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I have fished Log Boom, Kenmore, for several seasons and find it to be quite productive for pan fish if you do it right. This season however, it has been kind of slow for me so I decided that I would try a chum recipe that I found on the internet to spice things up.

The water was choppy and not so clear, the sky was overcast and windy, so I wasn’t so sure how it was going to work as the directions for the chum tells you to float fish. I prepared the chum, threw some in the lake, and rigged my rod. I tried to fish over the chummed area but just couldn’t keep my bait close enough to the chummed area so I decided to bottom fish using a bass sinker; at this point I was noticing more bubbles around the chummed area and the appearance of bait fish.
Upon changing fishing techniques I immediately landed a small blue gill. I thought here we go and nothing much more happened for the next hour; however, I did begin to notice much larger bubbles appearing. Sometime during this point I decided to change my rigging again and attached a large split shot about six inches above my bait and let it sit on the bottom near the chum.

I was thinking about packing it up and going to spend some father’s day time with the kids when I saw the tip of my rod gently twitch. The rod I was using was an Okuma 6’ light, I had on 6lb trilene and a #10 circle hook. I waited for a firm tap and began to reel in as fast as possible. My rod instantly turned into a C and the fish immediately darted for the pier. I jumped up and began to wrestle him away from the pier while reeling and it was at this point he broke the water. I realized this was no little fish and that my line at any point could snap. I called down to a fellow fisherman to come and take a look. He came over and I remember saying to him “this is the biggest fish I’ve landed here” and he responded “well you haven’t landed him yet.”

Reality set in, and I thought crap how am I going to get him up on the pier. He suggested that he could reach down and try and grab him with a spare shirt he had. What I didn’t realize is that the other people on the dock had been watching this and someone from the other side of the dock came running down with a net, he had seen my pole and knew I wasn’t going to get the fish up. Bam, fish landed.

I had caught a Carp. I released him and watched him swim away along with the blue gill and went home to my kids. My internet chum, well the jury is still out on whether it is good for pan fish or not, but I do know it will bring in the carp. Thanks to all of those people who helped.

islandbass

6/18/2012 3:30:00 PM

That is cool. I hear carp is good eats, but I too would have let it go. Thanks for sharing.

wlai

6/18/2012 9:18:00 PM

been reading about carp fishing, euro style, and chumming is a great strategy for attracting carp. did you chum the open water side or the one closer to shore? I've tried chumming to he shore as well, using canned corn, but have t caught one yet.

hortus1010

6/19/2012 7:48:00 AM

I understand that it isn’t recommended to eat carp out of Lake Washington because their primary food source (plants) tends to contain contaminates from prior pollution; from 20-30 years ago, that has been left in the soil and brought out by the vegetation.
I chummed the open water side, as I was intending to get perch I had only chucked the dough balls out maybe 5-10 ft from the dock. Find a recipe that uses dough balls. Mine was primarily corn meal, and bread crumbs and the bait that you were going to be using diced into the ball and some attractant (your preference) Throw your balls out and wait 30 minutes before casting and then cast on the periphery of the chummed area. Then you are supposed to cast another ball near your line every 15 minutes or so.
I have done quite a bit of research on these guys since this catch and I now understand that they like to mouth their food and that the recommended rig is a hair rig, this explains why I thought I had a few bites earlier and when I set hook nothing was there, they knew the hook was there. This hair rig you also encase with the dough ball.
After I purchase some new gear I should be back out there trying for some carp.

wlai

6/19/2012 6:12:00 PM

Thanks Hortus. What you found is exactly what I'm trying to do. Even though the fish isn't edible just the size and sport of it will make it very interesting.

If you or anyone want to get into learning the sport together and share tips, I'd love to hear from you!

LippinSmallmouth

6/19/2012 10:22:00 PM

Type in LippinSmallmouth in the search bar. Check out my old carp report. Im known as a bass fisherman but a CARP EXPERT. Why? In my opinion they are fairly super easy to catch it just takes patience

hortus1010

6/20/2012 10:53:00 AM

LippinSmallmouth, I was able to pull up your carp picture, pretty impressive, and I believe you stated that isn’t even your biggest catch. Have you ever weighed any of these guys? Definitely dwarfs my catch. I would appreciate any tips that you could provide, makes the learning curve that much easier.

Wlai, I’m down to try and learn this. Not sure what you know of carp rigs but I found these links which lay out a few and some tips on corn and chumming etc…:

http://pfishguys.websitetoolbox.com/post?id=267013
http://webspace.webring.com/people/kw/waterwize/Practicalcarprigs.html

In addition, there is a really cool video on YouTube, via underwater camera that shows them feeding, basically mouthing the bait and how the hair rig works, unfortunately I didn’t save the link.

I generally fish Log Boom on the weekends in the morning, other fishing spots during the week.

i have my new gear and am planning to try it this saturday.

buc

6/20/2012 5:44:00 PM

Want big carp go to long lake spokane 20 to 40 lbs. schools of em'! DO NOT eat them!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

wlai

6/20/2012 11:03:00 PM

hortus: I've been at Logboom last two evenings, trying to catch one with no success. Good news is that I've been chumming/baiting the area with dough ball and corn, hopefully the carp will learn the spot over time. I've read in the UK that before they fish a session, they would chum the area for a week, so I got that started for ya :-)

One question: I'm using a #8 hook on a leader, with 5-6 corn kernels on it, abut 1' down from a egg shapped lead. I casted out on the open water side, just a bit past the end of the railing, about 5-10 ft as you said. Every 15-30 mins I'd bait more to try to attract fish to the area. No luck. So I am wondering if my baited hook is being covered up by weeds. Any clues whether your dough bait was a floater or sinker?

hortus1010

6/21/2012 9:34:00 AM

I generally fish further down the dock, about ¾ the way, mainly because I know where the trees, rocks, and breaks in the weeds are. I was fishing 5-10 ft off the dock. In that particular area, I had fished it a few days early with a slip bob, which let me know the lay of the weeds. When I put my dough balls in they were sinkers and I was aiming for a break in the weeds. Funny thing is when I caught that carp I didn’t have corn on my hook, I had a worm, which I laced up the hook so nothing of the hook was exposed; in addition, five minutes before, I had thrown my dough ball right at my line. My thinking is that the worm was sucked up along with the chum. I understand these fish can be skittish from noise/activity, were there many people fishing? When I go, the dock is deserted. I also understand that these fish have very good eye site. When I went out to buy my gear the shop had a pond in it and when I looked down I saw a carp, he angled his head and started eye balln me. In other words, maybe they can see your line, I use moss green.

I have my new line and gear and will be able to test this out Saturday; I do plan to fish the same spot and test my luck.

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