Grass carp...

[Philip]

They strike me as a little like Mullet...they can appear totally oblivious to bait for hours then all of a sudden just switch on for a brief period before returning to ignore mode again. What triggers them I dont know. ...maybe they just take pity on us from time to time & have a chomp out of boredom

Footnote ; it wouldnt surprise me if their feeding is linked to things like hatches ..they spend alot of time browsing round the weed or near the surface and could get switched on by an insect hatch or something similar.

.....on the other hand I know one lake where if I spod out a bucket load of pigeon mix they will also turn up.

Confused or what

 

[lakhyaman]

I have a dozen or so in my lake. We catch them rarely enough, but have caught loads of them in other waters. They are stocked here, in Bangladesh, as a food fish.

I would suggest baiting as stated by Philip with a bucket load of pigeon mix and float legering (like lift bite fishing for tench) over it using bread paste flavoured with liquid banana flavouring. Vanilla ca be used as an alternative. A number 8 or larger hook fully hidden in a ball of paste is the sort of thing.

You may have to wait some time to catch your grass carp given the numbers but hopefully should catch plenty of other fish to keep you going.

Here is one from my lake that went 30 pounds. Mandan, the ghillie, is holding it up.

All the best

Lakhyaman

 

[mikench]

Keep those posts coming Lakhyaman. Always a joy .

 

[mikench]

I don’t think any of the waters I fish contain grass carp.

 

[The bad one]

The club doesn't have any in its waters Mike. Warrington does in one and Sale Water Park did years ago, as it's the only place I had them from. Whether they have died off or not I don't know.

 

[markcw]

I think Lymm have a couple in Whitley Pool.
This water according to Liverpool university should not be able to support plant life or fish .
There is a decent head of carp that breed in it along with golden tench . It held crucians and brown goldfish .
Unfortunately it has been unfishable for the past 5 years while the ammonia content and a few other issues are investigated .

 

[waldi]

I see one occasionally in a small mill tail where I walk the dog.
First time I saw it, it came out from under a small foot bridge I was stood on feeding pellets to the tench and Chub.

It was geuninely shocking how big it was
Well over a meter long and huge in girth.

 

[flightliner]

Back in the late eighties when I was seriously into carp fishing I used to fish a small lake near Worksop in Notts after work in summertime.
Bait was sometimes boillies, sweetcorn, flake, or luncheon meat.
It had a reasonable head of grassies and at a guess I'd say at a ratio of five carp to one grassie.
Bites were almost allways a big dropback followed by the hooked fish swimming around somewhat meekly before netting, on the unhooking matt is when they woke up and would bounce around like a loony tunes character.
As said a nice looking fish but not my favourite.

 

[Alan Whitty]

On the club lake Keith and I talk about I've never seen a grassie anywhere near the bottom and it's not deep,6 to maybe 7-8ft at most and crystal clear,even in winter these fish are within 2ft of the surface,so bottom baits are ignored even more than surface baits....

 

[@Clive]

Matter resolved