Saturday July 13, 2014 P.M. Tournament

There was a much better turnout for the night tournament. There was at least 41 tournament fishermen.

The key to this tournament for me was the draw. And for me, it was not good. I got to fish in the lower lake at Bailey's Carp Lake but it was crowded and the fishing was slow as expected.

This week was a poundage tournament (not the ideal time for a slow bite) but because of the speed of this tournament, I was only able to get one picture.

See the picture below for a fish that I caught around 1:30 a.m. This was well after the poundage part of the tournament was over.

I was able to pull four out of the water during the night tourney even though I only have one picture to show for it.

My biggest fish of the night was a 14.5 pound common carp (not pictured).

The weather turned out to be a non-factor but it was a great night for fishing.

Bailey's is having a $1000. per hour tournament on Saturday night, but the cost of the tourney is not going to afford me the opportunity to fish this one. I will be making a trip to either South Davidson Carp Lake or Darr's Carp Pond this weekend. I have struggled at both locations so I could be in for a  tough weekend. We will see.

13.6 Common Carp

Saturday July 13, 2014 A.M. Tournament

"Perfect." No other word to describe the day. The conditions were right for a good tournament and a good tournament it was.

This was one of the smallest tournaments that I have been a part of. There was only 5 fishermen in the tournament but that did not deter a great day of fishing.

See the pictures below for some of the fish that I caught at Bailey's Carp Lake. They were "ripping" on Saturday.

The 15.3 pound buffalo was the largest that I caught. Not pictured was the winner, who caught a 25.6 pound common carp.

15.3 lb. Buffalo Carp

How to Complete the Hook Setup

As I mentioned yesterday, I wanted to discuss the hook setup. A picture is worth one thousand words.

The first picture will show the individual parts, the second will show you the assembled hook setup.

The parts include, beads, 15 lb. monofilament fishing line, 2 #2 hooks, single swivel, and 1 oz. flat (flounder) weight.

Hook Setup Parts

Final Hook Set

"Attitude"

Getting excited about the weekend. It is time to go fishing.The bait is made and loaded on the truck. Just waiting on Saturday.

Hope to get some nice pictures from the 2 tournaments on Saturday.

Make a child happy... take him/her carp fishing today.

Watch a child catch a brim -- generally happy
Watch a child catch a catfish -- laugh and watch them jump around
Watch a child catch a carp --- see some of the happiest children in the world

Remember, carp rarely will be caught less than 7 pounds. So, it creates attitude. Take them brim fishing after catching a 10 pound carp and listen to their reaction.

Listen to the "attitude"

Tomorrow's post will talk about hook, weight, and knot tying options. See you then.

How to "Catch a Carp"

I have recently talked about the base bait mixes, but I have not discussed how to catch a carp.

For a pickup, the bait that actually goes on the hook, you can use Corn Pops, Honey Smacks, or an off brand corn puff cereal.

When the actual bite takes place, you need to be ready to react. You need to pull straight back on the rod in the exact opposite of the way that the fish is pulling the line.

After that, keep the rod tip up without putting too much pressure on the fish. Drop the rod tip only while you are reeling the line.

Any slack in the line will give the carp an easy out and he will get off.

You can count on a final run when you get the fish near the bank so maintain your stance and the be patient. The fish will give up and roll up on its side, at that point, net the fish.

Now it is time to take it to the scales. Good Luck!

Well, as you can tell, my daughter did not make the last fishing trip. She has plans with her girl scout troop in the coming weekend, so we are planning our next trip the following weekend.

Now it is time to get ready for this weekend. Since the fish bit so slowly last week, my bait is made for this week for the most part. My grits will be made up on the fly. Also, I may make some trout chow just to have variety.

I am currently working on my extra page layouts. I have several pictures of my trout fishing experience and I am gathering my materials on the different baits to include a page of pictures so you can see how they are supposed to look.

Also, I am looking at creating a page on hook tying. I am considering either pictures or a real short video. What do you think?

If you have any bait or flavoring that you would like me to experiment with, I will be glad to test and give a detailed report. Let me know.

How to enjoy a fishing trip when they are not biting

Tournaments are 8 hours in length. On Friday and Saturday, there are two tournaments each day. I mentioned quite a bit about the first tournament on Saturday at Bailey's Carp Lake but I did not mention much about the evening tournament.

Basically, I did not catch a fish in the entire 8 hour session. There were 52 other participants in this tournament. Generally, this many people will always slow the fishing down.

Through no fault of anyone or anything, the fish just did not bite where I was fishing. As a matter of fact, there was only 3 fish in the whole section where I was at. That is normal. So many times people will say bad things about a lake or the way it is run. No. This was just the way it goes. You do not always win and you do not always catch fish.

That keeps it interesting. If you caught big fish and a lot of fish every time you went, you would get burned out fast. After all, what is the fun in that?

The weather was great and the fishing was slow. But, overall, it was an enjoyable fishing trip.

I ended up with 3 bites all night and I just could not hook the fish.