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Thursday, May 9, 2013

Grass Carp

I hooked up with one of the backyard grass carp! These guys are tough to catch. I employed a handful of tactics and flies. I smacked them in the head with green hoppers, led them with green hoppers, tandem nymphs, worm flies, the hybrid, slow stripped bugs, and finally the answer was a classic clouser swimming nymph (CSN). I asked myself after catching this fish, shouldn't this be one of the first flies I throw at this fish? For a fish that is sitting or cruising about a foot under the water surface the CSN is a logical choice. The CSN has a slow sink rate allowing it to hover in the zone for a long time. This sets up nicely for leading a slow cruiser. With that, I'm gonna tie a few more CSN's and with any luck I'll harass a few more of these big fish.

The fight was great. This big fish jumped out of the water twice. Seeing grassies go airborn is quite spectacular. I hooked a couple last year that also went airborn but popped. This time I won. Man vs Grass Carp.
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16 comments:

  1. CARFMay 09, 2013

    Nice catch!

    ReplyDelete
  2. James O Durbin IIMay 09, 2013

    Randy, who has the world record right now, i think.....throws cut grass from the lawnmower in the water, when they come up to eat it, he throws a little green fly made from a couple strips of green foam.

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    Replies
    1. JohnMay 09, 2013

      Do you remember the weight on Randy's fish?

      Delete
    2. BrookfieldAnglerMay 09, 2013

      That's some euro style carpin right there!

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    3. James O Durbin IIMay 16, 2013

      mid 50's i think, weighed at a post office scale to be legal.

      Delete
  3. GreggMay 09, 2013

    Awesome! Yes they are tough, I applaud your success!

    Gregg

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  4. Feather ChuckerMay 09, 2013

    You have got some skills. Pike, trout, catfish, carp, quillbacks, doesn't matter. You catch'm. Nice going!

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  5. Brent WilsonMay 09, 2013

    Outstanding fish. Nice work.

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  6. Carp AficionadoMay 09, 2013

    Awesome. Grassies are tough nuts to crack. Well done.

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  7. David RomanillosMay 10, 2013

    Congratulations, nice carp. I like too fly fishing carp.
    Greetings for that words

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  8. UnknownMay 10, 2013

    Nice carp, looks like a great time!

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  9. UnknownMay 10, 2013

    good stuff man

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  10. Bill TrussellMay 11, 2013

    John
    I landed my first carp a couple of weeks ago on a tiny dragon fly--it was a grass carp and the caretaker of the lake told me that the grass carp seldom ever hits anything on top--that carp you landed puts my to shame--what weight fly rod did you take that brut on? Congrats on a bonus catch-

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    Replies
    1. JohnMay 13, 2013

      Bill – 5wt. Glad to hear you fooled one too!

      Delete
  11. JohnMay 13, 2013

    Thanks for the words folks! This fish drove me nuts last year. Nice to get my hands on one again.

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  12. FishnDaveMay 15, 2013

    You and me both, John! These things drive me CRAZY! Well done, and I will have to try your tactic on my locals. My biggest issue is water clarity. It isn't often I can actually SEE the fish before they see me. Again...GOOD JOB!!!

    ReplyDelete

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