How to Catch a Carp (No Snagging Required!)

Yes, apparently many people in this area (including myself at some points) have foul hooked a carp. While they aren’t the most respected fish here in Canada and they don’t really eat conventional baits, I think that it would be a lot better to catch them in the mouth. After all, part of the fun in fishing is figuring out what will deceive a fish into biting a hook.

I recently started getting invested into carp fishing. While there are so many nicer fish to catch, there is one advantage to carp for me. In the local city ponds, I spotted a bunch of carp swimming in the shallows. I love fishing in general so this was opportunity to do fishing after work. No need to spend a ton on gas or time launching a boat. However I had to figure out how to actually catch a carp. It took me some time but I managed to find a way.

In this post I’ll discuss how I managed to catch a carp legitimately in the mouth. I’m not a carp enthusiast at all and I tried to not invest too much into specialized gear and tactics. There’s tons of carp content out there but this should help get you started. I know that many of us aren’t diehard carp anglers here in Canada so investing into specialized gear isn’t something many of us are willing to do. Though it’s not too difficult to get into compared to other species.

Finding Carp

Carp are pretty widespread across Central Canada in the prairie regions. Any fertile pond, river or lake is bound to have them. Large bodies of water tend to have the biggest populations of big carp. There are quite a few well known carp waters like Lake Manitoba, Lake of the Prairies and Last Mountain Lake that produce giants. The good thing about carp is that they often roam the shallows where they are quite visible. You can often see them surface at times.

My personal favorite place for carp are city retention ponds. It’s just nice to not have to drive so far for a carp adventure. Plus a small pond means that the patrolling carp will eventually come into contact with your bait. It’s not always the most productive in terms of quantity and size but it’s easy fishing.

Reel, Rod and Line

For the reel, I would highly recommend getting a large baitrunner reel. A baitrunner (or baitfeeder) reel has a switch that instantly switches from a heavy drag to a light drag setting. Essentially the light drag setting allows a fish to carry a bait away with minimal resistance. Then you can immediately switch to a hard drag setting, allowing you to fight a fish properly. You should look for a 4000 or larger sized reel. They’re reasonably affordable surprisingly. Shimano, Daiwa and Okuma make some decent reels. This reel can also be used for other purposes like catfish or sturgeon.

If you don’t have a baitrunner available, you can either hold the line on an open spool. You could also just set you drag really light and then tighten it right before the fight. However the baitrunner is definitely the most practical method as we will discuss later.

I usually like to use braided line, at least 50lb test. Sometimes when carp fishing, there may be weeds that thin diameter braid can slice through. Carp are big fish so strong line really helps.

For rods you could go for dedicated carp rods that can be up to 12′ long. This allows baits to be launched a distance from shore and play big fish. If fishing from a boat or distance isn’t required, a shorter rod will help. You can honestly get an inexpensive fiberglass rod used for catfish like an Ugly Stik as a budget option. It should not be too stiff of a rod as the hooks used are quite small and can tear out of the mouth.

Baits and Rigging

The rig I use is the hair rig. I take about 18″ of braided line and make a little loop with an overhand knot at the end. Then I use what is called the knotless knot to position a size 6 or 8 hook about an inch or two above the loop. This rig is connected to the main line via a three-way swivel.

Using a short piece of relatively weak line, tie a bell sinker to the third section of the three way swivel. This allows the sinker to break off in the event of a snag. Notice that it is not a slip sinker rig commonly used in bottom fishing. The fixed sinker is vital to carp fishing. Have a variety of sizes depending on whether there is current or wind. Some carp pros actually use painted sinkers that resemble stones, especially in Europe. However in Canada, our carp are pretty easy going.

One thing that will need is a baiting needle. This is essentially a needle with a tiny hook on the end. Stab a few kernels onto the needle then hook the baiting needle onto the loop of the hair rig. Slide the kernels onto the rig and jam a piece of monofilament or a blade of grass into the loop to prevent the kernels from sliding off the rig. It’s definitely an unusual rig but carp are an unusual fish.

Time for the Actual Fishing

I usually grab a can of sweetened corn when I head out for a few hours. Carp anglers have special throwing tools to chum but your arms will suffice. Before I’m set up, I chum with about two-thirds of the can while using the remainder to bait my hook. This will bring the carp closer to my area.

You will need a setup that will hold your rod parallel to the ground. There are some fancy rod pods used by carp pros but I use two portable stands to hold the rod. The stands closest to the water will have a bite alarm on it. These are devices that basically emit a beep any time line is pulled through it. I was able to find it on Amazon at a pretty reasonable price. After casting, tighten your line as much as possible and set it on your rod stands. Engage the baitrunner so that fish can peel line off.

Now comes the fun part. With the hair rig, the hook will prick the carp as it sucks in the corn. It will panic and take off fast. That’s when the bite alarm starts beeping like crazy. Pick up the rod, disengage the baitrunner and do battle. The fixed sinker in the rig will set the hook for you. Prepare for a nice battle with screaming runs. Not many fish here have the power and size of a carp.

Sometimes the waters I fish are infested with bullheads which tend to bite the corn off my rig before a carp can get to it. You will notice a series of taps instead of the fast peeling. Check your baits frequently if there are other fish around. I may experiment with boilies in the future if it keeps the bullheads away.

Final Words

I feel like carp are those fish that could use a bit more attention. Sure they have no prestige here but they fight hard, grow to a large size, are easily accessible and don’t require super specialized equipment. What more can you really ask for in a fish? Europeans sometimes make trips out here for carp yet us local people don’t really pay them much attention.

I will say that this is simply an introductory dive into carp fishing. It can really be a deep rabbit hole but I’m just going to leave things here for now.