Pineapple Vodka Flavored Corn is a Hot Bait Right Now

The carp I have been catching lately have all been caught on Pineapple flavored vodka. I always set up one pole with sweet corn ( until the water warms a little more then I will use field corn). On the other rod I use a flavor. I start with whatever I caught my last fish on. If I don't get any hits on the flavored corn, after about 45 minutes I will switch to another flavor. I use the sweet corn on the other hook as a" control group " I will switch from the sweet corn to a flavor only after I've had two hits or more on my flavored corn.
Lately, the pineapple vodka corn has worked so well, I haven't switched from it, and I end up using it on both rods. Pineapple Vodka is what I caught my carp at the fish in on. The last time I went fishing, I caught 4 carp in a little over two hours. Every hit was on pineapple vodka.

It is extremely easy to make your own. Open a can of corn and pick out the biggest kernels. Put the big kernels in a waterproof container. Get yourself a nip of vodka and dump it into the container. Put the cover on and shake. Its that simple. I have been heating the corn in the microwave until it gets hot then dumping in the vodka, I think this helps the corn absorb the vodka. I'm not sure, but I have been catching fish either way.

I am sure many of you are wondering if I'm drinking the vodka also and chuckling to yourselves. I bought a 750 mL bottle. It smells amazing. I did make ONE drink with it. Its good but as a carp bait- its to damn expensive to waste it on myself!

Hope this helps anyone looking to catch a carp.

They Can't all be Giants

I've been fishing Hopping Hill a lot lately. I know there are some fairly large carp in there. I think there may be a few 20 pounders in the lake. I think if I fish my spots often, I have a chance of catching a few. Unfortunately, I don't think any giants are in there. I seriously doubt there are any 25 pounders in the lake. Most fish average about 15-16 pounds. The biggest I've caught was 17 pounds. I do think I had a 20 on the line, but the hook popped out.

Tonight I went to Roger Williams Park in search of a big one. Roger Williams has a lot of lake in the park. There are some mighty big ones in the lakes. Even if I don't get one, at least I know they are in there.

I did catch a carp, but not the giant I imagined. The one I caught was one of the smallest I have ever caught. It went maybe... 3-4 pounds. Oh well, still had fun.

CARP-al Turkey

Last night my friend Amber and I went to one of my favorite out of the way fishing spots. We did not go there to go fishing. The woods surrounding the fishing area is home to a few wild turkeys. Every night around sunset the turkeys fly into the trees to roost for the night. Yes wild turkeys can fly, and yes they do sleep very high up in trees. While we were waiting ( four straight words starting with "w") I threw in some corn, in case I wanted to fish there today.

A few minutes after sunset the turkeys did come in. Three of them roosted very high in the trees. They did not find their perfect spot right away. All three moved into at least two other trees than their original they landed on. Its fun to watch such a big bird flying through tree limbs. Amber got to see her first wild turkeys. She was very excited.

Today, I decided to give the spot a try for carp. I was not disappointed. I landed my biggest carp of the year so far. It was a little over 17 pounds. It was short and fat. Definitely a pregnant female. It took almost ten minutes to get her in. During the mid-fight, there was a period where she would not budge. I was afraid the hook would pop loose and I'd loose it. Luckily, the hook stayed in ,barely, and I landed it. Upon review after pulling the hook out it bent quite a bit. The hook most likely bent because of my pliers, but it does show how much the hook was weakened by such a strong fish.

Picture of seventeen pound carp and hook

Caught First and Second Carp of the Year Today

Went fishing today at Hopping Hill Reservoir today in search of my first carp of the year.

Last year I had my worst year ever carp fishing. As I've said before, I can remember every carp I caught last year. That goes to show, I didn't catch a hell of a lot. It was so bad that I felt like a Jonah to myself and to whoever I fished with. I fished with Dave at a place that he had never gone fishless in the five years he'd fished there. After 7 hours fishing each we caught a whole lot of nothing. Jinx does not begin to explain how bad it was. Luckily, me being a Jonah was only limited to carp fishing. Although I couldn't get a carp to save my life unless I went to an Asian fish market, I had a great year with trout.

Not only did I have a bad year, but I started off absolutely terrible. Think of a major league hitter starting off the regular season 0 for 14. Well, I didn't catch my first carp until I'd fished for them for 14 hours. You might wonder why I would keep track of that, but when you have that much time just sitting there, you have a lot of time to think of such things. I didn't catch my first carp until after Easter.

I was REALLY hoping not to go through such a streak this year. I wanted to get off to a good start. I wanted to start the year with confidence and break the curse.

Luckily for me 45 minutes into todays fishing I had my first fish of the year.It was a common carp about 11 pounds. In the next hour I had two more pick ups and another run and drop.

Things slowed down after that then I got another run. After a 5 minute battle I landed another carp. This one was a little bigger. I weighed it and it ended up being 16 pounds. Not too shabby.

I had pre baited the area I fished for the last couple days with sweet corn. When I got to my spot today I threw out a couple handfuls of corn to get the fish feeding. For bait I used sweet corn ( Green Giant) on one pole, on the other I used sweet corn that I had soaked in Skyy Pineapple Vodka. Flavored corn is very commonly used by us carp guys. Pineapple Vodka was become a very popular flavor over the last couple years. Sometimes flavored corn will outfish plain old sweet corn. Other days carp won't touch the flavorings.

Today Pineapple Vodka 2 Sweet Corn 0

More importantly, Confidence is back!!!

You guys can fish with me again!!!

What types of fish I chase and what I use to catch them

Most everybody that I know that doesn't fish can not understand why a person needs as many poles as I have. If you take a look at what an obsessed fisherman owns it will look like a complete waste of money to anyone that is only mildly interested in fishing. As someone once said to me " You can only hold one at a time"
I thought I might answer this to all the people that have said this to me in one simple blog post instead of explaining a million times over. Fishing rods are tools. They are tools for catching fish. Like any other tool they all have a purpose. As an example of tools, lets take a saw. I have a chain saw. I use it to cut branches down and small trees in my backyard. You would not use a chain saw for precision cuts of a 2x4 or to cut a piece of plywood. You wouldn't use a circular saw to cut wood in your backyard. They have a specific purpose and although they are similar, using the right tool makes doing the job easier and dare I say more enjoyable.
Same with rod/reel combos. It wouldn't be any fun catching trout on my saltwater rod designed for catching twenty pound stripers. It would be damn near impossible to use a trout rod fishing the surf for big bluefish. Each has its place. With this in mind I will give a quick explanation of what I have and why I " need" it.

Trout-
I have two 6 foot medium light shimano rod s for DJ and I they have shimano sedona reels rigged with six pound line. Many of the rods I have, I have two of the exact same set up, so DJ and I each have one. I love these rods. They are light enough to cast a light jig but can cast a quarter ounce sinker with powerbait. They are light and a decent trout puts up a good fight on them. We also use them for catching panfish like perch, calico bass and sunfish
2-Bass Pro Shops 6 foot light rods that are 2 piece. My above rods are only one piece and can't take them apart. These 2 piece rods were on sale last Christmas for $30 each. I needed them so I could take them backpacking to trout lakes. They do the job just fine.

2- Fly Rods 9 foot 5 weight. These are also Bass Pro rods. They are on the low end of the price range for fly fishing. They work great for us. I am so new to fly-fishing I don't know what I'm missing not owning a $300 rod, and I want to keep it that way. Caught a bunch of trout on them over the summer. They are two piece rods. I do regret not getting the 4 piece rods as it would be much easier packing them for backpacking

Largemouth and Smallmouth Bass
I used to fish for bass almost everyday of my young life. Since I have discovered carp and stripers, I have pretty much abandoned bass fishing.
I have a 6' 6" baitcaster for throwing spinnerbaits and heavier lures.
2- 6' medium spinning rods for throwing lighted lures. When I bass fish I do a lot of topwater and unweighted plastic worm fishing. I need a rod with a soft tip to get topwater plugs to move easily.

Carp-
Since you don't constantly hold the rod while carp fishing most carp fishermen use two rods. When they get a bite, they pick one up and set the hook. Right now, I am in the process of upgrading my carp gear ( and by that, I mean I want Santa to help me out this Christmas). Basically in my world I need 2 sets of rods. One for small waters and one for big rivers with lots of current.

2- 7 foot medium heavy freshwater rods/ baitrunner reel with 12 pound line.These are my small water rods. I am in the minority of my carp fishing buddies using lighter gear. I like these 7 footers ( actually love). They get the job done for me almost everywhere except the Connecticut and Merrimack Rivers.. Some of the guys I know use 9 foot rods as there light stuff. I prefer these as they are easy to handle, light and I can fish tighter spots without worrying about how close the tree is behind me. Both of rods are Bass Pro Graphite series. They are only $24 when on sale. I think they are a great deal. They are plenty sensitive and strong. Why would I spend more money on better graphite rods when these are awesome! With these rods with 12 pound line and a little playing the fish I have caught carp to 24 pounds.

2- 8 foot saltwater rods. Again a lot of my friends are using 11 foot rods for there big water. I'm happy with my 8 footers with 17 pound line. They are made for catching fish in the surf so carp fishing is no problem. These are what I want to upgrade. The ones I have work fine but they are made of cheaper components so I want to get nicer ones.

In my opinion the best reel ever made is the Shimano Baitrunner 3500( see above photo). Baitrunner reels are needed carp fishing so line can come off the reel with your bail closed so your pole doesn't end up dragged in the water by a running fish. Its cost was $100 but you could use it in both fresh and saltwater and it will last forever.UNFORTUNATELY the dumbasses at Shimano ( that's right I said it) discontinued this model and replaced it with a new version with the new price tag of $179. Screw that. There are other newer brands of baitrunners ( Okuma being the most well known) They are substantially cheaper than Shimano, but the quality is not as good. Luckily for now I still have my old Shimano Baitrunners and I will keep those workhorses as long as I can.

Saltwater Striper Fishing
Striper fishing for me is broken up into three categories. Surf fishing for big ones and schoolie fishing from shore and fishing in my canoe.
Schoolies.
I used to use 7 foot medium heavy rods by Bass Pro Shops rated for 8-17 pound line. The same type rods I use for carp fishing. I have moved to an 8 footer. I still use the same shimano spheros 4000 with 12 pound line. The 8 foot BPS powerstick gets much longer casts and even with the same strength line I can horse bigger fish to shore a little quicker with the longer rod. I still use the 7 footers when fishing for schoolies in the canoe.

Surf fishing- I have a ten foot surf rod with a Shimano Spheros 12000 rigged with 20 pound Big Game. I have had this for years. I use it mostly for eels and big plugs.

I am thinking of getting an 8 foot surf rod with a smaller reel. I can't cast the big rod for 5 hours the way I used too since I got the pinched nerve. I don't use eels as much as I used too. The shorter rod will not only be lighter, but I will have better control of poppers.

Canoe- I use the above 7 foot schoolie rod for smaller bass. For larger fish I use a 7 foot heavy Teremar rod ( 15-30 pound line) . You just can't use the big rods in a canoe. I also have a 7'2" old quantum rod made 20 pound line. If I know I will be trolling eels, I will put my Shimano Baitrunners on the rods. Otherwise, I have a couple old reels that have yet to fail me. I use for casting plugs.

There you have it- The rods I use most often. I have a few others either that I don't use because I don't like them or I have upgraded. A quick recap-

Trout/ Panfish 6 combos- 3 for me, 3 for DJ ( including a fly rod for each of us)
Bass 3 combos plus we bring one othe above rods
Carp/Catfish 4 combos- 2 for small waters, 2 for big rivers
Stripers 6 combos- 3 schoolies ( 2 seven footers for DJ and I and one 8 foot), 1 surf and
2 heavy canoe rods for big stripers.

I have many friends that have more than me. I don't have a rod for bottom fishing in the ocean. I could use my surf rod for this but it was not made to throw a 5 ounce sinker and a crab. Like my saw example, it can do the job but it would be much easier with a stronger rod. I don't enjoy bottom fishing in the ocean anyway. Even if I give it a try, if I don't get anything, I quickly cut off the hook and sinker and start plugging. DJ wants a saltwater fly rod. We will see if Santa brings that, if he does, the kid better share it.
If I was still bass fishing I'd surely have at least 5 rods. I have another baitcaster that has a broken reel. Theres no reason to buy another since I never use it anymore. So I have a $ 99 rod without a reel.

I'd like to sit here and after reading this post tell you that I have gone overboard with fishing equipment. However all the combo's I mentioned get used at least a few times a year. The ones that I use the least were the cheapest ( the two piece trout rods). So I hope I have explained to the non fishing public why your fishing obsessed ( insert relative here) has so much gear.