Big Carp and a Buffalo

Today was an amazing day. I always say this and I believe it with all my heart: God blesses the dedicated fisherman. Today God blessed me in a BIG way. First off, we caught a carp on our trotline and don't get me wrong, I was fired up about that. It took my homemade carp bait again. Then I found a dead smallmouth buffalo washed up on the bank. This find makes five species in the creek that we know of for sure. Carp, gar, bluegill, black bullhead, and smallmouth buffalo. If you like to fish for "trash fish" then this is the place for you. However, the best was yet to come. I hooked into a carp and everything felt fairly normal. That was until it pulled about 20 feet of line out out of my reel. I tightened my drag, only to have this monster pull about 20 more feet out of my reel. When I finally got the big guy on the bank I was shocked. My seconds biggest carp of all time weighing in at 8.25 pounds. In all the excitement and high fives we forgot to get a measure on him. Hope you enjoy the pics. Tight Lines!!!

My Gear

Not much going on as far as catching fish right now, But I have been wanting to write this for a while. I fish real often and for a variety of fish and in a variety of places so I have different rods, reels, and tackle for each. I'll start with my most used and basic rod and reel. When I am bass fishing or fishing for trout, small carp, saugeye, hybrid stripers, and such I use a 5'10 medium action Shakespeare Uglystik. The reel I use is a spin cast Shimano Sahara 2500FD spooled with 10 pound test line. In my opinion the Uglystik is the best and most durable rod there is. It also has a real flexible and sensitive tip that makes it easier to feel if the smallest hit that a fish delivers. With this rod and reel I enjoy throwing out crankbaits, spinner baits, soft plastics, topwaters, and spoons. It is just a great set up for most anything you will catch in a river, pond or lake. I really enjoy catching rainbow trout, bluegill, green sunfish, crappie and other small species, but catching them on a nightcrawler or another natural bait just isn't as satisfying as catching them on artificial bait. So when I am targeting these species I use a 4'6 ulta light Shakespeare Microcast. The reel I use on this rod is a spin cast Tiny Dead Bolt DUL20 spooled with 4 pound test line. On tackle this light you want to use a lure or jig that weighs 1/32 to 1/8 of an ounce. I usually throw out a Bitsy Minnow crankbait. Either tennessee shad or baby bass in color. I also throw out tube baits in a variety of color, jigs, or a cajun beetle spin. Ultra light tackle really test your skills as a fisherman because even though your lure is small, it is not uncommon for any size bass or other species to bite also. When I am targeting big catfish or carp I use a little heavier tackle. My choice of rod and reel in this case is 7'0 medium heavy action Shakespeare Catfish Uglystik. It is a real pretty white pole with a spin cast Penn 550SSG spooled with 25 or 30 pound test line. When fishing for catfish my bait of choice is live perch or shad. However, I will use cut shad or punch bait also. If I am targeting big carp I will use my homemade carp bait. When fishing the coastal waters I target redfish, black drum, speckled trout, gafftop, and gar. On occasion I will targer shark also. I use a 6'6 medium heavy action Shakespeare Uglystik. I have a maroon bait cast Abu Garcia Ambassadeur reel spooled with 20 pound test line. I prefer to fish live finger mullet, perch, or croaker, but will also fish with DOA shrimp, cut mullet or ladyfish, and crab.

So this is what I use for all my fishing. I am looking to get a 4'6 ultra light Uglystik though and keep my same ultra light reel.

Texas Parks and Wildlife-San Angelo

I know I have posted this picture before, but it was recently recognized by Texas Parks & Wildlife-San Angelo Division. Every fish you catch has a story. I was fishing for rainbow trout in the concho river. Only days earlier I had caught 4 rainbows in the Guadalupe River in Kerrville. Not long after casting my 5'10 medium action Uglystik I hooked into a rather large fish. My first thought was a 18-22 inch rainbow. However, when I set the hook I knew I was on to a carp. I just had no idea what I was about to pull on to the bank. After a 2 1/2 to 3 minute fight my dad and I were pretty shocked. I pulled up the biggest carp I have ever caught. I'm pretty sure it was nearly double my former personal best carp.

Turtle

We haven't had much luck lately on the trotlines, but I checked them this afternoon and had a little suprise. We hooked a red ear slider. It was released safely and we hope we don't catch another one. Tight Lines!

Trotline Bullhead

Today at about 10:00am Hank and I went to check our trotlines at Cedar Creek. There is good news and bad news. Bad news first. We came up empty handed on our first trotline AND our second trotline was in two pieces. I am guessing a turtle or a gar chewed through the rope or a fish worked it so hard against a rock or log that it finally tore. Here is the good news though. We got a black bullhead on our second trotline and it was a big one for this species. The cat was 12.25 inches and 1.25 pounds and took a cut of shad. This got us pretty excited because according to Texas Parks and Wildlife the largest black bullhead caught in Abilene, Texas is .79 pounds and 11.25 inches. The Texas state record black bullhead caught on a trotline is 1.80 pounds and and 13.50 inches. The reason I believe these bullhead are all getting pretty big is because they have hardly any competition for food. As of now we don't know that there bass in the creek and we do know there is a decent population of bluegill and other sunfish. The bullheads and gars are the only fish that eat the bluegill. There is alot of slugs, snails, freshwater clams, and insects for the bullheads to feed on as well. Needless to say we were pretty jacked up. We re-baited and and we are going to check our lines at 6:00pm.

Cedar Creek & More

I got the biggest carp out of cedar creek to date on rod reel this evening. 22 1/4 inches and 5.2 pounds. I'm gonna post it with some additional pictures just because I don't like having too many carp pics. Gotta have some variety.

Trotline Success

Me and my buddy Hank went down to check our trotline @ Cedar Creek this morning. We were expecting the worst and hoping for the best. We were more then pleased with our results. I made a mistake last time I posted. We had 7 hooks, not 8. We had 3 baited with homemade carp bait on a treble hook, 3 with cut shad, and 1 with whole kernal corn. The black bullhead we caught took the shad and the carp we caught took the homemade bait. The carp was 22 inches and 4.5 pounds. The biggest carp we have pulled out of the creek to date. The hooks our carp bait was on were wrapped up in the trotline and all kinds of messed up, so we know some carp hit it. the corn was completely gone and 2 of the shad was left. Next time we are going to bait 2 of the single hooks with worm. Trotlines!!

Trotline

Today I set up a trotline in Cedar creek. There are 8 hooks on it baited with cut shad and homemade carp bait. I am expecting carp mostly, maybe a cat, and hoping that a gar with get on to that cut shad. I am also planning on setting up some perch traps in the near future. Since I was out at the creek set up the trotline I couldn't resist throwing out my line. I fish one carp rod and worked my ultra light rod & reel with tube baits and cajun beetle spin. Can't wait for the temp to rise a bit. I hope the results of the trotline are good. Tight lines.

Fishing In The Rain!

I have a philosophy about fishing: Go where the fish are. So today I headed to Cedar Creek (despite the rain and cold). In my eyes it was the most successful outing. I enjoy catching a variety of fish in one place and learning more about the ecosystem that these fish and other animals live in. To date I know there are bluegill, carp, longnose gar, black bullheads (mudcats), and I also believe there are channel cats in the creek. Today we fished whole kernal corn and chicken liver. It was a great outing catching two different types of fish. Right now the creek is the hot spot for me and I will continue to go there until I can make a trip to my Aunt and Uncle's ranch in Brady. Hope you enjoy the pics. Tight Lines!!!

Not much new happening today...I went to a lake here and waded out a bit. Threw a white spinner bait out for about an hour or so and also practiced working some soft plastics. I came back into town to fish the ol' reliable creek and got into some more carp. I am planning a trip to either fish my aunt and uncle's pond in Brady, Texas or to fish the Guadalupe river in Kerrville.

Got him...Got THEM!

Hey I promised I was going to get a carp and I didn't disappoint. Fishing is a great hobby and seeing my friends and loved ones catch a fish makes me as happy, if not happier, than when I catch a fish. Chumming the creek yesterday and today payed off for sure. We got to the creek around 5:00pm and we had a blast. I fished with a few of my buddies that I played football with. We got 5 carp on the bank anywhere from 1 to 3 pounds. We were fishing whole kernal corn. It was great day to be fishing in Texas and I can't wait to get back out. Until next time, tight lines!

And sorry about the quality of the pics. They were all taken with cell phones.

A Promising Outing

Well the outing wasn't as successful as I hoped, but still alot of fun. Got to the creek around 3:30, chummed, then set up the rod for carp. There was ice on top of the creek at some spots which isn't normal in Texas at all. Needless to say I was a little interested how this was going to end up. I didn't catch any bluegills on the ultra light artificials, but I did hook into a good sized carp...unfortunately however, I got my hook spit right back out at me. I can't remember ever losing a carp like that. I also saw a good sized catfish in a shallow pool of the creek. All in all...A very promising outing and I will get a carp tomorrow. I'll post a picture of what I dream the "lost carp" looked like. Tight Lines!!!

Goin Fishin!

Well today was the first day of class for this semester and all I could think about all day was being close to the water with my line out. So I'm going fishing. Heading down to Cedar Creek which runs right through Abilene. I'm gonna chum and fish with some whole kernal corn for carp and I'm also gonna be using some light tackle to get into some bluegills and maybe even some small bass. It'll be nice no matter what. Maybe I will have some pictures to post after this, but until then here is a nice redear sunfish I caught of Christmas break in the Guadalupe River. Remember, a fish is a fish is a fish...and they are all fun to catch. Tight Lines!!!

Carp Bait!

Hey there

I made some carp bait this past week...Big Red and Post Toasties...plus a little cream corn of course. I am heading carp fishing Tuesday and bass fishing Wednesday. Hopefully I will bring something good in. Wednesday is the last day of a string of warm days so hopefully there will be some largemouth bass, hybrid stripers, or even some freshwater drum up close to the bank. Maybe I will get something worthy of posting a picture. Until then...tight lines!

Additional Pics

Now that I know how to post pictures and stuff I will post a few of my favorite pictures of past catches. I really believe I have been blessed as far as fishing goes and I believe it is a great hobby and we should get more youth to fish and teach people about fish conservation. I hope ya'll enjoy these pics!

Rookie

Hey this is my first time to do this. My name is Cameron Cox and I live in Texas. I just finished playing college football and will have even more time on my hands now to fish. A little about me and fishing...I'm 22 years old and go to school in northwest texas where this is a great opportunity for freshwater fishing. I most often fish for bass, carp, and catfish. However, I enjoy fishing for other species such as bluegill, rainbow trout, crappie, etc. My parents live on the texas coast where there is a whole different type of fishing. Down there I target redfish, speckled trout, black drum, and gafftop mostly. I also enjoy targeting gar everyonce in a while. I have plenty of fishing pictures from the past years and I will try to find a reason to post them! As for now I guess I will post a picture of my last catch. Hope ya'll enjoy!