My first January carp!!!

Last night I got a call from my friend Dave who invited me to go carp fishing with him today. I cheerfully excepted. I've said before, time goes by much faster in the cold when you have someone to talk too. I  got up a little late today, but made it to our predetermined destination for the predetermined time of 10 AM.

When I got there Dave said that he wasn't sure if we'd get any. I explained I was there just for fun. Any actual fish caught would be a HUGE BONUS. Catching any warm water fish in January is a crap shoot. I sure as hell wouldn't feel disappointed if I didn't get any. Besides I was fishing with a " professional" so I know going in that he is much more likely to catch the fish if only one is caught.  We baited up. We were both using sweet corn fished behind a method ball wrapped around the sinker.

We waited and waited and waited for only about 40 minutes ( tricked ya, didn't I ) before I got the first run. In real cold water carp along with most fish get sluggish.  They are usually slower and instead of a series of runs, its usually a series of taps.  Not this fish. It took off like a bullet. After I set the hook it actually jumped out of the water. I rarely if ever saw that from a carp, nevermind on January 13! I have to say the carp put quite a show on, between the screaming run, the jump then another roll on the surface, both Dave and I were impressed. The fish was somewhere around 9-10 pounds. I let it go after a couple pictures.

A few mintues later I hooked another fish. Dave grabbed the net again. Just as he was saying that I "had the hot hand" his rod took off. We couldn't believe it DOUBLES!!! I landed my fish quickly and took it out of the net and left the hook in. I ran over with the net and landed Dave's fish. Both were about the exact same size. Maybe 8 pounds. We both had smiles. Nothing better than two fish on at the same time. I unhooked my fish, Dave got a picture. He unhooked his carp and I took a picture for him. Like he said if you told anyone about today who knows about carp fishing " they would never believe it."

After that, the fish settled down. Dave landed a sucker. I've been wanting to catch a sucker for a year so I'm going to have to fish that spot again. We left at 1 PM. Three carp for this time of year is excellent. Also considering how feisty they were  made it that much more fun. What a day!