Having a creek run through your property has several advantages. For me it means free baitfish for pike fishing. Unfortunately this year the minnow traps didn’t seem to be producing very many minnows. Of course not wanting to pay crazy prices for some minnows at a bait shop I decided to pull out some tiny hooks and catch some myself. Not sure what to expect I put on a tiny piece of worm on the hook and cast into a pool where the minnows always hand out. The bobber went down an instant after it hit the water! The action continued for several minutes like this until I had about a dozen minnows and decided I had enough for pike fishing. Unfortunately for the minnows I wasn’t able to catch a single pike this year with bait.

I know your thinking that this is supposed to be about carp, not minnows and pike, so I guess I should get to the point. A few days later, on may 21st, I was back for some more minnows. The action wasn’t nearly as good as the first time, but I still caught a few. Things were going at a slow pace until a carp swam into the pool and started rooting around looking for some food. This got my heart pumping and I held my breath as I cast about a foot in front of the carp and waited for the current to bring the tiny piece to the large fish. The worm drifted right to the carps mouth and it turned away to swim downstream. I let out the breath I had been holding then noticed the bobber was trailing behind the carp. I quickly pulled back on the rod and did the best to keep carp from pulling my line into some bushes that were both upstream and downstream. He did his best in the ten minute fight, but I emerged the victor with bragging rights to say I caught a large fish in my creek I could step across in most places.

Three days later my friend came over to try his luck after hearing about the carp and another hole full of them I had found. We both went down to the hole and tried the same tactic of drifting the worm to the carp. None of the carp seemed to be fooled this time. Thankfully they never spooked but just swam away slowly. After chasing the lazy group around for about 15 minutes, one finally took my bait. Once the carp figured out he was hooked he took off and didn’t let up until he was exhausted fifteen minutes later. Unfortunately that fight scared of the rest of the carp and the didn’t seem to come back for the rest of the year. Next year I’ll be ready again.

- Jeremy Brodhagen

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