Carp!

[vanven]

Yeah, you will need some room. once you hook up he will tangle you with every other line in the water. They pull very hard! The cork in the handle of my 6w is cracked from the rod flexing in the handle. Are you on the Missouri side?

I am near Liberty on the MO side.

-Jerod

[raildog]

I would love to get into some carp. Heck I'd just like to watch! I know there are a ton of them around the marina at Longview, I don't know how close to it you can fish. I'm about 15 minutes south of Longview.

[vanven]

Maybe I need to dust off the little 8 foot pontoon boat I have in the garage and give it a shot as a carp fly fishing platform. I think it would be stable enough to cast from. It would also be an interesting ride depending on the size of the fish. I have caught plenty of bass big enough to turn the boat. I even caught a crappie big enough to pull me accross a small pond. Not sure what a 20 pound carp would do to that boat. It would be perfect for Longview. I can drag it to the shore and launch from just about anywhere. It would also get me out of range of the food fisherman.

-Jerod

[N Wolf]

Let us know how that works out. Is the water shallow where yu will be fishing? Is it clear water?

[OKFlyFisher44]

They are awesome to catch on a fly rod. I got to chase them several times last summer but haven't made time to do it this year. Been too busy chasing trout, stripers, and smallmouth. They are super spooky and tough to catch. Everyone compares them to chasing bonefish on the saltwater flats, which is why lots of guys call them "Golden Bones". They are a blast on a 7wt. They are very fast and strong, almost like a saltwater fish. The only thing that has compared to hooking a big carp is a big striper. To this day, the stripers we find in the Arkansas River system here in Oklahoma are the hardest fighting fish I've encountered...with carp being a close second. I've hooked and landed lots of large trout but they just don't have the brute strength that carp and stripers have, I think. Man...this makes me want to go wet-wade some local warm-water creeks and see what I can stir up...

Here is my best carp from last summer

[N Wolf]

Is that water as muddy as it looks in the pic? If so how hard is it to find the fish in that? I have lots of muddy little creeks up here I just never thought about trying to fish them.

[OKFlyFisher44]

The water only looks muddy because my buddy and I had just waded through it trying to land that fish. That little creek is actually VERY clear for being sandy bottomed. You can spot the fish from a distance because they mostly hold in the shallow pools and cruise the sandy flats of the creek. But once you see them, its VERY hard to get close enough to make an accurate cast because its very brushy around the creek.

Its a fun creek to fish. LOL, we are always trying to get the "Washita River Grand Slam" which is a carp, drum, channel catfish, and flathead catfish. You can substitute other fish in make the slam though