News from the Carp Mafia

Despite the cold, we continue to catch carp, some of them big, from our favorite southern PA lake as the weather and waters chill out. Matt is shown with a fine fish he got on a pineapple chunk on November 12, a few weeks back. Later that day, he would lose a very, very big fish under the docks that just had the hook tear out of it's mouth. Other catches include carp like these here...

A nice 13 pounder...

Matt with his second fish of a cold day.
And on Nov 14, I slipped out after work for a couple of hours of carpin'...two fish that totaled about 45 pounds. Both took tutti-frutti corn on a hook, no hair rig. They did me a favor, and both of them ran AWAY from the docking cables. Still, long, powerful fights from these great gamefish. Check 'em out...

First fish of the day was this 20-plus pounder. Cool!

Second fish was this mile-long mule of a carp that fought long and hard. This was carp number 44 for me this year, out of 70 hook ups. I know, I know...some folks think they are ugly and detestable. But they, like both you and I are one of God's beautiful creations. In Romans 1:20, scripture says that "Since the creation of the world, God's invisible qualities...have been clearly seen." I put myself in that group of people, the multitudes, that way too often look past the beauty that God has placed right before our very eyes. Fish, the skies, the rushing waters...all things were created by God, and for His Glory.

Late Fall Crappies

Every fall, I look forward to doing some crappie fishing in November, even early December, as most of the biggest crappies I have ever caught were taken during that time frame. So, when my good friend George invited me out for a day of panfishing, I thought it wise to join on the fun and see what happens. He had been making some good catches of black and white crappies, with top-end fish going 12 to 14 1/4 inches...good fish just about anywhere.
Right off the bat, George went about a dozen fish up on me...we were casting small jigs in and around weedbeds in 4 to 8 feet of water. I was trying my aray of hairjigs while he tossed tubetails on a 1/16 ounce jig. Out of apparent pity, he said " you want a white and yellow tube?" "yup" was my immediate response.

Nothing complex about this fishing...work the edge of the weeds with jigs with a slow retrieve and hops and sense the bite on 2 pound test line. Water temps were around 50 F and clouds with occasional rain was the weather. As the day wore on, we caught a variety of panfish to include bluegills, white perch, yellow perch and a single largemouth bass. We tried numerous areas with weed concentrations. But most of the catch were black crappies that ran just shy of the 10 inch mark. Along the way, we picked up a few 11 inchers and we had several fish that approached the 13 inch class...not huge, but real nice crappie, especially for southern PA waters. Here are a few pics...

George is all smiles with a nice slab he caught earlier in the day.

Another nice fish that fell to the yellow and white tube...

Nice!

My best fish of the day was this nice looking white crappie that took the tube. Altogether we probably caught 65 fish...50 or so were crappies, along with the other panfish. I'd call it a good day! All fish were released, which might puzzle some panfishermen as to why we released even bigger crappies. In truth releasing big or trophy panfish is somewhat the 'final frontier' of catch and release fishing...almost unheard of in most parts of the country. But why kill something if you're not going to eat it? I have plenty of fillets in the freezer from previous trips, and my wife and I can only eat about a dozen crappie fillets at a sitting...depending on the size. I'm already overweight!
It kind of reminds me of what Agur said in Proverbs 30 when one of the two things he asked for was 'daily bread'. The other was to know God's truth. Wow, now isn't that a request for this day and age!?!

Cold Carpin'

I don't know about the rest of the country, but we have got some chilly weather the past two weeks. Had a 5 inch snow storm on Oct 30 th and we have had several upper 20 degree mornings. Some of the carp guys are calling it quits for the year. Last week my friend Bob and I hooked a total of 14 and landed 10 and had some nice fish to boot. By continuing to chum with corn, we are keeping the carp close within easy casting distance. Here are a couple pics from our latest ventures...

Bob hangs on as a nice one heads to deeper water from our chummed area. Sometimes, the fish get in and break off around the docking cables that are in the area. We try to bait away from such hazards, but it seems the fish, especially the bigger carp, know just where to go and break us off.

My best fish from last week was this upper teen weight fish on a blustery 48 degree day with high winds. I went 3 for 6, including a dinkish 3 pound class carp. We fished opposite days from each other because of our schedules. Warming spell should see some big fish this week. I also observed something cool this week...reminded me a litle bit of myself...

This leaf is obviously past it's prime, but still has a few remnants of youth and is holding it's form well. But it's just coasting along, drifting in comfort, you might say. Yeah, reminds me of me. Even in it's advance form of life, it still has some beauty to it. That's not the case with me, but I sometimes drift. If God's plan for me is to tell others about my incredible Savior, Jesus Christ, then I must not simply drift and get comfortable. I need to get out of the water and get rolling. Even if the risk is to lose friendships and family, I still want them to know there is a true, loving and almighty God who is pursueing them constantly, and loved them so much that He was willing to die for them, just to spend the rest of eternity in fellowship with them. In Psalm 40, the psalmist speaks of being rescued from the miry pit, and eventually singing a 'new song' for our God. My heart swells with joy every time I hear a new song for the Lord. His beauty comes in all forms, whether the lowly carp or a faded leaf. Beauty to Him is much different than through human eyes.