Clay34
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Posts posted by Clay34
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The local floods while devastating for many inhabitants, have been a truly amazing time for my fly fishing. I fished yesterday at first light and did so well that I called a bud up who lives a couple of hours away. He met me this morning at 5 am to go chase the carp. We fished a couple of the spots where the roads are closed due to the flooding. It was a personal best day for numbers of fish, I had 21 to the net today. Maybe not a great day by many standards, but again, a personal best for me. Not the largest fish, most were in the 23" class of fish. We had a true riot though. Buggers where the ticket for success for me today. I also paired that fly with a 1X tippet and solved many of the break offs that I have been having in heavy cover with 3X. Great day. Hope that you enjoy the shots.
Rick
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Fantastic guys. Those were truly some pigs. Nice photos, thanks for sharing.
Rick
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Keep in mind Rick, that this is in fact the "Carp on the Fly Forum." Most folks here know what it is to sight fish. Also, your post implies that "other species" are targets more worthy than our noble Cyprinus carpio... and it says explicity that when you handle big carp you are "practicing."
WB
Wendy, carp are my favorite targets species. I tend to extol the benefits of fly fishing for carp on many fly fishing boards that are not carp specific. Here are a couple of links for your consideration:
http://www.flyfishingwis.com/board/index.p...w;topicseen#new
http://www.flyanglersonline.com/bb/showthr...;highlight=carp
Most of the other boards are multispecies board and so I try to give them a reason to try carp on the fly. Some who try it for one reason or another, the carp might very well end up being their favorite target species as well.
Your advice to 9 wt was right on. The second carp that I ever caught I saw the fish feeding with tail up and moving toward an overhead bridge in a park. I was up on the bridge but kept my body away from the edge to reduce visability and just put the bugger infront of her nose and vibrated it for a moment and let it sink to the bottom. She was only in a foot of water so she didn't have to chase the fly far. First fish to ever take me into my backing and I was hooked after that.
Rick
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thanks. I think think some deep sea dredging with a beefy fly is in order. I need some displacement.
The link that I gave earlier, the audio show with Brad Befus, I just listened to that again tonight at work on my Ipod. I have listened to that maybe 5 times now and I still pick up something new that he said that didn't sink in the last time that I heard it.
On the dredging with a beefier fly, that is exactly what Brad Befus speaks about. I do like one of his favorite flies the clouser swimming nymph. http://www.danica.com/flytier/tdidas/clous...mming_nymph.htm
The other one that I plan on tying this week to try out is the krazy carper: http://www.flydogs.net/KrazyCarperRecipe.html
Forgive me if I already posted this link, but these guys in Michigan did well with the Krazy Carper: http://www.flymartonline.com/modules.php?n...cle&sid=333
Now that I spoke to a couple of specific fles, I will have to tell you that I still believe presentation is more important than the fly selection. I did have ONE time last year that I was putting my fly in the right place with the right presentation and it was rejected time and time again. After over an hour of trying to unlock the puzzle of what these feeding fish wanted I tied on a size 14 brown scud. First cast triggered a very positive reaction from a fish. Like I said, listen to them when they talk to you, and sure enough I landed several fish on that scud pattern when my go to bugger pattern was rejected.
Have fun guys and get on the water instead of behind the computer screen.
Rick
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I have this on my IPod but you can listen to it on your computer too: http://www.askaboutflyfishing.com/speakers/brad/brad.cfm That is a link to one of the authors of my favorite book, :Carp on the fly by Barry Reynolds and Brad Befus. It's a free 1 1/2 hour audio show on fly fishing for carp and is thee best free resource that I have found on the web for those of you that are interested in chasing them with the fly rod.
9wt, if you can catch them in rivers you can catch them in lakes. For me, I look for fish and then fish - no need to get the line wet where the fish aren't. One of my favorite sayings is that you can be doing everything right in the wrong place and not catch anything, on the other hand you can do a lot of stuff wrong in the right place and still catch fish. I am going to cheat here since I posted this earlier on another board, but this is what works for me:
Many times I will cast beyond the fish so that I don't cause a splash right on top of the fish, then drag the fly into that 45 degree sight window that exists infront of the fish's nose. Again it's very close to the nose especially in muddy water. Not a foot but 3 to 8" kind of thing. The carp that I am targeting are generally moving and feeding so it is like passing a football. You are trying to intercept the path, it isn't usually a stationary target. Once the fly gets in the zone I try to hover the bait in that close proximity to the fish. Those mariboo tails on buggers are very inticing. Then I let the fly slowly sink. Many times you won't feel a bite, but rather see the fish's posture change - tail goes up, head goes down toward the fly. Give it a pause (count to two) and hook set.
Let me also address sight fishing. On the Michagan flats of the big lake, the water is very clear, or so I have been told and you can cast to fish that are 50 or 60 feet away. The water that I am currently fishing I see movement that breaks the surface of the water. Sometimes it's a tail or a back or maybe even the lighter colored lips of the fish feeding on the top, called clooping. Just like deer hunting in the heavy woods with lots of undergrowth, you don't see a whole deer just standing there. You might make out an ear, or the horizontal outline of the back or belly or a white throat patch. With a little practice, you will be able to know which direction the fish is orientated by just seeing a dorsal or a tail. This is still sight fishing. I am seeing something that I am targeting. I very rarely just blind cast with no target. For me it is a waste of my time. I would do better hunting for the movement that I am keying in on and then fishing for them.
My ways aren't the only ways, there are many ways to catch carp. For me it just gives me that chance to play with my fly fishing equipment some more and develop those skills that will be important when targeting other species like the steelhead. You just can't practice handling big fish that run and take you into your backing by fishing for gills.
I was teaching my son on Father's day how to do it and he was having trouble knowing when to set the hook. We stood side by side in calf deep water. I was a fish with 6' of both of us. I was whispering to him as he watch me hook the fish. I then handed him the rod for the fight. Even before we got our waders wet, I had him hold the fly rod and I pretended to be the fish. I went through the "keep the line tight" excercise by grabbing the leader with no hook in it and walking away from him. I told him that you can't hold the handle of the fly reel while the fish is pulling. The drag is not like a spinning rod drag. Can you guess what happened when a big fish was on the end of the rod and he was excited? You bet, he tried to reel her in while she wanted to run and he broke her off. He knew what he did right away. You can tell people and tell people, but until they experience it and practice fighting big fish it doesn't sink in. This is great practice for learning to fight larger species.
Rick
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Don't let the spawning stop you. They are spawning here too. I took water temp and it was 72 F. The carp that are actively involved in spawning have only one thing on their minds, but they don't all spawn at once. The inside of the hoop measures 23"
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Here is a picuture of me that a fellow angler shot for me. Rick
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I have been out with the fly rod in my hand 3 times in the last two days. There has been a lot of flooding in our local area of Wisconsin. Many of the parks are flooded and the carp are moving into these areas for feed and enloy the warm water. Took a water temp and it was 72 F. They are feeling frisky to say the least.
Started fishing with a 4wt and 5X and while the fish were a blast to land with this equipment, it just took too long to bring the fish to the net so I moved all the way up my 8 wt. It is a 9', St. Croix Lengend Elite and I have a Pflueger Trion reel attached. I was fishing 7 1/2' 1X leaders with 3X tippet attached making the total leader from 9 to 12' depending on how many times I changed flies. For those not familiar with tippet size, this translates into about 8 pound test line. Most fish were caught at distances from my feet to 20' away so not great casting skills are required with this type of fishing. The flooded water was quite murky. In a little bit the whole family is out the door with me to go chase the carp again for father's day.
I tried to fish scuds, prince nymphs, copper johns etc but none of them did it for me. As soon as I put on a dark colored size 8 bugger things changed drastically. The muddy water made it difficult for the fish to distinguish from floating crap that they tore up in the freshly flooded water from a food target. The larger size fly was easier for them to target. I've landed over 20 fish in the last couple of days and have had a riot doing it. If you haven't tried fly fishing for carp, get out there and GET YA SOME.
The first couple of shots are the types of areas that I am fishing. These are flooded park areas.
Rick
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I wish that we had these in our area. Look spectacular.
Rick
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do you use indicators on the rivers of just tight line it on the bottom??? I am fishing a tailwater that has fast water in the middle, southern illinois area, and when flooded [like now] has lots of slower water and backflowing water. not too deep, much of it it is less than 6 ft but very dirty and stained.
I am thinking of going this sunday to another dam area on the kaskaskia river in illinois, no wading, just shore casting. reading this thread makes me want to go more and more and put off house work and make another fishing trip to try out some flies. different river but I know there is not any wading at all there.
I use an indicator, but you can't rely on them 100%. Many, many takes I am sight fishing and see the fish's head go down toward the fly and the tail go up. I set the hook after a short pause. Most of the takes are not like smallmouth hits. The fish sucks in the fly and remains in that spot. They don't take it and then run with it or slam into it and thrash their heads back and forth. The indicator will pause or if it does move it is moret like a hit from a 3" bluegill, just a nudge. I prefer to sight fish for carp and very rarely blind cast for them.
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Barry Reynolds and Brad Befus wrote a wonderful book entitled "Carp on the fly" It's a great book and a great buy, but Brad Befus has a nice 1 1/2 hour long radio show that you can either download onto your IPod or just listen to it through your computer. It's the best free, detailed advice that I have seen on fly fishing for carp. You can find it here: http://www.askaboutflyfishing.com/speakers/brad/brad.cfm
You might enjoy this "Carp on the Flats" video shot in Michigan: http://www.flymartonline.com/modules.php?n...cle&sid=333 While you won't have the same large flats as Lake Michigan, your local lakes will probably have areas that while are smaller, you can still apply some of these same techniques.
Carp on the fly are my favorite targeted species, even though this year I haven't chased them yet. The brown trout and brookies have kept me busy. I will be chasing them very soon though. Good luck to you and enjoy the above links.
Rick
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Many years ago now, my wife and I were ice fishing on a Madison, WI lake. We were new at ice fishing and walked out onto the ice where no one else was. We didn't do well so we thought that we would go over to where everyone else was. We had been fishing for a while when a couple of young kids on bikes were riding around next to the tip ups and I looked at my wife and said, "It would be terrible if one of those little bastids fell in" The next sound that I heard was a big crash and the words, help, help. It wasn't the kids on the bike and I felt like a smuck for even thinking it. It was a man who saw our foot prints and followed our path out there. He went a full 100 pounds more than I did and fell through up to his chest with both hands on the ice and you could tell that the cold took his breath away. Everyone made a human chain and dragged his rear out of there. When he got out, he left his rods, reels, bait everything and said that he never wanted to ice fish again. I'm sure he had to change his shorts when he got home and not because they were wet from the frozen water either.
Needless to say, I don't go where no man hasn't gone on the ice anymore. I like to go where I see car tracks and then I still walk. Scary stuff for sure. Glad that your fellow is safe and sound, even though he probably through his shorts away too.
Rick
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JMHO there Jake, but to me part of the joy and satisfaction of fly fishing is creating your own "master pieces" to try to fool the fish you are after. This usually equates to saving money in the long run. Yes, $0.69 per fly may be a good price when that is all you look at, but do not forget to add the shipping cost in there as well. Do not also forget that if you are planning on fishing a certain date and your order comes in with the pattern that you really wanted to try is now back ordered. Just some food for thought.
Ray
Ray, I thought that too when I started fly tying. I do enjoy it, but bluntly I have spent so much on equipment and supplies to tie that my perception is that I have spent more on equpiment and supplies than I could ever use in my life time on purchasing flies at list price someplace. When I visit fellow fly tyers, I uaually find a room full of supplies that they will undoubtedly never use in their lifetime either. Your first vise is just that, your first one. Most will buy another, then maybe another. You need lights and for us old guys 13 kinds of magnafying apperatus. Don't forget the many DVDs that I bought. I have more in a DVD collection on how to tie than I would spend in a year on flies.
Now after saying all of that, I will be at the tying station later today. Tie because you want to create your own patterns, don't do it because you think that you will save a dime.
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I almost exclusively sight fish for carp on the fly. I haven't prebaited using a fly rod.
There is a particularly helpful book and vid for those considering fly fishing for carp.
http://www.burfish.com/catalog/8600.html
http://www.burfish.com/catalog/8174.html
There are many places to order including Ebay, I just found a couple of quick links to the product and haven't done business with this place before so don't take the links as an endorsement of the website, but rather as a good description of the product itself.
Rick
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thanks for all the replys guys!
I started with a 5 wt then bought a 3 wt and had a blast with the little rod including a 30" + fish that took quite some time to land on 6X tippet. I could have caught more fish that day but my arm couldn't take it with the ultra light.
I next bought a 7 wt, 10', followed by a 7 wt, 9', then an 8 wt 9', then 3 different 4 wts. The point is tht there are many tools to chase fish with. If I only had one rod to fish with it wouldn't be the 3 or 4 or 7 or 8. The 5 is versital enough to take panfish to 20 pound carp with different tippets and skill levels. I personally would much rather have too light of a rod instead of too heavy of a rod. Too heavy and there is little fun putting a 5 pound fish on a crane rated for 3000 pounds but skill can definately be developed landeing a 20 pound fish on tackle that is targeted for 3 pound fish.
Remember one thing, the first rod that you buy is just that - the first one. There will be more to follow no matter what you think.
Rick
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Loved the video, thanks for the hard work. Posted a link to it on one of my fly fishing boards that I frequent. I think others will enjoy it. I also liked the quote from the clip that the carp is the Rodney Dangerfield of the fish world.
I tell people that I would rather chase carp with a fly rod than brook trout and they look at me like I have lost my mind. Brookies are cool, but they don't compare to the power of the local Wis bonefish (carp).
I was bluegill fishing with 6X tippet on one of our local lakes. I kept hear splashing back in the weeds. I was in the water with waders on and when the bit slowed down I cut through the weeds to shore. I came up a pair feeding and tossed a bead head prince nymph on the nose of the larger of the two and she took it! Had the fish at my feet but she wouldn't fit in the trout net that I had. She finally had enough of me and powered out of the weeds and snap. That was the beginning of the passion. I'm still thinking about all of the carp that I caught this year on the fly in Dec. I have it bad.
Rick
Carp in the streets
in Carp on the Fly
Posted
I have some videos where they do more of the traditional European style carp fishing. Mix aggregate, set poles with rod holders and alarms over the baited areas and some of those guys just kill them. I also wish that I could catch some of the larger fish. There was nothing over 30" for the day.
One more comment for traditional fly fisherman who are reading this. The presentations are anything but traditional. The other man that I was fishing with is a better fly fisherman than I. He is a surperb tyer and has been at it much longer than I. He wanted to cast to them with beautiful loops. I on the other hand, while I pride myself on being able to cast for trout with some technical skills, I usually didn't cast at all or it was less than 10'. It was more like fishing with a cane pole. While fly selection wasn't too specific, presentation was the absolute key in catching these fish. They wouldn't chase the fly even a foot away from them. They wanted the fly ON their nose. It literally had to be within 3" of their snout or they wouldn't take it. So being able to cast and land a fly inside of a hoola-hoop is perfectly fine for most trout fishing. You had to be able to hit a softball in this presentation that these carp demanded. You couldn't be close - you had to be right on.
With the floods and the fish feeding in the newly flooded grass areas the water was muddy. You could walk right up to them as long as you didn't wave your arms around or talk. They were swimming among so many different kinds of items, that as long as you stood still they weren't afraid. I did have a couple at my feet and wispered to them and them reacted instantly. These fish hear very well indeed.
Besides the streets themselves the flooded parks along the river were also key in our success.
Rick