When I came up with the idea of a fishing blog it was ALL bass ALL the time. Honestly I had no interest in any other species of fish. That's when my good buddy Stanley stepped in one day and said: "Hey man you ever carp fish?" The question wasn't totally lost on me but I knew I had never had carp on the other end of my line. Matter of fact, I still haven't ever had a carp on the other end of my line.
Stanley is a co-worker of mine and we really only ever see each other at work when we aren't fishing. Usually when we do see each other it's a quick recap of our most recent fishing trips. He fishes tons of tournaments so I'm always nosing around asking how much money he won. Often-times we'll compare catches and scenarios even though we fish for two completely different species of fish. I'd like to think we each know enough about fishing that we've developed a mutual respect for each others success.
When Stanley explained to me the ins and outs of carp fishing I kinda thought the guy was crazy. "You set poles up on a rod-holder, step back and wait for a bite? You don't use artificial worms or crankbaits? Did you say strawberry dough ball?" What kinda fishing is this?"
Carp and bass have similarities but are also different in many ways. While bass are a predatory species and eat just about anything they see, carp feed primarily off the bottom for insects and crustaceans. Carp are heavily attracted to flavored baits as well that contain oats, dough, bread and corn. Seems boring huh? Not so fast. I'll admit I'm guilty of stereotyping carp as big, lazy and boring. Many anglers often refer to them as "trash fish" because they're considered an invasive species in many areas. If you've ever seen carp in their natural habitat they kinda just glide around or hover in one place. They hang out in turbid or brackish water and travel frequently in groups of four or five.
Knowing all this I came to a conclusion that there's no way carp fishing could be as fun as bass fishing. Dead weight right? No fight right? Stanley had a few objections to my opinion of carp fishing. So I decided to see it first hand. I went to a Wednesday night carp fishing tournament that he was participating in and was pretty impressed. The first carp he caught was a little over eight pounds. By the time his second bite came it was pretty dark with little visibility. But he's done enough night fishing to know when the fish took his bait. A few moments after the rod jumped, Stanley reeled in an 18 pounder that would end up putting some cash back in his pocket.
I gotta say my opinion changed after watching him net that monster. It's hard to argue that big fish are fun to catch. No matter what species it is. One of these days I'll set my bass rods aside and fish a tournament with Stanley. Just hope I don't get pulled in trying to catch one. I think it's beneficial to step away from what you're used to and try something different every now and then.
