PA Paylake Carpin’ - The Way It Is | carp fishing france

carp fishing france

There are reportedly over 200 paylakes in the state of Pennsylvania (PA) and a couple dozen or so of those are in southwest PA. Of these, a handful of them are more known for the fishing contests they hold and more specifically the carp contests, which this article will concentrate on. While we don't have as many carp paylakes as they do in the south, especially in North Carolina (NC), there is still a group of dedicated and loyal carpers, if somewhat limited, that fish the handful of carp paylakes we currently do have.

I’ve said it before, the NC paylakes are the big leagues, especially when it comes to puttin' up the money, and the PA paylakes seem to be heading in the same direction as far as prize money goes. What follows will be a little background and some basic information on the PA paylakes. The PA contest paylakes have been around for at least five decades and it's my understanding that initially the carp (among other fish) themselves were the prize, being taken home by the anglers for the table Much like the way the popularity of carp as a food staple declined, the same thing apparently concurrently occurred at the paylakes until somewhere along the line the catch and release money contests that are popular now came about.

There are actually more trout/general paylakes here in W. PA, as mentioned earlier. The paylakes that I speak of here are kinda seasonal and also stock trout and some stock catfish as well. Many paylakes are actually a series of ponds and usually have at least two ponds on up to as many as five. The trout and/or catfish sometimes are stocked in separate ponds and sometimes they share the pond with the carp, just depends on the lake and the number and size of ponds. From late fall through winter and into mid spring, trout are the main draw at most contest paylakes and there are tagged trout as well as money contests for trout (usually go by length), in addition to a limit of trout (and smaller catfish) being allowed to be kept.

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carp fishing france