Last week I went to a little lake where I know the Carp are quite enthusiastic about taking off the top if if isn't too busy. I have take a lot of decent fish there over the years up to 24lb with dog biscuits fished right under the rod tip in the margins, but decided to see what I could do with a fly rod this time.
Flies were dog biscuit copies made by cutting a slit in the right-sized piece of plastic wine cork and glueing a strong barbless size 6 in place with the point well clear of the plastic material.
I already knew that they were wary of line on the water so decided to deal with this two ways:
- fish amongst the lily pads with the fly right against something if possible
- use a fairly fine fluoro leader i.e 7.7lb but like all fluoro in my experience the wet knot strength is poor compared to mono so in reality this is like 6lb actual strength
There was really no room to backcast so roll casts were required, and in fact did surprisingly well! Once I got my timing right and worked out how to avoid the overhanging trees on the forward cast I was shooting some line and getting further than I actually needed about i.e. 12m.
I have learnt a few things which might be useful for others:
- an indicator about 2 feet from the bait is very helpful for two reasons (1) to show when a carp has actually taken as opposed to playing with/sampling bait (2) keep the fluoro from 'hanging' too far underwater when in open water
- 7.7lb fluoro is too fine for fishing amongst lily pads with a 9wt
- a tandem bait with one actual dog biscuit on a bait band on the bend of the hook is more effective than the artificial bait on its own
First 3 fish came off in the lilies, 2 with hook pulls and one with broken leader as I gave it some butt to stop it getting in like the first two. I don't like to leave a hook in a fish, even a barbless, so now I adjusted the leader so that tippet was 12lb fluoro i.e. about 9lb actual knotted strength. I was concerned this would put off the fish but as long as the bait was amongst the lilies and they were feeding confidently on free offerings it didn't seem to. Lost one more fish amongst the lilies as hook came free then decided I was going to need to bully them more so rolled up my sleeves. The next two stayed on, the first a 12lb common that looked pretty surprised when netted
and the second a beautiful fin-perfect 10lb common that looks like it doesn't get caught often and fought for about 10 minutes making many runs towards the centre of the lake and the lilies.
I was now more confident about leader strength and was happy to apply some serious pressure with rod and drag and after 10 minutes the shoulder was starting to feel the strain! Anyway, not complaining and it was a very novel experience to feel the carp on a fly rod instead of my more usual stalking rod, or going further back my big 12' 2 1/4 test curve rods that I used when I used to fish bottom baits.
Lost one more amongst the lilies (do they actually use the roots to unhook themselves I wonder?) and then it was time to pack up and have a beer to celebrate.
Was a really fun afternoon and I will definitely do it again, this time better prepared with more knowledge.
first Carp session on fly
Re: first Carp session on fly
Eddie
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