Carp - Sacramento River

Smallmouth bass fishing, found this, ugly but fun.

Woh Stunning Looking Carp.

Damn nice. Did he get snagged on a bass bait?

How'd the smallie fishing go?

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Wow, nice carp!

Nice one!

I think Carp are really cool and pull hard. Did you get a good fight out of it?

I think Carp are really cool and pull hard. Did you get a good fight out of it?

It was a great fight, over 20 minutes, covered a few 100 yards of river, upstream and downstream, had on braid with 6 lb flouro leader, adjusted drag often, never surfaced once until he tired out and I maneuvered into shallows and grabbed him with lip grippers.

Damn nice. Did he get snagged on a bass bait?

How'd the smallie fishing go?

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Lip hooked, crickets, best winter time bait Sacramento River, every fish in river will take it. What I go to when bite is tough.

That is a nice looking fish, pretty, not a scale outta place.

Beautiful Sucker    Thanks for the report and picture.

Beautiful!

How do u fish your crickets?

Beautiful!

How do u fish your crickets?

I use a #6 baitholder hook, 6 lb clear line, put it through perpendicular right behind the head in the upper part of thorax. If fishing in stronger current use sliding slinky weight but I have best luck finding quiet water, either little current or reverse current, I remove the slinky weight, only weight is the swivel and possibly a very small splitshot. I can only throw maybe 20 feet, leave the bail open, give it a shake every 30 seconds or so, even the most finicky fish will eventually hit it. Water is so shallow and clear this year with low flows, no rain, the fish can see/hear everything. Can't really tell the fish is there until give it a little tug or line starts to walk some even with the smallies, they are very lethargic, stay in once spot until they feel the tug of hook and  a lot of times that just steal the cricket or it falls off after 3-4 casts so go through some crickets but WalMart keeps a good supply. That container with blue lid sitting on my kayak costs $2.50, usually 12 - 18 crickets.