May Fishing Sessions: 05/02 - Carping at the John Heinz Wildlife Refugee (Tinicum, PA)

Hello, Blog Readers!

Here is my fishing report for May 2nd:

--- May 2nd, 2015 ---

Location: Darby Creek (@John Heinz Wildlife Refugee)
Time: 12:00-5:00 p.m.

Fishes caught: 

-- None

Video:

I didn't really catch any fish; however, my buddy Marc "The Shark" caught a nice Common Carp (Cyprinus carpio)! Therefore, here's the footage for you guys:

Here is Marc "The Shark" reeling in his 3rd ever Common Carp. As the video indicates, he is still learning on the trends of Carp fishing. A fine catch regardless! 

Goal:

The goal for the day was to catch any type of Carp at the John Heinz Wildlife Refugee. As a matter of fact, Marc's father caught a beautiful Mirror Carp at that exact same spot, a couple weeks earlier:


Reverend Ronald -- a.k.a. Jellybean -- with a partial Mirror Carp from Darby Creek. He is still learning the trends of Carp fishing; thus, he is improving day-by-day. Photo Credit: Grand Master "Fish-Shoreman" "Philly.

By the way...note that pre-chumming was not done! 

Setup:


I used three rods for this fishing session. The first setup consisted of a Cortland Endurance 9' noodle rod with a Shimano Symetre 4000FL and 12lbs Berkley Vanish Fluorocarbon line. The second setup was a heavy action Daiwa Samurai rod + reel with 20lbs Berkley Vanish Fluorocarbon line. The third set up was a Daiwa Samurai medium action rod with a Shimano Sedona 2500FD and also 12lbs Berkley Vanish Fluorocarbon line.. All setups were rigged with a 1 oz. egg sinker, a medium sized Eagle Claw golden snap-swivel, and a snelled size #6 Eagle Claw hook.

Canned kernel corn was used for bait during the entire session.

Summary:

My friend Marc "The Shark" from the Grand Master "Fish-Shoreman" "Philly" invited me for a Carp session at Tinicum (John Heinz Wildlife Refugee). I arrived there around 12 p.m., after taking the Market Frankford line EL and the Bus 37.

I setup up three rods on Darby Creek, right across the big shallow Lake at John Heinz. Chummed half a can of corn and started the waiting game! Later in the day, Marc "The Shark;" Benjamin "Line Crosser;" and Bryant "Boy Scout" joined me as well. Folks -- do not ask me where these nicknames came from! Hah. The Grand Master crew likes to baptize their members with nicknames, and my nickname in the crew just happens to be "The Chosen One." As a matter of fact, I even have a T-shirt for it:

That's right. Besides being the "owner" of the Extreme Philly Fishing Organization, I also decided to join the Grand Master crew to maximize my fishing network. Note that those guys are totally drama free! In other words, good people to hang out with. If you want to follow them, here's their Facebook page.

Anyways...I ended up missing one Channel Catfish (Ictalurus punctatus) in the range of 1.5lbs. That was my only fish for the day! I reeled the "beast" in and it unhooked itself right in front of me. Thus, I couldn't even take a photo of it. Sigh...

Marc "The Shark" ended the day with one Common Carp -- his 3rd Carp ever! So, I'm very happy for him. He's new in Carp angling; however, he's picking up the techniques and I'm sure that soon he will become a very conscientious Carp angler! His handling skills are getting better as we speak. 

Benjamin (a.k.a. "Bulldog," but I call him the Line Crosser because he crosses my line all the time) ended his day with a nice Channel Catfish. Bryant "Boy Scout" finished the day with a White Perch (Morone americana) and a Brown Bullhead (Ameiurus nebulosus).

Photos:

A nice view of the tidal Darby Creek in the John Heinz Wildlife Refugee. An awesome spot for Catfish and Carp! Family trips are highly encouraged.

A Duck swimming in the Creek. All hail wildlife! 

Benjamin "Bulldog" "Line Crosser" with his nice Channel Catfish. Definitely a good catch! Between you and me: he does some magic with his lines, man. He uses heavy sinkers, but somehow, his lines end up drifting right on top of yours! Thus, "The Line Crosser." 

Marc "The Shark" with a Common Carp. The same one you saw in the video.

After my fishing session at the John Heinz, I decided to join local angler Louis A. C. at the Fairmount Dam. Louis is the owner of the Philadelphia Anglers Club fishing forum, and our local pro Carp angler. As a matter of fact, Louis is the one who wrote the Carp page for the PA Fish and Boat Commission.

Louis with a neat Gizzard Shad (Dorosoma cepedianum) from the Schuylkill River.

Best of luck for all of us,

Long Days and Pleasant Nights,

Sincerely,

Leo S.

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