carp as pike bait?

[Newt]

corydoras - thru the eyes it is. Also cutting off part of the tail fin so they make lots of fuss when trying to swim and also removing scales from about the lower 1/3 on one side.

 

I too release all my fish unless they are going to become live or cut bait. Most of the catfish deaed bait will be shad so an hour with a cast net before starting to fish for the cats but at times I want some bluegill too for live bait so an hour or so with the ultra light spinning gear or a light fly rod. I often put out a rod with a piece of lobworm to catch small channel or mud cats for additional live bait.

[wunnus]

Has anyone tried liquidised carp?

 

As a ground bait I hasten to add !!

[Peter Waller]

Is that before or after death Wunnus? I'm told the fresher the better but not how far to take it. The bones on the bigger ones won't go through my liquidiser so do have to fillet them. Filleting 'em alive can be a problem as they won't stay still.

[Gareth.]

A real lively one in the liquidiser can be awkward. All that flapping about makes keeping the lid on really difficult.

Personnally, just before I liquidise them, I use a golf club to despatch them. trouble is Peter, your average carp is usually a par 5 or 6.

[Gareth.]

All joking aside for a while.

I do use Carp live and deadbaits.

I started using them during the Smelt shortage of 2000/2001.

Tackle shops were unable to get Smelt, and demand out stripped supply. A local tackle shop took delivery of 100 packets of Carp deadbaits from 5-8 inches. However these did not sell, and languished in the freezer until July. I was then given all 100 packs.

First few outings proved to be a learning curve.

I had liquidised some of the rougher looking Carp deads into a paste, mixed in about the same amount of white bread crumb and blended it with fish oil.

It was packed into a grip mesh feeder, and was used as the ledger for static float ledger deadbaiting.

The resulting goo gave off a tremendous fish oil slick, and remained in the feeder all day.

Turned out to be very economical as the liquidised Carp remained in the feeder, and I caught 7 or 8 Pike and 1 Zander that day.

Second time out I decided to chop the Carp a little more coarsely, again mixed with white bread crumb and blend with fish oil. However I decided to take the Bob Nudd approach and use the Carp ground bait mix for attracting Pike into a swim on a river with a little more pace than I usually fished. Tangerine sized balls of Carp and bread crumb were frozen for use the following day. What I did not take into account was the frozen balls floating. They went for bloody miles before thawing and disintegrating.

Third time out. I placed large pieces of gravel into the centre off the tangerine sized balls of minced Carp and bread crumb. These sank quickly where I wanted them to, and proved to be a valuable asset. Again I used the Bob Nudd method, balling half a dozen while setting the rods up, and I continued to bait heavily all day, results were exceptional with 9 Pike, 11 schoolie Zander and 4 Eels.

When possible, I now pre-bait the day before with 10-12 of these carp and bread crumb balls. Although on the day I have now added another ingredient to the balls fished below the deadbait.

To these I add a fish oil coated Alka-Saltzer tablet. When the bait ball is thawing and water eventually gets to the Alka- Saltzer. The dissolving tablet causes a lot of bubble disturbance and pieces off minced carp and fish flavoured breadcrumb rise up with bubble stream. I fish a smallish popped up deadbait approx. 24 inches above the feeder and the bubbles make the dead twitch, rise and fall.

One session last Autumn using this method, the Jacks, Zander, and large Chub were competing all day for my baits.

 

[ 08. May 2004, 03:29 PM: Message edited by: Gareth. ]

[Peter Waller]

Pity you don't have that sort of success at group fish-ins Gareth !!!

[Gareth.]

Peter,

I have yet to utilise either deadbaiting or livebaiting methods at one of the fish-ins, or other get together. Let alone use a Carp bait in your esteemed company.

However I am no longer blanking in company, having taken the day's honours at Suffolk Water Park in 02, and at Bainton in 03.

At this year's Suffolk Water Park gathering, I managed to catch a Jack of around 4lbs from the casting deck of Trev's new boat. Thus christening her, before Trev had even stepped aboard or taken her afloat.

I have a few aspirations, and inspirations for this coming season, so you had better watch this space.

I going down to visit my parents in Pembrokeshire this coming Whitsun. There are a few really astoundingly beautiful Sea Bass marks within easy walking distance of their home. So a float ledgered or drifted Carp deadbait just might be tried instead of a more normal Sand Eel bait, alongside the lure fishing for them.

 

Just out of interest, do you know how much salinity a Carp livebait could endure, before expiring and becoming a deadbait?

[Tog]

Carp can taste bloody good! The chineese do a dish called 'Mandarin fish' They take a whole fish (often a carp of 6-10 Lb) prepare it by cutting the sides in a criss cross like a ham and cover it in sweet & sour sauce before baking. Delicious & in all good resturants you get to chose your own fish! Did'nt the first carp in the UK get stocked by monks for food?

[Peter Waller]

Firstly an excellent bait, then its quality manure, now oriental escoffiere! Such a useful fish. And some folk actually fish for them with rods and lines!!

 

More amazing that people actually return this wonderous beast. Be far more viable to electro-fish or net them though. Carp & chips does have a certain ring about it. Harry Ramsden or Captain Birdseye could do a new line, Gareth's Battered Carp Cutlets.

 

London might see a changing tradition now the eel is in decline, carp & mash shops. We might have jellied carp stalls on Yarmouth & Norwich Markets, especially for all the incomers.

 

Delia Smith should write a book on cooking carp, make another million or two to spend on Norwich City.

 

Carp R Us shops could pop up everywhere. Wonderous emporiums selling the gear to catch them, and then all the by-products from the fish. John Innes Number One Carp & Potash through to high fashion items made from the skins of mirror carp.

 

Am beginning to understand the fascination for these useful fish, and the commercial potential. Could be on the way to my first million in a matter of weeks. Just need a tatty old white transit to get started. How much a pound should I pay?

[Tog]

Pete, I'm in! as a previous reply stated all these new Europeans comming over love a carp for the 'fest'. I recon we only need to whip em out of a puddle and then chuck em in a nice stream for a week to clear out the mud & debris, e'h Voila 'cheap as chips mud free carp', in your tranny up to the smoke - sell e'm out the back of the van to the polies & romies @£5.lb. Nice little earner mange tout! s'pose we could whip of their heads & guts to flog to our piking chums - probably make a damm good bass bait to!