Carp Fishing along the Canadian side of the St. Larry

Trying to do some really advanced planning and to figure out a route that will put us at decent RV parks reasonably close to some good carp fishing on the St. Lawrence.

Anybody have suggestions?

Failing in that, any carpers on here at all?

I've never fished for carp and would be interested to hear what fishing methods, baits, lures, etc folks use.

Carp will eat just about anything, but when we purposefully went after them, we used either doughbait or catfish stinkbait.  And a treble hook, for both keeping the bait on, and keeping hold of the carp.  They have pretty soft mouths.  But they put up an incredible fight.

We also used to go chasing them with our hands.  Where we used to live in East Texas waaaay back in the mid/late 70's, behind our house (out in the country mind you), there was a big stock tank (lake) and when it rained heavy, there was an overflow pond of sorts and after the rain stopped, we would go to that overflow place and jump in and chase the carp that were trapped there and try and catch them.  The overflow pond was about 3 feet deep and probably 15 or 20 feet in diameter...sorta.  I gotta tell you, if you've ever watched the clips of people chasing greased pigs, that's nothing to trying to catch a 40 lb carp in a little overflow pond.  What a blast.  We used to sleep very good at night!

LOL Ed, that story slippery carp eh.

I now recall when I was a kid that some friends used to load up on dough to fish the canals for carp, while I fished the rivers for trout.

Tom - I will give a longer answer to the 'how to' piece later but thought you might enjoy this topic /w photos just to show what is possible along the St. Lawrence.  We also have some good fishing for them here in the lower 48 and there are some serious carp anglers out your way.

http://www.anglersnet.co.uk/forums/index.php?showtopic=76784

Newt, I don't consider myself a "carper", but I do catch a carp occasionally.  I use the carp skin for bait on the trot line, it stays on the hook and the catfish seem to like it.  My method for catching carp is rather simple.  I have a 4 inch PVC pipe with holes in it bolted to the end of my dock.  Fill it up with dog food and in a few hours there are a couple dozen carp sucking the dog food out the holes. Dropping a dough ball in their midst results in a challenge to get the carp on the dock before he breaks the line around one of the dock legs. They aren't real big but fun never the less.

Robert,

You're going to have to show me how you fish for carp next time we come visit. Sounds like it needs a lot of skill. Is this a new use for tainted dog food from China?

Thanks for the link Newt.

Tom  No talent needed to catch Carp  But they do love to fight  Fun Catching them.  The reason I say no talent is because even I can catch them.  Good eating too.  You need the old Rednecks from Southern IL to cook them up  and if cooked properly is one of the best dang fish sandwiches you'll ever eat.  Or as they say  " if the fixins is done good, you'll lap your chops til the sun goes down"  Been there done that.  Oh BTW  surgery postponed  Sent you an Email  Thanks again.

LOL Shayne. My "special skill" comment was a response to Robert's 4" pipe filled with dog food as bait for carp.

Carping is fun stuff Tom and you can use your bass gear for the tiddlers up to about 20 lbs in a lake or 10 lbs in a river.  The larger ones need lots stouter gear though and unlike bass, they don't get lazy when they get big.

We usually think of them as slow fish from slow water but they are darned near as agile as trout in fast water and occasionally you can see them leaping and charging around in a dam tailrace.  They seem almost like they are playing at times.

Have a look at this web site.  The site owner lives somewhere out your way and is seriously good people.

http://www.catfished.com/

he site owner lives somewhere out your way...

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Clear Lake is a long way from us, but it's still California.

As big as carp get, they can't come close to our Delta sturgeon. As for gear, sturgeon requires not only stout line, but wire traces. Them diamondbacks will slice anything else. They put up a great fight and, when you get them close to the surface, their leaps out of the water are spectacular.

The first sturgeon the missus caught locally was 6 feet long and weighed in at 85lbs, a "tiddler" by comparison with many caught locally (several hundred pounds). Here's the photo of the missus' tiddler sturgeon. Took her an hour to bring that puppy alongside the boat, but she was determined not to give up.

If you hook a smaller sturgeon here's what can happen when a hungry seal comes by. That's me holding what's left of a smaller sturgeon.

Our favorite sturgeon bait is ghost shrimp. Looks like a cross between a shrimp and a 1-clawed lobster.

My favorite fishing continues to be fly fishing for trout on a stream. Had a wonderful time a few months back, fishing trout streams in Utah. I practice catch-and-release. No stringers of fish here.

You're going to have to show me how you fish for carp next time we come visit. Sounds like it needs a lot of skill. Is this a new use for tainted dog food from China?

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Probably something you could learn in less than an hour, it's difficult to hit the end of the pipe when pouring from the bag.

caltex said:

... it's difficult to hit the end of the pipe when pouring from the bag.

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LOL Robert. It's probably tougher to hit after a few drinks.

I want to try sturgeon one of these days.  Did a trip several years ago with a friend from MN catfishing on the Red River at Selkirk, Manitoba and wanted to try the sturgeon up there but we only had a 5 day trip.

He is retired and I will be soon enough so we may just make a longer trip next time.

Darndest channel catfishing I ever saw up there though.  All C&R unless you are a member of the local Indian tribe and very few below 15lbs with most running to 25-30 lbs.  They come out of Lake Winnipeg in the spring and when they reach the dam at Selkirk, the big gals stop while the smaller ones climb a ladder into the area above the dam.

I have heard that the walleye do the same in the Fall and that there is a period of time while the cats are headed back to the lake and the eyes are headed up river that you can have fun with them both.

Selkirk has a great camping area (tents or rigs) right on the river and super cheap so it makes for a nice spot to stop if you like fishing.

Newt,

Sturgeon are bottom feeders and, when you hook one, it takes some time to get it to the surface. Meanwhile, they'll run, stripping off a lot of line and give you one heck of a fight. When you finally get them near the surface they'll start their spectacular jumps.

BTW a sturgeon has no bones. They have a long cartilage type thing as a "spine". You cut around the tail fin, twist and pull the entire thing out.

Last time I fished for carp was in Junior High School.  This is how we did it along the St. Joe River in Indiana.  About midnight, after the parents were asleep my neighbor and I would sneak out of the house and ride our bikes to the river.  All we used was one slice of bread and velveeta cheese squeezed into a big wad on a treble hook.  The hook was on a 1.5' to 2' leader with a lot of wieght at he top of the leader.  Then heave as far into the channel as possible and prop rod on a forked stick and watch the rod tip.

Now just to add to the fun we would steal some beers from the house and on the way to the river we wait in hiding at the corner grocery whch had baked goods delivered and left outside the front door.  Once the delivery truck left we would dash in and sneak a box of donuts and dash down to the river.  Usually we could pull up half a dozen or so 4-5 lb. carp or maybe a good size catfish.  Now nobody in out family had any interest in eating carp and we weren't particularly into the whole catch and release thing, but we did know where all the teen-agers use to go and neck in the nearby park.  So being junior high kids we were very much into " I dare you!".  So on a dare, you guessed it, the one with the short straw would sneak up on the open and steamy window of an unsuspecting couple and flip the carp through the window.  At that point we all jumped on bikes and pedalled like hell.

Eventually around 4 AM we would sneak back in the house and sleep 'til noon the next day.

Don't know about carp fishing on the St. Larry but that's how we did it on the St. Joe///tim

Great story Tim.

Liked your story Tim.  Reminds me of some of the things we use to do.