fishing carp help??????????????????

[chevycheyenne@ymail.com]

i am fishing 1ft carp in a 3.5ft deep pond or lake best bait but more importantly how long should my line be should i use bobber or sinker or both

[stickypyros2]

I fish for carp in a pond similar to what you describe.Most of the common carp are 1-3 pounds.I have my best luck when I chum an area with canned sweet corn.Then I just cast where I threw it out.It takes them about 20 minutes or so to really start feeding but when they do it works well.I put a couple split shots about 12-18in off the hook.On the hook I use 2-3 kernels of corn and a small piece of hot dog.I've been meaning to try marshmallows but I forgot to bring them today.

[tkelley@ameritech.net]

I recently caught a 11 pound carp just using a jumbo leech I had sitting on the bottom. I was using 10 lb. test line, and 6 inch steel leader. I used a large split shot weight about 8 inches from the leader. A leader isnt needed but I had hooked a musky doing the same thing but my line snapped before I could land him, so I decided to use a leader just incase that happened again.

Very rare for a musky to grab a leech off the bottom but I didnt want to loose another one if it happened again!

Also, when I was on vacation at my friends lake house, I had used leftover pork roast with bacon that had sat in some brown gravy overnight. That stuff worked really well, landed tons of bullheads, channel cats and carps.

[laura]

If the pond is only 3.5 ft deep, then it depends on what the bottom is like. If there is a lot of things to get hung on, then both. You will want a sinker to get it close to the bottom, but a bobber set at about 2 1/2 to 3ft to keep it from hitting the bottom. If there isn't a lot to get hung on, then just use a sinker and let it drop down. A bobber will help you spot strikes though, so in a shallow pond you can use it anyway. But if you fish in a deeper body of water like a lake, then you will want it on the bottom and a bobber will not allow that.

As far as bait, carp like the same things catfish like, they are bottom feeders, so the stinkier the better. Chicken liver, dip baits, dough baits, cut bait, live or dead minnows, live or dead shad, whole kernal corn, marshmellows, crawdads (crayfish), worms, etc. Any of these should work for you.

I hope this helps. Good luck.

[flounderbytes]

Your line length depends on how close you can get to the carp without spooking them. I used to catch 10 - 15 lb. carp right at the edge of the bank in the evenings. I may have cast ten feet to the side of where I was sitting and the carp would come in looking for the night crawlers I was using as bait. The water was only 2 ft. deep but the fish were there. They adapt to their environment better you fish than we adapt to their environment. If you fish in the middle of the day, look for some overhead cover that will offer the fish shade. Lily pads work nicely for this. Cast your bait to the outter edges of the cover and let it sit. Carp are bottom fish and feed by scent. If you need some weight to reach the cover add some split shots about 18" up the line, cast out and fish on the bottom. If there is too much junk on the bottom, put a small weight on the bottom of you line and tie a snelled hook & leader up about 18" off the bottom. The main thing is to keep your bait close to the bottom and stationary. Tight lines!