Union County Carp

[catfishonthelake]

Hit one of my Union County ponds today and before I even got out of the car I could see they were chewing. Fished for 3 hours and missed the first couple runners, then caught a big bullhead, then hooked my first carp and had it pop off. Landed a 12 to 14-pound fish awhile later and was just about to leave when I got another one that was probably over 15 pounds. After dealing with that fish I grabbed my other rod to leave and there was a fish on it. Anyone got an ID on that last one? Not sure if it's a grass carp (white amur) or just a silver-colored carp. Great action though for a few hours. Lots of pick-ups, runners and landed some nice fish. All fish caught on corn.

[AndyS]

Not a White Amur aka Grass carp. It's a new state record Silver Carp !!!!!

[Billfish715]

That has always been a great spot going back 50 years. As kids we could always count on taking dough balls and our solid glass (not hollow fiberglass) rods and casting for "goldfish" AKA comets in that pond. At that time the pond contained bass, crappie, golden shiners, bullhead, sunnies, bluegills as well as the 10"-12" red and brown carp. Turning over leaves and picking up compost worms for bait was a routine that went with fishing there. Buying bait never was an option. The only things we ever bought for fishing came from the Sport Shop on North Avenue or Ruddy's in Clark. Transportation was one speed Schwinns or Raleighs which took us to all of the exotic places in Union County like Surprise Lake, Echo Lake, all reaches of the Rahway River, the Clark Reservoir, Nomhegan Park, the shooting range and a few undisclosed golf course ponds. I still fish where you were and it always brings back memories of a time when life was much less complicated and when every fish was a trophy.

[njfisherman1975]

Nice catfish...catfish!!, great carp shots too!

[RichieFer]

I also fish in that same exact spot for carp, let em take drag all around the lake. Always a good time there.

[Detour66]

Originally Posted by Billfish715

brings back memories of a time when life was much less complicated and when every fish was a trophy.

Amen to that!

[NJ Dave]

That last pics might be a koi fish or some type of cross bred koi carp. Look at the fins, and eyes, nothing like a carp.
Either way nice catch.

[jmurr711]

nice work buddy! that last one is awesome looking!

[GoIslanders]

Nice pics!! I saw them on the blog this morning, though I didn't see the catfish.

I am in Westfield-PM me if you'd like to fish together!

[bunker dunker]

nice! catfish,now you are our resident exotic carp guy!!!!!nice stuff