One of the most common fish in the south bay of the Independence Grove Forest Preserve in Libertyville decided Sunday was a beautiful day to hide from fishing lines, for the most part.
The first Carp-O-Rama brought out lots of anglers, but the common carp stayed uncommon with just half a dozen being caught by early afternoon.
“That one frost scared them all down,” said Sara Page, manager at the marina where registration for the $10 tournament was located, referring to the hard frost Saturday night.
But the interest was there.
“We had a pretty good turnout,” said Colin Ley, assistant manager, who arrived to find about a dozen people ready to go at 6:30 a.m. Sunday. About 50 anglers had signed up and they were still arriving in the afternoon hoping to catch the big one before the 5 p.m. closing, when prizes for biggest carp and most carp would be awarded.
Don Schlicker, 40, of Volo decided to try carp fishing for the very first time with his sons, Holden, 7, and Lleyton, 10. They ended up landing four carp for a total of 44.7 pounds.
The biggest carp of the day as of 1 p.m., a 24-pounder, was caught by the deck, near the visitor’s center where little kids throw popcorn or other food into the water, said Ley of the forest preserve. Too many carp, a non-native fish from eastern Europe, churn up the water as a bottom feeder and hurt water quality, he said.
Schlicker ate carp once, battered and fried at a restaurant in Springfield, but he wasn’t keeping any of these. He Googled carp bait on the Internet and came up with a cornmeal, cherry jello, sugar, molasses, vanilla and hemp seeds, all of which he got at a local grocery store and then blended to a point it would stay on a hook.
“It’s worked,” he said,” adding they have also brought in some channel catfish. He knew there were lots of carp because they have paddled boated before and they could see them in the south bay, an area usually closed to fishing.
Asked if the big fish were hard to reel in, Lleyton said, “Not really,” and his brother Holden said, “No.” Their father said some of the carp have been great fighters, making a run that makes the reel whine as it lets out line.
“The big ones were making some huge runs,” Don said. “When it starts running you hear the music (the line going out) and that is fun.”
Other fishermen were not so lucky, like Oscar Blomgren of Green Oaks and his grandson Matthew Willey, 5, of Libertyville, who got skunked. Blomgren said Matthew is usually the first to get a fish on their outings, usually getting the biggest fish and the most fish. He wanted to teach him to fish like his father taught Blomgren to fish.
Matthew helped other people net or get their fish to shore.
“What I like about fishing is helping people get their fish,” he said, adding that grandpa has shown him how to hold the fish out for a picture so it looks bigger.
“It was fun,” he said while packing up their gear.
Paul Culbertson, 23, of Waukegan was using corn and hot dogs as bait and he planned on keeping any carp he caught.
“I smoke them, that’s really the only way,” he said, soaking them in vinegar first and slow cooking them for seven or eight hours. “If you cook it right it’s pretty much like a catfish.
“It’s been surprisingly slow,” he said from the deck near the visitor’s center. He blamed the frost, too.
Nearby was Jevon Johnson, 38, of North Chicago who was there with his wife, Dana, and son, Jevaris, 21. Johnson had caught a 10-pounder earlier in the morning and planned to stay the whole day.
“I don’t even eat seafood. I just like to catch big fish,” he said. They used dough and jello mixture for their bait.
“It was fun preparing for today,” said Dana, bundled up against the cool breeze. “Now I’m sitting here enjoying nature.”
Her son has caught large northern pike and carp at Independence Grove in the past. The family said they love coming to Independence Grove.
“”It’s just the thrill,” said the younger Johnson, “I love going fishing out here.”
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