submitted by: catfishmania a.k.a. Austin

I started carp fishing by accident. Ever since I was four years old, my dad took me to a campground every year that had multiple ponds to fish in. When I first started fishing, I only used to catch bluegill. As I got older, I started noticing fish around the pond that would swim along the shoreline. At that time, a two pound fish was huge for me because my biggest fish was a bluegill. I never used to know what these fish were but every time I saw one I would stick a worm in front of it and it would just stop and swim away. One year I went up there I met a kid who was catching a couple of these bigger fish. I asked him how he was catching them and what they were, he said they were carp and he was just fishing a piece of hot dog at the bottom of the water, so I tried that. I couldn’t believe it, I had caught my first ever carp within ten minutes of putting my bait in the water! Ever since that day I just couldn’t stop fishing for them and had to learn more about rigs and baits for them.
I don’t just have one particular reason for liking carp fishing because there are so many reasons to like it. I guess it’s the thrill of hearing your rod scream off, striking into the rod, and landing a big carp that makes it fun. Not many people in the United States like carp fishing. Carp are frowned upon by many people who say they are ugly or garbage fish, but I think they look amazing with that golden orange color and sometimes you will get them with bright red tails. Plus, you have a chance of catching a mirror carp which in many places you don’t get many. I think catching mirrors are fun because you never know what the next scale pattern will be on a mirror. I would actually rather catch a ten pound mirror than a twenty pound common. Catching carp is also a challenge because they aren’t as easy to catch in many places as people think. You need special baits and mixes to catch them, plus you need the right rigs and when you hook into one they can be a challenge to land with how hard they fight. I guess that’s why I love to carp fish.

Here are some pictures of carp that I’ve caught: