Carp Love French Fries?

In the fall of the year normally the last week of September my son, brother, I and a friend takes a 3 hour trip to McConnelsville, Ohio. This is a fall fishing trip in which normally we stay about three days. We fish an area owned by AEP (America Electric Power Company) this area is open to the public; all it takes is a permit that you can print out from their web site. AEP has around 300 lakes to fish some are very small while others are over a mile long. But this is not a story about fishing in the AEP area this is a story about the Muskingum River Carp and Catfish.

Each day we track around on the AEP area and then in the evening we go back to our hotel, the Three Sisters Inn on NW 60. That’s the great thing about our trip; we fish for Bass all day then around 4:00 pm or so we head back to the hotel clean-up a little then get something to eat. Because of the time it takes to get back to the lakes and the fact that across the road from the hotel is the Muskingum River and the hotel has is own docks we had to try a little river fishing. We usually never fish for Carp but we figured “hey why not”. I did not come on this trip to sit around the hotel room and watch TV, I can do that at home.

This is where it gets interesting but I need to give you the layout of the area. The hotel is on the main drive and next to the hotel is a small restaurant; no big chain just a small town restaurant but really good food. A short distance from the restaurant is a McDonald’s restaurant. I know you’re saying to yourself what does this have to do with Carp and Catfish fishing; hang on and I will tie it all together.

OK, this is when I decided to cross the road and give Carp and Catfish angling a try. The others of my group were less then enthusiastic about Carp fishing or Cat fishing. You may say they were a little picky about fishing for anything but Bass. I was looking at my fishing gear and chose the heaviest rod and line I had with me. I made up a Kentucky rig with a single hook. But here is the part of the story that was a little hard for people to believe. As I was getting my fishing gear together one of the sisters from the Three Sister Hotel tells me the best bait to use McDonald’s french fries; yes, you read this correctly, McDonald’s french fries. So having never fished for Carp before, I listened to any advice I could get. So I walk down to the restaurant and purchase my bait; by the way this is the first time I could snack on my fishing bait.

So here I am on the docks with my french fries, my rod and reel, and ready to try my luck. About the time I get ready to cast the others got bored and came to watch me fish and make fun of my bait. Well with in a couple minutes I was pulling in a 5 LB Carp which gave me I heck of a fight and cleared the water a couple times just like a Bass. I loaded my hook back up with my special bait and it was not long before I was pulling in another fish but this time it was a Catfish. Well it was not long before the dock had four lines out with the special bait and we were all catching fish. My brother who never fishes for Carp became a real fan in a very short time and landed more fish then the rest of us. We had a bright ideal to try the french fries that are served at the little restaurant I mentioned; but could not get a bite. Fish know what they like and close does not count.

The moral of this story is that old dogs can learn new tricks we sure did.

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