My brother in-law bought a house on Lake Tapps last month and when we went to see it the first time I saw some big carp at the end of his dock. I've never fished for carp so I did some research and when we went over there on June 5th I brought my pole and a can of corn. I rigged up my pole with a slip sinker and one of my barbless hooks used in the Puyallup for salmon. I loaded the hook with corn, tossed it out 10 feet off the end of the dock and left the bail open. Within 5 minutes there were 5 big carp swimming around but no takers on my corn.

We hung out drinking beer a talking and about 45 minutes later I notice line going out. I flip the bail closed and set the hook...fish on! I read about how these things will strip line and go on big runs so I was expecting a good fight. The fish did pull hard and went on some short runs but not like I expected. It was still a fun fight and after about 5 minutes I got it close to shore so I jumped in and handed the pole to my brother in-law. I grabbed the fish and my son used some pliers to remove the hook, which came out easily. Time for a picture and then revived the fish.

After that I put the pole away and we swam and had a good day. A few hours later some more friends showed up and their son wanted to try to catch one, so I rigged it up and got it in the water again. Of course, being teenagers, him and my son lost interest and I look over to see the pole unattended and line going out again. Close the bail, set the hook, fish on! I don't know if I'll get tired of catching these guys but I am looking forward to a summer of hanging at the lake and having some good sized fish on my line. I will also be targeting some muskie at some point.

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