It is hard to beat sweet corn as a bait for carp. The bright color and flavor are very attractive to carp. If you are just starting out fishing for the mighty carp get yourself a few cans of sweet corn and concentrate on fishing a specific area. This way you can throw frequent handfuls of free bait into the area to get the fish on the feed. Chumming an area a couple times in advance can also help immensely. First, it get the fish used to your bait as a food source, and second, it gets them used to looking for food in the area you intend to fish.

Another good bait is maize. It more durable than sweet corn, and cheaper, but requires preparation. Additionally, it is less likely to be bothered by other species. Maize is just shelled field corn that you soak and then boil to soften it up and release the starchy goodness. I use a turkey fryer and I will boil up a 50lb bag in one one night. This will yield 3-4 5gal buckets of bait that is great for chumming with.

From here things get much more complicated to describe

 

corn/ wheaties I also do well on.Jim

 

Another good bait is maize. It more durable than sweet corn, and cheaper, but requires preparation. Additionally, it is less likely to be bothered by other species. Maize is just shelled field corn that you soak and then boil to soften it up and release the starchy goodness. I use a turkey fryer and I will boil up a 50lb bag in one one night.

I second that, it takes more time but litte fish are less likely to steal it. Try experimenting with different flavorings, strawberry,etc. You can ordr them from places over the internet like http://oneonbait.com/splash.asp

 

This will be my first year actually fishing for carp...I have this pond I go to...well theres probably 30 carp or more in this pond and there anywhere from 5lbs-30lbs or more....well they are deminishing the bass population significantly....so im going to try and get some of them out.....what hook size do you suggest on using and also do you fish from under a bobber or tight lined on the bottom??? any help will be appreciated!! thanks!! if you can please send me the info in a pm!! thanks!

 

Believe it or not I use McDonald french fries with much success. Old secret passed down from my Grandfather.

 

i ususally shoot them with a bow and then use one of those little ice cream scoopers to take out little balls of carp meat to use as bait to catch more!!!!

 

simple wheaties doughballs is the carps meow for me

 

anyone have any good rig ideas for catching grass carp

 

spinach doughball.you can use fresh or frozen.fresh is the way to go though.chop up the spinach into smaller pieces and put them with your standard doughball and there you go.

 

The best bait for carp is sweet corn or field corn soaking in flavoring. All kinds of flavors work but some work better on some bodies of water than others. I like R & W carp juice personally for my flavoring. Alot of paylake guys use this flavoring too. Here is a link to a place that sells it.

http://www.shopbettys.com/detail.aspx?ID=133

Jake

 

any one carp fish on mosquito lake? im going to try the corn maybe this weekend i have never tried it before. Tried bread earlier this year. Also when the carp are jumping in the shallow bays does the corn still work as effectively or is there something else that will work better?

 

Try Kellog's frosted mini-wheats....

Ya take a j hook with longer shank, and stuff it up into the middle of
wheat.....put a split shot 12'' above.....

ya can toss out some handfuls to chum too.....

they love it......and you can have a snack at the same time !

steely123

 

always stuck to wheaties but i might have to try frosted mini wheats if it works that good.can you use frosted flakes or does it just fall apart?i bet the sugar would get their attention.

 

The best bait I've used is a mixture of cornmeal, peanut butter, vanilla, honey, and eggs. I'll mix all of the ingredients in a bowl usually by hand. Then I'll make small balls and place them in the fridge to get cold.

When I get to the spot, I'll chum the section where I think there is carp. This stuff I use gives off a nice slick and it doesn't take long for the fish to get feeding.

When I'm fly fishing for carp I'll chum using sweet corn and I have flies that resemble a piece of corn.

 

aqny body hear of a bait using hourse feed and black strap molases and somethink eles?

 

Tractor Supply Company (TSC) or any feed store is going to be an excellent source for carp bait.

Range cubes (large pellets the size of a roll of quarters but are hard to find), sweet feed (pelleted horse feed with a lot of molasses), calf-mana, chicken layers mash, or even field corn/birdseed (soaked in water and then boiled) are all good options.

I usually use these ingredients to chum with or use as a method mix. Method is similar to a dough, made by mixing a wetter (lake water, creamed corn, or soaked and boiled birdseed with the liquid) to dry ingredients (I like chicken layers mash, and dried mollasses as the bulk of the mix add other items as well) so that the mixture is just wet enough to be packed around a sinker to endure the cast. Once in the water this should fall apart in a few minutes leaving a pile of attractants and scents emitting from around your hookbait.

 

thanks, that will help alot. going to grant lake saturday.

 

My buddy and I spent about 18 hours fishing Grant (the western boat ramp) in September 2006 and he caught the only carp, which wasn't even 10lb. Our standard techniques didn't work to well and the only fish came on the traditional American doughball.

Hopefully you will do much better. I really like that water, but at the time I fished it the lake was recovering from being nearly drained. Now almost three years later the same carp could be pushing 20lb. Please let me know how you end up doing.

Here is the story

 

What size hook do you guys usually use with sweet corn

 

If you are putting sweet corn directly on the hook I'd go with size 2-4.

But, I almost always use a hair rig which does not have the bait on the hook. In this case I use size 6-10.

 

I usually just shoot them but me and the kids see them all the time.
I would love to get one on a Rod for the Kids to battle.
I always told them that the hardest fighting fish I ever caught was a Carp and I have caught some big Cats, Pike and Muskie