Twice in barely a week while out fishing for smallies, I’ve caught carp. This trend has to stop. I don’t mind foul hooking one now and then. I can usually shake the thing loose without ever having to actually touch it, but these fish are hitting the lure with their ugly, puffy little mouths.
Over a dozen years ago I intentionally targeted carp. It’s a sad moment in my life and one that I wish I could forget, but the two cases of popped ligaments in my right hand are a constant reminder. On a cold fall or winter day, I can actually feel the sting in the area just below the pad of my thumb, near the wrist. A constant reminder of my misadventures with carp.
Then one day while getting ready to go out carp fishing, I was looking at myself in the mirror. I felt despondent, much like an alcoholic that just finished off a pint of mouthwash because there was no other alcohol left in the house. I didn’t want to do this anymore. It was a low point in my fishing adventures and I knew I had to stop.
And like throwing a switch, that realization, that admittance of weakness had me quit overnight. I never intentionally fished for those slimy things again.
Here it is July. My records show that it’s always been the toughest month for me when it comes to targeting smallies on the Fox River. I usually put up with anything that is willing to hit and even tolerate that tail or dorsal fin hooked carp, as long as I can shake it loose.
But these things have been hitting lures.
Hitting them like they’re smallies and forcing me to reel them all the way in and have to touch them in order to get the lure out. I can’t scrub my hands hard enough after doing this. The smell of carp seems to linger and the slime never seems to go away.
I’ve considered taking them home. I have recipes for carp and hear that when done right they don’t taste too bad.
And as an old Polish wise man once told me…
I also hear they are an exceptional fertilizer for a vegetable garden.
I wonder if whatever they fertilize winds up tasting like carp.
bob
28 Jul 2013oh really? c’mon, man. Now you’ve the sound of a “reformed,” carp-fisherman, alcoholic, drug-addict, sex-addict, gambler, fly fisherman, preacher.
The do make 6 and 8 inch, strong, but light-weight forceps for touching just such things as tainted fish, tainted cootchies, tainted whatever it is we don’t wish to touch, even with gloves on.
I target these hideously beautiful fish as I target hideously beautiful, deformed, hook-nosed, snarly toothed salmon in the fall. They too are only suitable for throwing off roof tops, under cars on the highway, or burying in the garden next to that damn neighborhood dog that barked all night, that you managed to lure into the yard with chunks of hot dogs.
Yes, the less than attractive girl or boy at the dance, in the club, in the group of sterling, pretty things. They need love too. They deserve love as well; if not yours, or mine, or ours. They return love given so wonderfully – and not always desperately either.
One must make love to the large a bit differently than one does with the tiny. Your hand illustrates that. Your fault; not theirs. But, no judgement from me. I like fishing for the big ol burly, less-than- trout-or-bass-attractive things. And drum too as of late. But then again, I’ve always seen the beauty in the less than beautiful. Genuinely.
:-)))) ain’t life grand?
Ken G
28 Jul 2013It was you that got me interested in giving it a try Bob. There was that video of you at the South Batavia Dam fly fishing for the slimers. Some beautiful shots of a massive bug hatch as the sun was setting. This was a few years before we even met I believe. He makes it looks so… romantic.
So much for that. Like romancing a Lake Street hooker.
And yes, it was my fault on the ligament blowouts. I’m much better at finessing them now.
Speaking of drum, I haven’t caught one out of the Fox in quite some time. Starting to wonder where they went. Now those I like to catch, far less slime and I hear they do taste pretty good.
Nick@BrookfieldAngler.com
29 Jul 2013Everything that Bob said
Ken G
29 Jul 2013He does have a way with words Nick. In person, even better.
walt
28 Jul 2013Bob makes some good points here, Ken. Another suggestion: actually target the fish with a slow-action fly rod and a feathered hook. I guarantee you the fish won’t come so readily and the challenge will be there. And, oh yeah, keep the forceps handy.
Ken G
28 Jul 2013Bob always makes good points Walt. You should hear them in person. Entertainment at it’s finest.
I’ve been touting sight fishing for the things with a fly rod and caddis look alikes for years. Only I’ve never tried it myself. Those big puffy lips sucking things off the water in the slack areas. They were all over the slack spots today. If I knew the smallie fishing was going to be so lame, I would have brought along the fly rod. I should just commit to a day of fly fishing and take advantage of either species. I have forceps, they don’t really help unless I drag it to shore. I’m rarely close enough to shore to do that.
RK Henderson
28 Jul 2013We’ve got carp in our lakes here. Monsters; three feet long. The US record carp for many years was caught in the lake I grew up on by the kid across the street. They’ve permanently altered the lake environment here with their rooting around in the mud like pigs. Muddies the water, causes a eutrophication spiral, raises the temperature… fast forward to my own lifetime, and all the salmon are long gone. The Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife basically endorses anything you want to do to catch these. There’s no limit, no season, and they’re the only fish you can legally shoot with a bow and arrow.
They were brought here to start a carp food fish industry, but I’m told our carp taste muddy and unpleasant. In Europe, where they live in flowing water, they’re a delicacy that people pay respectable prices for in restaurants. England has a a whole carp-fishing cult, like bass fishermen here. Too bad ours aren’t really edible.
Robin
Rusty Ring: Reflections of an Old-Timey Hermit
Ken G
28 Jul 2013I would never try to eat one out of any of the ponds around me for the very reason you state Robin. There are a few clear water creeks near me with carp that make it many miles inland. The water is cool and clear. I think If I’m going to take one home for the plate, it will have to come out of one of these creeks. The Fox runs too warm and murky this time of year, plus it really is an urban river, so who knows what’s in them.
In Lake Michigan, now that’s it’s crystal clear from the zebra mussels, I’ve seen carp swimming around that are just massive. Fresh water dolphins, without the cuteness.
Howard Levett
28 Jul 2013I try and can’t, you don’t try and do. Something is wrong with this picture. Maybe I’ll start hating them again.
Ken G
29 Jul 2013They like to taunt me Howard. Pretend they’re smallies when they hit then give me that big, dumb wide eyed “Wha’d I do?” look when I land them. You were a cop, I’m sure you’ve seen that look.
Gretchen
29 Jul 2013🙂 The comments are as entertaining as the post! – Borax will get rid of that awful stink and slime…although given the aroma wafting out of my car at present you might not believe it…
A trick to get rid of that muddy dirty taste for the ones that come of murky water – soak over night in a water with about a 1/4 cup of hot sauce. The capsaicin cuts the muddy river funk taste in back water fish…..
Ken G
29 Jul 2013I don’t have time right now to go around to all their blogs, or yours, at the moment Gretchen. That perpetual vacation thing and I’m just busy with little life things.
There’s a crystal clear creek and carp that like to hang out in a spot 10 miles inland. I may give one those a try. I like hot sauce, so I’ll keep that one in mind.
nat lawrence
29 Jul 2013Ken, I have sight-casted and fished for Carp on both the creeks and the main river. Once hooked, they fight like a torpedo. They are much better swimmers than I expected. I do agree, however, that they are uncomfortable to touch. By the way, I went out to Tyler Creek two weeks ago. I did some exploring, and saw some Bass and bluegill. There was a large tree that prevents going east about one block after you enter the creek. All in all, it was not worth it as Big Rock Creek is much better for Bass.
Ken G
29 Jul 2013I like the fight Nat, it’s the realization that I have to touch them once they’re reeled in that bums me out.
Friends have done well on Tyler, but I always seemed to miss the runs. Plus it’s always been a hike for me even when I was in Elmhurst. Down here there’s just too many options. I have eight creeks to choose from and that only gets me as far north as Oswego.
Richard Velders
29 Jul 2013Why bother with those native carp? It’s much easier to get the Asian variety and they taste better as they are plankton feeders and not bottom feeders. You just have to motor at moderate speed in the shallows on the Illinois river and they’ll jump right in your boat. A fishing buddy and I along with my dog, attempted a final spring run into the upper part of the Vermillion River looking for stripers while the water level was still up. Unlike the usual few carp flipping near the entrance from the Illinois, we had them jumping in our boat for nearly 3 miles up the river. We counted 20 that made it into the boat and fully slimed up the dog and every piece of equipment. We just got a couple stripers above where the carp were no longer jumping. I drove full speed on the way out in order to avoid those ugly buggers. Spent half a day washing my dog and boat.
Ken G
29 Jul 2013Last time I was on the Illinois had to be a good dozen years ago and it wasn’t an issue back then. We fished the Vermillion for white bass and did pretty well, but the water was pretty low and we couldn’t get very far.
I hear the silvers do taste much better. I’m going to have to give them a try. Any jump in any time soon Dick, stick them on ice in a bag and I’ll give you my address. Just don’t let the wife see you drop them off, she already thinks fishermen are all crazy.
birdman
2 Jun 2015I have tried everything imaginable with carp in my fifty three years of angling . like torpedoes they take off when they feel the hook or the spearhead . the record where I live is well over forty pounds . I have baked them , boiled them , fried them , BBQ them , smoked them , canned them , dried them and pounded them into carp powder , cut them in little pieces and stuffed them in gallon jugs with a balloon fastened over the top and left them in the hot sun for months making coyote bait , sliced strips off them and wrapped them with elastic thread and tied them under enemies car seats , placed chunks on engine manifolds of said same . then comes the birds , crows , ravens , magpies , they have a reputation for eating anything , given a choice of a fresh carp fillet or a scent gland out of a skunk they will take the skunk every time , place a slice of any other fish on a rock and a slice of carp on a rock next to it and see which one the flies land on , it won’t be the carp . the only good carp is one that never left Asia .