03-13-2010, 05:08 PM
There are quite a few flies that work well for carp for one reason or another. I catch enough of them accidentally throughout the year when jigging for crappie, white bass, etc. to satisfy my carp landing skills. My biggest so far was at Lake Hudson in Oklahoma on a tube jig and 4lb. test line meant for crappie. According to my Mickey Mouse bank scale, it weighed almost 40 lbs. Talk about a lot of work for a slimy scum sucker.[sly] It probably took me 10 minutes to land him. Every time the sucker saw me he would take another big run and I had to constantly loosen my drag when he took off and then tighten it to gain some ground when he got tired from running.
Let's face it though, anything that pulls drag on spinning tackle feels insane on a fly rod. The most enjoyable way I have found to catch them is drifting small, white dries in clear river inlets when the cottonwoods drop their seeds in the late spring. You have to be really stealthy and your accuracy has to be right on the money. If you can get a take without the fish feeling any resistance, they don't know what has happened until it's too late. Landing them with a small 16 or 18 is also more rewarding then pulling them in on a jig and you definitely have some mad skills if you can pull it off.[
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Let's face it though, anything that pulls drag on spinning tackle feels insane on a fly rod. The most enjoyable way I have found to catch them is drifting small, white dries in clear river inlets when the cottonwoods drop their seeds in the late spring. You have to be really stealthy and your accuracy has to be right on the money. If you can get a take without the fish feeling any resistance, they don't know what has happened until it's too late. Landing them with a small 16 or 18 is also more rewarding then pulling them in on a jig and you definitely have some mad skills if you can pull it off.[
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