Our Flying Carp Adventure (lots of pics)!!

[LungBuster 21]

About a month ago a few buddies of mine, my dad, and I decided to take trip down to the Illinois River after those crazy flying carp. We have never done this and it was unsure how it was going to turn out but it was awesome. Luckily Ryan (Oxfordbowhunter) did lots of planning so we were well prepared.

We stayed in Peru, IL and fished Friday afternoon through Saturday night. We took my dad's Startcraft and rigged it up with multiple halo lights so we could fish at night. During the day shoots we were kicking up a fair amount of fish and we were able to get a couple out of the air during the day. At night is where the action really started. These fish were plain out violent!! Everbody was hit multiple times by fish but no one was seriously hurt. :lol:

Brent (Ferris_StateHunter) got hit in the chest by a 15lb fish while he was driving and it knocked him off his seat right on the floor. While he was falling back he hit the throttle and everbody in the boat went for a tumble!! Ryan almost fell off the back of the boat and Chris n I went falling back into the boat. No body was hurt but everbody was laughing about Brent getting smacked with a big fish right in the chest. Then a few minutes later I get hit right in the head by another big fish which knocked me off my seat!

We may be crazy but we all had a blast and have tons of great stories from the trip (Like Chris trying to club all the fish that were jumping in the boat!).

Enjoy the Pics!!


My dad's first carp. He shot it on his very first shot of the whole trip!!
http://i249.photobucket.com/albums/gg231/Ruger0020/IMG_5332-1.jpg

Me with my first flying carp
http://i249.photobucket.com/albums/gg231/Ruger0020/IMG_5346.jpg

Chris with the first fish that jumped in the boat.
http://i249.photobucket.com/albums/gg231/Ruger0020/IMG_5364.jpg

[LungBuster 21]

Brent with a nice fish and a evil look!! (I had to Brent)
http://i249.photobucket.com/albums/gg231/Ruger0020/IMG_5369.jpg


http://i249.photobucket.com/albums/gg231/Ruger0020/IMG_5410.jpg

http://i249.photobucket.com/albums/gg231/Ruger0020/IMG_5400.jpg

Look right over the motor. You can see the fish and Ryan's arrow!
http://i249.photobucket.com/albums/gg231/Ruger0020/IMG_5405.jpg

Look right at the very top of the bow on the left
http://i249.photobucket.com/albums/gg231/Ruger0020/IMG_5418.jpg

http://i249.photobucket.com/albums/gg231/Ruger0020/IMG_5419.jpg

http://i249.photobucket.com/albums/gg231/Ruger0020/IMG_5420.jpg

[Frantz]

Dude, thanks for sharing the pics, that looks like a blast, even with the minor injuries.

[QuackerWhacker]

That looks like a great time. Awesome pics and story!

[wartfroggy]

wow! That would be a blast! And boy are those some goofy looking fish. Every time I see a pic of them, I can't get used to it. Nothing like our common carp. And although they would be fun to shoot down there, I really hope they never make it up to these parts. Though, it is probably just a matter of time. :sad:

[Potential]

great pics! sounds like a blast!

[buck11pt24]

Thanks for letting me tag along, I had a blast. I think those pictures came out awesome, but you forgot one of the best ones, Tom driving the boat with the club:lol:. It is priceless.

[Ferris_StateHunter]

Excellent job!

IF for any of you who are looking at these pictures are interested in going, I would give it my full 150% recommendation

[jackbob42]

Did you guys have a guide , or was it a " do it yourself " type thing?
Looks like a blast ! :lol::lol::lol:

[Steve]

Great action shots.

[LungBuster 21]

Did you guys have a guide , or was it a " do it yourself " type thing?
Looks like a blast ! :lol::lol::lol:

It was a "do it ourself thing." The main guy that charters down there for this charges $1,000 for a day trip for 4 guys. It was pretty easy to do on our own I thought. It was about a 5.5 hour drive and we stayed 2 nights in a motel room. We talked to the local bait shop guy to head us in the right direction and we were on our way!!

[Ferris_StateHunter]

Did you guys have a guide , or was it a " do it yourself " type thing?
Looks like a blast ! :lol::lol::lol:

Everyone down there was very "friendly" to us on the water.:lol::lol: They wanted those fish gone, and it seemed like everyone was willing to give us spots to try and have our fill with the fish.

[2PawsRiver]

Well heck, now I am going to have to give that a try. Thanks for the post and pictures....great stuff.:)

[ddolph]

excellent! THANKS FOR SHARING, IT DEFINATELY IS ON MY LIST OF THINGS TO DO!

[Silverman]

Good pics, looks like a blast, i might have to go try that some day!

[tommy-n]

very cool, looks you you guys had a blast

[stickem]

Good pics, looks like a blast, i might have to go try that some day!
the sad thing about this Matt is in a couple of years we wont have to go outa Michigan to shoot them...:sad:

[Jr.BowmanMI]

Is your dad Tom Wright?

[LungBuster 21]

Is your dad Tom Wright?

yes. Our video will be on this Sunday night on ABC 12 for On The Trail.

[OXFORDBOWHUNTER]

This trip was unreal! Can’t wait to do it again. Great job with the camera…you took some excellent action shots!

[UltimateOutdoorsman]

Awesome photos!

[TrekJeff]

Beyond awesome!!! Can you put up a link for the video?

[steelhead05]

we've been wanting to go down there,do you need a fishing license and how much is it? and what city do you go out of? we got a 17 ft roughneck flat bottom with a 60/40 merc 4stroke jet would that work any info would be great and is the action still goin on right now?

[LungBuster 21]

we've been wanting to go down there,do you need a fishing license and how much is it? and what city do you go out of? we got a 17 ft roughneck flat bottom with a 60/40 merc 4stroke jet would that work any info would be great and is the action still goin on right now?

They had a 10 day fishing license for $13 which we got. We stayed in Peru, IL and launched out of Spring Valley (only about a 15minute drive from hotel in Peru). Our boat had 75 mercurey (not a 4 stroke) which I thought did pretty well. We would drive the shorelines in about 4 to 10 foot of water and wait to see them start jumpin. On average the boat was going about 7mph with the motot far up as possible to create a large wake. I'm not sure if it was the right way but it worked for us.

Overall I thought it was an easy trip to plan and I would highly reccommend it. According from what we read the lower the water level the better. It sounds like their best months for them are July and August. Also if you rig up lights and a generator to fish at night it will make your trip 10 times better. The fish were way more active for us at night. Let me know if you guys go and I can tell you where some of the better spots we found. One of the best spots was only about 200 yards away from the launch out of spring valley

[Ferris_StateHunter]

They had a 10 day fishing license for $13 which we got. We stayed in Peru, IL and launched out of Spring Valley (only about a 15minute drive from hotel in Peru). Our boat had 75 mercurey (not a 4 stroke) which I thought did pretty well. We would drive the shorelines in about 4 to 10 foot of water and wait to see them start jumpin. On average the boat was going about 7mph with the motot far up as possible to create a large wake. I'm not sure if it was the right way but it worked for us.

Overall I thought it was an easy trip to plan and I would highly reccommend it. According from what we read the lower the water level the better. It sounds like their best months for them are July and August. Also if you rig up lights and a generator to fish at night it will make your trip 10 times better. The fish were way more active for us at night. Let me know if you guys go and I can tell you where some of the better spots we found. One of the best spots was only about 200 yards away from the launch out of spring valley

To add to that information, the spring valley launch is the only 24 hour launch we found, and to top it off it was free of charge.

[steelhead05]

how do you think and jet prop would work? its a 60/40 jet if I trimmed it up as far as I could you think it would be enough to get em going?

[COHORST1]

Looks like a lot of fun

[LungBuster 21]

how do you think and jet prop would work? its a 60/40 jet if I trimmed it up as far as I could you think it would be enough to get em going?

i'm sure it will get them going especially at night. In some spots we were just getting setup with the generator and lights and only going a little over idle speed and fish would surface and jump.
From what I read it sounds like the more vibration in the water the better. People that said the 4 strokes don't work as good as traditional outboards (but this is what I read from another forum). Overall I bet you will get action especially at night.

[LungBuster 21]

Here is the link to the "On The Trail" segment where you can view some of your trip.

http://abclocal.go.com/wjrt/channel?section=resources/lifestyle_community/outdoors&id=5767076

[redtick]

Very cool, guys. I'll be going down there in a couple weeks after those flying rats-with-gills!:)