sparkleminnow

In my waters they are more of a flesh tone. Kind of a light ginger/tan....even so pale as to be nearly white. I used to catch crawdads when I was younger, and even though it's been some time the smallies are slamming a ginger wooley bugger right now. This time of year; every year, they are after that ginger wooly bugger. I would have to believe that they can be any lighter shade of color that is the predominanat color of the crayfish in your area.

What style/size of hook are you looking for, and what do you consider a great price for 100?

Gordon, your muddy water might have a good bit to do with the differences in what we have experienced. I notice large differences when comparing any fish caught in gin clear water to muddy water. The Amur I have fished to were mostly in gin clear water. You couldn't get near them unless you were camoflaged, and motionless. The first two I caught were also on spinning gear. The last two were on the fly. If I get busy with the scanner, I can scan an old photo of a friend's Amur that he caught. It went 47lbs, and was the smallest one in the school!

My best fly for common carp, overall, was a sz 8 ginger woolly bugger. Other flies have caught them, but that size and color seems to be my best. You might try other colors, though. Basically match what they are feeding on. If that happens to be Cheetos by the boat dock, or crab apples by the creek, just match what they are feeding on at the moment....just like trout. Cottenwood seeds, mulberries, corn where river barges get loaded, mayflies when the hatch is big enough, grass hoppers when there are a large enough quantity, crayfish, minnows, worms ,etc, etc, etc. They are omnivors, and will eat whatever they can find in a large quantity. Heck, train them to eat Trix cereal for long enough, and you can bet the farm on the fact that they will take a floating globug pattern of the same color!

The two that I took, recently, were on white flies in a creek. The two I took in years past were on poppers in a very large pond. They were extremely skittish. The only way to get them to even look at an artificial was to lead the school by 50-60 yards. I would lay a popper(or slider, I would imagine) well ahead of them. You would need the longest leader you could reasonably cast, and do not work it at all. Rubber legs seemed to be what they keyed on. The color of one of them was black/white/red, while the other was purple/yellow spots. My conclusion is that they are not really that color selective, but that they are attracted to something floating on calm water that might look like food. However, my limited experience can't be considered the final word on that, at all. There just might be a better color for them, though. Only time, and experience will tell. The one thing that I do know is that the owner of the pond fed the fish regularly, and I saw catfish and bluegill come to the surface for the food, but never the Amur. They just happily munched away on the water weeds. Another thing that I think is a certainty, if nothig else. You will, never, ever, get a cast straight to them. If they even see motion of flyline in the air, or a shadow...that's it, done. They will bolt at the slightest motion. I saw a blackbird fly over them 20 feet in the air, and they scattered. So, I think the chumming thing is out. You might chum them up (I still doubt that), but regardless, you'll never get a cast near them. My best strategy has been to spot & stalk them. Sneak up well ahead of them, guess which way that they are going, and lay a cast out in the general area that you hope they are cruising to. I had one cruise under my popper while it was lying motionless, and as it passed under it, I twitched the popper hard enough to move a good bit of water. It whirled around, and slammed it! Another situation, I approached the same way, I knew that I could not drop the popper on top of them, so I just eased it over the small bridge, and set the popper on the water. One of them at the tail end of the school just gently glided over, and grabbed the tail of the popper. It pulled it down, and began swimming off with it. I didn't hook that one, but using the same popper with a stinger hook I took one using the identical method. I think, like bass, it's just curiosity. They bite it just to find out what it is. I tried using subsurface stuff just to see what it would do, but the Amur in the pond just never got interested in it at all. Seems topwater is the way to go. Gordon, are you sure you're not thinking of a regular carp, golden bone, bugle nosed bass, common carp, etc.? The method you are describing will work for them, quite well, but I've never seen Amur want to get anywhere near people. They would spook from just my footfalls on the ground when I was 30 yards away. Any motion, even that from "chumming" by hand would be enough to spook them into not biting anything for a very long time. I've never seen them come up to feed on bread, pellets, or anything else presented to them. These have to be the most skittish fish I know of, by far. A very long cast, presented from a long distance ahead of their cruising path(in anticipation of their arrival), and from a crouched position behind a clump of tall grass was the only way that I could catch them. Every single cast presented directly into their midst would elicit the same response...they would scatter. HideHunter, the pink salmon is a krill feeder, but in Jim Teeny's salmon video, he proved that they could be caught on the fly. He said that everyone he talked to swore that it could not be done. Actually, Kings or coho are not in streams to feed when they are caught. They are there to spawn, but they are caught, nonetheless. Again, Jim Teeny had made a comment that he believed it was just a reflex, or perhaps aggression. They don't mean to feed, but if something gets close enough to them, they just eat without thinking...force of habit, if you will. It's the only explanation I've got.

This is the sparkleminnow...

Well, I've noticed the last few posts have begun to overlook the fact that these were ASIAN carp I was speaking of, not the common carp. Huge difference. The common carp can be caught with a multitude of different flies, and there is a lot of documentation to that end. No mystery on how to catch them, really. The Asian carp, however, is a realatively new fish that operates quite differently than the common carp. What they eat seems to depend on the individual species. There are reports that the Big Head carp feeds on shad in the Illinois & Mississippi River, while the Amur tends to feed on vegetation....BUT, I have had some success on them with topwater poppers, sliders, etc. This might lead one to consider that they are not exlusively an hebivor. Little time has been devoted to fishing for them, and if you are not a biologist you can only learn through obesrvation what they will take. R. Jones, the one that I took on top was with a Coffey Grinder, and the other was with a sparkleminnow.

Well, I was waiting for someone to mention powder paint. It's as tough a paint as you can possibly get. You simply hold the dumbell eyes with a cheap pair of hemostats. Heat the dumbells with a lighter, or Bunsen burner if you plan on doing lots of them, for about 5-10 seconds(depending on the size of the eyes). Dip the dumbell into white, yellow, red, chartreuse, etc powder paint, and remove quickly. Wait 5 seconds before setting it down. You can then put a pupil on the finished dumbell eyes with black paint, and coat with something like Sally Hansens, or epoxy. The base color of Powder Paint will be almost bullet proof. The pupil, or epoxy coating might chip away, but the powder paint will stay put. Note: The powder paint must be "fluffed", or loosened up before dipping. Every few eyes you must loosen it up agian, or it will blob on the eyes. For a super smooth, great looking finish you must loosen up the powder with either a spoon, or put the lid back on, and roll it around a bit. Gently set the jar down, and carefully remove the lid. Any jostling will cause the powder to settle. The lighter, and fluffier the powder is, the better looking the finish.

I was helping a friend, today, that was interested in trying out his new drift boat. We were looking for an access that was suitable to launch, and we went to a few bridges in search of such. We had stopped to investigate an access at a bridge near his house when I spotted a deeper area that looked as if it might hold some smallmouth. I made a cast into an area that looked promising, and made a few strips to try to get the attention of what might be home. When I saw a shadow slipping in behind my grinder I thought it was a smallmouth, at first. Suddenly I realized it was much larger than any smallmouth. It tracked the topwater, and as I stipped it to tease the fish to strike, it nailed the topwater. As it turns out it was a 9lb Asian Carp! I had them stike at poppers before, but this is realatively uncharted territory. These are a really new fish that some on this board have asked for information about. I can't remember the thread asking the specific questions, but the idea is that I had caught two Asian Carp in two days, in the creeks, and they both came on white flies. One subsurface, and one on a topwater. The invasion of the Asian Carp has begun, and I don't think there is anything that can be done about it. However, they do seem to like topwaters a lot. This might be a new species to pursue on the flyrod. I'm not saying I want them here, but since they are here, you might as well catch them! They fight as hard as Hybrid Striped Bass!! P.S.- I think I need to be more clear, here. The fish I caught was an Amur. I think that it is still in the Asian carp family, but someone correct me if I'm wrong. The Asian carp that our state is worried about is a bit different in appearance.

A friend of mine is just finishing up on 14 drift boat. He was doing this for recreation, but he wants to sell it so he casn start a new one. From what I've seen it's a sweet ride. I can get photos on demand, but I'll have to make time to take some photos. It comes with a trailer, and should be finished within the month.

I've done well for walleye with this one.

Jarrod, the fly in your avatar is the one I used to smack around the trout in S.W. Wisconsin a few days ago. We tried most of the fies in my flybox, but that fly in sz14 was a killer! I know, off topic, but I just thought I could bring that up here as well as anywhere.

Well, to make you feel a bit better, I have a place I used to be able to fish that held a huge number of very large bluegill & redear. I would give you $100 if you could get any of them to take black....ever! They loved a hare's ear color, but it had to be a caddis or scud to take fish. They would not take a mayfly nymph immitation either. If it was some form of caddis they would nail it right away, but turn their nose up at most other flies. They wouldn't even take a popper, for crying out loud! Just so you understand how much they reviled black, you could throw a live, black cricket out onto the water over bedding gills, and it would drown & die without getting a single look!! For smallmouth, in my waters, black is effective. However, in it's own time. I never did well with chartreuse until this year. They wanted chartreuse during the spawn, but they would not touch it after the spawn. They went from taking chartreuse only, to black only. If they follow the pattern of most years, they will soon want olive only, for a few weeks. For largemouth, in another pond I have fished, they will hit many colors, but they especially like a bubblegum color. Maybe you need to look at other waters for your answers. Some bodies of water have a staple color, and a good reason for that staple color.

I use Loon Bio-Strike. As a courtesy to those who don't know what that is, it's a putty type floatant that you can mold to any size and shape. You simple choose the size you want, place it on the line, and form it into a round or football shape. Once it hits the water it solidifies. If you hand tie your own leaders you can squeeze it onto the knots to keep it from moving. On a knotless tapered leader it will hold fairly well, but you will have to check it periodically to mke sure it is still where you placed it. I like the fact that it's reuseable, and bio-degradeable.

I'm with the crowd on this one...Royal Wulff. I took ltterally dozens of rainbows over 20" with it.

Jschmidt63 is right on, but to go a bit further, I'd say you want a pair of 4" straight blade Anvil ice-tempered scissors. I've used alomost everything, and they are by far the best commercially available. Chris carries them.

I will be returning to a favorite place for trout in a couple of weeks, and I noticed that over the last few years they were gettng pretty educated. If anyone fishes this area, care to share what has been working lately? Many people can catch fish when the fishing is good, but the great ones can catch them when the fishing is tough. I was interested in midge patterns, or caddis emergers, and the like. Staple fare of Pheasant Tails, Hare's Ears, Adams, and EHC are already in my flybox.

It's actually more of a black/purple, but the light and camera just didn't render it quite right.

Great color for Great Lakes Kings. Been using this one on them for about 10 years, now. I use Black light Angel Hair in a dubbing loop for the body, and UV Grey Krystal Flash over black marabou for a tail.

Forgot to post. If anyone wants a cheap reliable source of prizmatic eyes, check out this site. www.staminainc.com

I've got to go with the synthetic eye. I use domed, 3-D, prismatic, stick-on eyes. I attach them with Sticks-on-Contact. Water proof, holds like iron, dries clear & flexible. Best of all $1.95 at Wally World. BTW, think about why a shad has it's false eye. It was an evolutionary defense mechanism. If the predator takes too long trying to figure out which eye is the right one the shad has a better chance of escape. The same for a Redfish in saltwater. The false eye on shad immitations has done nothing to help my success in catching fish. Actually, I think at times it may have actually hurt my success. I now leave the false eye off, but use stick ons for the real eye. Gold has been my most productive color eye.

Clouser's Fly Shop sells foam cylindars of various diameters. Check with Rod Champion. He may have them, too.

Appalachian angler, if you like Lynyrd Skynyrd and Marshall Tucker, you might like these guys... http://www.citylimitsband.com/ They are not big time...yet, but they are very talented. The lead guitarist was in a metal band, so you can guess what kind of flavor that gives their sound.

I use a drafters table, circular flourescent light, with a 3x magnifier in the center. It has worked for a good number of years, and I have yet to replace the bulb. Half the price of an Ott light. I have wanted an Ott for a while, but after looking at the price I decided that what I have serves me well, and there's no need to throw ut what works.

I store mine in a mug on my tying desk, only because I first leave them in the freezer for 6 months. This will kill any mites that would otherwise destroy the feathers. I get the feathers free from a friend who raises them. I already have too much stuff so I just keep them where I can. I keep capes, and saddles in the bags they come in. Since the peacock feathers I get from my friend are full size, I can't get bags large enough for them. One alternative might be to use the food saver vacuum bags. They come in rolls, and you only need to seal one end of them, and cut off at length. Not as good as troutgeek's idea,but you can custom make them to the exact size you need. Especially handy for peacock, and phesant feathers.