10-01-2003, 10:51 PM
[cool]Anybody who thinks a big old brown trout is a finicky feeder should try catching "bugle mouth browns" on flies. Unless you find a situation where they are sucking in floating flowers, berries or even bugs, you will have to fish with nymphs...usually sight-fishing.
Some places around the country, carp and catfish are tuned into the seasonal fall of flowers and later the berries from some kinds of overhanging trees. If you can toss a fly that resembles what they are eating, in size and color, you will usually get bit.
I have taken lotsa carp in city park ponds or ather places where they get used to a diet of popcorn, bread bits and other whitish foodstuffs. I make a big white bivisible type "Wonder Bread Hackle"...either with white palmer tied hackle feathers or clipped deer hair. Cast them ahead of slurping carp and they will often suck it in to check it out...long enough for a hookset. Those also work along the edges of Deer Creek or other lakes where folks bait trout with marshmallows. Only you catch more rainbows than carp.
You almost need a quiet boat for sight fishing carp in shallow water, and the water has to be clear enough to both see your fly and the take of a cooperative carp. They can suck it in and spit it back out without your feeling a thing. No hard strikes on flies.
I have talked to more than a few worldly anglers over the years that claim they enjoy hanging a big carp on light tackle as much as they do going after bonefish. The airfare and accomodations are usually a heck of a lot cheaper too.
One of the best lures I have ever used for carp is a 1 1/2 inch clear sparkle tube jig...colored red with a permanent marker. I fish it on a 1/32 oz head and 4# line...casting a few feet ahead of singles or small groups of carp. When they get close enough to see it, I hop it across the bottom and they usually climb all over it. When hooked in shallow water, carp will make some outrageous first runs. After that, it is often just slugging it out or rolling over and giving up. Depending on water conditions and their physical condition, they can put up a good fight...or not.
Oh yeah, channel cats like that customized red jig too. That's how I discovered that carp liked it...while fishing for springtime channel cats in shallow water at Willard. I found a big shallow area full of carp soaking up the midday sun and had a ball...until I got the sunburn of my life.
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Some places around the country, carp and catfish are tuned into the seasonal fall of flowers and later the berries from some kinds of overhanging trees. If you can toss a fly that resembles what they are eating, in size and color, you will usually get bit.
I have taken lotsa carp in city park ponds or ather places where they get used to a diet of popcorn, bread bits and other whitish foodstuffs. I make a big white bivisible type "Wonder Bread Hackle"...either with white palmer tied hackle feathers or clipped deer hair. Cast them ahead of slurping carp and they will often suck it in to check it out...long enough for a hookset. Those also work along the edges of Deer Creek or other lakes where folks bait trout with marshmallows. Only you catch more rainbows than carp.
You almost need a quiet boat for sight fishing carp in shallow water, and the water has to be clear enough to both see your fly and the take of a cooperative carp. They can suck it in and spit it back out without your feeling a thing. No hard strikes on flies.
I have talked to more than a few worldly anglers over the years that claim they enjoy hanging a big carp on light tackle as much as they do going after bonefish. The airfare and accomodations are usually a heck of a lot cheaper too.
One of the best lures I have ever used for carp is a 1 1/2 inch clear sparkle tube jig...colored red with a permanent marker. I fish it on a 1/32 oz head and 4# line...casting a few feet ahead of singles or small groups of carp. When they get close enough to see it, I hop it across the bottom and they usually climb all over it. When hooked in shallow water, carp will make some outrageous first runs. After that, it is often just slugging it out or rolling over and giving up. Depending on water conditions and their physical condition, they can put up a good fight...or not.
Oh yeah, channel cats like that customized red jig too. That's how I discovered that carp liked it...while fishing for springtime channel cats in shallow water at Willard. I found a big shallow area full of carp soaking up the midday sun and had a ball...until I got the sunburn of my life.
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