 "Get Hooked on Massachusetts" |
Monday, November 1, 2010
September 11th 2010 It was one of those calm nights where the world seemed to stop while everyone one slept. There were no sounds, just the moonlight and the dew. Then the alarm screamed. I rolled out of bed and hit the button...whose idea was it to get up at 4:30 am? I grabbed my clothes and walked into the hallway. As I passed Nate's door I heard his alarm go off as well. I stopped by the living room quickly to wake Ezra, then I headed to the kitchen. Breakfast was a quiet affair over sugared cereal, while we contemplated what we had to pack. By 5 am the car was rolling out of the driveway, with a quick stop at the corner store for drinks, we were on our way. Today's destination was Riverdale Mills in Northbridge. I've been wanting to fish here for some time, but due to one thing or another I hadn't. When we arrived the sun was just peaking from behind the far banks. Through the breaking light we could see small fish hitting the surface and a few larger things moving just beneath. We unpacked our gear and began setting up our swim. First on my list was to set up the "spod rod". To be honest though, what I use is not a true spod. It is a cup developed by Wacker Bait and Tackle to act like a hybrid spod and catapault. Attaching the cup to the end of my line I fill it with Dat Food boilies and my particle mix, which included maize, maple peas, chick peas and sweet corn. I have found it better to feed small amounts over time as opposed to one large chum in the begining. I think that too many people feed way to much right away and it can cut down on the amount of fish they will get into as the carp will continually eat the free offerings while ignoring the hook...or just taking longer to find it among the rest. Over the next 10 minutes our swim was busy with setting up rods, rod pods, the net and mat. I chose to start the day with a double boilie on one rod and a particle mix on the other. We had brought a few varieties with us to choose from. I went with sweet corn/scopex boilies Ezra and I had made the day before. We made them in two colors, a bright orange and a dull yellow. Together they look very tasty in the water. They aren't though, Ezra and I tested em and while they aren't bad, they aren't good either. The color scheme has been a theme for me this year. For one reason or another i have had huge success this year using a darker colored boilie topped with a brighter color. In this case orange on the bottom, white/yellow on top. The particles I chose were a nice looking maple pea/maize combo. Our particles this year have produced best when sweetened lightly but otherwise unflavored. To round out our arsenal we brought a few flavors of DAT Food such as Hemp and scopex, as well as our still water, fast breaking ground bait. With ingrediants like cornmeal and grits it has a great white color and a beakdown of just about 30 seconds.
Being an early riser, Ezra was ready to fish!
The morning was a busy one with plenty of fish activity. Both Ezra and I landed a good amount of fish ranging from 1-8 pounds. It was hard fishing through some of the smaller fish that were in the area. This section of the Blackstone has always been a great spawning area for carp. The fish we caught were a good indication of that, seeing that many of them were smaller and younger fish. After a few hours and countless small fish we decided to have lunch then move below the dam. As we unpacked our gear I took the chance to do some recording for the upcoming September video.
We were excited to fish this section of the river. As the water flowed over the dam it created two great sections. The first directly below the dam was a deep pool with some moderately flowing water which then shallowed out, flowed through some rocks and again deepened and slowed creating the second pool.
What I have found and love about the Blackstone is that it creates these great deep sections that may only house a few carp, but many times some of those carp grow to great sizes. It is sometimes tougher fishing, but finding these kind of pools and trying to tempt out the large fish can be a very rewarding experience. Some of my best looking 20 pound fish have come from random deep pools such as this. Many anglers deprive themselves of great fishing by feeling they have to target big waters to get big fish. It simple isn't true and the Blackstone River is good proof of that.
We spent the rest of the afternoon fishing these two pools with great results, and while we didn't manage any huge fish we did get a few nice carp. In fact Nate landed the largest carp of the day from this section.
Posted at 08:59 PM
Monday, November 1, 2010
Winter Carpin Early 2010 Carp in cold water, can't be done!
I hear this a lot. While the premise is sound, it isn't true. Yes Carp are warm water fish and they slow down heavily in the winter. They do not cruise and they eat much, much less. What they do eat changes as they want more easily digestible foods. Finding them can be downright tough, getting them to eat even tougher and managing to bank one can be almost impossible. However, preparation, time and effort can pay off huge dividends, which is my point. I think that we American carp anglers have become lazy and spoiled and our patience has been depleted to a point where we simply can't be bothered to winter carp. That is not a bad thing, mind you. We have great carp waters, ample chances to fish for and land very impressive fish day in and day out. Most normal sessions for a dedicated carp angler can end with over a dozen fish to banks, many times with multiple 20's and up. This leads many carp anglers to get frustrated at slow sessions and even worse to be defeated with a blank. I know that blanking can be tough. The thing is to take away lessons from them, to learn from our slow sessions and build upon our defeats. Many European anglers would love to have the type of sessions we enjoy. These statements are of course very broad generalizations and meant only as such. This winter I was very determined to change my luck and build on my skills through the winter months. I have gotten some fish in the past but I wanted to make my winter as good an experience as my summers. I knew the going would be rough but with the right approach I was confident I could catch them.
Simon and I had some great sessions right into and through November. We fished a bunch along the Merrimack specifically in Haverhill and managed quite a few high teens and some high 20's carp.
About the end of November our weekly trips started to drift apart. The weather was getting colder, the holidays were at hand and it was hard to be motivated to get out on the banks. It wasn't until late December that I really started getting out and hitting the waters again. I am lucky to have some great sections of the Blackstone river that remain unfrozen and fishable most of the year.
The air temperature was somewhere around cold and getting colder...the water was even colder, or at least it felt it.. There was a bit of snow on the ground and the sun only peaked through some clouds from time to time. We had more snow coming and my fingers felt like they would fall off as I started setting everything up. I promised myself that I would stay positive and give this session a proper go, though i will admit it was tough. That changed after about 5 minutes of being in the water. I had a small tug, which caused all my line to go limp. A fish, really, this fast? I brought the pole up and slowly reeled in the slack, brought the tip up and put pressure on the fish that did not even know it was hooked. It started to dart off and I fought it for about 5 minutes. Then my line went slack, no movement..it had spit the hook. This would have been a frustrating moment if not for the fact that it was a fish. The water temp could not have been any higher then the low 30's and I had a run within 5 minutes of setting up! Instead of frustration I felt excitement. I wanted to get re-baited and get my rod back in the water. The next few hours were slow going. I kept one rod where I had the first fish, changing baits every 20 minutes or so. The second rod I fanned about the area looking for holding fish. Round 3 in the afternoon, I noticed a small movement on my rods. A tug tug drop. I walked over and knelt down by the pod and waited a moment, as I watched the line get gently tugged out again I picked up the rod and started putting pressure on the line.
the line went screaming off as the carp on the other end suddenly realized it was in trouble. After a short fight I was able to bring it over the net and a great feeling washed over me. It was only about 10 pounds but, it was 10 pounds in the end of December. This was what I was after and any carp in this weather was going to bring a smile to my face. A beautiful mirror with a fat winter gut! A Short December Session Video
More Winter Sessions Please!
Now I was in full swing of winter fishing. I wanted to be out there as much as I did in the warmer months. There was a special kind of excitement in knowing that what carp I would manage to get into would be fatter then all their summer counterparts. Over the next month or so I would be out on the banks quite a bit. All through January and in to February. I tried and tested various baits and rigs to see what gave me the best results. I stayed consistent in my feeding of the area, using little and often even if I was not fishing. I noticed that over time the carp in this area were starting to become more active, despite the cold water temps. The food was present and much easier to digest now that I was using milk protein instead of fish meals. This gave the carp a little extra energy and by February Frank and I were getting into some amazing sessions, some with over 10 fish to banks with an average of 8-12 pounds!
A goal set...a goal met.
As the winter progressed so did our catches. As spring approaches we have been lucky to have brought over 40 carp to the banks this winter. This is really more then I could have asked for when I set out to have a non-stop fishing season. The Blackstone had one last surprise in store for me. It was a Saturday session, February 20th. We have had some mild weather with temperatures into the high 30's and low 40's for a few days. This is a good time to try fishing because fish are far more active when things are constant as opposed to suddenly changing. If you have some really cold days then one really warm day it does not mean you will automatically catch fish, however if you have 4 days of around the same weather even if it is cold you have a good chance of enticing fish to feed. I hit the banks around 7 am. got everything set and Frank showed up round 730. By 8 we had all 4 rods in the water and were talking bout this and that. by 830, I had the first fish to the banks! Much like the others it was a beautiful fish, sitting in the 6 pound range. Time rolled on and we started getting into em. Feeding this area all winter has really payed off. By noon or so I had about 4 to the banks, Frank had 1..the average going up to about 8-9 pounds. We got it out of the water and to the mat, at this point just excited and tired and over joyed at this great fish before us. After a quick unhook and a transferred to the weigh bag it was time for the moment of truth. The scale flickered and the numbers shifted about and finally settled on twenty pounds, even. It was a great feeling, that moment, the culmination of all our hard work through the winter, all our hours on the snow covered and ice covered banks. This fish represented everything we were working toward and I cannot fully express just how happy we were. In honor of Frank's help and his son Christopher's good luck I have decided to name him Carpy, and I hope he has a long and healthy life ahead..one in which we meet again and again and again!
Posted at 08:51 PM |
Developed by USFishFinder.com Copyright ©2007-2017. All Rights Reserved.
Site Optimized for Google Chrome Browser
MAFishFinder.com is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to Amazon.com.
