On the inside of a cabinet door in my classroom I have a whole bunch of pictures of me holding fish. I have pretty good pictures of most species. One thing I have never caught is a common carp. I live in the Twin Cities metro area now, so it should be easier. Can someone steer me in the right direction? Coon Rapids? How and where? I want a picture.

I have caught plenty but not big ones. Usually bi-catch. The few times I have targeted them I got skunked. I'm interested in hearing how/when/where as well! Freshwater Bonefish!

ill take a shot here. can of whole kernel corn, corn threaded on a #6 or 8 long shanked hook, some splitshots, the MN river. worked for me as a kid on the baraboo river.

or

fish that big flat reef on upper prior lake at dusk, dragging a lindy rig with a leech on a phelps floater...you get a strike and hook it...you run all over the boat fighting it, all the time thinking youre finally going to catch a 10 lb. eye...then, 5 minutes later, a 15 lb. carp shows its ugly head. LOL (great memory)

When I was first married, we lived in the cities (St. Louis Park). My wife worked every other weekend. To pass time I would go often go fishing, typically shore casting around the lakes, Lake of the Isles, Calhoun, etc. I often came across guys fishing for carp, and having a ball catching these fresh water freight trains. But I wasn't going to stoop so low as to actually fish for carp. We killed them growing up by any means possible.

But as it were, I decided to give it a try. After all, know one recognized me down there. It was so simple, a can of corn. When you found your spot, take half the corn and throw it out in the water. Rig up with a #8 or 6 hook and a spilt shot or two, thread on the corn and start catching carp. Biggest was probably around 20 lbs. Fed a Hmong family, who graciously accepted it, for probably a couple of days...

haha, what a junk fish. yet....it's hard for me to admit, when I get one of these "undesirables" on the line, I have one hell of a good time bringing it in!

I've seen massive carp in several lakes, including lake minnetonka, Waconia, Green lake in Isanti amongst others. I couldn't imagine it would be difficult to find, target, and catch these monsters.

A good pair of polarized glasses on a sunny day, should help you spot some nice fish to target in the shallows.

Backwater section of the Coon Rapids dam, just throw some corn on a small hook and hang on. Any muddy bottom area will work, there are some huge ones in there.

Carp Tactic

Here is Aaron Wiebe from Uncut Angling showing a really interesting set up. He shows it at the beginning of the clip, but goes into more detail starting around 16:00. I'll be going for my first carp after ice is out on the TC lakes.

I would like to target Common Carp with a flyrod in the near future.
This guy seems to be a master. And from Minnesota.
roughfisher

Another goal would be Grass Carp in the south. They are strictly plant eaters but I hear one of the best baits for them is a cherry tomato!!

Caught all mine growing up in SE Mpls on corn in Minnehaha Creek where it enters the Mississippi. I remember some huge monsters. Of course, I was in elementary school...

I catch plenty of them on smaller rivers in the spring when I am sucker fishing. Bottom rig with a little chunk of crawler!

Thanks everyone. I was BSing with the guy at the Coon Rapids Dam a couple of years ago and told him I'd never caught a carp and he calmly told me that I had but just didn't know it. Pretty funny.
Maybe we should have a carp wing night at the dam...?

Best off having dinner w your exwife. Hooked a 10 lb carp one time fishing below linkksville dam on Mississippi in wis. One time. Slack water eddy. Bunch of boats watching thought it was a walleye. I mean jigging w a minnow.. got him to the net . And everyone laughing at me. Not funny but I was laughing

As a kid I used to make dough balls for carp. Wheaties, with some other crap mixed in . Can not remember the recipe . Does anybody else remember how to make Them?
.

If you want some serious big boys try Mille Lacs.There are a lot of 30-40s in there.Guys fly in from Europe to fish there.Met a guy from the UK who was there for 2 weeks specifically to fish for carp,said it was world class fishing. He had caught several 30+ pound carp.Carp are their #1 game fish and they STRICTLY catch and release. In fact they have special blankets to lay them on so as not to damage them. He said that he considered them excellent eating but would never kill one, there were plenty of bass,trout,and walleye for that, LOL! They have famous carp fishermen over there,just like our famous walleye and bass guys.He said we did not know what we had over here, all of their carp have been caught and released so many times they are very educated and difficult to catch. He was obviously in heaven!VERY interesting conversation.When we got home I did some research and found that he was right about everything and that they are among the most intelligent of all fish.Doug Stange of In Fisherman is a serious carp fisherman and recommends Mille Lacs.One last interesting fact,the US fish and forestry service spent a large amount of money stocking carp. I had thought it was accidental.

quote walllee: "As a kid I used to make dough balls for carp. Wheaties, with some other crap mixed in . Can not remember the recipe . Does anybody else remember how to make Them?
. "

i seem to remember using vanilla extract in the mix.

quote mgraber: "If you want some serious big boys try Mille Lacs.There are a lot of 30-40s in there.Guys fly in from Europe to fish there.Met a guy from the UK who was there for 2 weeks specifically to fish for carp,said it was world class fishing. He had caught several 30+ pound carp.Carp are their #1 game fish and they STRICTLY catch and release. In fact they have special blankets to lay them on so as not to damage them. He said that he considered them excellent eating but would never kill one, there were plenty of bass,trout,and walleye for that, LOL! They have famous carp fishermen over there,just like our famous walleye and bass guys.He said we did not know what we had over here, all of their carp have been caught and released so many times they are very educated and difficult to catch. He was obviously in heaven!VERY interesting conversation.When we got home I did some research and found that he was right about everything and that they are among the most intelligent of all fish.Doug Stange of In Fisherman is a serious carp fisherman and recommends Mille Lacs.One last interesting fact,the US fish and forestry service spent a large amount of money stocking carp. I had thought it was accidental."

These guys fly-in and fish the Red River of the north too. Carp fishing in Europe is for the elite not the common man as the ponds are usually private and you might have to join a club to fish.

We have fished the Red many times for monster cats and walleyes.There were a lot of big carp too,so I'm not surprised. I got a 23# carp there on a jig and 6# test while fishing for catfish bait,talk about a battle!

If you want to catch a carp, the best time of the year, in my opinion, is just around the corner. We always seem to catch them where small rivers enter the Mississippi (usually when fishing for suckers for cutbait for catfish). We get 'em on crawlers, right on the bottom.

They're actually one of my favorite fish to catch. Tons of fun.

You can also get them in any slackwater area. The bigger the better.

Outlet on Mille lacs at the Rum river there is some awful big carp at times. The mid nineties a commercial fishermen took out 1 million pounds of carp out of the lake. He finally quit when once he couldn't sell a load of 100'000 pounds so he dumped them on a farmers field.
The outlet once had a grated barrier at the outlet and carp would pile up so much trying to get downstream for like 250 feet out it looked like you could walk on top of them they were so thick.

In-Fishermen took a Frenchmen from Europe down to the Rum to fly fish. The Frenchmen said that big of carp in Europe and trip over there would be worth a $1000.00. They tried to get a tourist thing going here,but never heard any more.

I saw a lot of huge Carp in the southern bays on Mille Lacs when I used to Muskie fish down there...

Maybe Common Carp could help save the Mille Lacs area economy?

Who wants to go Carp fishing on Mille Lacs this spring? Another down side to a late spring...we won't be able to target them a lot of places until after opener :(

I can't help the OP, but wanted to share a carp story. Me and a buddy were bluegill fishing at a private pond. The owner had stocked a few grass carp to keep the vegetation down. My buddy spotted a huge carp cruising the shore and plopped his red worm in front of its nose. The carp took the bait and the fun began.

EDIT: For some reason, I can't get the photo of that giant to post. I'll try again later.

Used to bowfish them as a kid in the springtime when they are in shallow water in some small rivers in NW MN. Anyone who bow hunts should rig their bow with a reel and give this a try...loads of fun!

When I was 9 years old ( I can remember this like it was yesterday) I was fishing Bassets Creek in North Minneapolis where I grew up. I was fishing in the lake section of bassets that runs along the 6 hole at Theodore wirth golf course. I use to catch Bass Norhtern Pike and crappies in there. I hooked into something while casting a mepps number 5 and it fought like a freight train. I had already made up in my mind that it was a trophy carp and I was just thinking what kind of background i was going to use for the mount. I had been fighting this fish for almost 40 minutes when I caught the first glimpse of my trophy. It was about a thirty pound carp that I had snagged through the dorsal fin with my spinner. The power of that fish was unbelievable, and since it was hooked through the dorsal fin it had free reign to swim. I have never forgot that battle , but I still wish it would have been a Pike :-)

Conn Rapids dam is a good spot. Can of corn on a big hook with a spark plug for weight.

quote Basspro69: "When I was 9 years old ( I can remember this like it was yesterday) I was fishing Bassets Creek in North Minneapolis where I grew up. I was fishing in the lake section of bassets that runs along the 6 hole at Theodore wirth golf course. I use to catch Bass Norhtern Pike and crappies in there. I hooked into something while casting a mepps number 5 and it fought like a freight train. I had already made up in my mind that it was a trophy carp and I was just thinking what kind of background i was going to use for the mount. I had been fighting this fish for almost 40 minutes when I caught the first glimpse of my trophy. It was about a thirty pound carp that I had snagged through the dorsal fin with my spinner. The power of that fish was unbelievable, and since it was hooked through the dorsal fin it had free reign to swim. I have never forgot that battle , but I still wish it would have been a Pike :-)"

As a kid and young adult I used to fish the Minnesota and Cottonwood rivers that surround the town I grew up in. I can't tell you how many big carp I've tail hooked and been taken for a big ride. Fun as anything out there.

Arlo, I think you are on to something. It is a marketing problem waiting to be figured out. Carp in open water, eel pout through the ice, 1500 per day, rich Europeans and Japanese businessmen expensing it.

Now that's a carp, Mate. See story above.

quote AndySG: "
Now that's a carp, Mate. See story above.


"

Great fish!

quote lundojam: "Arlo, I think you are on to something. It is a marketing problem waiting to be figured out. Carp in open water, eel pout through the ice, 1500 per day, rich Europeans and Japanese businessmen expensing it. "

Now all we got to do is built a lodge with a lot of carp replica's.

Rice creek off of county road 10 in Mounds View is loaded right now. I wish I had more time in the metro...wait...what did I just type?

I love carp caught a 31.5in common last week at a state lake on a wheatie ball. To make wheatie balls we mash up wheaties add a little powdered sugar mix with water, some times we need to add more water if they are too stiff or add more wheaties if too soft. just remember they will stiffen up over time so error on the side of too soft.

As for catching them on the fly. I fish in our local streams and catch lots of them on a size 12 olive bugger. This fish was caught in lake michigan on a small craw pattern.

Anthony

Arlo-
Thanks. Where can a guy fish it? In that park or something?

quote lundojam: "Arlo-
Thanks. Where can a guy fish it? In that park or something?"

There is an area along cty 10 to pull off and park. I assume it's public as there are a lot of people fishing and a paved trail parallels the river. You could also park at the Americ-Inn or the Mermaid bar as it's right across the street.
I only had my Crappie rod with me and could only land the small ones. Canned corn. What an under-rated sport fish!

Hmm....we just go to a relatively shallow cove and drop off a 40lb. bag of hog pellets and a cinder block. Come back the next day and fish with corm 'til our arms are sore. Don't know about legality in Minn., it is legal here(Okla.). One of the local bass clubs runs a tournament on an area lake for under-privileged kids this way. usually a morning thing, they catch 10-30lb. ers 'til they are whupped! Usually takes around 400 lbs. to win(well, they are ALL winners!!).