Carp on the Fly

[iCarp]

I toddled down the road to Lake Erie on Friday afternoon and was very pleased to see that the carp had moved into the flats. There was a lot of algae and the water was quite dirty from Thursday's rain- less than ideal conditions for stalking carp on the fly- but this was my first chance for 2012 so I was excited and ready to have a go.

 

It took a few casts to fine tune my presentation. I usually fish Barry Buggers- a variation on the classic olive and black bugger tied with lead dumb bell eyes so that it rides hookpoint up. After watching my Bugger quickly bury itself in the algae, get ignored by the carp, and become caked with green gunk I tied on the lightest one I had. I spied a fat and fresh looking cow nearby and cast to her. Sometimes a carp will be spooked by the sight of a lightly weighted fly slowing settling in front of her. Not this time. The carp slurped it up on the drop.

 

Although a big un, this girl was sluggish. She didn't really run but she didn't want to come in either. As I slowly coaxed her in I noticed one or two carp in the 30s cruising around within feet of me. I couldn't help but wish I had her in and off and could cast to a potentially more lively target. To give some sense of scale my reel is over 5 inches across.

 

 

 

 

My first carp of the season wasn't in a hurry to come in and she wasn't in a hurry to leave after being unhooked. After a couple of minutes I gave her a gentle nudge and she slowly swam off. I picked out my next target, cast to her, and watched the first carp comer up along side of my intended and then take the fly again. There were literally scores of carp around me and I had just caught the same one twice:

 

 

 

The next two or three carp ignored my Bugger. Then I cast to this one- the fly was taken on the drop again and the carp took off for Pennsylvania like a rocket. I tend to bulldog my carp- I use a 10wt set-up and 12lb or 15lb fluorocarbon so I can put the brakes on carp in the teens- but this one had me into the backing in seconds. I don't think I've ever had one that ran as fast and as strong and as long as this one. I have several hundred yards of backing on my reel, filled to the rim, and this is what it looked like after a minute or so:

 

 

 

Overall, I caught 8 carp on Friday afternoon, mostly in the 20s and up. The battery on my camera died after the third so I couldn't get a photo of the gar I landed. It was over three feet long and fat, the biggest one I've ever had. It wasn't too scrappy, but danced around on top for a bit when I pulled back on the rod- very spectacular.

[solopaddler]

I have to admit the idea baiting an area, still fishing with corn, dough, or whatever, using euro style tackle with little buzzer alarms holds zero interest for me. All that effort for a carp!

 

This however sheds a whole new light on the sport!

 

You sir may have single handedly sparked an interest in carp fishing in me.

 

Very very cool!

[Victor]

That is an amazing day Stephen! Great to see that you're still out and getting some fishing done!

[limeyangler]

Cooool....nice fish...thanks for sharing...enjoyed that.

[cuzza]

Nice going! After 8 of those your arm must be ready to drop off

 

I have to try and get some carp on the fly this year.

[Fishing4Tails]

Amazing !! I got into the carp fly fishing a few years ago .. It's just amazing !! Never thought I'd say that .. Lol

Well done icarp

[Mike Pike]

Great report on a great day of flyfishing, Stephen. Those are really neat photos of the fish and tackle too.

[laszlo]

I got 3 of them last week on my float rod / pin all within an hour and it felt

like my back and arms were going to fall off!

 

I too like targetting them with the fly gear.

[MJL]

Great report Stephen

 

It's been a few years since I took the fly rod out for giant goldfish...Definitely gotta get back into it...Is that a Sage XI2 you're chucking flies with?

[Christopheraaron]

Hey, anyone got tips for fishing carp post spawn, heard that they can be more aggressive at this time and they hang out in the same places.

[landry]

Hey, anyone got tips for fishing carp post spawn, heard that they can be more aggressive at this time and they hang out in the same places.

 

May and June are best in the great lakes if you want to find large numbers of fish - due to the spawn.

Inland lakes and particularly rivers are often good all summer.

You can blind cast for carp at times, but sight fishing them is waaay more effective.

And yes - they eat flies and do not need to be force fed. Great lakes carp will often pursue a stripped fly but on average I find that they are easiest to catch by casting at a 45 - 90º angle and past them, then drag the fly near them and drop it within a couple of feet. They will scoot forward and suck it up - or run like heck the other direction!!!

The easiest fish to catch are the sporadic rooters/feeders. The heavy rooters often don't see your fly and the cruisers are just plain difficult.

I've been doing it since I went to seminar at the Isaac Walton Fly Show about 12 years ago I guess. I was skeptical at first but the first carp I threw to in the Speed River ate my fly by bolting 2 feet for it. The next 20 ran like hell after that, until I figured them out.

Like all fish they can be easy but they are very spooky and can sometimes be nearly impossible, (ie: cruisers..)

They are my favourite fly rod fish!

Landry

[Christopheraaron]

May and June are best in the great lakes if you want to find large numbers of fish - due to the spawn.

Inland lakes and particularly rivers are often good all summer.

You can blind cast for carp at times, but sight fishing them is waaay more effective.

And yes - they eat flies and do not need to be force fed. Great lakes carp will often pursue a stripped fly but on average I find that they are easiest to catch by casting at a 45 - 90º angle and past them, then drag the fly near them and drop it within a couple of feet. They will scoot forward and suck it up - or run like heck the other direction!!!

The easiest fish to catch are the sporadic rooters/feeders. The heavy rooters often don't see your fly and the cruisers are just plain difficult.

I've been doing it since I went to seminar at the Isaac Walton Fly Show about 12 years ago I guess. I was skeptical at first but the first carp I threw to in the Speed River ate my fly by bolting 2 feet for it. The next 20 ran like hell after that, until I figured them out.

Like all fish they can be easy but they are very spooky and can sometimes be nearly impossible, (ie: cruisers..)

They are my favourite fly rod fish!

Landry

 

Thanks for that! I'm going to try to get to the pond with my canoe in the next couple days!

[iCarp]

solopaddler- I am glad if I can get one more person to see the beauty and excitement of carp fishing. as a multi species angler I can say that carp on the fly are the most challenging quarry out there (but carp on the float are also incomparable!). I hope that you give them a try this season.

 

Good to see you Victor, I hope that you're wetting a line these days.

 

PM sent cuzza. Like laszlo says carp can be quite the work out!

 

The conditions are a bit challenging this year Mike, with all of the weed growth, but the bite has been great. That rod is my trusty Sage RPLXi slat water 10wt with a sweet Speedrunner attached. I love it.

 

RH fisher- I definitely agree with Landry (and wish I had his access to a boat...). I am not the only guy I know who blanked during his first year of fly fishing for carp, so take advantage of Landry's advice and then go have some fun. Carp are definitely the most challenging fresh water fish to stalk on the fly- and they are hard running, powerful, and often frustrating.