Northwest Fishing Reports

I was fishing for Bass in some pads. I saw three large grey carp circling the area...they were nearing 24". Then I hear a splash behind me in another area of lily pads, I thought it was a kid jumping in from the splash...I look towards the splash and see a large swirl, then the largest freshwater fish I've ever seen in the wild came nearly fully out of the water in full sun about 20-30 ft. away, landing with another enormous splash...it had the bronze/yellow/black large scales of what appeared to be a grass carp that was easily 30lbs.+!!!
I'm not overestimating, it was nearly as big as my 4-year old(47lbs.). It put the other carp to shame. I'm guessing grass carp because it had very distinct large yellow to black scales, and a smallish mouth. This occurred in less than 4ft. of water! Absolutely mind blowing experience. How big have you guys/gals seen these things get? Can anyone offer more info on what behavior (feeding/spawning?) I may have been witnessing? or help my better identify what it was?
It wanted no part of my plastics, neither did the smaller ones...is corn + 40lb. braid on a salmon pole gonna be my best shot at 'em?

more then likely a common carp would love to give you tips but i know how some people on this forum blame carp for all the problems within the lakes in washington state and do harm to these fish. but happy hunting anyway

It certainly seemed to turn the bass bite off. Not sure I want to catch them...plus I'm not sure what I'd do with 30 pounds of carp, and I seriously doubt I could bring it through the pads with anything less than a winch...tempting in a Jeremy Wade (River Monsters) kinda way.

Carp are generally vegetation eaters which is excellent for the lakes. With our millfoil growth rate I wish there were more. Dough balls or Boilies work great for carp. On the east caoast many fish for carp like we do steelies.

They get big in there. I've caught them up to 25-30 pounds. They are powerful fish, corn and braided line will do it. They're cool looking. A carp from another forum that pushes 50+

That is the twin of the fish I saw. That's quite a rig that fella has there!

Carp are the 'bass' of the UK and Europe. There are pro carp fishermen and tournaments. That setup in the pickeure is small. A lot of them run 8 poles with very expensive electronic alarms cost several hundred bucks.

saw a good sized carp lingering around the row center at Green Lake today.. just milling about the shallows.. not a strange occurence of course, i see them a lot down there, just haven't seen any personally this yr until today

I would say Banks lake WA. That lake has TONS of carp. There everywhere.

Biggest I have ever seen is at Moses Lake. There is a pedestrian bridge right next to the regular bridge that goes over Moses lake to the RV park on the left and the State park on the right. I've seen schools of 100's of carp from the pedestrian bridge where the SMALLEST fish was probably 18" and the biggest was probably close to 36" or more.

coretron22 wrote:is corn + 40lb. braid on a salmon pole gonna be my best shot at 'em?

Bow and arrow son!! Half kidding, and half serious Coretron. There are a lot of people who go after them with arrows. There has been some threads on here in the past with a lot of detail about Eastern WA. bow and arrow fishing for carp.
realizing that there prob. are some legal and safety issues with urban lake fishing like that, but it does sound fun.

The Quadfather wrote:

coretron22 wrote:is corn + 40lb. braid on a salmon pole gonna be my best shot at 'em?

Bow and arrow son!! Half kidding, and half serious Coretron. There are a lot of people who go after them with arrows. There has been some threads on here in the past with a lot of detail about Eastern WA. bow and arrow fishing for carp.
realizing that there prob. are some legal and safety issues with urban lake fishing like that, but it does sound fun.

A few years ago I talked to Mill Creek WDFW office about bow hunting carp on Sammamish, and they said the more you kill, the better.

Yea, I've been down at Log Boom and there was a guy bowfishing, and the patrolling cop came down and cheered us on. I don't personally bow fish anymore, I don't have a garden to fertilize, but have at it! The more you get the better.

Heehee, had the bowfishing conversation with some buddies last night. Not my thing, but certainly effective... & tempting.