Tackle Tactics » Tips-Techniques » Sweetwater-Impoundments-Brackish » Carp... the dirty word?
Carp... the dirty word?
By Sean Bekkers
Being the salt coated fisherman that I am, fresh water is a somewhat foreign concept to me. Being located in Tamworth for work from time to time though, I thought it best to target some Cod and yellowbelly while I have the opportunity.
Since the start of the year I've been learning as much as possible about catching the mighty Murray cod and where possible putting what I've learnt to the test, right up until closed session. With a few spare nights and weekends up my sleeve I've turned my attention, like most keen Cod anglers, to targeting yellowbelly. By scaling back the lures and ripping out the spring gear it's show time for the yellowbelly.
One thing I've learnt while fishing in the fresh is that carp are everywhere around here... in every little stream, river and dam you can think of! Carp are declared a noxious pest and after spending time walking the river banks and dams you can see why.
My latest fishing trip to Lake Keepit took a somewhat interesting turn to say the least. The morning on the dam started off as it usually does, walking the banks flicking divers and slow rolling my plastics. An hour must have gone by and not a touch, until something grabbed my ZMan 3" MinnowZ (Golden Boy) and took off. It fought pretty hard too and I had it pegged for a small cod until I got it to the bank... a carp had nailed my plastic!
I had never caught a carp before, so I had ticked that off the list. Now I've heard of guys catching them on fly and when I've talked to my friends that catch cod regularly they tell me they've caught carp on cod lures, so it shouldn't be much of a surprise that that one would smack a 3" plastic. A little after this a boat went past and we had a quick conversation and then I saw him land a carp on a spinnerbait. This is where the dirty words came from lol!
So this got me thinking... a number of years ago I had the opportunity to fish with a German lad and when he found out that we regarded carp as a pest and needed to remove them from the water he was horrified. At the time this put me on the back foot a little because I've never met anyone that said anything good about them. He then went on to explain that in Europe they are a highly regarded sportfish and they spend hours and days trying to catch one. After my little zone out I looked down at my feet and there was at least four just sitting at the banks edge.
I moved to the other side of the dam completely and whilst I was walking to some deeper water I could see acres of water littered with carp. I carried on to my intended fishing spot and spent a good hour or two flicking lures with no result, not even a rattle. Once again I had carp sitting at my feet.
So, a change of tactic was now in order. Like I said, I don't spend a lot of time chasing freshwater fish, so I probably don't share the same amount of contempt for these fish as most. I thought about what my German friend said, "carp are a highly regarded sportfish" and I decided to rip out some ZMan 2.5" Slim SwimZ and have a crack at sight casting a carp from the bank... surely this will be like shooting fish in a barrel.
From the little that I've observed they do spook easily if they spot you on the bank, so I headed up the bank and decided to run my plastic straight past their nose. Fail. If the splash from the plastic didn't scare them, then the line touching them did. Hmmm, this may be a little tougher than I thought.
I then decided to employ some sand flat sight fishing techniques and sent the lure a ways in front of the fish and let it sit until the carp got close enough. After watching them eat all of the green algae of the rocks I also decided to change up my plastic too, opting for a ZMan 2.5" GrubZ in Chartreuse colour, paired up with a TT Lures 1/12oz HeadlockZ Finesse jighead.
I saw my next fish and put everything into action. Firstly I watched the fish head toward my plastic and then I was basically shaking the plastic and holding it in the one spot, like a piece of weed (well I think so anyway). I felt the slightest of taps and in turn set the hook. Boom! The fish then fired right up, peeled line off the spool like crazy and for not a particularity big fish it fought really, really well. My German mate wasn't kidding, they do fight well.
I caught a few more doing the same thing and called it a day. Carp seem to be a spooky fish when you have them right next to the bank, so for a sports fisherman they can provide a lot of fun. A light spin outfit and a fist full of plastics and you're away.
Fun Facts Time
After doing some research on carp, being declared a noxious pest you shouldn't return them to the water and they should be killed humanly and utilised in another manner if possible, like fertilizer. I have heard of some people eating them...
Whilst researching I also stumbled across some information stating that a lot of communities have annual carp culling competitions, however even with a large number of fish caught studies have shown that it can hardly make an impact on the carp population. So get out and get stuck into a few on plastics!
Over the years I've heard of viruses being developed to kill the carp off and I hope this happens sooner rather than later for the benefit of our native fish species. In the meantime though carp are an awesome sportfish, so if you have the opportunity to target some have a crack, they not bad on light gear.
Cheers,
Sean Bekkers