the day. Both carp were caught on garlic / 3 pepper boilies that I made with my standard base mix. The third missed carp had hit a cheesequake boilie made by a friend of mine. No fish on my licorice boilies or particle baits.

Great start to the season, hope to head out again next week.