The Humble Parramatta Carp

[trungie]

What sort of terminal tackle (hooks and leaders) should i use while targeting the Parramatta Carp? Do i just fold some bread over the hook?

I am not familiar with the upper Parramatta river. Where should i work and what should i look for? Deep water? Structure? Shore? Jetties?

Thanks.

[hottyscotty]

there are massive carp in the weir. i see a lot more of them in summer though. thats your 'where'

the 'how' will have to come from someone else

[Anti-Carp]

What sort of terminal tackle (hooks and leaders) should i use while targeting the Parramatta Carp? Do i just fold some bread over the hook?

I am not familiar with the upper Parramatta river. Where should i work and what should i look for? Deep water? Structure? Shore? Jetties?

Thanks.

This area is pretty much my backyard. Feel free to follow me down.

[brettmann86]

This area is pretty much my backyard. Feel free to follow me down.

tackle for carp is simple a split shot sinker a tiny hook and either corn kernels as bait or bread folded over the hook, fish on the bottom and berley up for them, they are absolute pigs so dont think your over feeding them!! i prefer using korn kernels but thats just cause it stays on the hook a bit better and it berleys better but each to their own, it's simple fishing and if you hook a big one they're great sport on light tackle put alot of fish of the same size to shame in the fight department... also another great spot for the big guys is out at penrith near the weir.. i don't even generally bother using leader i just run the hook straight off my main line

Edited September 7, 2010 by brettmann

[troutboy]

Hi Geekfisho, my method for catching carp is as follows, I use 6lbs braid as a mainline with a small pea sized ball sinker sitting on a small swivel. A longish leader around 6 to 8 lbs at 1m long to a size 10 or 12 suicide hook baited with a single corn kernel. berley up with some corn set your rod in a holder with just enough drag to prevent an overrun and let the carp take the bait and 9 times out of 10 the fish will hook itself. Have fun cheers troutboy

[Day's Fishin]

I hope you become a prolific carp catcher and dispose of them in the nearest garbage can. The best thing about catching them is that you are ridding our water ways of one of the biggest threats to our bass and perch and other native fish.

Regards Jeff

[cja12005]

Just use a small float 1 or 2 split shot and a size 8 hook.

The way i was taught is to use stale white bread that's been dried out in the sun. When you get to your spot just soak a few slices slightly (not soaking wet) and mash that into a clean rag so that you can wring out the excess water. It will leave you with a great dough type of bait that you can mold onto the hook easily and it stays on quite well. Cheers.

[wannabefisho]

3... 2... 1...

3 cups corn meal

2 cups plain flour

1 cup water

Mix well together, place in a sealed plastic bag... then add to a boiling pot of water for 30minutes it should form a nice pliable dough and you can store it in the fridge for up to a week afterwards

I got the recipe from a south african pro carp angler who does competitions, he reckon its the GUN mix for carp, berley with corn kernels and stale bread.

Good luck

Anthony

[cja12005]

3... 2... 1...

3 cups corn meal

2 cups plain flour

1 cup water

Mix well together, place in a sealed plastic bag... then add to a boiling pot of water for 30minutes it should form a nice pliable dough and you can store it in the fridge for up to a week afterwards

I got the recipe from a south african pro carp angler who does competitions, he reckon its the GUN mix for carp, berley with corn kernels and stale bread.

Good luck

Anthony

Thanks for that, might give that a whirl on the mullet as well. I think they would be all over that kind of blend. Cheers

[snag]

I hope you become a prolific carp catcher and dispose of them in the nearest garbage can. The best thing about catching them is that you are ridding our water ways of one of the biggest threats to our bass and perch and other native fish.

Regards Jeff

Ill second that, rubish bag special

[macmac]

I hope you become a prolific carp catcher and dispose of them in the nearest garbage can. The best thing about catching them is that you are ridding our water ways of one of the biggest threats to our bass and perch and other native fish.

Regards Jeff

Hi Jeff,

What a waste! Why dump them? We do eat carp and if cook properly they are very tasty. We also eat the eel as well.

[bharris]

Mate if you eat them carp you might start glowing

[Day's Fishin]

I didn't say not to eat them I was saying not to put them back into the system. But on eating them, they are a bottom scrounger and as such I wouldn't be eating one from the Parramatta river.

Regards Jeff

[brettmann86]

Here's a tip for all you guys with kids or access to freshwater rivers close to home,

carp are dead easy to catch there not real fussy kids love catching them, and here's something for all you guys that berley up for big monsters.... keep the carp gut them and use them as berley... beleive it or not they make great berley plus there's usually around 3kg of fish in every bloody one of them so go out for a day carp fishing bag as many as your freezer can handle them mince/chop/mash or even put it through a wood chipper and use it as berley!!!!!! add a little tuna oil to the mix and you'll have excess berley.... now bet you never thought of that one... your helping the enviroment and your recycling lol ha ha ha

Edited September 15, 2010 by brettmann

[Hamuwaja]

Here's a tip for all you guys with kids or access to freshwater rivers close to home,

carp are dead easy to catch there not real fussy kids love catching them, and here's something for all you guys that berley up for big monsters.... keep the carp gut them and use them as berley... beleive it or not they make great berley plus there's usually around 3kg of fish in every bloody one of them so go out for a day carp fishing bag as many as your freezer can handle them mince/chop/mash or even put it through a wood chipper and use it as berley!!!!!! add a little tuna oil to the mix and you'll have excess berley.... now bet you never thought of that one... your helping the enviroment and your recycling lol ha ha ha

Yeah mate, that sounds the goods...

[Day's Fishin]

Something their good for besides fertiliser.

Regards Jeff

[daveyb]

mate i seen a bloke with his 2 sons fishing for them today at the back off parra leauges club just above the weir,he caught a little one in front of me which put up a really good fight,he reckons he always catches them there,and his son had caught a massive one a couple of weeks back!

[Gremlin]

mate i seen a bloke with his 2 sons fishing for them today at the back off parra leauges club just above the weir,he caught a little one in front of me which put up a really good fight,he reckons he always catches them there,and his son had caught a massive one a couple of weeks back!

One of those sections between two weirs was emptied years back and they removed several tonne of carp and Eels

Here is an excerpt of a report on it

Bass Sydney decided to target the restoration of the Parramatta River bass populations

back in the late ‘90’s. At that time, we were hearing sporadic reports of bass captures

in the area – most by coarse anglers in The Pound (the stretch between Charles St and

Marsden St) but also some captures further upstream.

Our own initial foray with a few anglers above Marsden St weir and a couple in The

Pound was held in 1997. This returned only one bass: a 300mm plus fish caught in

The Pound off the best available structure – an incoming stormwater pipe!

Later there were some fairly comprehensive “fish surveys” in The Pound. Once when

it was drained in Nov 2002 to facilitate some bridge works (doesn’t get any more

comprehensive than that!). According to newspaper reports, this turned up 2 tonnes of

carp, 3 eels and “some” bass and mullet (the carp and mullet were sent to the fish

market while the others were relocated above Marsden St weir). The Pound was then

electro-fished by NSW Fisheries in Sep 2004. The yield was 41 carp (killed), 41 eels

according to my notes (though that seems rather a coincidence!), 5 goldfish and 4

bass.

But basically the carp are everywhere in the fresh around Western Sydney, and usually in big schools of 10+ fish when I see them around where I live here near Northmead, all of them easily 2KG plus fish they are so fat!

Back when I fist started fishing in the early 90's I regularly targeted them because I couldn't get down the city to fish often pulling up 5+ Carp during a 2 or 3 hour long session simply by using a bit of bread on the hook, however once I caught them they were quickly killed and chucked in the rubbish bin where they belong!

I know people in England and Europe love them and pour thousands of bucks into targeting them as their ultimate sport fish but every single fight I got out of them including 80cm plus monsters fought about as much as a Winter flatty does. Then again the area is so polluted its not funny so they are probably brain dead from it all and don't think to fight.

It was much more fun targeting the massive 1.5M+ Eels in the system with a bit of old steak on the hook as bait, boy do they put up a hell of a fight on light gear, you sure as hell knew when you hooked one of those!