Mirror Carp Fishing Report

Guest Blog from Captain Jack Sprengel, East Coast Charters

It was a long, cold winter, and despite a few nice teaser days, it’s been a raw spring season here in the Northeast, too. Waiting for the return of the larger striped bass, we’ve focused our efforts on the state’s freshwater bodies for a rod-bending fix and some exciting photography.  This week, after having talked about it for over decade, we finally decided to hunt for some elusive New England mirror carp. It’s no secret that targeting this fish takes and extremely technical approach with a lot of time dedicated to scouting and targeting. After a humbling search effort early in the week with Lou Aaron and Erich Medenbach, I decided to reach out to my good friend and New England Carp fishing authority, Dave Pickering.  (editor’s note – check out Dave Pickering’s article on Carp Baits in the May 2013 issue of On The Water)

The night before the trip, the weather took a turn for the worse, but schedules being difficult to align as they are we decided to stay green-lighted. We met up with Dave around 9 am, packed up the gear and headed off to a few spots he scouted earlier in the week for us. Even with an expert like Dave in our corner, my expectations of seeing more than one of these fish by the end of the day were very low.

After just under a mile of trekking through the woods, we reached our first spot. Erich and I began to set up our camera equipment and then got to work assisting Dave in a set up of some of the most fine-tuned, specialized angling systems I have ever seen. As gear-heads and spec junkies, Erich and I were stoked just to be part of this seemingly alien operation of high-tech mounting systems and digital audio strike sensors. As impressive as the gear itself was the culinary pallet of specialized baits and chum attractants that Dave had prepared the night before. He gave us a quick over view of the gear and landing systems, a few pointers on fighting style, and then he kicked back in his folding chair and said, “OK, shouldn’t be long.”

Enthusiastic but skeptical, I was prepared for a long miserable soak in the typical New England spring cold front weather. So imagine my surprise a mere 10 minutes later when one of the rods started dumping as if it just got smashed by a wahoo on the troll. To amplify the surge of adrenaline, the audible mayhem that the strike indicator emitted as the line peels off is enough to raise the hairs on the back of your neck. I sprinted to the rod while there was still line on the reel and came tight. All I can say is what a bad-ass fish for freshwater: sounding, riding the current, greyhounding, bulldogging and even tailwalking. As the fish (probably around 12 pounds) began to tire and came into the shallows, we were treated to another fascinating aspect of this unique fishery. “Real Dealers” like Dave use massive nets for cradling these juggernauts in place, then you use the mesh of the net itself to safely lift the fish from the water. From there, the fish is placed onto its own special landing pad, specifically designed to support the fish’s weight out of the water and prevent it from damaging itself against the rocky shoreline. Once on the pad, the hook is easily removed from the lip and then you can pick the fish up for a few snapshots before returning it to the water.

Euphoric over the swift success, Erich and I shook Dave’s hand and began to admire the shots we just captured. Our celebration was cut short when yet another rod began to dump with that spine-tingling scream of the strike alarm. On again! I sprinted to the rod and again came tight, another great battle and we had another beautiful mirror carp in the net, this one a few pounds heavier. We snapped some shots and released the fish unharmed, re-rigged and had a sandwich. Just when it seemed like the day was about to slack up, the bite alarm went off and Erich came tight on a beauty in the high teens. This fish was really photogenic and had a cool, more-rounded shape to its head.After releasing that fish,  we decided to give this spot a rest.

We headed to one of Dave’s “Sweet Spots.” This time, the trek was a bit longer and the terrain was much less forgiving. It was impossible to maintain our footing with all of the gear, and we took a few spills along the way. I’m pretty sure we walked through some kind of secret portal to get there.

Just as before, Dave didn’t disappoint, less than an hour into it, we had already landed another 3 fish and lost 2 more on the strike. So if you’re counting, so far that’s 7 carp in 6 hours, with 5 landed. But we weren’t quite finished yet. After snapping some awesome shots of the 7th fish, one of the long rods begins to scream. Erich ran to it and came tight to what would turn out to be the battle of the day, a fish in the high teens on a 10-pound set-up. About a 30 seconds into Erich’s fight, the rod next to him took off! Dave picked it up, and just like that we were doubled up. What a way to wrap up a sick day of carp fishing. We shot a few fun tandem shots, released the fish and called it a day.
Had a fantastic time, fishing with some great dudes. Big thanks to Dave for sharing his elite insight and years of experience, it was a nice change of pace for me before I get busy for the season.

~Captain Jack Sprengel, East Coast Charters