Thanks everybody for participating in the carp poll. Pretty evenly matched between slayers and nay slayers. 19 Reefers really enjoy carping and look forward to it, while 9 or you think they are disgusting. I can't blame either group although I am on the Hell Yeah! end of things. 6 of you would rather stick to trout and 2 will carp for a change of scene.
Carping is a funny thing. For me it is as much about kicking the shoes off, wading around in the shallow sandy areas and enjoying a couple adult beverages as it is about catching fish. Casting to cruising fish is pretty hard to beat though. I don't think I would spend much time doing it if I was wading through mucky black mud (in my waders) with the outside temps in the 40s...like I would for trout. I associate carping with warm weather and warm water (although neither are need to catch them).
I enjoy it so much that I am in the process of modifying my jon boat with a jet outboard to be a more proficient carping tool. I have a 16' welded modified v hull Alumacraft jon boat that I originally bought for this very purpose. It is an awesome craft because you can drag it up on the rocks to beach it and I can also run the river for quick access to wade fishing spots(trout). I even have a fish finder and pedestal seats for a poor mans walleye rig. We really suck at walleye fishing, but it is fun to try sometimes.
My boat has a side console and a meager 6 gallon fuel tank and battery in the rear compartment. Last night I removed the console and the side panel so I could run some long battery cables from the rear to relocate the battery up front. This will help distribute the weight better and allow me to get on step a little quicker. It will also allow me to install a 12 gallon fuel tank (which I've had for 3 years, but have been to lazy to do this project).
I also had to enlarge the opening under the front casting deck to make room for 2 Optima marine/cranking batteries mounted on their side. Yeti Coolers just sent me an 80 qt Roughneck cube which will be used for the casting platform. The cooler will be strapped to the deck to secure it. I am a little worried about the height of the cooler it is a tall 20". By the way Yeti Coolers are available by special order at The Reef Fly Shop.
I have already put together a 19' Mangrove graphite push pole. These are also available at The Reef Fly Shop. They come in 4' sections with ferrules and a point and a foot. They can be cut for custom lengths, but I chose to put mine together full size. If we feel it is too long we can cut one end off and epoxy a new point back on. These poles are easy to build, light and tough. There are lots of positive reviews out there. I haven't used mine yet so I can't really say. Putting it together was a breeze...sand the inside surface of the pole and the outside surface of the ferrules, clean with acetone and epoxy it together.
The last item will be building a poling platform. This isn't a dedicated carp rig, so the platform will have to be easily removable. I haven't decided if I will make it with 4 legs that sit on the rear deck and is strapped down to secure it. Or, weld or bolt receivers to the transom where a 2 legged platform will slide into place and be secured by a pin or 2. The 4 legged version would be able to be transferred between mine and Trent's boat with little fuss. But the 2 legged version would require no tie down points thus less crap on the rear deck.
It's fun doing it and I hope the outcome will be rewarding. This boat has done the job pretty well for the last 5 years without going to this extreme. I am taking pictures as I go and will post a "build up" thread as I finish. I'm not sure if anybody will really care about this project, but while searching the internet I found lots of guys who wanted to convert their jon boats to flats skiffs. There is very little info on it, and what info there is are mostly ghetto conversions.
Erik
