Carp in pond with bread = awesome fun

[catman529]

I'm a freshman in college and a few miles from my school in Brentwood TN there is a pond behind some restaurants by the road....full of carp, some look just like koi from a backyard pond and others look like regular colored carp. They go from around a foot long to 2 feet long, and all I have to do is throw some white bread pieces in the water to bring them in. They start rolling on the surface and eating the bread and then I'll float a piece on a hook and catch them right off the surface.

And then occasionally a big grey submarine will come up and silently eat a piece of bread, and then go back down. They are a LOT more easily spooked than the smaller carp. They're the big ole grass carp and the most fun to catch, in part because they're more of a challenge and also because they're so much bigger. They can push 3 feet long and I love when they run out a bunch of my line...nothing like the thrill of hooking a big one, even if it's a stocked carp in some random pond by the road.

Looks bigger in person than in the pic...at least 2 1/2 feet long

Oh and just so you all know I don't just fish with bread in ponds, I've been fishing in the Harpeth river for 7 years and I have to say that wild river fish put up a much better fight than any stocked pond fish, hands down. Something to do with the current in the river, makes them work harder to swim, so they fight harder. And more of a challenge to catch when they're wild and not used to humans throwing bread in to feed them and the ducks.

 

[stik]

a lot of fun to shoot with a bow too.
43 inches long, bottomed out a 50 lb scale.

common carp

 

[catman529]

Dang that's a big fish, I need to find a place here where they get that big...do you eat them? I wouldn't eat them out of the pond I fish because of all the runoff from streets and parking lots in the area.

 

[stik]

i have seen them in the clinch river pushing 100 lbs. those things get huge. no, we don't eat them.

 

[catman529]

I got to look for some other rivers around here that may have them. If you dont eat them, what do you do with them? Throw them out because they're just pests or cut them up and use them for bait? I'd hate to waste so much fish. Supposedly they can be good eating...and they don't eat garbage like a lot of other fish so they're probably pretty clean. I don't know how they'd taste though.

 

[stik]

turtles gotta eat too.

 

[catman529]

yeah lol and in this pond sometimes the turtles will come after the bread as well...although lately I have had to deal with a very persistent duck that won't stop coming back for the bread no matter how many times I scare him off.

 

[easy45]

cool

 

[ROUGH COUNTRY HUNTER]

LOOKS LIKE ALOT OF FUN

 

[buckhorn40]

:grin:

 

[basset]

is that the pond next to the Mexican restaurant in Cool Springs?

 

[basset]

.

 

[Blount County Hunter]

I haven't ever went strictly carp fishing, but there is a nice golf course pond I like to hit up for monster bass, and have seen a couple carp in there almost 4-5 ft long, no joke, but haven't ever made an effort towards catching on, would you recommend homeade doughballs crunched in with cornflakes and water on a treble hook?

 

[JohnnyBond]

:cool:

 

[catman529]

basset - which pond is that? haven't fished in cool springs yet. Give me a road name or something and I'll look into it.

Blount County Hunter - sounds like it would be fun catching some of those carp. I just use white bread, you can use a treble or a regular hook and pinch part of the bread. Leave some of it expanded to float, or pinch all the bread on the hook if you want it to sink.

Stovepipe - yeah I release the fish after I catch them. The pond is at least 2 acres just by guestimating. Plenty of carp to go around in there...

 

[Blount County Hunter]

Cool man, would you recommend chumming them up before I start fishing

 

[catman529]

I do chum up with a handful or two of bread pieces. Gets them to the surface, that is, if they're in a surface feeding mood.

 

[spitndrum]

Stik you just had to get me started dad gum it....

 

[catman529]

Dang it those are some nice fish. Great shot on the 2 gar...and what do you do with all those carp and buffalos after shooting them? Wish I had a place around here where they were that good. The Harpeth river is small so they don't get much bigger than 10 pounds but there are still buffs, carp, and plenty of gar in there and I've gone and snagged some of the buffalos in the past.

 

[stik]

looks like some fun days on the water.

 

[basset]

Catman, I was thinking of the pond next to the old Cozymel's restaurant near the mall, east side of 65. think the restaurant's called something else now.

 

[BDS05]

Y'all done got me all excited about it warming up again

 

[catman529]

Catman, I was thinking of the pond next to the old Cozymel's restaurant near the mall, east side of 65. think the restaurant's called something else now.

I think I might know what pond you mean, is it the one right off the side of Carothers? Got to try that one also.

 

[spitndrum]

and what do you do with all those carp and buffalos after shooting them?

Turtle Food

 

[spitndrum]

I am a Population Control Specialist! ;)

 

[Crosshairy]

I ate a grass carp once after catching it on a fly rod I had originally rigged for bream fishing.

There were a lot of them in this small lake, and they'd hit the surface like crazy after someone mowed the grass (they'd throw the grass towards the water).

I tied on a green dry fly and tossed it in front of them with the grass. After a few tries, I had one swallow the fly and peel off every inch of my line. I ended up chasing it down the bank, with nothing but the knot around the reel holding the fish on (the 4-lb test leader was pushed to its limits).

I finally got the fish to the bank, and a friend ended up getting in the water with it to pull it up on the bank. It weighed about 7 lbs, which might as well have been 15 on that light tackle - very FUN!

I filleted the carp and my dad put it in a pressure cooker - they have lots of crazy bones in the meat. The bones cooked down, and the meat became soft enough to form into patties. We breaded them and fried them, and I thought they tasted EXACTLY like salmon patties. In other words, they were fine, but nothing to get all worked up about.

All that said, it was so much work that I'll never do it again. It was fun to say that I did it, but #1 - someone paid to stock the fish in there at some point, and #2 - it's not worth the trouble for a fish that you have to do that much prep work for before getting to eat.

 

[Crosshairy]

That isn't to say that I didn't try CATCHING them again - I just didn't bother with the cleaning and cooking...

 

[catman529]

Crosshairy thanks for the advice...I was guessing they would have a lot of bones. Not worth picking out bones for sure...but heck they are fun to catch! I caught my first 2 on 10lb line and then went up to 15 or 17 cajun line after that...but maybe if I actually bring the landing net down to the pond, I'll go back to the lighter line. Not worth risking it when you use a lot of line strength keeping them at the bank so you can pull them up out of the water.