where do the carp go ?

[lobo]

B.E.,

All summer long the Saginaw River is chucked full of carp, some of them monsters 40+ . Come winter time all you can catch is walleye, which eat great but don't quite have the same feel to them. My little graphite ice rods are beggin for a 30 lb bottom feeder !! I've never even snagged a carp in the winter. Do they go out to the lake or go to deeper holes.......? Just curious.

lobo

[EAGLE EYES]

Yup, In the fall as the water starts to cool beyond their comfort level, they head out to the lake. Larger carp will be harder to catch in the winter. They get sluggish to the colder temps and lowered oxygen, just like eyes do. They will be entering the river channel when the lake starts to warm up. In the early spring they will be looking for shallow warmer water. like flooded backwater and bays. Usually you can find them in them bathing in the sun at that time. They look like big Walleye's from a distance. I don't fish Saginaw to as I a live in Minn. But this is a pretty general Carp (Slurpy-fish):-) behavior.

[BGunn]

I have a small pond in Western NY that I raise a few Koi in, which are nothing more than a fancy looking carp from the orient (Japan & China). Once the water temp hits 50*F the fish just sink down to the deepest part of the pond, and hardly even move until the water temp hits 50* again in the spring. At around 62*F they start to spawn. I've heard (but I don't know for sure)that you can kill the fish by feeding them to much fish food in the late fall. They will eat the flavored pellets, but their digestive tract shuts down in the cold water, and the excess food will rot in their stomach, and kill them over the winter.

[Larry]

We have a pretty active carp fishing group in our area...complete w/ the English equipment. These guys fish carp through most of the open water period on the local rivers. They were still taking carp down to low 40's water temp this fall but the large carp were not hitting.

When it comes to rigging, most of us haven't scratched the surface compared to how these guys go after carp !!

[Prchjerker]

Got to tell this one.About a week ago a good friend of mine ( transplanted Minnesotan) went ice fishing on an old sand pit here in the Des Moines area.Its great for crappie and bass with some nice eyes and pike on occasion.We get set up on a nice rock pile surrounded by deeep water.After half an hour or so some fish start to come through about 8 feet off the bottom.Rich pulls his little jig tipped with a waxy up to the fishes level and jigs it a couple times and he got smoked.After about ten minutes up through the ice comes a 10 pound buffalo.Fluke right? Well no, because ten minutes later he gets another bite suspended and land a 12 pound carp.Needless to say we abandonded the carp hole in search for more productive water, but it was exciting for 2 pound test on alittle jigging rod.