In article , Pepperoni
wrote:

"Derek.Moody" wrote in message
...

The carp are similar, even if our fishing methods differ wildly.

Don't tell the fanatics but the same methods work worldwide - even in the
UK. It's just that manufacturers make more money out of high-tech
solutions
to invented problems.

They make huge money from low tech solutions, too. The fishing philosophy
here is apparently counter to your own. It is illegal to release a carp in
some states, and you'll be verbally abused by other fishermen in others.
Here, carp are perceived as a problem rather than a resource.

Not surprised. With global warming and hotter summers they are likely to
become a problem here too.

I have seen them treated as hand fed pets, though. There was a fancy
restaurant on a large lake just south of here. I had heard of the place and
when a bread man dumped his out of date load in a dumpster one holiday
weekend, I took about 50 bags of bread and buns over there. The carp had
learned to come to the sound of others slurping the bread from the surface.
Imagine the sight of 300+ 20 pounders rising to take bread from the surface.
It looked like a log jam. thats about 3 tons of fish surfaced at one time.

There's a pond about 15 miles north of here that has a similar reputation.
The locals feed the carp as a recreation, as you walk up to the bank the fish
swarm towards you just in case you are about to feed them. I have never
been tempted to fish there.

Quite a tourist attraction, eh? They had "No Fishing" signs on the dock,
but once the carp are trained to that, I'm sure they would fall for it at
other sites around the lake. A piece of white foam with brown stripes would
make a good "artificial", eh?

I've not tried with foam though as you say it might work well; I would
expect it to be tricky to cast. I have has a little success with a white
deer hair blob tied up like the head of a muddler minnow without the rest of
the fly.

The "unmanageable" ones are the ones that make their first run hard
down-current. That's when you MUST stop them. A dead weight in current is
not much compared to one swimming hard down current. You can feel them
slowing and then turning slowly. That's the first sign that you may be able
to land him. Once you get him turned upstream, you have him under control.

You have two options:

If a carp is held hard it will kite around until it meets the bank and then
turn and go back the other way - ease off a little and it'll keep pulling
that way as long as you want - carp never really fight, they just pull hard.

By then he is way down stream and if you ease up he will relax and move up
slowly. Then is the time to start him toward you; if he does make another

And this is a version of the salmon anglers last resort with a really big
fish. -IF- the fish will slow for even a moment throw some loose line into
the current; add something to slide along the line if you can. The resultng
pull is now downstream due the bow in the line in the current and the fish
is quite likely to oppose the gentle pull and run upstream. Once moving you
apply enough light pressure to keep it going until it's in a position for
you to resume the fight on your terms.

Cheerio,

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