Jackpot Fishing For Carp Equals Big Money In The South

More than 95 percent of the US population has no idea what the term "Jackpot Fishing" means. The small percentage of people that know about this exploding trend that started in South Carolina are quickly jumping in on this great money making fishing sport of catching carp.

What started out as an experiment with one small pond of about 3 acres has now spread to over 500 large and small ponds, ranging from as far south as Florida across to Texas and into Virginia.
What is Jackpot Fishing For Carp?

Almost everyone has heard of the fish called a carp. There are more than 20 species of carp with the most popular being the common carp, bullhead carp, and the grass carp. The grass carp grows the largest and can reach 60lbs in 5 years. With the amazing strength these fish have they are extremely fun to catch but not so desirable to eat.

Roughly 10 years ago the owners of a small pond in SC decided to try an experiment to see if they could actually get people to pay money to catch these fish. In return they offered a portion of the money back to the person that caught the biggest fish during the short tournament. The winnings ranged from 50 to 100 dollars during that time. It wasn't long until other pond owners started catching on so they proceeded to buy carp and stock their ponds with 100's of carp ranging from 5 to 50 lbs. This started competition between the pond owners and the amount of money given away to the winners grew rapidly.

Now here we are 10 years later and an explosion has happened. The amount of money it cost to enter these tournaments, the length of them and the enormous amount of money persons can win is extraordinary.

Let me give you an example:
One of my favorite jackpot fishing lakes was Lake Ann located in Lithonia GA. It was 2 ponds of approximately 10 acres total. The lake was filled with catfish and carp. The total amount of fish it held is unknown but at last count the total weight in fish exceeded 300 thousand pounds. Now that's a huge amount of fish swimming around in a small body of water. The tournament season at lake Ann was from mid March up until November each year. There was a Tuesday night tournament and then tournaments from Fridays though Sundays and even longer on Holiday weekends.

Here's how the money works:

Basically all carp tournaments are the same but different lake owners do different things during each contest. Lake Ann ran their tournaments as follows: The first carp tournament would begin on Friday evening at 6:00 pm and run for 12 hours: The average cost for you to fish would range (depending on the weekend) from 80 to 120 dollars for 3 polls. Is that a lot of money to spend on fishing for 12 hours? I will let you decide on that as you continue to read.

Once the tournament began the person that caught the largest fish for each hour would be rewarded $250.00. Of course the same person could win many times. Not only that but depending on how many people were involved depended on how large the Jackpots would become. At the end of the tournament there would also be 3 large pots given away for the 3 largest fish of the 12 hour tournament. 1st place could be several thousand with 3rd place receiving 7 or 800 dollars. Now with that being said lets look at the possibilities.

Lets say you have the best bait on the lake, you out catch your competion and you win just 10 out of those 12 hours. You have just won approximately $8,000.00 You read it right it says eight thousand dollars and that's not all. The good news is when that tournament ends a brand new one starts right back up immediately and runs another 12 hours. This cycle continues until Sunday at 6pm or if its a holiday it will keep going through Monday.

If you enjoy fishing and live in the south I encourage you to give this a try. If you do by all means do not go out there thinking you can catch these fish with stuff that works in large lakes or rivers. These fish are accustom to fantastic tasting baits and they will not bite the same as those in the wild.

No one tells their secrets:
When you first start out I advise you don't even get in the tournament, go to the jackpot lake on other days and experiment with different bait recipes until you find something that really catches the fish. Then and only then take your chance. The people that fish these ponds are for the most part experts at jackpot fishing and have some of the best recipes you could imagine. Some will catch a 100+ fish a night and do it all weekend long, so you have to be ready. They are not going to help you when it comes to baits because your their opponent along with 100's of others so don't even ask. When you find that perfect recipe you wont share it either.

Happy Fishing!