2023 Carpin’ Thread
- Thread starter dc410
- Start date
dc410
Well-known member
Nice fish!! You need to get a bigger net, Bro! So glad you got hooked up.
hooker-of-men
Well-known member
Ha! I actually had a bigger net in the vehicle, but my pack was set up for a trout weekend that I was driving home from. I checked a spot I've been scouting, and when I saw fish moving I took a few casts only half prepared, thinking no way one of them was going to eat.
I've been so pumped since! Definitely going to be more targeted fishing moving forward.
dc410
Well-known member
That’s what it’s all about, bud! No turning back now. Keep after ‘em and figure ‘em out. Tight lines and screamin’ reels!!
Kyle
Well-known member
nice! congrats
dc410
Well-known member
Get after ‘em Kyle. Don’t let the murky water hang you up. If you can’t see them real well they can’t see you either. The ball is your court bud! Look for surface disturbances, nervous water, carp bubbles. Try to figure out what direction they are feeding and drop a bug in front of them. Good luck, get out there and stick one!!
hooker-of-men
Well-known member
@Kyle
I got the above fish in insane turbidity. My fly and line/leader connection were in no way visible beyond a depth of about 2 inches.
I watched fish kicking up mud and bubbles, and then I laid the cast 1-2 ft off the direction they were headed. I'm sure the low visibility aided rather than inhibited. I watched my line like a hawk and couldn't have missed the take.
dc410
Well-known member
I was out at daybreak this morning with the full intention of going back down on the bottom with nymphs for the carp. In fact I actually tied on a nymph when I put my rod together at the truck at 5:15 this morning before walking to the creek. The only problem I had when I got to the creek was I couldn’t locate a carp feeding on the bottom. As I continued downstream and approached my “shark tank” hole, there were still a few fish actively feeding on berries on top. I absolutely had to switch, because that was clearly what they were feeding on.
I backed off the creek and took the time to to put a new 10 lb. tippet on because my tippet was getting on the short side. I switched back over to my “all star” deer hair berry fly. I took shots at several cruising carp and had a couple classic refusals. I also had a couple short strikes and ended up with my berry fly in the trees three times. I successfully rescued my berry fly all three times, another benefit of using 10 lb. tippet. I finally got one carp to eat my berry and brought one more carp out of that hole to the net for the ‘23 berry season.
On the way back to my truck I did finally locate a mudding carp that was consistently feeding on the bottom. I dropped a nymph just to the left side and in front of the fish. It immediately turned toward my fly, followed it for a short distance and decided not to eat that bug. Carpin’ has a way of keeping you humble. Good luck out there! Don’t let up on ‘em!
I backed off the creek and took the time to to put a new 10 lb. tippet on because my tippet was getting on the short side. I switched back over to my “all star” deer hair berry fly. I took shots at several cruising carp and had a couple classic refusals. I also had a couple short strikes and ended up with my berry fly in the trees three times. I successfully rescued my berry fly all three times, another benefit of using 10 lb. tippet. I finally got one carp to eat my berry and brought one more carp out of that hole to the net for the ‘23 berry season.
On the way back to my truck I did finally locate a mudding carp that was consistently feeding on the bottom. I dropped a nymph just to the left side and in front of the fish. It immediately turned toward my fly, followed it for a short distance and decided not to eat that bug. Carpin’ has a way of keeping you humble. Good luck out there! Don’t let up on ‘em!
Silent Ocelot
Well-known member
A wise decision. Always adjust tippet and leader as needed, especially when fighting powerful fish like these.
Gents, I'm off to ye ol' Sccuykill today. Trying to get my buddy works in a field that keeps him in hot attics all day to see if he wants to spend a couple extra minutes in my hot car that has no A/C to get to my desired spots on the river, not that much of the river is very desirable in general. I have my 8wt with me with two reels that can easily put the brakes on a carp. We'll see what happens. Carp, smallmouth, fallfish, redbreasts, rockbass, bluegill, I'm getting somethin'.
This past Thurs I took a trip to Antietam Lake as I have fond memories of fishing it as a kid. I last fly fished it in the summer of 2018 (five years ago!). I just panfished like I typically do but the lake looks very carp-like and I know the area surrounding the inlet has a lot of flats that look suitable for carp. Perhaps I may try some carpin' here in the near future. I recall my dad once told me he caught a carp above the inlet on corn.
dc410
Well-known member
After a week or so of not having the time to get out, I finally got out again early this morning. I saw a lot of evidence of very actively feeding carp but the water was really off color and with the exception of the tip of a tail every now and then the fish were next to impossible to pinpoint. I was really struggling to get my nymph into the zone to entice any of the carp to eat it. I was quickly leaning toward accepting the “skunk” this morning.
On my way back toward my truck I decided to check out a spot that usually has a few carp but they generally are very tough to approach. I saw some steady carp bubbles on the far side of water. It would require about a 30’ cast which is much farther than I generally cast to a feeding carp. However, I decided to take a shot at it in an attempt to salvage the outing. Nothing ventured - nothing gained, right? I cast to within a foot of the column of bubbles and intently focused on the end of my floating fly line. The take was not difficult to see as the carp solidly ate my nymph. After a short strip set the battle was on! A short time later I brought a chunky mirror carp to the net. This was only my third mirror carp of the year and it had a pretty cool pattern of scales on it. The carp are very actively feeding in the hot, humid summertime weather and are very catchable. Good luck with your carpin’.
On my way back toward my truck I decided to check out a spot that usually has a few carp but they generally are very tough to approach. I saw some steady carp bubbles on the far side of water. It would require about a 30’ cast which is much farther than I generally cast to a feeding carp. However, I decided to take a shot at it in an attempt to salvage the outing. Nothing ventured - nothing gained, right? I cast to within a foot of the column of bubbles and intently focused on the end of my floating fly line. The take was not difficult to see as the carp solidly ate my nymph. After a short strip set the battle was on! A short time later I brought a chunky mirror carp to the net. This was only my third mirror carp of the year and it had a pretty cool pattern of scales on it. The carp are very actively feeding in the hot, humid summertime weather and are very catchable. Good luck with your carpin’.
dc410
Well-known member
I went out early this morning and brought home the “skunk”. As the temperatures soar into mid summer the vegetation is really starting to get thick. I saw a lot of actively feeding carp and managed to spook every one I took a shot at. The carp like to hang out and feed in the duckweed. I think they are eating bugs in the weeds and even sometimes actually feed on the duckweed itself. I included a couple of photos of some classic summertime carp habitat and a pic of one of my favorite carp nymphs. They have the feed bag tied on all through the rest of the summer, but connecting with them can sometimes get more challenging. Tight lines and screamin’ reels, Carpers!!
hooker-of-men
Well-known member
I thought I had found ShangriLa with the spot where I got mine, but there's been no fish with the feed bag on the last 4 out of 5 times I've been back. Very quiet. Very sad.
2 days after I caught that fish, one section of the water was covered 100% in algae. Today, it was all gone again. Huh.
2 days after I caught that fish, one section of the water was covered 100% in algae. Today, it was all gone again. Huh.
dc410
Well-known member
Been there, keep at it, bud! Persistence IMO is the absolute key to catching carp on the fly.
dc410
Well-known member
August is a great month for carpin’. They are rooting and digging and feeding full bore right now. I’ve taken a bit of a break - vacations and stuff, but looking to get back after them in August. Tying up some different “change up” nymph patterns, but always looking for carp cruising just under the surface and looking up - I would love to stick a few on terrestrial patterns yet this season. Don’t give up on them guys!
hooker-of-men
Well-known member
Tailhooked a big fish tonight. Luckily, it popped off after a minute so I didn't have to go through the whole dance.
No eats, but I saw a handful of active fish. What's the spawning cycle look like? The one I hooked was making some pretty erratic movements. I told myself maybe it was just the tail flapping as it was mudding, but it really seemed like a different shimmy.
No eats, but I saw a handful of active fish. What's the spawning cycle look like? The one I hooked was making some pretty erratic movements. I told myself maybe it was just the tail flapping as it was mudding, but it really seemed like a different shimmy.
dc410
Well-known member
You did good by getting disconnected with the foul hooked fish. A tail hooked carp is a tough situation to deal with and popping your tippet and/or straightening out the hook as quickly as possible is generally the best solution.
Observing and trying to figure out exactly what carp are doing at any given time is an important part of the big puzzle. Yesterday I stopped at one of my local carp spots and literally just watched many active fish as they cruised around rooting in the mud, putting up massive silt clouds and strings of carp bubbles, never even strung up the rod. I’ll hit that spot sometime just after daybreak hopefully this week yet. I would think it to be very late in the season for spawning activity. I usually think of prime spawning time to be in the May-June timeframe. However, I have seen it vary greatly in timing even on my local carp fisheries. I think of classic carp spawning activity as smaller male fish actively chasing much larger females around in an attempt to fertilize eggs that she is in the process of laying. Sounds like you have a good carpin’ spot located. I hope you connect with a few of them as we head into the dog days of summer. Good luck and keep us up to date with your carpin’ adventures!
hooker-of-men
Well-known member
I went back this morning, as I am curious how a bit of a cold snap (70s/50s) is affecting the fish. Sure enough, after seeing no fish moving the past few weeks in the high heat, they are active again now. I cast to a number of feeding fish but couldn't get any to eat.
I think these fish are a bit lazy, as it was dead quiet at 6 am, but by 8 they were really active. I wish I could've stayed longer, but I made myself late for work as it is 😂
I think these fish are a bit lazy, as it was dead quiet at 6 am, but by 8 they were really active. I wish I could've stayed longer, but I made myself late for work as it is 😂
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dc410
Well-known member
I hit the spot I checked out earlier in the week just after sunrise this morning. There were actively feeding carp literally everywhere on this flat. In years past I used to catch a fair amount of carp out of this section of stream but haven’t stuck one yet this year. I took a ton of shots at feeding fish this morning and had some near perfect presentations. The fly hit the surface, the fish responded, turned and approached my fly and flat out refused to eat it. These are some of the most selective and spooky carp that I’ve fished over in many years. Unfortunately, I also managed to spook a few of them pretty bad and when this happens it effectively sounds the alarm and can instantly blow up the whole area. Once they blow the whistle you’re pretty well cooked! Time to find some brand new targets and maybe a few new patterns. Taking the skunk is definitely part of the game and I humbly accepted it this morning. Lots of carpin’ time left this season. Good luck!
hooker-of-men
Well-known member
This time that *is* my bigger net. Opening length is 18". Had to be 26-27".
This was a new spot. The water was clearer, and I watched it under a pile of weeds nosing through them on top. Threw to the side, and it pounced down to the bottom on the fly.
It was a good 10 minute fight. That's the longest I've ever done the damn thing. Was amazing.
Fly-Swatter
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Very nice!!
