The bass aren't biting, walleyes aren't biting either earlier this evening so I load up my other rod w/ a garlic scented nightcrawler. It was just getting dark, I just put my spinning rod away & just turned back to see my other rod go bendo...ran to it & reeled in the slack & set the hook. I didn't know if I had a big catfish or a carp, I fought this beast for 10 min! The fish once hooked took off to the left just under my friends pontoon boat while it peeled line from my reel. I started to reel in & felt how "BIG" this thing was & it still kept pulling line. Just as I got it close to me I called my friends wife to send one of the boys to get the net cuz this thing is too big w/o one.
Since it was getting dark I wasn't sure what I had on the other end, then I saw it was the biggest carp I've ever hooked into. I was surprised that the 6 lb line didn't snap while this fish made many a mad dash all over the place. Like the title says, I used 6 lb line...I wasn't looking to hooking up a big beast. I used a Berkley Amp 7' Med baitcast rod w/ a Shakespeare Synergy spincast reel, loaded w/ 6 lb Cuda line. Cuda line is strong & landing this huge carp is proof. Bummer thing though is Cuda line is out of business, glad I have a few spools of different poundage; it's similar to Yozuri Hybrid line. The Berkley Amp rod held tough & it proved to me that it's a good rod for $30. The Synergy spincast reel really surprised me that there wasn't even a hiccup from this reel & the drag worked great.
The fight was awesome, the best so far this year for me, I don't mind that it's a carp, these fish's can fight like crazy beasts, it even did a couple jumps on the run.
Once I got it close to shore my 10 yr old son, after a few attempts finally netted the carp. It took him & his friend to pull it out of the water while the net bent from the weight.
I didn't have my scale or tape measure but just from the weight I could feel this carp was around 25-30 lbs easily...this thing had a wide gut! It swallowed the worm & hook so it wasn't getting away that way. I was more concerned of it going under the pontoon boat & getting tangled up on the aluminum pilings, how I got it out of there I don't know. I did catch a smaller 2 lb carp earlier but no pics cuz it was small.
The bass were not hitting at all this evening, previous evenings I've caught bass on topwater & that was totally fun. Well this evening no bass, but ended up being thrilling w/ this big carp...NO COMPLAINTS from me!!!
Modified by Ghost at 2:17 AM 6/11/2009
Reply With Quote
