About Me
Simply put, Blackstone Carp is a collection of friends who enjoy fishing together. While Erik is the front man or face of the group, there is much that goes on behind the scenes to make everything function smoothly. Nate helps support the website while Liz brings her creative touch and artistry to the group. Simon shares his love of odd smelling baits and English style of fishing, while Ezra helps foster ideas toward new and improved boilies and flavors. It is the combined knowledge of each that makes Blackstone Carp so successful on the banks.
Our website was developed to showcase our video and written blogs. It will also offer a variety of tutorials and resources. We firmly believe that by sharing our obsession, and trust us it is an obsession, we can help support and foster a future for carp and carp angling. That is our mission.
This is a good question and many... moreWhat are boilies?
This is a good question and many American anglers are new to the concept. A boilie is basically a dough bait that has been designed for a specific fish, usually carp and then boilied to make it stand up to pesk fish, turtles, distance casting, crayfish etc. They are best fished on a hair rig, though they can be used in various ways. They can be prepared in different ways either through ingredients or cooking methods to make them "pop-ups" as well, which are boilies that float.
For this article we will focus on standard boilies. These are typically designed to be beneficial to the carp. High in protien, high in carbohydrates, good nutrition, amino acids...basically fish food to not only attract fish but feed them and keep them coming back. Carp are notoriously curious and will pick up many things to try them. This accounts for many fish on the banks. Carp will only be fooled so many times on baits that offer nothing though, and in waters that are heavily fished a bait... less
In the grand scheme of things it is a minor request I guess. I... moreIn the grand scheme of things it is a minor request I guess. I notice however that when I created my albums and pput my videos up that there was no carp category. Sure we can put them in freshwater/other or Monster fish ( if we are lucky lol ) but as the site grows and we get more folks, especially from Europe, it would be nice to have a label all our own :).
My thanks in advance, I know running websites can be tedious at times heh, though yours is far better then my own amateur attempt!
Hey from Masschusetts. Been fishing since I was 9 years... moreHey from Masschusetts. Been fishing since I was 9 years old...well before prolly but those are some of my first memories really. That puts me at over 25 years of fishing..and still just as obsessed. I fish multiple times per week if possible and am basically a "carp bum", much like John Gierach, except for, as I've said carp...which I have mainly fished for over the last 6 years or so. I have put my spin gear down for all other species, except carp..instead choosing to chase bass/trout/panfish and all the rest on the fly, though to be honest I am still fairly new to fly fishing and tying.
Anyway we run a website here in Massachusetts call www.blackstonecarp.com, where we showcase our you-tube blogs and have started building some tutorials and such to help others around here get into carp fishing and stop looking at them as a "trash" fish. We also host a yearly fishing derby as well as a few other events, and are volunteers in the National Park Service.
I had a lady once come up to me at one of our fishing... moreI had a lady once come up to me at one of our fishing demo's..since I use the 12 foot carp rods..so she says in all seriousness:
"Nice rod, I'll bet the fights are long and hard with that thing..."
Mark Callaghan said:I understand if people took it wrong,my... moreMark Callaghan said:I understand if people took it wrong,my apologies! wont happen again Erik.cheer's
Haha yeah bud no worries..I'm jus giving ya a hard time :) I got a good laugh at it as well..things in type can be trasnlated very out of context somedays lol!
Hey and welcome bud. I look forward to seeing many of your... moreHey and welcome bud. I look forward to seeing many of your adventures and hopefully checking out that area someday. I have a friend who lives in Australia, well he is here in the states on business for the rest of the year, I think he lives near Sydney but he travels all over so...
You mention for a school project. If you don't mind me asking what sort of project is it and will you continue to do the vids after the project?
Haha..you noodlers are a crazy lot, I'll give you that.... moreHaha..you noodlers are a crazy lot, I'll give you that. Sticking your hands in holes that hold some big ole cats/snappers/gators..I'm surprised any of you have all your fingers left ;)
I look forward to seeing some interesting stuff from you!
Yeah most of my recipes are not as sturdy as some because I... moreYeah most of my recipes are not as sturdy as some because I typically don't need them to last for more the n 2-3 hours at a time in the water before I'll move them or have something. That said my microwaved Vanilla DAT Food ones that I only micro'd for about 1 minute 30 seconds lasted at least 3 hours as they still caught fish after that time, though that was the longest between runs to be honest, so I cannot completely say.
I enjoy microing them as well as I said on your photo..because they seem drier then traditional boiled ones and I have less issues with mold, unless of course you dry the boiled ones for a couple of days in which case they go like rocks. They also seem to seep flavor a bit better..you may notice in when you put em in the water, they just kinda leak better then the boiied ones imo. less
And of course there then becomes the whole steaming and... moreAnd of course there then becomes the whole steaming and microwaving ..which can vary the properties even further. I make simple pop-ups by rolling boilies in roughly 12-16mm ( you'll notice I prefer slightly larger on average boilies, typically using 16 and 18mm up to 22mm on the big rivers where some fish could basically suck in a golf ball if they wanted to with ease.) boilies then place about 30 at a time on a plate, not touching and micro them for 1 minute. I then remove the outer ones that fully cook, rearrange the others and redo for another 30-45 seconds. By taking the time and patience I can make useable pop ups without burning them which produce fish like mad because they seem to leak flavor much better then boilied baits.
I also spoke with a German guy who micros all his boilies because his recipes are so water soluble that they start breaking down if he boils them. less
Personally I kept the recipe the way I originally did it. This... morePersonally I kept the recipe the way I originally did it. This is a beginner recipe and whe I originally started doing it I had read and read and read and saw times ranging from 30 seconds to 5 minutes. My first attempts at boilies tended to be rolled very large and I settled on a longer boiling time to make a firmer boilie. This was especially important because I used the blender to blend the eggs, which put a lot of air in, making the end boilies much softer then mixing them with a fork.
I have found that using this recipe and anticipating most people will roll roughly 18mm boilies, which seems to be the case for some reason based on my experience during events/workshops etc., that the 3 minute mark creates useable, firm boilies without hassle. So I never bothered to change it figuring it was a good starting point.
You are correct in that there are many time variations, based on size, ingredients and basically just how hard/soft you want the end result to be. My DAT Food boilies are... less
Yep, I tried the HTML in the second post with the embed code,... moreYep, I tried the HTML in the second post with the embed code, this one
I used the URL from the first code only for the insert/embed option on the editor.
Also you mention editing a post after you make it..I may be blind as it is early but I have not seen the option. Once I post something it seems I cannot edit it.
For instance I go get a video in this case one of my youtube... moreFor instance I go get a video in this case one of my youtube ones.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fYiSdkdE5Jc
I click the embed media
Put the link in the section
not sure what option to choose so go with windows media player, the video shows up in the preview section
I click insert
and thats what happens...this line should be written under a video, but it isn't