Oconto River: Personal Best Carp

With a lot of success in the morning, I wanted to get out again.  I also knew Gretchen was anxious to get out of the house, so I knew fishing from the boat with everyone was not an option.  We decided to hit the old breakwater park.

We got a late start there as I was sleeping from a long nap.  We arrived around 7:30 pm.  It was a beautiful night, with little breeze.  The sun was setting fast.  I really was not worried about what I may catch, so I put on a small treble hook, an slip barrel sinker and gave it a cast.

For the first half hour or so, there were a few nibbles here or there.  At about 8, my line just started moving slowly but surely.  I carefully reeled in some of the slack and set the hook.  The line began to peel really fast, the way a salmon would run.  The fish quickly went into a dense patch of weeds and stopped moving.  Multiple times, I tried to get the fish to move, but I only had 8 lb test, and I was not about to loose this fish.  Finally, literally after a 15 minute stand still, the fish began to swim out of the weeds and round 2 of the battle began.  He did eventually tire, and without a net, I carefully pulled my new personal best carp to shore.  He was just over 16 lbs.

Landing the big fish without a net was a new experience.

A close-up look at this big ugly common carp.

Holding my prized catch as the sun dips down on Green Bay.

By the time I was done CPR’ing this fish, it was pitch black.  I felt that it was a great night with this one fish, so I called it quits.

Fish Totals:
1 Common Carp