In 2001 I was about to enter my last year of college. I had finally learned to balance the responsibilities of my adult life and with the free time that earned me, I returned to one of my biggest childhood hobbies- fishing. About this time, my friend Don Hoffer and roommate Matt Coll had been fishing the Springton Lake Reservoir in Media once in a while. Sooner or later I tagged along and remembered just how much I loved the outdoors and the challenge of fishing. We started looking for other fishing opportunities in the area, and taking small road trips to the mountains. We fished for trout often in the Wissahickon Creek, Tobyhanna Creek and Lehigh River, and we targeted bass at the good old Springton Resevoir. Somewhere along the line we started taking pictures. By the summer of 2002 we had picked up another regular, Marty Six, as well as a new species to target, Carp. Carp fishing can be a much more social experience than other styles of fishing with all the sitting around talking strategy together and taking turns chumming the water. It became a pretty dominant theme in our lives, especially mine since I was still looking for post college employment…

By the late fall of 2002 I had a desk job and I was fishing less due to the cold weather. This gave me some free time after work. I had taught myself html and a few web design programs for fun, so I decided to put the knowledge and free evenings to use, building an online album with all of our catches. We used mostly disposable cameras back then, so I had to scan all the pictures. I categorized them by date and venue. It really was just for our own enjoyment. Our fishing adventures were mostly about having fun and teasing each other; many of our pictures back then had somebody in the background giving the finger, gape mouthed with laughter. I named the site “Fishes Are My Bitches,” also obviously a joke. After bouncing ideas back and forth with the other guys, I settled on fishguys.org as the domain name. Much of the politics of the internet had yet to materialize at this time, so I had no idea that anyone besides us would ever see it.

Sure, it was all a joke to me, but as the site grew, I started to get emails… a lot of emails. “How did you catch this fish.” I think I have been to that place when I was a kid.” “What did you use for bait.” I felt obligated to answer all of the emails. It started to be a chore, and honestly I was no expert to be giving advice. I certainly fished for most of my life and had my niche, but many of the questions people were asking about were on topics beyond my range. At my job I had created an online forum for students to find potential roommates, and I thought maybe if I directed people’s questions to something like that, they would get an answer from a real expert on the subject, and we both would learn something.

Our first forum was free software, it looked terrible, but people started using it right away. We had ten or fifteen regular posters, all with different backgrounds. It really blew me away. I soon realized that this thing was growing and “Fishes Are My Bitches” was way over the top for something so public. I changed the title to Philadelphia Fish Guys to go with the domain name, and the fact that by now we did most of our fishing within the city limits. I also felt obligated to use Photoshop on our old pictures to remove the fingers…

At some point I even made fishguys.org business cards to give out on the bank. My title was “operations specialist.” That was a joke too, but people I gave the cards to really started joining the forum. Eventually our free forum provider went under and I decided to shell out real money for real professional forum service. I didn’t really have the money to burn, but I added a donation link to the homepage just to see what would happen. With the nicer forum, more people joined- a whole lot more. And people were really generous enough to give money. I was shocked, fishguys.org almost paid for itself! The photo galleries continued to grow as did the forum membership. We had over 500 images, and people were actually meeting each other through fishguys. This was early in the days of meeting people from the internet and still somewhat uncomfortable. It was humbling. I started to feel conflicted about the mission of the site. All of the photos were of me and a few of my friends, with the occasional person we met from the forum. But the forum itself was a community now with over 600 registered users and sometimes 50 different posters in a day. I felt that the focus was unfairly on me. Sure I set it all up, but the real value of the site was in all of the forum participants sharing information and making friends with one another.

A lot had changed on our forum, and also by now much had changed with the original fishguys. Marty had faded from the fishing scene and Donnie was less interested. Conversely, Matt and I had become obsessive fish maniacs, Both chairmen of the Carp Anglers Group, writing articles, being featured in the newspaper, traveling to fish tournaments, even hosting two TV shows. While we had become much more confident carp anglers, our forum now had resident experts in a whole variety of species. After a lot of discussion, Matt and I decided to create the Philadelphia Anglers Club to replace fishguys. We felt a responsibility to let the members shine. After all it’s they who became the heart of fishguys.org. As of February 2008, the old fishguys forum has been closed, replaced by a more powerful version. The fishguys galleries will no longer be updated each season. Instead we have new member galleries on the philadelphiaanglersclub.com site.

Our old forum will be available for viewing for a few months at:
www.websitetoolbox.com/mb/pfishguys

And the original fishguys archive will remain indefinitely at:
www.cookplex.com/fishguys

It’s bittersweet, but I’m looking to the future,

Louis

2) Hook Size.
   As mentioned above, due to the mostly vegetarian, nervous nature of carp, they are cautious about what they put in their mouths. The truth is a stark contrast to the typical American view that they are bottom feeders that eat everything. They also have pretty small mouths compared to other local game fish, like bass. You will have better luck with smaller hooks, because they will be less noticeable to the fish, and are more likely to fit in their mouths.  Most carp in our galleries are landed using a size 6 hook, or smaller. This can create a problem bending hooks straight, so make sure you choose a really thick, strong hook and loosen up that drag!

3) Rig Style.
   Putting a few kernels of corn right on your hook is a fine technique. But if you fish for carp a lot and want to improve your ratio of hookups to fish on the bank, and use a wider range of baits,  you may want to try using a hair and bolt rig.   

Part 1: “The Hair Rig.” The hair rig is basically a way to make your bait dangle just below the bend in your hook on a little loop of extra line or “hair.”  You have to use a silly piece of equipment called a bait needle. Look below for a method of quickly making your own baiting needle out of a hook.  Once you are confident, you can buy a fancy one for $2 at www.wackerbaits.comor Resistance Tackle. Using a hair rig gives you several advantages… Carp have this way of tasting their food over and over again before they actually swallow it. Suck, blow, suck blow. That’s why when they are feeding, they often create a huge cloud in the water. The hair rig capitalizes on this by really exposing the hook point, and hooking the fish during the “taste.” It is convenient because you will rarely hook a fish too deeply in their throat, where hook removal is tough, and you may injure the fish. The hair rig also gives you the ability to use harder baits such as “field corn” and  boilies. 
   Field corn is rock-hard, dried corn sold as animal feed. It can be soaked, boiled, and flavored to create a much firmer and long lasting corn bait. Boilies are little dough balls that have enough egg in them to become hard when boiled. Canned corn can get pecked off your rig by other little fish, or come off during the “tasting” process. This can leave you waiting for a fish like a baitless chump. Boilies and field corn fix this problem. They are so durable, you can cast out and wait for hours and hours with confidence.  You can buy some boilies at  Wacker Baits, or Big Carp Tackle, or make your own using recipes found on the Carp Anglers Group Message Board.If you are looking for a feed store to buy field corn, try

Back to Nature Inc
1176 N Middletown Rd, Media, PA
(610) 459-2305
Tell them you are there for carp fishing.

Part 2: “The Bolt Rig”  The bolt rig just means use a really heavy, fixed  weight; around 3-4 oz. It may seem silly in water with no current, but here is the deal: When a carp feels the prick from your hook, he will “bolt” immediately. Such a quick jerk of the fishes head combined with a 3 oz weight will set the hook perfectly in the lower lip. There is no need to whip your rod and set the hook “bass style.” Watch Your Rods! If you don’t have a ”bait-runner” style reel, you can loose your rod pretty easily fishing with a bolt rig. I wish I could say it hasn’t happened to me.

Presentation Tips:

Beginner Bait Needle:
    To put bait on a hair rig, you will need a bait needle. A simple quick way to to make a bait needle is to straighten a big hook with a pair of pliers. The barb is perfect for placing your hair loop. You may need to flatten the barb a little bit to keep it from damaging your bait.  

Method Mixes:
   I don’t know how it got the name, it’s just a ball of food fixed around your weight. Sometimes people use a special cage, called a Method Feeder, or a hair curler to keep the food from flying off when you cast.  The method is an easy, cheap way to get you a killer presentation. It can really increase your catch rate. Your hook ends up sitting in a pile of free food, that can be seen and smelled from farther away. It will stand out in a field of chum, and fish will be more comfortable diving right into it. There are plenty of recipes. Here is one: Mix powdered milk, traditional oatmeal, and canned sweet corn. Mash up the mixture enough that the moisture from the corn wets the conglomeration making it clay-like and moldable.  Squeeze it around your  weight as shown, and cast it carefully. The advantages of a fast or slow break time change with the water you fish. One thing is for sure: you want the fish to be able to get the bait in its mouth. If your mix is too wet, it will be like cement and never break down. If it’s too dry it will probably fly off in the cast. There is plenty of artistry that comes into play here. You can find numerous recipe variations or ask a question on the Carp Anglers Group Message Board.

PVA
   PVA (poly vinyl alcohol) is a clear, non-toxic material that dissolves quickly in water.  PVA is sold in bag, tape, stocking and string form just for carp fishing. Using PVA, you can achieve presentations as good or better that using the method. Elements in a PVA bag do not need to break down before they are loose in the water. Picture food pellets, canned corn, powdered milk, and even oils in a perfectly loose pile around your hookbait only seconds after it hits the bottom. Available from Resistance Tackle, Scorpion Tackle, Wacker Baits, and Big Carp Tackle.You can read more about all of this, and even ask us a question in our forum.

Carp Links

Carp Anglers Group
   The BEST place to learn about carp and make carpy friends. Matt and Louis of the PAC are PA state chairmen.

American Carp Society
   A great organization that runs big tournaments in the US. There site has lots of great info including the history of carp in America, lots of tackle and tactical tips.

Big Carp Tackle
   Previously the ACS E-store, BCT has the BEST selection of high quality European tackle, as well as many choices for the budget angler.

Resistance Tackle
   A great online tackle store with a wide selection of carp gear at competitive prices. Resistance has made several cash and tackle donations Fishguys/ Philadelphia Anglers Club Events. Support those that support us!

Wacker Baits
   One of the very first and still one of the best online US carp tackle stores.

Specialist Tackle
   A UK store, with a branch in the US on the St Lawrence River in NY.

Scorpion Tackle
   Here you can find some of the best deals going in carp fishing tackle, including super prices on PVA.

Don caught this 21 lber right in Center City Philadelphia.

 
Here is a whole milk crate full of special recipe chum balls and a carp specific slingshot from wacker baits. The balls fall apart once they are wet.  Casting your hookbait into the middle of an area you have lined with free food will catch you far more carp.

Mirror carp are a genetic variation of common carp. Their scales are irregular, creating unique patterns and often leaving big patches of bare skin. They are a rare catch in the Philly area. Here is matt with a nice 18 lber.  A great thing about carp is that you can catch them right through the winter. Matt caught this fish in late December. I caught the same fish a few months later. It was easy to identify.

 
After I forgot to engage my bait runner, Donnie was nice enough to dive in after my rod, He tried to hand it back to me, but I insisted he earned that fish. Here he is, soaked.

Here is a typical “hair rig,” and a diagram of how to tie one. click to learn how it’s done.

Matt’s “on-the-spot bait needle,” made from a straightened hook.

a super fancy model bait needle, a card of “bait stops” for keeping  bait from sliding off the hair, and two rigs. a tiny stick is fine for a bait stop. click to enlarge.

a simple bolt rig with a 3 oz weight attached with a safety clip. read more about this rig and even ask a question in our forum. click to enlarge.

here is an example of a method ball molded around a rig like the one above. it will quickly break down leaving the hook bait in a pile of attractive food.

I use braided line such as powerpro or one of the sinking braids made by kryston for 90% of my hooklengths (leaders).The “Knotless Knot”