Now Here's a Goldfish

[zonker]

A lot of guys are flyfishing for carp in our area - or at least I'm noticing it more. The guy in the photo below lives to the north of where I live and as I understand, he's fairly new to the sport. I don't know him. This photo was featured on a carp fishing forum. Its such a pretty fish I thought you guys and gals might enjoy it. As I understand it is an Orange Koi. Apparently among carping enthusiasts, this type of carp is called a "Highway Cone" and is noted for its bonefish like runs. I wouldn't mind hooking one of those on my bug rod. Would tow the Super Fat Cat around the pond - no doubt.

z~


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[Kraizee_Skot]

[font "Times New Roman"][#ff4040][size 3]Man...from the thread title I thought you somehow had caught an actual goldfish with your bug rod. Now that would have been somewhat cool, but this picture is pretty interesting. I thought I would never say it, but this carpkind is kinda purdy. Thanks for posting the pic zonker.[/size][/#ff4040][/font]
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[TubeDude]

[cool][#0000ff]That's a biggun. And purty too.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]I have caught quite a few koi carp (goldfish) both in southern California and in Arizona. There are lots of warm water lakes where people have used them for bait and they escaped into the lakes. Some of them are the genetic mutants that never get more than a couple of pounds, but the koi carp are just regular carp with fancy dresses. They can get huge too.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]When I was a kid, my family used to go to Irvine Park for picnics. There was a small pond there (maybe a couple of acres) that had a rowboat rental concession, and benches around it for people to sit and feed the ducks. It also had some bluegills, bass, crappies AND a very few big orange koi. I fished with light tackle for the bluegills mostly, but every once in awhile one of those big koi would suck in the piece of worm under my bobber and go screaming across the lake. Burned out the drag on one of the cheap spinning reels I had. One also came up beside a boat with a guy and his girl and splashed water all over them. I never realized that teenagers could have heart attacks.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]In many of the "planned communities" in and around Phoenix, there are small lakes that are stocked with fish for the residents. People dump all kinds of aquarium pets in those lakes, so some of them have a real assortment of angling prospects. There are quite a few multi-colored koi carp as well as the big amur (grass carp) that are planted to help control weed growth. [/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]In many of the places where you find koi in a parklike setting, they will become "tame" and will swim up to people along the bank, looking for handouts. When they get used to slurping bread and other tidbits off the water they are prime for anglers. I have tied "marshmallow" patterns to use for hatchery rainbows, that like marshmallows, and also used them for carp. Koi carp will slurp in a trimmed white spun deerhair or hackle fly just like it was something good to eat. Then, hang on.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]Those fish fight too hard and are too pretty to kill, so C & R all the way. Most of the koi in my old fishin' hole at Irvine Park were removed by bowfishermen.[/#0000ff]
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[zonker]

Reading about flyfishing for carp has me interested. Catching a fish like the one above on a fly would be a hoot. Hearing of these guys regularly hooking fish on flies that are 10-15 pounds with an occasional 30 pounder (and even apologizing for "little" 5 and 6 pounders) sounds like fun. Doing it from a float tube would be a lake tour also. I've caught a few "regular" carp in times past. As a kid I would get one occasionally while fishing worms for catfish or minnows for bass. Once when I was in college in Western Nebraska and there wasn't a trout to be found within hundreds of miles (at least that I knew of) in desperation I went down to a local puddle and caught a few rubberlips on worms.

Maybe I'm tempted to go over to the dark side, I dunno. But hey, I C&R most of my fish anyway. What's the difference? 30 pound carp in a tube!

[url "http://www.carpanglersgroup.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=14995"]Here's the story of the Highway Cone.[/url]

[url "http://www.carpanglersgroup.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=14785"]And another earlier 20 pound carp[/url]

z~
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[TubeDude]

[cool][#0000ff]Great stories and great pics. I shared those with the Utah board.[/#0000ff]
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