Monday, December 9, 2013

Cold snap Carp

With the unseasonably cold weather we are having I thought I would give Carp a shot yesterday. Lows in the high 20s and the high of only 50 is COLD for here. I mean really Cold for Central California Coast.  I know of a slough that has a 15 inch culvert that is a return flow from a cooling tower on a MFG plant so I headed out there. The first mile on the way out I saw a TON of bait, Birds a few small fish cruising. I figured I would just punch the couple of miles to where the pipe flows in and fish my way back which can take about 2-3 hours depending on the shots.  The last Qtr Mile held good numbers of fish and besides freezing my ass off, I ended the day with 4 or 5 fish on about 20 shots.. All cookie cutter 6-8lb .  They wanted to be on the hard bottom areas with cobble and gravel and it worked out pretty well since these areas are skinny and clear.  Tailers were tough! Fish crusing the shallows looking for baitfish ate streamers well though. Maybe the slight warmth of the rocks and warm water coming in was the ticket. Small Mosquito Fish and Smelt were thick and the Carp were pretty aggressive and seemed comfortable with the water temp. It felt like bath water compared to the Air temp!




hooded merganser pair

3 comments:

Gregg said...

Nice to have that inflow, though I think you have, from what I have read from you, a very viable year round fishery for carp. I heard about the "cold snap," sometimes that gets us all.

Gregg

David McKenzie said...

For the most part it is if your willing to put in the effort.

Erik said...

I was wondering if you would get out in the cold but didn't know where you would go. Nice to know there are places even when its cold.