Mistaking carp for topwater bass action

[CarolinaAngler]

Went out on a 7' row boat yesterday morning to fish. There were fish splashing in the middle of the lake near the old river bed. So i paddled over there thinking I was going to catch some bass, and to my surprise I found two large carp swimming together...mating? They paid me no attention and even bumped into the boat. That scared them. They were brown and kinda ugly and I suddenly remembered seeing a school of large brown fish a week or two ago under some shoreline cover that wouldn't go after my artificial lures.

It dawned on me that a lot of the topwater action I've been seeing might really be carp and not bass at all and here I am chasing those sounds...What do you all think? I didn't realize how big the carp were here on SML and assumed any large splash was a Striper or LMB. 

Also, post-spawn fishing has been tough as hell. Been skunked last 7 times on water that I haven't had live bait.

[mwardncsu]

Been tricked more than once thinking they were breaking striper

I do remember a couple of years ago being down lake on the Blackwater and a school of what had to be several hundred carp swam at and then under the boat. Was wild

[johnr]

Yes it’s carp spawning time and much of the top water action you see and hear now is actually carp.

[CarolinaAngler]

May 24, 2020 18:04:18 GMT -5 johnr said:

Yes it’s carp spawning time and much of the top water action you see and hear now is actually carp.

Damn, just one more thing to mislead me! Fishing without a fish finder has made me focus on fundamentals, but it's a steep, long learning curve.

[31Airborne]

don't feel bad, dood. I've worn my shoulders out casting to the rat bastages.

[flintster55]

I saw a ton of this Saturday too. They really seemed to love being able to swim in the grass and up in the newly submerged bushes and trees. Was pretty cool to watch though