Tuesday, January 10, 2012
Ice fishing for carp - first attempt
I also took the opportunity to test my new 6 inch Fin Bore manual ice auger. Drilling holes was a piece of cake compared to my 8 inch Swede bore. However, due to the small diamter, I decided to go with oversized holes for carp, as even a small carp would be tough to pull through a 6 inch hole. I ended up drilling 4 holes next to each other, then getting rid of the connecting ice in between the holes. Made a few of these giant holes, so I easily drilled over 20 holes with it into 9 - 10 inches of solid ice. Didn't even end up with sore muscles. Anyone want to buy a used 8 inch Swede Bore?
I set up 2 carp lines. The first one was similar to my warm water setup, basically a sliding sinker on superbraid mainline with a superbraid hair rig. I improvised on the next line, figuring I would try to go stealth with flourocarbon and no connecting swivels. I first tied a hair rig onto about 20 feet of flourocarbon, then connecting it directly to my mainline with a uni knot. Used a couple small split shots to get it down, but still had to deal with the memory on the flourocarbon.
I use canned corn as bait, chumming lightly, tried some home made boilies as well. Set up my baitrunner, and clipped strike indicator bells on the rods. While waiting for the carp to bite, I set up a third rod with a Rapala jigging Rap, using a steel leader due to the high volume of small pike in the spot.
Fishing was very slow. Got spot checked by the game wardens, apparently they were out everywhere with the warm weather, as we're supposed to be getting a cold front and storm system moving in tonight.
Moved from spot to spot every hour or two. Nothing much doing most of the day. Finally, around 3 PM, I got my first hit on the flourocarbon hair rig. Not much of a hit and then nothing. I set the hook only to pull it out of the fish's mouth, not sure if it was a carp or possibly a channel catfish.
Went back to jigging the Rapala ice fishing lure. As nothing much was hitting, I removed the leader to improve it's action. Sure enough, I end up with a fish on, but it cut my line on the way up, so I'm quite sure it was a small pike.
That was it for the day. No fish landed, couple misses. Another guy fishing the spot came over to chat for much of the day, as his pike lines weren't too busy either. I think he ended up landing 4 on 10 lines. A few others showed up late in the day, and landed a small channel catfish on a live minnow.
I will probably hold off targeting carp through the ice until the bigger ones move in later in the winter. However, I may decide to try some open water winter carping again... Stay tuned.
Wednesday, January 4, 2012
Ice fishing for rainbow trout

Saturday, December 3, 2011
Pre winter carp fishing

Well, it looks like I know myself by now. I though my previous carp outing was my last, with that possible "maybe one more" in the back of my mind. Despite a super busy work schedule, I made some time to head out to try some freezing water carping.
Monday, November 14, 2011
Cold water carp fishing
I recently learned of a new spot where the carp were still biting despite the water temp being down to about 40 degrees Farenheit. With a warm, sunny day forecast, I decided to make it out to the new spot, a region I have never fished before.
I took along some frozen corn nibblets, as well as some small boilies I made a while ago. My fishing buddy decided to stick with frozen corn. We finallt hit the spot around 10:00 AM. Met up with some other people that had been fishing for carp there over the past week, they seemed to be on to some fish, most of them smaller than I had ever seen, small 1-2 pound carp. They were float fishing with tiny hooks, pobably #8 or #10, which would probably explain why most of their carp were that size, though they did eventually catch some better 10 lbs+ fish.
My buddy and I both started off fishing with corn. Took him about 1/2 hour to get his first one, a good 12 lbs carp. Nice start to the day. Fishing was very slow after that. After about 2 hours, he hooked one of the baby carp the others had been catching earlier on.
I switch to my home made boilies. Nothing doing for another couple hours, so we moved off to another spot. The new spot wasn't any better, and to make matters worse, the slight current kept fouling my presentation with dying weeds.
With less than 1 hour left to our day, I headed back to the first spot, as it was on our way back to the car. I hooked up 4 corn nibblets, along with a fake pop up corn nibblet I had bought over the summer on my hair rig. Sure enough, I got hit within a couple minutes of my first cast. The carp ran surprisingly fast considering the near freezing water temperature, and put up a nice fight. Finally landed it, noticed a big lamprey stuck to it's back. After a couple quick pics, I released the fish, but stomped the lamprey to death.
Needless to say, we were both thrilled to have landed carp big enough to make the drags sing. The sweet sound of the reel from those few screaming runs and the big bend in my new 9 foot Ugly Stik is the prefect way to end my perfect carp season... Well, maybe just one more outing ...
Thursday, November 3, 2011
New fishing gear and tackle review
Here are my reviews by equipment type:
Reels.
This is where I splurged the most. I've never owned a fishing reel worth more than $50, so I bought one for bass/pike (Abu Garcia STX20) and another for carp/catfish (Penn Slammer 560 liveliner).
The Abu Garcia reel is extremely smooth, and delivers up to 15 lbs of drag, very impressive for a small, light reel. It comes with grooves in the spool, and matching elastic bands to hold superbraid lines to the reel to avoid line slippage. Overall, I'm very happy with the reel, though I'm not sure I'd pay the kind of money (about $150)if I had to buy it on my own. Only drawback is that it wasn't available in a 30 series, which would have been my choice. Faced with a 20 or 40, I pick the 20 due to it's light weight. In most situations, it holds enough 20 lb superbraid (6 lb diameter) for most of my needs.
The Penn reel is a real piece of work. Designed to still fish live bait in saltwater, it more than suits my needs for the monster carp I target so often. It holds about 400 feet of 65 lbs superbraid, also deliver 15 lbs of drag, although I rarely fish with more than 3 lbs of drag for carp, especially with superbraided line that has zero stretch. The transition from liveliner/baitrunner mode to normal is almost instant, and extremely smooth, unlike the cheaper Chinese baitrunner reels I've been using. It also doesn't jam up like they do, which is extremely important unless you plan on loosing rods when carps take off with them. Though I never would have spent that sort of money (about $165) on a baitrunner reel, I see myself possibly getting another one somwhere down the line.
Rods:
I'm not one to tinker with fancy rods. In fact, I can't stand them. A couple of my friends spend $150-$250 for bass/pike rods, and these rods are constantly breaking one way or another. Though they may be guaranteed, chasing after the rod repair guy is a colossal waste of time.
Over the years, I've found 2 brands I'm happy with; Rhino, and Shakespere Ugly stik. I already had a 6.5 Ugly Stik, I decided to get a 7 footer, as Basspro wouldn't ship anything longer into Canada. I had planned to mount the Penn liveliner on it, but to my dismay, it was too big. My friend Jimmy bailed me out by selling me an 8 foot Saltwater Ugly stick that was well matched to my new reel.
The 7 foot freshwater Ugly stick didn't do all that well as a bass/pike rods. It's a bit on the heavy side, and frequetly comes apart when casting a lot. I mounted a 40 series baitrunner and used it for carp, it did very well until the water got too shallow and I started getting frequent cut offs from big carp in the rocks.
The 8 foot saltwater Ugly stick is much beefier. It comes with a stronger backbone and longer butt. Surprisingly, the upper section is quite wobbly whern compared to the freshwater series. However, when it comes to fishing for big carp, a wobbly rod is a good thing. Acts as a shock absorber when fishing with stiff superbraid line and small hooks. It had no problems whatsoever handling big carp and channel cats, I even used it to troll small musky lures later on in the season.
Towards the end of the season, my local fishing store got the 9 foot freshwater Ugly Stiks in stock. I picked one up for my last successful carp outing of the season. After fighting the first fish of the day on it, I fell in love with the rod. Perfect combination of strenth and flexibity, very light too. Fits my Penn Slammer perfectly as well. It's only drawback is being too long to fit in my house or most cars without breaking it down each time. Just picked up another one on special for next season.
Line:
This season, I had the opportunity to test various lines under many conditions. Mainly superbraids, and briefly Flourocarbon as well.
Power Pro 20 lbs (6 lb diameter).
Picked up a 1500 yard spool at the end of 2010, was waiting to see how it faired in 2011. Spooled it up on my new Abu Garcia STX20 bass/pike reel. I immediately noticed it's benefits, strength and castability, as well as a major downside: zero resistance to sharp rocks. Funny how you can get a line that easier to cut on a rock than with a pair of scissors or a line clipper. Less funny when you start losing lures every time you graze a rock. I lost about 4-5 crankbaits, and that was it. The line is resigned to being spooled on my kids reels, or being fished in waters where the cover is logs or weeds.
Power Pro 50lbs (12 lb diameter) & 65 lbs (15 lb diameter).
While this line did well for carp in 2010 when the water levels at my hotspot were extremely high, the low water in the 2011 season quickly exposed the weak side of this line, anmely, it's low resistance to sharp rocks. Slightly more resistant than the 20 lb test version, I still lost a good 20 carp duie to cut offs, some while the reel was in free spool, before I even had a chance to get a hookset. Not to mention the expesive carp hooks and rest of the terminal tackle to go along with it. The 65 lb version didn't do any better than the 50 lbs.
In October, I had the chance to meet an American industrial engineer. Somehow, he started talking abut Spectra fibers. When i mentioned Power Pro being made from spectra braid, he exdplained how they streched the fiber to it's breaking point to give it the thin diameter. I guess that would explain why it snaps at the slightest tough of a sharp object...
Sufix 832 20 lbs test, 6 lb diameter.
Sufix 832 65 lb test, 17 lb diameter.
After the success of the 20 lb version, and the disastrous performance or Power Pro in the rocks, I picked up the 65 lb version of Sufix 832 to try on my carp reels. Results have been very good so far. About 15-20 carp landed in waters where they cut my Power Pro 60% of the time, not one cut off to date with the Sufix 832. I've switched my reels to it, as well as my hair rigs. Only drawback is that the carp seem to bit slighty more line shy due to it's 17 lbs diameter, wil probably tinker with the 50 lbs version next season as well.
Other lines I tried in 2011.
Tuff Line 80 lb, 20 lb diameter. Horrible line. I guy I fihed with hooked a mid sized carp which eventually spit the hook after a few minutes. When he brough in his line, I noticed 3 distinctive nicks where the carp had hit the rocks. A slight tug on each nick managed to snap the line like butter. Fish were also line shy due to it's 20 lb diameter.
Fireline XDS 80 lbs, 25 lb diameter. Extremely resistant to rocks, acually saw it chip of chunks from a sharp rock when running it along the edge to test it's strenght. Problem is it's diameter. Carp wouldn't get near it, as it's thick and rigid like telephone wire. Did manage a mid size channel catfish on it, but they don't require that sort of line. Also very hard to cast.
Seaguar AbrazX Fluorocarbon 25 lbs. After contemplating switching from superbraid to Fluorocarbon for carp, I researched some new lines. The review all point to AbrazX as being the most resitant to abrasion. I decided to tie some hair rigs from it as well, as it's supposed to be invisible to fish. The hairs ended up tangling on 50% of the casts. When they didn't, they did a fine job of hooking fish. However, when I set up a line with a 40 foot shock leader using the AbrazX, the first carp snapped it just as easily as they did the Power Pro. Also real tough to cast compared to thinner superbraid, so I stopped using it.
Hooks:
Got to test a fair number of specialized carp hooks this season. All hooks tested were size 4, and used in hair rigs with boilies as bait.
Monster carp tackle - These hooks are bottm line. Cheap, less sharp than the fancier brands, I had a number of carp spit them before I stopped using them.
ESP - Raptor and curve shank. I prefer the curve shank, the seem to do a better job hooking and holding fish. Teflon coated, micro barbed, extremely sharp and mid range cost ($0.75 - $0.80 per hook).
Kamasan B775 - Another good hook, sharp effective at hooking and holding fish, only started using them towards the end of the season.
Nash Fang X - Their number 4 are bigger than other brands, hooks are about $1.00 each. Didn't get to test them this season, but at that price, they better perform...
Lures:
Main lure I got to really test this season was the Lucky 13 by Heddon. I had 2 sizes, the larger one with 3 trebles did a great job, while the smaller one was mediocre. Aslo did a fair bit of casting using a 1/2 ounce Booyah tux tail spinnerbait with double Colorado blades. Cast a mile, works great, you can really feel the blades working even without a fancy rod.
Caddis neoprene stocking foot waders - First chance I got to test them in really cold water, probably around 40 degrees or so. They held snug, kept me warm, despite me being in waist deep, freezing cold water for 4 hours, as well as a slight drizzle all day.
My 2011 fishing season
Monday, October 31, 2011
Dad wins fishing contest

Ever since the FPQ launched it's annual fishing outfitter's tournament/contest, we've been participating. It was more of a tournament when it was first launched a few years ago, the prizes were a lot better too. My son Avi had won it at the time, topping out all competition in the kids category for bass.
Tuesday, October 25, 2011
Catching muskies from the shore in Montreal
Wednesday, October 12, 2011
Thanksgiving day fishing outing

Kids were off school for thanksgiving, which put me on daddy duty again. As usual, fishing was the venue, especially with warm and sunny weather this late in the season.
Friday, October 7, 2011
Sewer fishing
Thursday, October 6, 2011
Shore fishing for musky
Monday, September 26, 2011
St Lawrence River musky fishing

My friend and musky pro "Musky" Mike Phillips invited me out for a half day outing. Needless to say, I was more than thrilled, as I rarely have the opportunity to target muskies, let alone with an expert of Mike's caliber.

Monday, September 19, 2011
More urban Montreal fishing
Wednesday, September 14, 2011
Urban Montreal street fishing
Last summer, my double suspension bike got stolen. That put an end to my urban street fishing / biking combo I was just getting used to. The bike I eventually replaced it with was a lot lighter, but had no suspension. I quickly found out that instead of being able to ride further, I was riding less and less. Finally sold it this summer, and replaced it with an ultra light double suspension model. So now I have the best of both, comfort and light weight. Should keep me motivated to get more urban fishing and biking done.
Enough about my bike. With a cool, sunny afternoon in the forecast, I headed to a spot I had scouted a few days earlier. Looked like a good pike/bass spot, so I started off throwing my favorite spinnerbait. Double Colorado gold hammered blades, about 1/2 oz with a white/chartreuse skirt. Ultra sharp hook I just finished resharpening this morning.
First cast, I get nice sized pike follow my lure all the way back, thick shoulders, a good 6-7 lbs. Couple casts later, same pike busts the surface just as I finish reeling. Another few casts, he comes back with a vicious attack. Grabbed my spinnerbait from the side and inhaled it. I set hard, it heads straight for the weeds. Cuts my line and steals my best spinnerbait!
First time I've ever had a pike steal my spinnerbait, despite the fact that I never bothered using leaders. Must have caught a good 20 pike on that lure, as well as hundreds of bass and a even bowfin a couple weeks ago. Oh well, I'll have to replace it.
Kept fishing, no more fish in sight for about 1 hour. Decided to head to another new spot. I get back on my bike, just to realize I popped my back tire. End of outing, I know have to figure out how to get back home. Luckily, I had my wallet in my backpack, so I had enough cash to catch a metro back home. Took my about 15-20 minutes to get to the closest station, went straight to the bike shop and got the flat fixed.
I was super glad my new spot paid off immediately, despite losing the nice pike and my best spinnerbait. I plan to head back there next week.
Fly fishing adventure - first attempt
Thursday, September 8, 2011
Fishing pike on topwater lures
Making boilies - first attempt
Friday, August 19, 2011
Multi species river fishing
Friday, August 5, 2011
Initiating friends / family to carp fishing
The "science" of carp fishing









































