# Carp Bait



## americanforkdude (Sep 13, 2007)

I fished UL last night and the carp were as thick as they ever have been. Snagged carp on every cast. Couldn't retrieve hardly any of them cause of foul hooks but there has got to be something out there that works for carp consistenetly especially when they are in there as thick as they are. I've heard of bread but I've never had luck on it. I can usually catch one or two on a jig head and night crawler under a bobber but usually have to be really patient. I want to light these things up, anyone know anything I don't? PM's are more then welcome.


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## kochanut (Jan 10, 2010)

i use .45 rounds for carp bait


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## pkred (Jul 9, 2009)

Baseball bat, 10 penny nail, waders. 8) 

can substitute baseball bat with 2x4

or if cost is not an issue 3.5 in 12guage slugs.


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## hoghunter011583 (Jul 21, 2008)

You should get you a bow and do some bow fishing for them!!
If I'm trying to catch them on a pole I'll snell hook a big crawler in the head and tail. Use brown hooks and 4 lb test, no sinker.
If you need a sinker then put a swivel about 4 feet up and the smallest slider you can get away with. the reason it takes so long for you to get bits is because those things are super spooky!! You could try dough baits, they have some recipe's online, I never tried them.
Nothing better than fiting a big carp on 4 lb test and a 12 foot crappie rod!!


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## GaryFish (Sep 7, 2007)

I've successfully caught carp with a hook using pizza crust as bait. Pick up a pizza on your way to the lake, and save the crusts. Break them into pieces about an inch square. Get them wet and you can impale them onto the hook, and then compress into a ball. Pizza crust works better than bread because it is thicker/harder than the bread - and usually has a strong scent to it. I used to use about a #4 baitholder hook and it would hold better. 

I tell yu whut thoo. Dem carp 'ell put up one helluva fight once yooo huk 'em. Best fightin' fish I evr cot.


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## americanforkdude (Sep 13, 2007)

Thanks for the responses. I actually have fished for a lot of carp in my life but I find i probably catch more foul hooking then actually taken the bait. For me, the joy of fishing is all in the catch and being with the guys. I love the feel of a fish on the line and using light line and trying to get it in without breaking off. I really do enjoy catching carp. I do have a bow, but these fish are out of range for a bow and water is too deep to wade around in and not visible. I will give the pizza and the nightcrawler minus the bobber or sinker a try. I have found they are very very friniky.


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## wyogoob (Sep 7, 2007)

Good grief!

I was raised poor, before the age of chat rooms. The only magazines we had were used Fur, Fish, and Game. We fished for carp to eat and for sport. No one told us it was a bad thing.

We used doughball made from boiled corn meal and flour. Everyone had their own special recipe; garlic, sweet corn, strawberry jello, koolaide flavors, liver, bluegill guts, crawfish, to name a few. Oh, mulberry was good. We would shake mulberries off the trees, crush them and add them to the doughball. Do they have mulberry trees out here?.......Some flavors worked on catfish too.

I always made strawberry jello dough ball to take out carp fishing so me and the kids could eat on it while we fished, just like my father did with me.


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## kochanut (Jan 10, 2010)

vanilla extract (the stuff in the brown bottle with the white label) and wheaties.... make a dough ball it works like a champ!


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## americanforkdude (Sep 13, 2007)

Sorry to say, but strawberry jello dough balls? Thanks but I will pass on eating  didn't they have other things to eat in wyoming? :lol:


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## wyogoob (Sep 7, 2007)

kochanut said:


> vanilla extract (the stuff in the brown bottle with the white label) and wheaties.... make a dough ball it works like a champ!


Yes, I forgot about vanilla, very good popular carp flavor....and good to eat.

Man, nothing like a tennis-ball size hunk of doughball and an ice-cold beer.

Simpler times.


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## wyogoob (Sep 7, 2007)

americanforkdude said:


> Sorry to say, but strawberry jello dough balls? Thanks but I will pass on eating  didn't they have other things to eat in wyoming? :lol:


 :lol: It was Illinois. I grew up in Illinois close to the Missississippsiisiippi River (sic). My parents grew up on the farm during the Great Depression so they thought nothing of eating carp. Carp, found everywhere, were a food source......and fun to catch. We ate smoked carp and carp patties more than anything. Smoked carp were, and still are, sold at the local grocery stores.

We had Buffalo Carp (Buffalofish) too. Great to eat

We had 2 reasons to fish: Fun and food. Carp provided both. Different than today: it's the biggest, the mostest. I'm caught up in it too.


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## wyogoob (Sep 7, 2007)

Funny, I kept very few things that belonged to my dad. One of them is a hand-written recipe for carp doughball.

I'll see if I can find it.


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## hoghunter011583 (Jul 21, 2008)

wyogoob said:


> kochanut said:
> 
> 
> > vanilla extract (the stuff in the brown bottle with the white label) and wheaties.... make a dough ball it works like a champ!
> ...


I just about blew my sandwich out of my nose lol!!!!
That is the sickest sounding thing I've ever hear of!!
I'd be herlin' that big dough ball after drinking a few cold ones in the sun!!


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## kochanut (Jan 10, 2010)

wyogoob said:


> americanforkdude said:
> 
> 
> > Sorry to say, but strawberry jello dough balls? Thanks but I will pass on eating  didn't they have other things to eat in wyoming? :lol:
> ...


<---- LaSalle/Peru Born, Cubs and Bears fan until i die.... lived a few blocks from the I&M Canal, Big Vermillion, Illinoise, and Little Vermillion rivers.


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## wyogoob (Sep 7, 2007)

Born and raised on a farm in Geneseo Illinois close to where the Hennepin Canal (part of the I & M canal sytem) goes into the Rock River. Man, I caught a lot of walleye and sauger over your way.Starved Rock especially.

My Irish ancestors moved from New York to Illinois to help build the canal....1890 to 1900 or so. Made enough money to buy up a little ground along the canal to raise some corn, a hog or two.

In high school, L-P was one of our fiercest rivals. Who were you guys? The Buccaneers? We were the Maple Leafs.


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## wyogoob (Sep 7, 2007)

hoghunter011583 said:


> ..................................................................................
> 
> Man, nothing like a tennis-ball size hunk of doughball and an ice-cold beer.
> 
> Simpler times.


..............................
That is the sickest sounding thing I've ever hear of!!
..................................[/quote]

It would be safe to say that you haven't read too many of my posts in "Recipes" :mrgreen:


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## kochanut (Jan 10, 2010)

LP Cavaliers (sp) we used to fish the hennipen canal in Princeton


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## Pumpgunner (Jan 12, 2010)

I've also had good luck fly fishing for them. I tied up a special carp fly, #8 long shank hook, white marabou tail, pea**** body, pair of white biot quill wings like on a prince nymph and a barred soft hackle up front. Fly fishing for carp is a ton of fun, cast a bit in front of them and strip it in slowly, and hang on when they take it! I usually use an 8 weight or so. The carp I keep I bury in my garden, they make great fertilizer!


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## wyogoob (Sep 7, 2007)

kochanut said:


> LP Cavaliers (sp) we used to fish the hennipen canal in Princeton


OK, Cavaliers. Some pirate-looking mascot thingie.

I have two lots of relatives in Princeton, was there last summer.

The canal is a mess these days, overgrown with weeds and brush along the bank. The moss is really bad. When the Army Corps of Engineers had it, cattle and sheep grazed on the Canal right-of-way. It was cool then; park-like. 3 generations of my family farmed along the banks of the Hennepin Canal...Tiskilwa, Mineral on the Feeder Canal, and Geneseo.


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## wyogoob (Sep 7, 2007)

*Carp Dough Balls

2 cups - flour
2 cups - cornmeal
1 cup - water
1 pkg - strawberry Jello
2 quart pot of boiling water

In a large bowl dissolve strawberry Jello in water
Add flour and cornmeal, mix until it is a doughy mixture
Add more water if necessary
Knead the dough until it no longer sticks to your hands
Mold into balls, and drop into a pot of boiling water.
When the doughballs float to the top, skim them off with a slotted spoon.
Roll the balls in a little flour or cornmeal.
Place into zip-loc bags and set in the fridge for a couple days before using.*

Notes:
There are hundreds of carp dough bait recipes out there. The primary attractant, strawberry Jello in this case, can be replaced with a variety of flavorful things; Kool-aide, anise oil, vanilla, fish oil, corn, cheese, liver, or your favorite store-bought fish scents. 
Don't cook the dough bait if adding liver, fish oils, or any liquid fish attractants.


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## .45 (Sep 21, 2007)

wyogoob said:


> *Carp Dough Balls
> 
> 2 cups - flour
> 2 cups - cornmeal
> ...


That sounds like some old marmom recipe Goob....are you sure your desendants didn't bring that to Wyoming in a handcart ? :?


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## wyogoob (Sep 7, 2007)

.45 said:


> wyogoob said:
> 
> 
> > *Carp Dough Balls
> ...


 :rotfl: :rotfl: :rotfl: That's a goodun'.

My decendants never crossed the Missississippissipissippi River (sic) Couldn't swim I guess. I came over in a 1978 Ford pick-up, full of hand-written recipes, and a few pots and pans. :mrgreen:


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## kochanut (Jan 10, 2010)

wyogoob said:


> .45 said:
> 
> 
> > wyogoob said:
> ...


you sure you dident mean 1878 during the gold rush?

im sorry i couldent help myself


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## wyogoob (Sep 7, 2007)

kochanut said:


> ..................................................................
> 
> you sure you dident mean 1878 during the gold rush?
> 
> im sorry i couldent help myself


 :lol:

Hey, time for a story.....ah nevermind, I will PM it.

Where I come form there's a lot of jokes about "this" side of the river, and "that" side of the river, and who belongs where. Ah....these stories may not be appropriate on an outdoor chatroom in Utah. :wink:


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## kochanut (Jan 10, 2010)

those stories still happen from my home town in IL


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## wyogoob (Sep 7, 2007)

Hey .45. I'll take ya carp fishing. You bring your .45 long colt and I will bring my strawberry dough bait. At least we will have something to eat. :^8^: :-|O|-: :EAT:


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## americanforkdude (Sep 13, 2007)

Goob thanks for the recipe and the pic, i needed the laugh. That right there is bringing old school back!!! :lol: I love catching carp I'll give it at try. I just hope i don't burn the house down, if its not mac and cheese or grilled cheese sandwhiches I struggle


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## wyogoob (Sep 7, 2007)

Ah.... look at that pic of the carp. They have holes in them..??? Bowfishing my guess. 

Don't tell .45; we'll see if he catches it.


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## wyogoob (Sep 7, 2007)

kochanut said:


> those stories still happen from my home town in IL


 I bet they did in Lasalle Peru :lol: :lol:


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## NHS (Sep 7, 2007)

You knew Jerry Garcia??!!


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## .45 (Sep 21, 2007)

wyogoob said:


> Ah.... look at that pic of the carp. They have holes in them..??? Bowfishing my guess.
> 
> Don't tell .45; we'll see if he catches it.


I never could hit 'em with an arrow. I used to try with a .357 or a .22 until some of them folks from Murray started complaining....like all them Murrayites are perfect... :roll:

But I would _never_ touch them....ick... :O>>:

Murrayite? Isn't that some sort of ingenious rock?


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## wyogoob (Sep 7, 2007)

.45 said:


> wyogoob said:
> 
> 
> > Ah.... look at that pic of the carp. They have holes in them..??? Bowfishing my guess.
> ...


First time I read this!! :rotfl:


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## Chaser (Sep 28, 2007)

Not Wyoming, AFdude-Illinois. They eat all kinds of crazy crap out there. Just look over the Goob's Recipe section resume. He's quite the "adventurous" eater. NOTHING is safe around the Goob...NOTHING!


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## brfisherman17 (Jan 21, 2011)

I use a ball of garlic bread compressed onto a hook or a ball of bread smothered in barbeque sauce. Anything with a strong scent. Sounds crazy, but it works!


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