Carp

[roadglideguy]

Has anybody specifically targeted Carp?
I was kayak fishing other day using a 5 weight and I hooked a 15 pounder ....what a whoot!If so what did you use for bait?

 

[clouserguyky]

Has anybody specifically targeted Carp?
I was kayak fishing other day using a 5 weight and I hooked a 15 pounder ....what a whoot!If so what did you use for bait?

I fish for carp all the time. They are one of the big three I target on a regular basis, the other two being trout and smallmouth. I hooked and landed one on my 5 weight once while trout fishing, but the 5 weight isn't my pick when I'm targeting them specifically. I like a stouter 6 or 7 weight for carp. 6 and 7 weight rods/line are great because they are strong enough to handle 10lb plus fish, but still pretty delicate and can turn over a long leader.

Most often I use a 9'6 weight rod with a 7 weight bass tapered line and a 10' leader for the carp here. A good reel is a necessity for these fish, and plenty of backing. I taper my leaders down to 2x/10lb flouro and I mostly use small buggers, clousers, egg patterns, worm patterns, mop flies, and all the other flies that get the stink eye on the trout stream. I like to keep the flies pretty small with carp, usually a size 8-12. But they'll hit a big crawfish when they're really feeding hard.

The main thing is you need to target the fish that are actively feeding to be really successful carping, and you need to be extra stealthy. They spook hard! Think of it like turkey hunting. Get the prime target in front of you without getting noticed, and take one shot. The more you move, false cast, or hold your mouth the wrong way, the more they will spook. It sounds crazy, but it even helps to wear dull colors or camo and target them from the bank.

 

[dennyk]

I do go out and specifically target carp in a local park. Typically I spot and stalk using a silicone legged variant of a swimming Hex fly. I favor pale colors for the body and bead chain eyes.

My rod of choice is my 7wt Scott Tidal, floating line with a short head, 7ft leader with a 10# Maxima Ultragreen tippet, about a foot.

When I see them surface feeding, typically on berries I switch over to a pale colored single egg pattern. I work Gink into the fibers for floatation. Get in front of the surface feeding fish and you have a pretty good shot at a strike. This is a RUSH!!

Denny

 

[karstopo]

Carp seem to be a big deal in the concrete lined bayous of Houston. There is a least one fly fishing guide that offers urban sight casting walking trips to the various bayous. I see he uses a pattern called a "brass hawk" a lot. Pretty much every day, I see photos of fish being caught. There are some different types like Buffalo, Common, and Grass. Looks like the rods are more in that 6-8 weight range.

I'm moving to a lake that has Grass carp for sure and maybe others. They come up to the surface or move along the shore. I haven't yet gotten a take. There are some in the creek by my current house and they have given me the cold shoulder, too. I really haven't put a lot of effort into targeting them, but id still like to get one. The grass carp in the lake are huge.

 

[dennyk]

karstopo, once you hook and land one of these fish you'll be going back for more!!

Denny

:fishing: I estimate it took 4 trips maybe totaling 16 hours to get my first carp.

 

[karstopo]

karstopo, once you hook and land one of these fish you'll be going back for more!!

Denny

:fishing: I estimate it took 4 trips maybe totaling 16 hours to get my first carp.

Now that the lake will be about 80 feet from my back door, moving this Saturday, I'm surely going to have a lot more opportunities at them.

 

[wf0]

When I am specifically targeting carp, I can't catch one to save my life. But when I'm targeting bass, I catch one every now and then.

I would really like to up my carp game, and be able to consistently dial them in.

I did catch a smallmouth buffalo two years ago that bottomed out a 25# scale, and went an extra 1/2" over the state C&R record (and we forgot to pinch the tail, so likely another inch). Too bad my sister only took a picture of the front half of the measured fish. I love the pic, but Texas Parks and Wildlife? Not so much. I usually fish ultralight (3wt and under), but thankfully, for some curious reason I busted out the 8wt and a 300gr sinker that day. He ate a huge crawdad jig fly I designed a few nights before. Used the fly all day and never lost it.

There's a huge, problematic overpopulation of introduced (triploid) grass carp that has absolutely decimated the vegetation in Lake Austin (Surveys said!... 0%!!). The local bassmasters complain of the bass with all-head and no-body, and of catching these "strictly vegan" carp on all manner of non-vegetable lures. They finally lifted the ban on fishing for them - need to get out there and cull a few.

 

[Flyfisher for men]

I don't specifically go out to target carp, but will stalk one if I spot it tailing or it's within casting reach.

Great fish to catch. Oh, so strong!

As far as flies, buggers and nymphs

 

[jjc155]

Yep we do a lot where I am from. Everything from streamers and crawfish to mulberries at the right time. I've caught one on a foam hopper too, LOL.

Super secret special weapon carp fly (especially in still water) is a simple steelhead yarn egg. 80% of the time it works all the time lol.

J-

 

[dc410]

This is my 5th year targeting carp with the fly rod. There is a ton of good and accurate information shared in the above posts. My "go to" flies when sight fishing for feeding carp are buggy natural colored nymphs. You will see carp in many different situations. You can up your hook up percentage by targeting those feeding - head down rooting in the silt, tail up and a nice silt cloud right behind them. Drop a nymph right in the zone (about a foot in front of their nose) without spooking them and you are definitely in the game. They will eat it. I also managed to bring a dozen carp to the net this year caught on top using my deer hair mulberry fly. What a blast that is! Start taking some shots at those feeding fish. Good luck with your carpin'. It's totally addicting.

 

[mudduck]

Fishing them out of weeds

Ive been catching them on the surface in the thick of the weeds. I have a local pond thats pretty shallow and thick with weeds and they chomp them down. They are easy to spot/hear and usually are too busy decimating the vegetation to notice you if you are somewhat stealthy.

I sort out which way the mouth is going and try to toss a pink or yellow egg pattern directly in their path. Sometimes it spooks them, sometimes they dont even see it, sometimes you get snagged up in the weeds and un-snagging spooks them...but when they stop what they are doing and move towards your egg, hold on. The egg is clearly visible when they eat it so there is not much guessing on when to set the hook.

I did something today that I think grabs their attention a bit more. I soaked my egg down with some canned corn/sugar juice that I boiled down into a concentrate. When I was casting to them with no juice, it needed to be directly in their path for them to notice. My first cast using the juice was to the rear of the fish and usually a worthless cast. The fish stopped dead in its tracks, turned for a moment, and chomped his way to my egg. The egg was suspended by the weeds above the water by about an inch and he just mowed it down. I was stunned I caught one on my first cast! I continued on but they started moving out towards the center of the pond as the sun went down and ended up nabbing a catfish near the bank. Im gonna test the juice out a bit more tomorrow. Not too sure I just didnt get lucky but the way that carp stopped his feast to turn around gives me encouragement.

 

[JoJer]

I heard a famous fly guy tell a story of being skunked year after year in a pond at the hotel he stayed at while on the circuit. Finally he noticed the carp feeding on grass blown on to the pond by a mower. He made his successful carp fly from a bit of green scrub pad lashed to a hook.

 

[MauserFlyFishing]

Here in Eastern NC, we don't really have any common carp opportunities and only a few areas for grassies.

But I won't hesitate to travel out of town or out of state to fish them if there is a Cicada hatch or if the mulberries are falling out of the trees up north.

I wish there were more opportunities here, because they just might be my favorite freshwater fish.

 

[djb_88]

Here in Eastern NC, we don't really have any common carp opportunities and only a few areas for grassies.



But I won't hesitate to travel out of town or out of state to fish them if there is a Cicada hatch or if the mulberries are falling out of the trees up north.



I wish there were more opportunities here, because they just might be my favorite freshwater fish.

I need to get out and try to catch the carp I hear about in Falls lake up here around Raleigh. I've heard they are a rewarding catch but I've never tried.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[dennyk]

I'm going to slide out for a couple hours this afternoon to a local park pond. I tied up some white single eggs I've been wanting to try. Should be a good day for spot & stalk, little to no wind and temps in the mid 70's.

Denny

 

[beachbreak]

I caught one by mistake when Bream fishing my 4 weight on a small bluegill popper.

Since then I have targeted them and never caught one.

 

[stoneflylama72]

Yeah I can only catch them by accident too. I was throwing a #16 bead head PT for trout in local tailwater this spring when I thought I was snagged on bottom. As I waded toward the snag my fly line took off downstream. Fought for a good 10 mins before it broke my 6x tippet. Hell of a fight on a 5 wt in moving water. That tailwater was full of carp in the shallows most of the spring and early summer but when I tried to catch them all I did was spook them. Those things were way more spooky than the trout.

 

[karstopo]

I chunked a size 8 black hackle looking thing at a big grass carp this afternoon. Not aggressive feeders, these grass carp, at least in my experience. It was fun trying, anyway. Right now with grass carp, I feel like the blind squirrel and the acorn...maybe someday.

 

[beachbreak]

The carp I caught and the ones I try to catch are sterile, grass carp.

They are put in Florida lakes for weed control.

You are right, they are the spookiest fish ever!

 

[ikankecil]

The carp I go after most often are in Wyoming and most any 3/4" long dark sinking fly seems to be a viable pattern. Presentation seems more important than actual fly from what I've seen.

I started out going after them with a 5wt but it quickly became apparent that I was woefully undergunned so I have since switched to at least a 7/8wt rig, essentially the same outfit I'd use for bonefish.

In early summer, before the water warms up too much, it's not unusual to get well into the backing on their first run. I've never topped 20#s but nearly all of them are 12# or better (mirror carp, common carp mainly).