Suspended / cruising carp

[Bass-O-Matic]

Suspended -

Generally referring to fish that are not moving, sleeping, "on break", essentially doing nothing but maintaining a steady depth.
Carp can suspend on the surface, even with their backs out of the water.
Carp can be "suspended" at any depth.

There is the very slow milling mode and even slower... drift mode. The weed bed lurk.
Seen em in big eddies adrift.. slow swirling on the currents.

I don't feel there is anything unethical targeting such fish. In WA State no license is required to fish for them. Doing so can be quite challenging and rewarding. This is an invasive species. Their "rooting" can turn what was spawning gravel for some panfish species into mud. Making it unsuitable, changing enviroments... I think perch and crappie bedding areas can also be damaged.

I've caught em sleeping (you have to wake them gently first to actually catch them).
Suspended anywhere from surface to maybe 10'.
Slowing rolling at 8' deep, by far the most challenging.
On flats so shallow almost half their body was out of the water. Pretty exciting just to fish this situation and hookup runs are gonzo!


Carp clooping cottonwood seeds on a lake within the Boise city limits. Not the best shot but you can see several seeds in the foreground.

 

[jeffj]

I've always thought if there's a cast you should take it. I've had plenty of fish flee from what I thought was a perfect presentation to a feeding fish. Plenty more have taken a "Hail Mary" shot that looked hopeless. I spent an hour following a school that was taking flying ants off the surface of a basin lake. They never spooked or ate my floating ant. They'll drive you nuts and that's a large part of the fun.

 

[Buzzy]

I spent an hour following a school that was taking flying ants off the surface of a basin lake. They never spooked or ate my floating ant. They'll drive you nuts and that's a large part of the fun.

That sounds frustrating and super exciting - I have yet to catch a carp on a "dry fly" (definitely on my bucket list).

 

[longputt]

I have never had much luck fishing cruisers or sleepers, 0 sleepers, a few cruisers, but always in fairly shallow water. The places I fish locally have fairly cloudy water and I do the best on muddy bottoms. I have caught some fishing "blind" in deep water. Not sleepers, but I have had some fun days tossing Mulberry imitations to fish lounging under Mulberry trees; when the floating berry imitation plops down it is typically followed by a mad dash by several Carp.

If you're thinking about eating carp from the berry hatch read this:

GOVERNOR, ENERGY SECRETARY GET RADIOACTIVE MULBERRY JAM

A scientist activist sent jam made from radioactive mulberries to Gov. Booth Gardner and Energy Secretary James Watkins as an object lesson on mismanagement of nuclear waste at the Hanford Nuclear Reservation. Norm Buske, owner of a private research company that for years has studied...

www.deseret.com

 

[Jim F.]

Those trees were removed years ago and the area has always been posted (the maintenence department I managed at the time was tasked with that job.).