Fly fishing for carp must now be socially acceptable, this morning Lefty Kreh and Flip Paillot were fly fishing on the Susquehanna River, PA for tailing carp. Nice 10 -20 lb carp on 7/8 weight fly rod.
TIP: Wait for them to stir the bottom looking for food and then cast. They are unlikely to take when just cruising by you and not actively searching for food.
They were using a bone fish fly which imiated a cray fish, which is what they were mainly feeding on by turning over small rocks inthe river.
Whats great about carp is that they are all across North America.
Time to rig up the 8 weight and hit the local ponds again.
I missed it . . . I'll have to check the schedule to see if it's on again later this week so I can set the VCR.
When I lived in Maryland I fished in the tailrace of the Conowingo Dam on the Susquehanna. (This was during my bait fishing phase. I was catching stripers and catfish on cut bait :tsk_tsk: fished from a catwalk right above the outflow, a veritable class 3 rapid.) That's where I first witnessed some flyfishers having a ball catching carp. They were fishing an eddy near shore, hauling in carp one after another. I asked what they were using and they said a corn fly. I didn't know if they meant a real piece of corn or an imitation, but whatever it was it sure caught fish!
I bet this would work for a corn fly. Get some glo bug yarn which us steelheaders use for tying egg flies. It comes in all types of colors.
Tie them up on small strong hooks, they are really simple and will sink very slowly. Probably would need to use a couple of very small split shot in front of it, or a slow sink tip head to get it to sink to bottom.
Actually I have a bunch of yellow yarn I hardly ever use if you want give me your address and I will ship some out to you. Send you a few yarn flies to see what I mean also.
Thanks for the offer, but I think that in order for a corn fly to work you would probably have to chum with real corn (although I may be wrong). I'd prefer to stick with "natural" imitations.
As for the technique, I have tied some "berry" flies that use yarn in various colors. I cut the yarn into ~1" pieces and unravel it, then dub it onto the hook using a dubbing loop (sort of like homemade chenille) and trim it so the fly looks like a little pom-pom. Is that similar to what you do?
According to the online TV schedule, the Walker's Cay Chronicles will be on again on 8/26 at 10:30 a.m. and 5:30 p.m. (EDT) They don't say that it will be the same program, but they call them "re-airs" so I'll set the VCR and see what I get.
Yes that is similar to what we do for egg yarn flies.
Yes chumming with corn would not be in the fly fishing ethical traditions, but heck thats what the salt water guys do to bring up fish in the blue water for many species. Chum, attract the fish and them throw the flies when they arrive.
BTW, heres another technique for carp which I heard has been used.
Dog food pellets !, chum with dog food pellets and then attach a pellet of dog food to a hook with a drop of super glue. I have heard this works but not actually seen it and of course being on the high road of fly fishing ethics I would not never use or advocate such a technique:tsk_tsk: :tsk_tsk:
When you come up with a dog food pellet fly though let me know.:chuckle: :chuckle:
Let me know the results of the hex nymph on carp, though. I have caught two this year on it while fishing for steelhead in one of our local rivers.
I guess I'm more of a "middle road" kind of fly fisherman :hehe: .
I considered chumming and/or adding scent to my flies when I first started trying for carp and was thoroughly frustrated at my lack of success. Then came that magical moment when I saw a carp actually following my brown woolly bugger, which I had tied on hoping for a "reaction strike" from the carp that were chasing each other around. The coppery brown color of my fly was similar to the color of the carp, and I observed them chasing and nipping at one another so I decided to give it a try. The carp that were chasing each other still ignored it, but the mudders seemed to want it. So the wrong theory somehow resulted in the right method for success in my neck of the woods.
I've heard about the dog food/ dog biscuit method and I guess that's one way to get them to hit on top, as the pellets apparently float. At least the pellets won't rot if you forget and leave them in the trunk of the car!
BTW, I just got back from the carp pond, where I saw (and spooked) at least 20 fish but did manage to hook and land one on the brown bugger.
I'm on my way now to my local carp pond, just jogged past it and there are about a 20-30 of them sunning themselves in the shallows. Will head up there for an hour and give it a go, it is 5 minute drive from the house. No one on the pond today either.
"We support carp" (When steelhead are not within an hours drive)
Flyfishing for carp has always been socially acceptable. If you look through the history of angling in general and flyfishing in particular there are many references to it, especailly across the pond where it's been considered high sport.
It's nice to see more talk about these underrated fish. Don't let anyone tell you what species are worthy of flyfishing. Decide for yourself.
I caught a lot of carp mid-day during the summer and early fall on the Missouri river in Montana when I spent 6 years living in the hamlet of Cascade which sits right at the end of the quality or blue ribbon trout water of the Missouri.
The fly I used was an unweighted Black Ghost Zonker. It has yellow hackle fibers for a short tail; a black braided mylar tubing body; yellow hackle collar; and a whilte bunny strip tied zonker style. Use red or fl. red flat waxed nylon at the rear of the wing where it is tied to the end of the hook shank and black 6/0 to tie in the wing at the head of the fly. I used it is #2, 4, or 6. Fish it with a stacatto strip by using the rod tip and pullingthe tip down and back toward you, then strip in the slack and so on until the line is back at the rod tip.
I caught so many carp of 25 to 20 pounds that I had a friend accuse me of being addicted to carp fishing. He also got into the habbit of fishing for them at mid-day and used the same Black Ghost Zonker.
I'm not sure if they count, but I've caught several what I believe to be White Suckers on the Housy on dry flies whilst fishing the evening rise. One went nearly 12 inches and careered all over the surface until I finally got it under control. It faught as hard as any trout of the same size.
Earlier in the day I had my closest encounter yet for sight fished carp. Having spent four separate sessions watching them now, they are definitely a circulating group which continualy split up and occaisionally come back together. There are probably a couple of dozen all together. All are double figures and some are very large indeed. The challenge is that the river is very wide and deep at this point and there are only a few spots along the 400 yard stretch where you can get a reasonable sight cast. I figure that if I wait long enough, one will decide to eat something and I'll be ready! Just got to be patient I guess.
Adrian, did the "white sucker" have a real "sucker mouth" or was it more like a redfish mouth? If it was more like a redfish mouth then it was probably a fallfish. The Housy is loaded with them up here. They readily eat flies and other small lures, even in the dead of winter, and they fight quite well. I've gotten them up to 2-3 lbs up here. (some with pike teeth marks on them!)
Try a "berry fly" for those carp! (see my new message!)
I dont believe it ! You guys,.. this is the river I do 90% of my flyfishing on for panfish. This is the same river I told you guys about with the carp I was after, the ones stuck in a pool. I fish the very begining of the Susquehanna River where it all starts in Cooperstown NY. Otsego Lake which is a very large and deep lake in Cooperstown, NY has a dam on the end. the spill over which is controled by gates is the very,....very begining of the Susquehanna River. I can walk across it in Cooperstown and some parts of it south, but many areas are very deep with swift current. One year I had to just go to the end of it, where it empties into the Atlantic ocean,..boy was that a drive and half
Thanks - you may be right. The mouth on these fish looks a bit like a Carp - heavy duty lips but no barbules and not too underslung. Also the coloration is more silver with a dark grey back. A 2-3 pounder would definitely be a good scrap on a 5wt!
How far up are you fishing? I might car top the kayak up there if you fancy hooking up this week-end?
When I lived in West Virginia I used to use a small Charlie pattern. White with pearl flash or pink with pink flash. Used to have a great time and the practice stalking a spooky fish has really helped my down here on the gulf!
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