21 lb Delaware River carp pic

[NJ219bands]

Only had 1 bite on my homemade corn meal bait and landed this fish with a #12 treble hook on 8 lb test line. It put up an outstanding fight for a long time. Only caught 1 carp in the river this year. Only caught 1 carp in the river 2 years ago. The bowfishermen that killed 100 carp a night ruined my Delaware River carping.

[JerryC]

WOW, monster!

[Chrisper4694]

Nice beast man.

If you see bow fisherman not following the regulations, report it. They can only shoot 25 per person creel limit (except Delaware River is no limit) and must take what they kill.

Regulation:

Waste of Fish
Fish of any species which are purposely killed become part of the angler’s daily limit and must be removed from the waters from which they were taken, then either used or otherwise disposed of properly.

If they are killing as many as you say (and I highly doubt taking them all with them) take a description/ boat number and call it in. In that river they can shoot as many as they want as long as they take them.

Carp are a great fighting fish which will attain huge proportions in a system as large as the Delaware river. I'm not against bow hunting but can someone tell me what anyone would do with 100 carp. It seems to be a complete waste or abuse of the resource. I've caught many carp albeit years ago at the Water Gap. many in the 20 to 30 lb range with the biggest going close to 45 lbs and pound for pound on the right tackle they are an absolute blast to catch and will test your skills. Hate to see that many fish taken if they're not being used for some productive purpose.

[Eskimo]

Originally Posted by dakota560

I've caught many carp albeit years ago at the Water Gap. many in the 20 to 30 lb range with the biggest going close to 45 lbs and pound for pound on the right tackle they are an absolute blast to catch and will testy your skills.

Me too. This is going back like 20 years, but I used to routinely catch carp in the twenty pound range fishing in that area - one after the other.

I don't fish for carp on the Delaware anymore, but when I'm kayaking, I can see a decent number of carp swimming around. Especially right now when the water is crystal-clear.

I might be totally wrong about this, but from my own observations it appears the carp on the Upper Delaware aren't drawn to soft mud like carp I see other places. Other areas you'll see carp on the mud flats rooting around in the mud, but I don't see that up there.

Many of the carp I see in the Upper Delaware are hanging around areas where trees are in deep holes in the river. They hang out either in, on or just behind the tangle of wood.

They seem to move around a lot and will inexplicably school at random spots along the river. Maybe for no other reason than one is already hanging out there, so a few others join him which attracts more until a school forms.


.

[MudCat08]

Awesome carp dude! Sad to hear not many left in the Delaware. Sounds like i'll have to look elsewhere (no boat/kayak).

[Delawareriver]

Originally Posted by NJ219bands

Only had 1 bite on my homemade corn meal bait and landed this fish with a #12 treble hook on 8 lb test line. It put up an outstanding fight for a long time. Only caught 1 carp in the river this year. Only caught 1 carp in the river 2 years ago. The bowfishermen that killed 100 carp a night ruined my Delaware River carping.

Its funny how carp guys complain about the bowfishing guys ruining their water. Number one its everyone's water, number two we did better in the river this year then the past 4 or 5 years. Our annual tournament had 3 teams weigh in bigger stringers then any of the other tournament winner weights in the past 3 tournaments. If you cant catch fish in areas that you caught carp in the past ita not that the fishery is ruined it's because the fish are some where else. One week we pulled into a cove and literally saw maybe 2 carp, next week we checked back and we shot 70 carp in 4 hours with plenty left swimming around. You gotta learn the movements with tides and try different areas. Some times that river is amazing how it can change day by day or even one tide to another

[Delawareriver]

And for the guys wondering what we do with our carp, my team first gives them away to guys wanting to eat them, have several different guys that will take between 1 and 10 carp every time we call, the rest typically are given to a farmer who feeds his pigs with them, but sometimes he also adds them to his compost pile. They add a ton of nutrients to the soil. We have also given them away to commercial turtle trappers, crabbers, shark chum, coyote and bear bait, catfisherman for cut bait. Really endless uses. End of the day we take every carp we put in the boat.

I have told several carp anglers that have complained about dumped carp and will open it to anyone on this forum, if you guys find dumped carp at a boat launch, fishing access, side of the road etc please take a picture and contact me with the location and date. I am highly active in the bowfishing community, I am on the board of directors for the bowfishing association of America and currently filling the nj state rep as the last guy had to step down due to family obligations. Trust me if anyone cares about illegal bowfishing activity it is the legal bowfisherman that strive for good promotion of the sport. Anyways I've still never received a picture or location of any dumped carp in nj. Not saying it doesn't happen but we have all seen trash left behind by rod and reel anglers, seen guys trespassing, heard of guys keeping undersized fish or out of season or over their limit. My point is every sport has a few bad apples but as a whole the bowfishing community strives at taking care of our sport. If it means talking with individuals and explaining what they did wrong and why, black listing them so they can't join any tournaments, buy sell ask questions with other local guys or turning them in to a co. We do what it takes to solve the problem. I know several areas down south that had some scum bags dumping fish at boat launches after taking pictures, well the bowfishing community in that area set up stings, placed trail cameras, placed signs to name a few examples of guys working at correcting the few bad apples

[acabtp]

Originally Posted by Delawareriver

Its funny how carp guys complain about the bowfishing guys ruining their water. Number one its everyone's water, number two we did better in the river this year then the past 4 or 5 years. Our annual tournament had 3 teams weigh in bigger stringers then any of the other tournament winner weights in the past 3 tournaments. If you cant catch fish in areas that you caught carp in the past ita not that the fishery is ruined it's because the fish are some where else. One week we pulled into a cove and literally saw maybe 2 carp, next week we checked back and we shot 70 carp in 4 hours with plenty left swimming around. You gotta learn the movements with tides and try different areas. Some times that river is amazing how it can change day by day or even one tide to another

And for the guys wondering what we do with our carp, my team first gives them away to guys wanting to eat them, have several different guys that will take between 1 and 10 carp every time we call, the rest typically are given to a farmer who feeds his pigs with them, but sometimes he also adds them to his compost pile. They add a ton of nutrients to the soil. We have also given them away to commercial turtle trappers, crabbers, shark chum, coyote and bear bait, catfisherman for cut bait. Really endless uses. End of the day we take every carp we put in the boat.

I have told several carp anglers that have complained about dumped carp and will open it to anyone on this forum, if you guys find dumped carp at a boat launch, fishing access, side of the road etc please take a picture and contact me with the location and date. I am highly active in the bowfishing community, I am on the board of directors for the bowfishing association of America and currently filling the nj state rep as the last guy had to step down due to family obligations. Trust me if anyone cares about illegal bowfishing activity it is the legal bowfisherman that strive for good promotion of the sport

well said.

[AndyS]

I just want to know when carp became a "valuable resource"