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SURPRISE! Definitely NOT a bream!

But it ate a worm under a float I'd just thrown to bream. A gentle nibble, and then I set the hook on what felt like a rock... until it moved! A twenty minute battle on 6lb test. My little bream rod is a CHAMP!

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Comment by Marisa Armendariz on May 3, 2011 at 7:16am: What A Beastly Fish ! (: Nice Catch .

Comment by Mike Stacy on May 2, 2011 at 6:23pm: 30 minute fight, the fish made about 5 runs, and my little reel was screaming ALMOST as loud as I was! Nobody else was there to see, and I was sure I was going to lose it... but here's the irony of fate: I hooked a big dip net off the bottom on an earlier cast, and it was handy when the grassy was pooped, and ready to scoop... how did the net get in the lake? My host said his grandson had lured up carp with bread and tried to scoop one a couple years earlier... DIDN'T WORK SO WELL! But everything came full circle... the net left with a runaway carp, and then came back on the dock with a WHUPPED one! Heck of a day... but I never got to go test my rod on another big grassie. Got it here with me. I'll take it to the beach and pit it against any challengers... Wish us both luck! That old rod fed me for years...

Comment by James Micheal Landrum on May 2, 2011 at 12:34pm: "Holy --CARP---Batman!!!!!"

Comment by John Sheehan on May 2, 2011 at 6:26am: Fantastic catch !! The size of the tail is hugh .So is the fishes gut!

Comment by David, aka, "McScruff" on May 2, 2011 at 3:10am: Helluva nice fish, Mike. We used to fish em that size u pin WI when I was a kid. Hooking one while rigged for brim (the appropriate Southern spelling) had to be the fight of the century. I am impressed.

PS I thought it was funny, when you said southern lakes are "creepy." I've never heard it described quite that way before - but I get it.

Comment by Mike Stacy on May 1, 2011 at 7:44pm: A grass carp. Caught it on a 6 lb spinning rod fishing for bream. SURPRISE!!!

Comment by jacob wilson on May 1, 2011 at 7:18pm: wat kinda carp is that?

Comment by Mike Stacy on May 20, 2010 at 7:37pm: OK! The rod tip is fixed, and I'll be going back to catch another carp on PURPOSE in the next few days. I've found a you-tube type video camera to borrow. The rod is 20 years old, and saw ten years of serious use in Hawaii. This is an old friend... and if it shatters, I will salute it! If not, I've got a tested rod that can fling 1oz of weight to the horizon. I spent $70 at bass pro shop today, and weighted foam floats for this rod were part of it. I think it will survive the carp. I'll be fishing Lake Lorman in Madison County Mississippi. The new state record carp was caught on a 7 weight fly rod there recently by J.D. McKeigney. The story is in the Sunday May 10 Clarion Ledger in the outdoors section, and probably available at clarionledger.com. He tied a fly meant specifically for carp, paddled out in his kayak, and spent 4 1/2 hours battling a leviathan mudsucker! 45 minutes of it were spent swimming, trying to get his line out of a snag. I swim Lorman. It's nice, but all southern lakes are creepy. Lorman has no gators... that anyone has SEEN... but that just means more snakes and turtles. J.D. set out to set a record, and his determination is as amazing as the fish he caught. My hat is off to him! way to fish, J.D.! Yeah! I'm going to go pull on a carp from a dock, most likely, and if the beast tangles my line in logs, I will NOT be swimming.
My trip to bass pro also resulted in a new tackle box, and a small pile of bream tackle which has been loaded into it. I have a 10 ft telescoping rod now, and poppers for my 7wt 8'6" Ugly Stick Light flyrod. This will be the Summer of Bream for me. I am fishing the water of my childhood, and I am content. Life is sweet.

Comment by Josh Milczski (Omaha) on May 20, 2010 at 7:13am: Nice surprsise!

Comment by Mike Stacy on May 19, 2010 at 7:41pm: A surprise, for sure! I've been surprised a few times. This was the biggest, but not the best. I've had catfish pounce on crickets I sunk for bream. I like eating catfish! They'll straighten an aberdeen hook out quick though. When I sink crickets after sundown, I have stronger hooks. They seem to know though, and prefer straightening out my aberdeens. I do get some of them, but I've always been amazed that a BIG FAT CAT will home in on a single cricket. I've lost a ten pounder at boat side. I was using a small gold salmon egg hook when the carp bit, and that won't straighten. I've pulled out my steelhead rod, and it needs a new tip. If it can survive a carp, it can survive anything, and it will be back in the quiver. I'd considered retiring it with honors after ten years hard use in Hawaii... catching every fish on the reef... but I think this old friend has some fight left in it.