Carp on the Fly!

[rwwong]

I finally did it! Catching a carp on the fly rod has been on my bucket list for about 4 years now. Saturday presented itself with a few hours, some great weather, and a great tip from a passerbyer while fishing lake Hiawatha. He tipped me off on a foot accessible backwater on the mississippi. I was hesitant at first, as I had just hooked and lost one on Hiawatha, but I decided to make a go of it.

I followed his directions which led me to a stretch of backwater no longer than 50 yards. The hole was full of Commons, Bufalo, and I think Quilback carp suckers. I got broken off twice and lost 2 others before I decided to lose the tapered leader and tie on a 4 foot section of 1x tippet. I also moved my position as the first place I fished - I couldn't make a decent back cast or roll cast.

In my new spot I could make long casts, and sight fish much better. I quickly lost one more fish, before landing my first ever carp on the fly. I was starting to get selective as I didn't have trust in the 6wt and tippet I was using, and actually thought about not presenting my fly to the fish, but I did it anyways, the fish saw my fly hit the water, it watched it sink the the bottom, followed it down, I gave it a twitch, and she sucked it in.

The fight was one! I had a lot of line out, but she was big so I desided to put her on the reel. She made two good runs and peeled out a fair amount of line before I was able to turn her head. The guy behind me was fishing the main river with corn, he couldn't believe it, he said he's never seen anyone catch a fish out of the "mud hole." He snapped the picture for me, sorry for the Cell phone quality pic.

Anyways, the fish took a #10 beadhead pheasant tail nymph. It was quite the fight on my 6 wt. rod. I am guessing the fish weighed 10 lbs.

If anyone is interested in joining me for something different and fun PM me!

[Dan Wood]

very cool Rich, I've always thought that would be fun on a fly rod.. I might have to try it sometime..

[AllenW]

Used to fish Hiawatha a lot for carp, there still a lot of them there?

We'd catch them using kernal corn either in front of the pavilion or the drainage canal from the golf course, not sure if that is still there or not.

Also hit big panfish just in front of the outlet of minnehaha creek, ton of bullheads there too.

Nice catch, lots of fun fishing for them carp.

Al

[Uncle Smash]

Nice work Rich. Sounds like a good fight!

[rwwong]

Used to fish Hiawatha a lot for carp, there still a lot of them there?

We'd catch them using kernal corn either in front of the pavilion or the drainage canal from the golf course, not sure if that is still there or not.

Also hit big panfish just in front of the outlet of minnehaha creek, ton of bullheads there too.


Nice catch, lots of fun fishing for them carp.

Al

I was fishing the southeast corner of the lake. I've never really explored much more than that end as I fish the creek from time to time. I am sure there are still good numbers of carp in there, although I didn't see a ton of cruisers. I had the one hook up from sight fishing, but otherwise the others were not interested. I will have to check out the drainage canal.

[AllenW]

Are you fishing between where the creek comes into the lake and where it goes out???

Between them spots used to be a good spot, never hit crappies there, but sunfish were abundant.

Gonna have to get some corn or Uncle Josh's carp bait and spend a hour or two there, seems we never fish the lakes close to us..

Thanks for posting.
Al

[rwwong]

Are you fishing between where the creek comes into the lake and where it goes out???

Between them spots used to be a good spot, never hit crappies there, but sunfish were abundant.

Gonna have to get some corn or Uncle Josh's carp bait and spend a hour or two there, seems we never fish the lakes close to us..

Thanks for posting.
Al

Thats exactly where I got unbuttoned on the first fish.

[John Pearson]

Was it a thick or thin fish... I got a great reicipe for them. I got it from a site in hong kong I think only three people will get that joke.....well maybe 4 but I dont think she is a member
Nice job on the carp!! Sounds like a great time!!

[rwwong]

Lol, she was thick!