How would I snag big head carp?

[King31]

When I was emailed and said that it was still illegal I couldnt believe it. They sure put up a heck of a fight. They will swim all the way to the bottom of the river a time or two before they finally tire out. lots of fun

[CATCHEMALL]

Here is my thought on the matter. If there was a way to make sure the big heads were the only thing that you would snag I think the Fish and Game would say ok. But there is no way to prevent you from accidently snagging other game fish.

[SteveM4A1]

use a spoon with a bigger treble and say you were fishing for bass or whatever. I was fishing a 7" swimbait with two trebles last year and accidentally hooked one on the ohio. about an hour later (12 lbs line) I had that 40 pounder in the boat. killed the slimy thing and threw it in the middle of a field for the coyotes.

[Mean Morone]

So let me understand this. There is a season in KY on spoonbills and other fish are snagged in the attempt but it is completely legal, but you can't snag a big head carp that you can see? Hmm. It is also ok to put an arrow in them, but you can't snag them. Ok, makes perfect sense.

[kentuckykingfisher]

so i got on the departments website and It says. 2 fish daily limit on paddlefish and no daily limits on any other rough fish. Regardless of condition, all sport fish taken by gigging and snagging must be immediately returned to the water. surely they don't consider the big head carp as a sport fish the way I see it you can legally snag Asian carp. correct me if im wrong or misunderstood what fish and wild is saying.

[Colbyt]

I snagged once once when he hit my bait and missed. We had to pull the anchors and that sucker towed us about 150 feet before the hook broke. This was 3 good sized fellers in a 14 48 boat.

[RoadToad]

so i got on the departments website and It says. 2 fish daily limit on paddlefish and no daily limits on any other rough fish. Regardless of condition, all sport fish taken by gigging and snagging must be immediately returned to the water. surely they don't consider the big head carp as a sport fish the way I see it you can legally snag Asian carp. correct me if im wrong or misunderstood what fish and wild is saying.

You MIGHT be able to keep a silver jumping carp (ALL carp are Asian, btw) that you accidentally snagged. But for the reason that CATCHEMALL explained, "there is no way to prevent you from accidently snagging other game fish," if you get caught attempting to snag any fish but paddlefish in season, you are going to get cited.

[King31]

the only thing I disagree with catchemall is that when you get out on the river it is only schools of these fish, so catching something else would be unlikely. Other fish do not swim with them, believe me, when you are out on the river alone on a summer evening and all you see is black mass of carp, it is crazy. carp in no way shape or form should be considered a sport fish.

[RoadToad]

Here's the reg: "Gigging means spearing or impaling fish on any pronged or barbed instrument attached to the end of any rigid object. Snagging means taking fish or other aquatic animals by a rapid drawing motion (rather than enticement by bait) using a hand-held pole and attached line with a single or one multiple fish hook. Only one single or treble hook may be attached to the line. Except, in Green River, Rolling Fork River and their tributaries, up to five single or treble hooks may be used for snagging. A rod legal for snagging must be equipped with line, guides and a reel. The rod length restriction is now removed. The statewide season for gigging and/or snagging rough fish is from February 1 through May 10. It is illegal to possess a gig on a stream or lake or in a boat from November 1 through January 31. A person may gig or snag fish from the bank of a stream during the day or night. Gigging and snagging is not legal from a platform, except that gigging is legal from a boat on lakes 500 surface acres or larger and only during daylight hours."

So, I guess you could stand on the bank and snag them, in season, even though the season was really put in place for paddlefish. But if you're in a boat on the river trying to snag anything, that's illegal.

http://fw.ky.gov/pdf/2013fishguideregs.pdf

[Longdrive]

When I have seen guys snag carp they throw what amounts to a drop shot rig, but much bigger. Instead of bait hooks they have huge trebles. They seem to prefer high ratio baitcasters. The rig is launched across a likely spot, as long as it is outside of the "no snagging beyond this point" sign and then is ripped through the water with large swooping strokes of the broomstick like rod.
As previously stated this is for rough fish, but anything else that gets in the way has to be thrown back. Usually these guys toss the shad to the side and when they have enough they go back to catfishing on the bottom.

[riverrat12]

Tyme it is illegal to snag anywhere in IND. do to some greedy spoonbillers a few years back. You can snag on the Ky side,but as stated it is illegal to snag from a boat. Hope this helps. Chuck

[Tyme2fish]

Well ain't this a bummer!! I just wanted to have a little fun and put my small dent in the carp population.

Thanks for all the info.