Matching the Hatch....Carp

[Mike West 0]

So I live in an RV park with a 60 acre lake that supposedly has big bass,crappie and catfish in it. I've pounded this lake with everything and the only thing I've caught is one 8" crappie. I've about given up on this place.

 

Last night I went out when this fish feeder goes off at 6:15....tons of carp feeding like Piranhas and some big cats.

Couldn't catch anything on at least 12 different flies I tried.

 

So I came home to match the hatch...I'm betting tonight it's "Fish On"

 

[Al Beatty 0]

Hi group,

 

We have found a size 12 Sparkle Pupa tied on a scud type hook to work really well on the carp in the Snake River south of our home in Boise, ID. Take care & ...

[Mike West 0]

Tried a couple different scuds last night along with some soft hackles,woolly buggers,small streamers,hoppers,generic nymphs and carp patterns.

Nada

[mikechell 0]

Especially carp ... if they're getting fed pellets, they're near impossible to catch on anything else.

If you're "pellets" are the right size, Mike, you're probably going to want a 20# test leader on your fly line.

[Mike West 0]

Especially carp ... if they're getting fed pellets, they're near impossible to catch on anything else.

If you're "pellets" are the right size, Mike, you're probably going to want a 20# test leader on your fly line.

The ones I posted are just a hair bigger than the pellets they are being fed. Might trim them down a little more.

 

I'll be back tonight with an update and hopefully some pics

[Kudu 0]

I feed the catfish in my ponds floating dog food pellets. Craft foam dog pellet flies work well. However if I spun deer hair like you I'd probably try that route too.

[islander727 0]

 

I picked up a couple of these to try on some local hand fed fish!

[DrVette 0]

Seriously here. Try pop-corn. You pretty much have to tie it to a hook to survive casting so i still conciser it a fly...but barely.

[Mike West 0]

What is that...foam?

I lived at an other RV park where they fed the catfish pellets. I could walk out behind my RV about 20 steps and throw stale bread out and in about 10 mins they would be going at it...then I would just smash some bread on a fly hook and lob it out 10' and hold on. Lots of cats caught 2-8lb on a 4wt..there were bigger ones but you couldn't keep the small ones off it. Never posted pics because I considered it cheating and not fly fishing. There are some huge cats here I've seen them caught on bream and last night I saw some in the 10lb range, If I catch any I'll take some cell phone pics cause even though it's chumming I'm going to be using a fly.

 

The owner threw 200 bass in this tank 3 years ago,nothing under 3lbs and up to 10lbs...haven't caught one yet...I've seen pics at the office of 4-8lb bass and 3-4lb Crappie....Huge Crappie! It's a flood control lake and is always muddy and stained. Him and other guy are hard core bass fisherman(conventional) and he tells me they only way he can catch bass is with live bream...it's driving nuts knowing there are bass and crappie that big and I can't catch one. I've never been skunked like this. Hell can't even catch a bream and I tried for 10 hrs one day with every trick in the book I know.

 

Guy came down last night with 4 kids...minnows and worms under a bobber...all they did was feed the turtles.

[mikechell 0]

You need to tie up some streamers or Game Changers with rattles in them. Mimic the color of the sunfish, and weight the flies so they suspend about 6 inches under the surface.

Bass are upwards looking fish, more so than front view. They have to tip tail up to see something on the bottom. In muddy water, they look for silhouettes against the surface.

Rattles attract, color mimic gives them a target when they get into visual range.

[Mike West 0]

You need to tie up some streamers or Game Changers with rattles in them. Mimic the color of the sunfish, and weight the flies so they suspend about 6 inches under the surface.

Bass are upwards looking fish, more so than front view. They have to tip tail up to see something on the bottom. In muddy water, they look for silhouettes against the surface.

Rattles attract, color mimic gives them a target when they get into visual range.

Well not game changers but tried poppers,suspended streamers,floating streamers (with rattles) in bream colors and shad(there are shad in this lake)

This lake is just full of bait fish...shad,fat head minnows and I don't know what else but the place is just boiling with minnows at dusk...I've only seen a few top water strikes happen. I think the place has too much feed and the bass aren't hungry and when they are they don't move much for food. Probably have to hit them on the head.

 

No work today I guess...going to ask the owner for a cup of pellets to get em going and go give it a try now.

[DrVette 0]

My Grandfather taught me how to fish and hunt to feed my-self. When that is the goal i don't recognize egos, tradition, lore or anything that doesn't involve getting my paws on the prize. At that point survival rules out. But let's be honest...In my 50 years i really haven't been to that point. I did kind of resort to that while in college...The flip side was that Dean of Math & Science was my fishing buddy. I can't believe that Jack Selhiemer is gone now.

I miss him bitching me out about my grade and then asking what i was planning to tie up. He was a lot like my Grandfather.

[mikechell 0]

Yep, Mike ... I've fished ponds like that. In fact, most pond in Florida are like that.

The reason they can be caught with live bait is the time "in the strike zone". People fishing live bait (the successful ones) leave it in place until something hits.

You have to fish your artificial as if it were live bait. This is my recommendation to everyone I talk to, about fishing for bass in Florida.

1) Cast past ... always go past where you think the fish are. Bring your lure to them, don't try to hit the mark.

2) Leave it in place until you can't stand it, then count to 30. Jiggle it, work it, but don't move it more than a foot or so. Repeat.

 

You cannot fish TOO slow for fish that are overfed. Eventually, they'll get curious, drift out to take a look, and many times, gently inhale for a taste. It's a subtle bite, you'll see a twitch in the line you didn't impart. If you are moving the bait too fast, they don't bother chasing it. Too fast means it's out of "drifting over" range before they get curious.

One of the most successful bag bass hunters of Florida would take a book with him. He'd leave a soft plastic worm on the bottom, read a page or two, twitch the lure, read a page or so, repeat.

I've been known to take more than 5 minutes to bring a lure from cast landing to the boat, and I've caught some very nice bass, like the 9 pound 13 ounce one in my avatar.

[Mike West 0]

Yep, Mike ... I've fished ponds like that. In fact, most pond in Florida are like that.

The reason they can be caught with live bait is the time "in the strike zone". People fishing live bait (the successful ones) leave it in place until something hits.

You have to fish your artificial as if it were live bait. This is my recommendation to everyone I talk to, about fishing for bass in Florida.

1) Cast past ... always go past where you think the fish are. Bring your lure to them, don't try to hit the mark.

2) Leave it in place until you can't stand it, then count to 30. Jiggle it, work it, but don't move it more than a foot or so. Repeat.

 

You cannot fish TOO slow for fish that are overfed. Eventually, they'll get curious, drift out to take a look, and many times, gently inhale for a taste. It's a subtle bite, you'll see a twitch in the line you didn't impart. If you are moving the bait too fast, they don't bother chasing it. Too fast means it's out of "drifting over" range before they get curious.

One of the most successful bag bass hunters of Florida would take a book with him. He'd leave a soft plastic worm on the bottom, read a page or two, twitch the lure, read a page or so, repeat.

I've been known to take more than 5 minutes to bring a lure from cast landing to the boat, and I've caught some very nice bass, like the 9 pound 13 ounce one in my avatar.

Yeah I know what you are talking about....it's really had to fish slooow. I don't have the patience for it right now.. Think I'm going to target the Crappie for awhile. I would love to catch 1.5-4lb on the 4wt.

 

Anyways the Carp win again..my flys posted above were to big, hook to heavy and a little off in color. Ran back to the RV and the vise and whipped one up the right size but the color is a hair off and I don't have anything on hand to fix that...took some pellets soaked them in water and made mush smashed my new fly in it and refusal after refusal..then went through a bunch of other flys...freaking carp every where no takes.

 

Going to see what else I can come with before tonight that matches the color and made out of something else. Maybe a ball of some kind of synthetic dubbing.

[Kudu 0]

Craft foam can color identical to pellet and it's cheap. Cut to size. Hell chum them up and pull the fly into their mouth.