Carp

SculpinSwinger

Grey Ghost
Forum Supporter
A question for @Buzzy and any other carp fishers regarding fly line. Would a Cortland 444 SL be a good choice, Rio perception, or? I am going to try an Airflo Bomber line because that’s what I have. I’ll add a poly to extend the taper.
 

Buzzy

I prefer to call them strike indicators.
Forum Supporter
A question for @Buzzy and any other carp fishers regarding fly line. Would a Cortland 444 SL be a good choice, Rio perception, or? I am going to try an Airflo Bomber line because that’s what I have. I’ll add a poly to extend the taper.
Any floating line that loads your rod for short and accurate casts is what I'd suggest. I'm using an 8 weight (TFO Lefty Kreh "Professional Series") with a Rio Gold WF8F. I keep my leader length to about 9 feet long. Fly weight varies considerably but typically my tippet is 10 or 12 pound Maxima Ultragreen.
 

wanderingrichard

Life of the Party
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Guy Gregory

Semi-retired
Forum Supporter
Buzzy...
I'm suffering from recent exposure to the Carp virus, and I got it bad. Your article is just way cool, and I appreciate all the knowledge and information you've dispensed.

Question, can I make my own push pole for my 12' Two-Salt?

Thanks.

Guy
 

Buzzy

I prefer to call them strike indicators.
Forum Supporter
Buzzy...
I'm suffering from recent exposure to the Carp virus, and I got it bad. Your article is just way cool, and I appreciate all the knowledge and information you've dispensed.

Question, can I make my own push pole for my 12' Two-Salt?

Thanks.

Guy
Thanks! I bought a 14' wood dowel, 1.25" diameter. A friend of mind sprayed it with bedliner material. It worked great. Not fancy, not bamboo, not carbon fiber.
 

Buzzy

I prefer to call them strike indicators.
Forum Supporter
Draggin' this thread out again -

A couple days ago @Engee and I fished a big lake - I got my first carp of the year. I texted a picture of the fish to my buddy Jerry, who last year decided he wanted to fish for and catch carp. Jerry's 82. We went out three times last year and never really had many shots at fish. One day we waded and walked almost 5 miles. Wading rocky shorelines can be tiring. Hell, I was only 72 and this senior kicked my butt.

Jerry came over today, he left his home at 3:30 this morning. We met at the hike in parking lot, got geared up and debated "wade wet" or wear waders. We opted for wet despite a strong wind but knowing it was going to get warm.

There's a section of shoreline I like to start that I call the mid-point. We hiked, waded and looked for fish north from the mid-point. I spotted one shadow moving away into deep water all the way to the turn around spot. We didn't have a shot at the shadow. At the turn around spot, there was one carp feeding on a sandy section, Jerry had a shot but it didn't come together. We hiked back to the mid-point and worked our way south. In the first half mile, I spotted only one fish, I spooked it before Jerry could get a shot at it. It was a bit discouraging for ne but Jerry's tough and wasn't discouraged, "it's fishing".

The shoreline structure changed at Blank Point and that's where we started seeing some fish. After 25 years of carping, I guess I know what to look for more than someone who hasn't fished for them very often so I had Jerry stick next to me and was his spotter. FINALLY! I spotted a fish that was actively rooting. I love rooters. Jerry made a picture perfect cast, let the fly sink and when I said "twitch it" , he did. When I hollered "SET", he did. Game on, Jerry's first carp:
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I don't know who was more excited - Jerry for finally getting a fish he's dreamed about or me seeing his grin and hearing him laugh!

Conditions today were tough, it was pretty windy when we got there and had been windy all night. The wind stirs up bottom sediment clouding the water. We made the best of it.
 
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Buzzy

I prefer to call them strike indicators.
Forum Supporter
That’s awesome, he looks so happy!
Very much so!

An observation on carping that I don't think I talked about above (excuse me if I did). It was noticeable with Jerry today because I was observing rather than casting and fishing, yet it's something I know and don't think about. When I cast to a carp, regardless of the fishes behavior, once I start stripping or twitching, I don't strip that fly in ten or fiften feet. In my experience, a strip or two and it's time to cast again (most of the time). I kept telling Jerry, "cast, cast, cast again" and tried to emphasize that (again, my impression and opinion only), that many strips are a waste of time. A fresh cast to reposition the fly has far better odds of getting an eat (if the fish isn't blown). There are no definites in the carpin' game other than it is a blast.
 

Replicant

Steelhead
I've always read, and heard that you should strip set on carp. Yet, there is a youtuber or Instagrammer, that swears by trout set. I forget who it was, but I think it's the guy that fishes the LA river. I know that I have pulled a fly out of a carp, no less than three times, strip setting. Any thoughts or opinions on this?
 

Buzzy

I prefer to call them strike indicators.
Forum Supporter
I've always read, and heard that you should strip set on carp. Yet, there is a youtuber or Instagrammer, that swears by trout set. I forget who it was, but I think it's the guy that fishes the LA river. I know that I have pulled a fly out of a carp, no less than three times, strip setting. Any thoughts or opinions on this?
I fished with @chief last weekend. His opinion is a strip set will often pull the fly out of a carp's mouth. I'm not consistent with strip setting or lifting as I would with a trout but I think Chief is right. Better a trout set to lift the fly into the carp's soft lips than a strip set to pull the fly out.
 

skyriver

Life of the Party
Forum Supporter
How did it take this long to see this report about Jerry catching his first carp? Awesome stuff man. It's so satisfying getting someone like Jerry on a fish. Strong work!
 

Buzzy

I prefer to call them strike indicators.
Forum Supporter
My phone rang this morning when I was upstairs doing the morning workout; I was supposed to head to Moses Lake for my semi annual dental appointment. Cancelled until tomorrow. What to do? Go fishing. Called @Engee and said lets go.

Just a week ago the tide was out, today the tide was in. I was going to fish mud but with the tide in, I didn't want to wet wade up to my arm pits on the mud flat. We headed to the rocky shoreline. Engee got one right away, my guess: 7 pounds.
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7 pounder? Maybe 6.5.


Why would I want to fish mud when the rocky shoreline has such clear water? I wanted to try out some new hybrid carp flies that would slide on the mud, stirring it up a bit but these same hybrids just get stuck on rock. Engee's got new wading boots, no more gravel or cheat grass in his shoes.

We saw a lot of fish, many cruisers; cruisers RARELY bite but neither of us could resist casting to the cruisers. With the tide in so far, tules that had been high and dry for weeks were submerged. I was surprised to see what looked like spawning activity in the tules but maybe the carp were just stirring things up looking for food? Often, when carp are post spawn in in the tules, they're susceptible to dapped flies or flies cast into the tules with stout enough leaders so you can get the fly back when it is stuck in a weed. Today, the carp in the weeds were mostly ignoring our presentations. I did get one fish to eat, it took off for deep water and then did an about face and went into the tules where I lost the fish. Three seconds of excitement, fun while it lasted.

The fish were mostly refusing my offerings or blasting out because my cast was too close, too loud, poorly aimed, badly executed until it wasn't. I managed to get two to hand, lost one to the tules and I'm convinced I had three eats that I was either too late or too soon on the strike, most likely too late.

The first fish I hooked took off for the middle of the lake, backing out the tip of the rod when this fish decided to head for shore. I've never had a carp beach itself before but this fish did. It swam right into the shoreline grass becoming almost invisible.
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Replicant

Steelhead
Love these reports. My daughter and I were trying to catch the interest of some cruisers with no luck at all. They were just passing by us, maybe six to eight feet away. I was doing my best to tempt them with a jiggle in the mud, but no luck. I was so focused on trying to get a pair interested in my fly, that I didn't expect to see a monster launch straight out of the water in front of me. Thank God, I wasn't wearing waders, if you know what I mean. It was like that scene from Jaws, when he says, "I think we're going to need a bigger boat", except that I said something like "HOLY $#!&", and my daughter said, "I think that thing was bigger than me". Naturally, I went out and bought about $50 worth of flies, because I'm a sucker and I want to finally land a carp.
 

Engee

Steelhead
Forum Supporter
My phone rang this morning when I was upstairs doing the morning workout; I was supposed to head to Moses Lake for my semi annual dental appointment. Cancelled until tomorrow. What to do? Go fishing. Called @Engee and said lets go.

Just a week ago the tide was out, today the tide was in. I was going to fish mud but with the tide in, I didn't want to wet wade up to my arm pits on the mud flat. We headed to the rocky shoreline. Engee got one right away, my guess: 7 pounds.
View attachment 22284View attachment 22285
7 pounder? Maybe 6.5.


Why would I want to fish mud when the rocky shoreline has such clear water? I wanted to try out some new hybrid carp flies that would slide on the mud, stirring it up a bit but these same hybrids just get stuck on rock. Engee's got new wading boots, no more gravel or cheat grass in his shoes.

We saw a lot of fish, many cruisers; cruisers RARELY bite but neither of us could resist casting to the cruisers. With the tide in so far, tules that had been high and dry for weeks were submerged. I was surprised to see what looked like spawning activity in the tules but maybe the carp were just stirring things up looking for food? Often, when carp are post spawn in in the tules, they're susceptible to dapped flies or flies cast into the tules with stout enough leaders so you can get the fly back when it is stuck in a weed. Today, the carp in the weeds were mostly ignoring our presentations. I did get one fish to eat, it took off for deep water and then did an about face and went into the tules where I lost the fish. Three seconds of excitement, fun while it lasted.

The fish were mostly refusing my offerings or blasting out because my cast was too close, too loud, poorly aimed, badly executed until it wasn't. I managed to get two to hand, lost one to the tules and I'm convinced I had three eats that I was either too late or too soon on the strike, most likely too late.

The first fish I hooked took off for the middle of the lake, backing out the tip of the rod when this fish decided to head for shore. I've never had a carp beach itself before but this fish did. It swam right into the shoreline grass becoming almost invisible.
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Patrick failed to mention that we both ended up with two Carp to hand, and we both lost one to the tules. Lots of fish seen but not many looking to eat.
 

PhilR

Whale Shark
Forum Supporter
Got out after some carp on the Columbia today. Cast to a lot of fish, but in the end I was able to walk right up on this guy and basically euro’d him up.

Foul hooked three others, though, and it’s really hard to turn a foul hooked fish when it heads for the shipping channel. I think I might not have led them enough, and as the fly sank they swam under the leader and got snagged.


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Buzzy

I prefer to call them strike indicators.
Forum Supporter
Until this morning, the past three outings I've had issues with either not seeing many fish or not being able to get the job done. Not getting the job done has been particularly frustrating. I've seen fish that were rooting or eye balling bottom looking for a meal and made casts that either hit the fish on the head (goodbye), lined the fish (goodbye), didn't get the fly in tight or simply had a refusal. The last two outings I had eats but didn't get a hook set. Damn! My mojo* has been off.

Today the sky was crystal clear, almost no haze (What? No smoke from forest fires?) and just a light chop on the water. This time of year, as the sun is lower on the horizon, I don't bother getting up to the water early. I need the sun higher on the horizon to light up the lake bottom and the fish. This morning, as I was slowly wading out onto a shoal I took time the time to STOP if I saw a shadow, a carpy looking rock (and sometimes a fish) then I focused on what caught my eye until I knew if it was fish or not. I tend to get impatient and take too many slow steps when the fish are few and far between and that's mojo bustin'. I had to tell myself several times this morning to slow down and stop more often. Wade slow, keep your head swiveling and looking in the 180 degree arc in front. Today I stopped, focused on what caught my eyes. It paid off with me getting shots at a dozen or so fish. I still managed to hit fish on the head (sayonara), line a fish or two (adios) but in the end I did manage to fool some fish.

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A small crayfish pattern too this fish.
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The Trouser Worm worked as well.
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Who says carp are pretty?


* (This morning I had my wife rub my bald spot in hopes that would help get my mojo back.)
 
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