First Carp!
First carp! Tried out pack bait for the second time ever. Late in the day I out of corn to put on the hook so I just used a worm, no hair rig straight hook, casting right at my “bait pile”.
6lbs 12oz. My biggest fish yet. I know they get a lot bigger than this so hopes to finding the giants soon!
Looking for tips on drag/fighting fish. I left the bail open on my Medium Heavy bait caster while this guy picked up my bait from a sliding weight rig. Seemed to work okay, not sure my drag is light enough on the lowest setting to have the bail engaged. Twice earlier in the night on my pack bait I thought I snagged a log and snapped my 12lbs line. The third time I thought I snagged a log I did the same thing and just kept tugging then this guy surfaced a minute later! I can tell these things fight HARD and I’m looking for tips on how to fight them in the future. Knowing the area I’m almost certain those first two were big carp as my other casts didn’t snag on any logs.
Edit: will add, we held the fish by its belly and used lip grippers just to keep it from squirming so much, I kinda dragged him in and didn’t let him fight very much so he was still energetic. There was never any pressure on the lip grippers and we DID NOT use them to lift the fish. Is it okay to use the lip grippers in this manner or should I not do this in the future? Thanks fellas!