Live bait Carping

The other weekend a friend of mine went Carp fishing, he didnt catch one, but did have 8 catfish to just under 20lb.

So this weekend he went back to catch some Cats. He caught his livebait from the lake he was fishing for Cats.

Cast out his small Roach livebait, about 45 mins later he had a run, and landed it. A carp of 16lb 5ozs, he had 3 more Carp on livebait Roach, all Carp, between 12lb and the 16lb 5oz.

I have heard of anglers catching Carp and the odd Barbel before on live bait, but having had 4 Carp, I was wondering if this may have had something to do with them having spawned the week before.

Probably. After the rigors of spawning fish are looking for protein and lots of it. A fish is a big meal for a carp but to come across one tethered and easy to catch is obviously too good an opportunity to miss.

I've had carp cough up dead fish in the landing net albeit nothing bigger than a minnow. I think that all fish will eat one another on occasions.

I'm not sure why many anglers find it odd or unusual that carp eat fish.

I've had plenty of carp from Goldfish to Mirrors to Koi and they all revelled in eating smaller fish. Give them a Neon Tetra to play with and it'll never see the light of day again. In fact, they really like eating their own offspring, which seems a little defeatist.

I think it's just that live fish are rarely presented to carp but if more people did, it wouldn't seem all that unusual at all.

Well they love fishmeal pellets so why not?

I understand carp eat the spawn of other carp including their own....an EA bailiff told me this week that he'd watched carp on another lake going absolutely mad for the spawn clinging to lilly pads....

...I'm still getting over seeing an EA bailiff..................!

Tee-Cee said:

...I'm still getting over seeing an EA bailiff..................!

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You're lucky...they seem to follow me around. I got asked for me licence on 6 separate occasions last year...everywhere from the local puddle to a very remote stretch of the Welsh Dee.

Though I shouldn't complain. I'm licensed and if they bag a few unlicensed scrotes then fair play to them. Every one I've ever met has been very polite and friendly...almost charming in fact.

Dave Burr said:

Probably. After the rigors of spawning fish are looking for protein and lots of it. A fish is a big meal for a carp but to come across one tethered and easy to catch is obviously too good an opportunity to miss.

I've had carp cough up dead fish in the landing net albeit nothing bigger than a minnow. I think that all fish will eat one another on occasions.

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Sounds the most plausible explanation to me, a true bit of opportunist feeding, probably spurned on by the cack weather of late and the carp's body clock desperately telling it to ready itself to spawn.

I think that might be complicating it.

I think small fish = food...and that's as far as the thought process goes. I very much doubt body clocks or spawning are terribly relevant. Food is food.

Now is also the time when there are a lot of tadpoles and fry in around the margins in massive numbers, so the carp are already gorging on easy to obtain protein.

I think if you fished with livies or deads in a water that didn't contain pike, carp would be caught quite readily. Carpers probably don't use fish in many venues because of the risk of attracting pike and putting a pike-proof carp rig together is just too complicating matters.

I wonder if anyone will try livebaiting for Carp, to see if they have any luck, and to see if Carp take a livebait all year round.

I am not at all surprised that carp take a livebait, it's nothing new, the odd one yes, but to have 4 makes you wonder if we are missing something.

Andrew Macfarlane said:

Carpers probably don't use fish in many venues because of the risk of attracting pike and putting a pike-proof carp rig together is just too complicating matters.

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A very valid and well thought out point Andrew!

What rig would be deemed safe to use if the water did contain Pike, but still an effective rig for Carp? They do not feed alike at all, also what would the hooking arangement be?

I met a guy fishing a canal many years back. He used chunks of pilchard on a size 4 and caught carp, tench and bream along with the pike, perch and eels you would expect.

Small baits with single hooks allow for a quick strike which will normally result in a hookhold in the scissors (read Archie Braddocks article in Coarse Angling Today) and a wire trace is not necessary.

I often fish with a minnow or bleak on a single hook and just use a braided hooklink. I've yet to be bitten off by any of the pike I've caught.

I think most fish are opportunists and will eat other fish when the chance presents itself.

I recently heard unconfirmed reports of carp eating ducklings!

Reminds me of when I was a lad. I had the idea of using small fish for the perch on a local flash. A scoop of the net got me a load of roach fry. Ledgered roach fry produced......

A load of tench!

Dave Burr said:

Small baits with single hooks allow for a quick strike which will normally result in a hookhold in the scissors (read Archie Braddocks article in Coarse Angling Today) and a wire trace is not necessary.

I often fish with a minnow or bleak on a single hook and just use a braided hooklink. I've yet to be bitten off by any of the pike I've caught.

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Not one piker I know of thinks that article was a good idea (he was ripped to bits for it on numerous forums) and certainly not the kind of thing pikers should advocate, when we spend so much time teaching differently and removing tackle from pikes' guts. That's just going backwards, instead of forwards.

I know for a fact that pike can make mincemeat of any braid. Just because it doesn't happen to you, doesn't mean it doesn't happen at all. What's wrong with 49 strand if going delicate is the idea? I use 24lb 49 strand that is a thin and light as thread and you could certainly present a bleak or a minnow on it. I know because I use it for perch.

There's no justification for using braided hooklengths for pike when there are perfectly safe and cheap alternatives out there.

Anyhoooo....

I have to ask, what is so good about hooking pike in the scissors (teeth aside). I always hear the adage, "It was hooked neatly in the scissors" and I think, "and that is good because?"

I say this because the scissors are the mechanism for which a pike operates it's mouth for eating and breathing. Damage the scissors and the consequences can be tragic. I've seen pike that have had their scissors dislocated and the fish have suffered badly, often terribly underweight and badly conditioned.

Far better to hook a pike in the upper jaw. A non-moveable part that is firmly attached to the skull. The lower jaw is OK but I think the scissors are far too delicate to be aiming for.

I have caught carp in the winter when fishing for pike with livebaits - couldn't believe it the first time it happend,both trebles inside the mouth,only one point of one treble had hooked the carp - seen worse damage to carp from the modern chemically sharpened hooks

Archie Braddock is being slaughtered on Pike And Predators...again...yawn!!!

His latest nonsense in Coarse Angling Today "Out Of the Dark Ages" has him suggesting that wire traces aren't required and 10lb mono is fine for pike.

Neville Fickling (who actually knows a thing or two about pike) is writing a follow-up article explaining why Archie Braddock does not have a clue what he's taking about. I know which of the two writers I'd take my advice from.

Braddock is a danger to all pike that swim. It's that simple.

10lb mono for pike....totally irrational and beyond comprehension.

This kind of rubbish makes my blood boil.