ASSASSIN 0 Report post Posted May 18, 2014 Hi guys, I have been fly fishing for over 30 years but, I've never tied my own flies. I kinda figured it was about time I start and this seems like a good place. God Bless Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
COMike 0 Report post Posted May 19, 2014 Assasin, Welcome! I just started fly fishing and tying my own flies is tremendous fun and is very relaxing! Welcome to the site and ask away if you have any questions!! Mike Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
ASSASSIN 0 Report post Posted May 19, 2014 Thank you Mike! I have had great interest in chasing carp with a fly rod and have been unsuccessful the last 3 years. I can catch them on dough bait or corn, just not on a fly. Any ideas or suggestions? God Bless Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
COMike 0 Report post Posted May 19, 2014 Assassin, I can't comment on Carp for flies...when I fished for them in the Merrimack river in Mass (back when I was 6 years old) I simply smashed "wonderbread" onto the hook and let it ride!!!!! Worked EVERY TIME!!!! So I would suggest that you try to DUPLICATE what they are eating on. You might want to try an "EGG" pattern that sinks. I would try to tie an egg pattern that the "POWERBAIT" folks are placing on their hooks...make sense? BUT for a fly fisherman I would try to tie that fly with some weight on it....perhaps weighting the head down and then tying in the color that you want..... It works....SEE what the fish are eating and then try to duplicate it! CAVEAT: I have only been fly fishing for 2 months.....however when going to a trout ranch here in the mountains (fishery) I noticed the owners tossing out "puppy chow"....it was a specific food they tossed to the trout in the AM and PM. Hmmmmmm......make my fly look like a piece of "Puppy Chow" and I will catch them....lo and behold the fly we tossed was one that appeared BROWN from the bottom and I let it SLAP on the water. Took 18 trout and lost 15 (due to my lack of knowledge in setting hooks for fly trout)........ Just a suggestion but that is what I would do! Mike Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
ASSASSIN 0 Report post Posted May 19, 2014 Mike, I have heard several guys say "try to duplicate what the carp are eating" but, I have no idea what they are eating... I have been chumming a place down on the creek for the past 3 days and right now, I can see over 100 carp from 4 to 5 pounds, up to a couple that will weigh over 20 pounds. I have fished wooly buggers, various flies, streamers, etc. but, these carp won't give them a second look... I fish trout streams and hatcheries in Missouri and the last week in April of this year, my wife and I caught 72 rainbow trout, not to mention losing at least that many, if not more... These particular carp will occasionally bite a small piece of bread and tied a few deer flies that looked like that, but still no takers... I'm not giving up though. Sooner or later my time will come, when I can catch a carp on a fly and when I do, my wife says I will be totally worthless because that is all I will want to do. Oh well.... God Bless Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
COMike 0 Report post Posted May 19, 2014 Assassin, We got cut off on the phone call and hopefully other folks can chime in! 1. You mentioned you caught the carp on the spinning setup you had.....TRY TO MATCH IT! From the time you let the fly hit the water just wait and see what they do! 2. If you are "chumming" the place, then try to match the CHUM to the FLY that you are trying to fish and try to make it in the same range of the water column they are used to eating in! If they are eating CORN or PUPPY CHOW when you chum....you MUST match what they are eating! Make sense? 3. Sometimes you have to WAIT for a fish to bite/eat.....if they are eating on a spinning reel bait (corn/bread/velveeta).....then try to match that with the fly rod/reel.....no magic here.....the fish does NOT know what you are using for a rod/reel combo...they ONLY know what they see/smell/are used to.......so duplicate what you are doing with the FLY ROD! Keep at it! Mike Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
