snake stole my fish, then fish stole my pole

[NJ219bands]

Saturday afternoon I cooked up a batch of my homemade corn meal bait, then went fishing in the 80 degree Millstone River in my poison ivy spot. I caught more poison ivy and used up lots of calamine lotion lately. After I threw out a can of corn for chum, I put out a carp rod, then did some ultralight jigging with my second rod. Somebody asked me for 6 bluegills so I caught 4 > 8" each and put them in a 5 gallon bucket of water at the top of a hill on the narrow trail behind me in the shade. They kept jumping out of the bucket, then flopping down to the river. I put them back into the bucket. Then when one jumped out, I put down my rod and turned around to get it. A snake in the grass flew out of the weeds, bit the fish, then dragged it back into the brush. When I arrived at the scene of the abduction, I didn't see or hear anything. A snake stole my fish. After that, none of the 3 remaining bluegills jumped out of the bucket. Then while I was trying to catch 3 more bluegills, something pulled my carp rod into the river and swam away with it. The black paint wore away from the end of the butt on my 7' Ugly Stick and I thought that I saw the silver butt cap in the rocks, but out of reach. I hooked the rod with my 1/32 oz jig, but it fell to the bottom of the river again. I put on a #8 treble hook but my 2 lb test line broke when I tried to lift my carp rod from the bottom of the river. Then I took off my boots and socks, waded out into the river on the moss covered, jagged rocks barefoot and was able to reach my rod. When I lifted it from the water, a 28.5" 9.75 lb male carp was on the end of my line. Walking barefoot on slimy rocks is very painful. I still have bruises on my feet from sliding down the slanted rocks into holes. After the snake stole my fish and a carp stole my pole, I released the 3 bluegills and quit fishing early. I didn't want to see what would happen next. I gave the carp to a very old Asian couple that had 2" bluegills in a bucket of water as I was leaving. Some people actually keep everything that they catch. http://s865.photobucket.com/user/NJ2...tml?sort=3&o=8

[Fish n Jeep]

Sounds like quite an adventure.

So true about the bucket brigade.

[kcritch]

Now that's workin for it! At least you got the rod back...and the fish!

[Bottomfeeder]

Wow, the wild kingdom conspiring against you, tough day!

[Eskimo]

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Sounds like a tough afternoon.

I don't know if some people really like carp or just that some people will just keep anything. I tried carp and it's awful. It's not only awful, but the fillets are full of pin-sharp bones that try to kill you.

I don't know how, but some people eat carp. Last week, I posted about trying to take carp home from Spruce Run Reservoir. I had planned to cut it into small pieces to use as bait. When I paddled up to my car parked at Van Sickle Pier, all these people approached me and started pestering me to sell or give them the carp. I felt like a Unicef worker handing out food at a Darfur refugee camp.

I gave one of the carp to an older Russian couple.





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[Bottomfeeder]

Here is an interesting read regarding eating carp

http://m.voanews.com/a/174885.html

I've seen food stores in Chinatown advertising live carp for sale

[saxmatt]

Originally Posted by Bottomfeeder

Here is an interesting read regarding eating carp

http://m.voanews.com/a/174885.html

I've seen food stores in Chinatown advertising live carp for sale

Asian carp are a completely different species. We don't have them in NJ. They are filter feeders eating mainly plankton which every species of fish eats when they are born. They grow and reproduce fast and can destroy sections of rivers. Hopefully they won't make it into NJ waters.

[GetANet]

they always have carp for sale at the Hong Kong market near me with just
about every other type of fish you could want! I like to go there sometimes
cause it's like going to the aquarium.

[Fish n Jeep]

Originally Posted by saxmatt

Asian carp are a completely different species. We don't have them in NJ... Hopefully they won't make it into NJ waters.

You ain't kidding. I lived in St Louis for almost 9 years and they are all over the Mississippi river and its tributaries and have almost made it to Lake Michigan via the Illinois River. These are the crazy jumping variety that make motorboating dangerous. Its freaky to be cruising along and have big fish leaping out just behind or next to the boat. Size of the boat doesn't seem to matter either, I had a canoe with a Mercury 2.5 and nearly crapped my pants.