Official 2025 CARP (and Capr) thread

skyriver-
Typically here in Western Washington the carp spawn in May (water temps in the upper 60s). This year the lakes seem to have been warming a little slower than normal (one of the local lakes in the AM Thurs. was only 66 degrees. Though that surely has changed given the weather the last couple days.

Curt
 
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Smalma said:
skyriver-
Typically here in Western Washington the carp spawn in May (water temps in the upper 60s). This year the lakes seem to have been warming a little slower than normal (one of the local lakes in the AM was only 66 degrees. Though that surely has changed given the weather the last couple days.

Curt
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Thanks Curt. Good info.
62° currently where I plan to fish.
SF
 
DimeBrite said:
Better hit Banks Lake with @Buzzy. It might be hot though 😂
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Might be? The fishing might not be hot but the sun is. I should be up there right now as the next two days are partly cloudy and it's sunny and calm (and the fish are in spawn mode). Hard to think that two weeks ago I was wet wading the lake, the wind was blowing it was COLD.
 
Ok, here's the condensed handline video. If you know where this is I would kindly ask that you do not disclose it here.

The fish took me into my backing about as quick as any fish I can remember. I had cast to a slow cruising group of 4, just like you would salmon, so I thought I had foul hooked him, but nope. He was just really pissed. I'm guessing he was not an active spawner so had all his energy.
And the handline thing? 2nd time I've had to do it, but the first time was a 12" trout not a carp. 😁 I got lucky as he was tuckered out from his long, and distant, fight.
 
One and only one in my hooky day...

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just big enough to find my backing.
 
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Evan B said:
I need to get back out.
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It felt SOOO good to hook up. I got to the Columbia River water and three minutes later hooked a smallmouth: great confidence booster. The biggest fish of the day (and probably the biggest for me in more than ten years) swam out of deep water onto a solid basalt ledge about two feet deep. I made a decent cast and started to pull the fly towards the fish. I don't think I needed to do so as the fish quickly swam over and here's the best part: I saw the carp's mouth open and the fish suck it in. That was maybe five hours ago and I'm still grinning and still stoked. I saw about 40 feet of backing............
 
Found something....

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As @clarkman's signature line says "well, that's why the call it fishin'" sure as heck rang true for for me and for my visiting "capr" angler (85 years old, drove over from Mill Creek for a day of chasing golden bonefish). In less than 72 hours, the Columbia River water went from lots and lots and lots of carp to three carp in more than a mile and a half of wading.

I am absolutely CLUELESS as to where the fish went and why they went wherever they went. On Sunday afternoon, carp were in the tules and cattails, they were in the flooded grass (lots of water), they were cruising, they were waving their tails, they were snoozing in the sun. They were between me and the beach, some were still spawning. Wednesday morning? GONE. REALLY GONE.

Any carp experts out there care to explain to me where the fish went. Why they were gone? What prompted the fish to abandon good feeding habitat?

Randall: You are right, that's why they call if fishing. It sure wasn't catching and I really wanted Jerry to catch a carp.

Sincerely,
iPad Dulique
 
Buzzy said:
As @clarkman's signature line says "well, that's why the call it fishin'" sure as heck rang true for for me and for my visiting "capr" angler (85 years old, drove over from Mill Creek for a day of chasing golden bonefish). In less than 72 hours, the Columbia River water went from lots and lots and lots of carp to three carp in more than a mile and a half of wading.

I am absolutely CLUELESS as to where the fish went and why they went wherever they went. On Sunday afternoon, carp were in the tules and cattails, they were in the flooded grass (lots of water), they were cruising, they were waving their tails, they were snoozing in the sun. They were between me and the beach, some were still spawning. Wednesday morning? GONE. REALLY GONE.

Any carp experts out there care to explain to me where the fish went. Why they were gone? What prompted the fish to abandon good feeding habitat?

Randall: You are right, that's why they call if fishing. It sure wasn't catching and I really wanted Jerry to catch a carp.

Sincerely,
iPad Dulique
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Seriously! One day one location, the next....🤷‍♂️.

One of my favorite spots has yet to really hold anything this year...in spite of some seemingly perfect conditions.
 
Bummer. Harder to take those days for a buddy than yourself. The ole "You shoulda been here yesterday" thing. It sucks.

Maybe the end of the spawn has them on the move? I will say, besides spawning timing, carp seem to do this more than most other fish.
On a certain frustrating local lake they can be there one day and then gone the next. I think they sort of school up and just go where they want. Follow the food maybe?

Was the water level or temp the same as on Sunday? On the lower river there are connected lakes and ponds where this can really fluctuate. If they can move freely in the culvert between the river and the lake then the lake will be full. If not, they leave. They don't want to get stranded. It can go from 500 carp to single digits in a day or so.

What about that lake north of you? My buddies did pretty well there the last couple days.
 
I admittedly haven't put a ton of effort in lately, but overall, this year the fish have definitely been on a different behavior program than the last couple of years for me.
 
skyriver said:
Bummer. Harder to take those days for a buddy than yourself. The ole "You shoulda been here yesterday" thing. It sucks.

Maybe the end of the spawn has them on the move? I will say, besides spawning timing, carp seem to do this more than most other fish.
On a certain frustrating local lake they can be there one day and then gone the next. I think they sort of school up and just go where they want. Follow the food maybe?

Was the water level or temp the same as on Sunday? On the lower river there are connected lakes and ponds where this can really fluctuate. If they can move freely in the culvert between the river and the lake then the lake will be full. If not, they leave. They don't want to get stranded. It can go from 500 carp to single digits in a day or so.

What about that lake north of you? My buddies did pretty well there the last couple days.
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Stacey - Good questions about why the fish were there and then they weren't. Wild guess on my part but I'd guess the spawn cycle was almost 100% done but does that mean the fish were schooling up to follow the food? I don't know. In one reedy bay I saw five or six fish in obvious spawn behavior but that was random and isolated. The water level had dropped but was still quite full for this location; water temperature? I don't carry a thermometer but I doubt there was any change.

Back in my "when I had a motorboat" days; I fished a section of the Columbia River in Kittitas County. There's a slough that can be full of carp when the reservoir is full; somehow these fish seem to understand a dropping reservoir as I never saw fish stranded in the slough.

That's why the call if fishing.

Too cloudy to fish for carp today. Maybe tomorrow. Looking for some fish down near @Billy's bass water.//Buzz
 
When I experienced this during extended days of 100-degree temps and cloud-free skies, I suspected what I couldn't see . . . depleted O2 levels in shallow water.
 
Jim F. said:
When I experienced this during extended days of 100-degree temps and cloud-free skies, I suspected what I couldn't see . . . depleted O2 levels in shallow water.
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Maybe so, Jim. Interesting thought. I could see this in one of the really muddy bays that we fish and we did have two sunny days of 95°F weather......
 
Tried the big lake by the big city yesterday. Luckily, the sun broke through right when I launched. I hit all the southend spots I thought might be decent. I saw 1 carp. :( Yep, ONE.... It was a mammoth specimen that was the lightest colored carp I've ever seen. In fact, I thought it was the belly of a sturgeon when I first saw it feeding in the weeds. I had 2 legit shots at it, but he wasn't interested in my basic black carp maul type fly. It seemed it may have been keyed in on damsels since it was hitting the weeds pretty hard. That was it for the carp action. Really surprised I didn't at least see some others.
I saw plenty of bass, panfish and even a few catfish. No more carp after the ghostly behemoth though.

I also saw some mega cutts. Several actually. They were easily 2 footers. I threw my carp fly at them, but they just laughed and went for deeper water. If I go back it won't be for capr. It will be for those cutts!

It was a good outing to check things out and decide I probably won't hit that lake for carp. I know most guys hit the north end, but I just don't see myself enjoying it.

The really good news is the boat ran perfect. No stumbles at all with over 4 hours of varied use. From idle to WOT and everything in between. New top speed of 34 mph even with some chop. The Sea Foam seems to have really helped it out. Highly recommend!
 
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