New Crayfish Patterns For Carp, Bass, Bone Fish Etc Video Too

[esox niger]

Essox, I think it's about time you put on a little carp forum seminar for us here. How about a little Q & A for a guy (me) that knows where some huge carp hang out.... but can not get them to bite a fly for nuthin. I can get a cast in their face good enough to snag them in the head routinely but getting one to eat the fly on purpose has totally eluded me so far.

What degree of water turbidity seems to make it happen best?

Do you like a long leader (10ft. or more)? Any other rigging tips that matter?

How about the 3 most important aspects that lead to getting a fly in a carps mouth?

They are hands down the hardest fish to consistently catch on fly gear.....and I wanna learn it

MFU Missouri flish unit! great name wrench

Hmm? sounds like some buffalo i tried to catch here on the meramec....are they really common carp?

#1 most important thing is being able to see feeding fish! (allways have polarized glasses or stay home) wich lends itself to minimal trubidity or shallow water. My home waters are quite turb with minimal shallows so i SEE more grass carp because they tend to cruise and dwell at the surface, they may be more prevalent here but i'd estimate a 50/50 split on intuition.

#2 is being stealth enough not to allert the carp prior to casting. You need to be able to watch the fish to some degree and feel them out leading too...

#3 Getting a good cast. Here's where you feel the fish out. It may take casting to more than one fish to get a feel for the mood and typical behavior of the fish in the area, their tollerance for things hitting the water, how hard is it to spook them, how allert are they. Some fish are so busy rooting you have to put the fly right on the nose...others cruise the shallows and sense a fly 2 ft away. I would start with a size 6 or 8 fly, your fish may take larger flies, but from what i do...i fish smaller flies always with bead chain eyes and often with weedguards. A small crayfish is ideal. the fish must either sense the fly hitting the water or have the fly draged or stripped within a foot or so usualy. you need to find that happy place between getting the fish's attention and spooking it. an you do that by casting and observing the fish's reactions to your presentation.

In my experience a feeding carp is a feeding carp...put something in front of him that he see's/senses and he's going to eat it if it doesn't scare him. And they are actually not that hard to catch IMO if you can see and cast too them.

10 ft leader is fine and i typicaly fish 20lb flouro ...if i go lighter i get broke off...but your situation may be different.

# presentation ...anywhere form almost no action to a medium pased strip can work. you need to judge the fish...If it hasn't seen you fly a couple quick "crayfish" scoots and then rest, prefearably just ahead of the fish. you may be able to see whats going on or you may have to feel your way through it. If you think the fish is investigating , about to take, or taking the fly. i go to a very slow alost imperceptible stip....1-2 inches per second, this keeps out slack...gives the fly life, and you can feel the take and set the hook if the fish does't do it for you, without taking the fly away from the fish. if you get nothing i will do another couple short crayfish bursts 3-6inc strips, pause and repeat. try try and try again.

They may be selective, but i've never encountered this. usually they are eager...

you may need to try larger flies, puffyer flies, brighter flies etc. but a feeding carp will almost always take a crayfish from my experience.

I'm thinking your fishing to buffalo but i could be totaly wrong. buffalo i havent figured, i've cast to them 1000's of times totaly ignored and then one will take a fly...why? i have no idea what those fish are about and i don't care anymore.

Hope that helps a little, its tough at first....but #1 find feeding fish....thats the real hunt, I'd love to hear where you see the carp at, river, lake, stream, and names are nice too:)

also, if you can find a mulberry tree late spring early summer you in luck big time.

peace

[fishinwrench]

I'm thinking your fishing to buffalo but i could be totaly wrong. buffalo i havent figured, i've cast to them 1000's of times totaly ignored and then one will take a fly...why? i have no idea what those fish are about and i don't care anymore.

I think you're right, and it cracked me up when you said..." and I don't care anymore"... cuz that's exactly the attitude I get, until I see someone posting successful carp reports. Gives me an inferiority complex and makes me wanna try again. If they are Buffalo, and Buffalo are typically that way then that explains it. Thank You, you just saved my ego.

The location of them is in the back end flats of the bigger Lake O tributary arms, and further up the creeks in silty backwater sloughs. They are insanely thick all through the warm months rooting and tailing in textbook fashion, but absolutely will not take a fly in their mouth. I've even tried rubbing peanut butter on my fly and all sorts of "inside tricks"....NADA.

So yeah, I bet that thr majority of my "carp" are buffalo.... makes sense and I guess I figured they were closely enough related that I never differentiated between the species in my mind.

Excellent info and very helpful, Thanks again.

[esox niger]

Yeah, thats funny. That would explain it. I've cast and cast and cast to these fish even snagging two which i thought had bitten only to find the fly slightly outside the mouth. what are the chances of snagging two fish within 1/2 inch of their mouths on the same day, while drifting a fly in current? I must be good!

and then out of the blue one hits a size 6 damsel type pattern and a few days latter another...I can't explain why these fish are the way they are but, like we've both said, "I don't care"

From what you've said I'd kinda expect there to be some common carp around those area's, once you get the eye for them you can sorta tell the difference. Thats the biggest issue is finding fish...once you find them they will usually be there time and again. despite the Carp's supposed prevalance they can be hard as hell to find cus you gotta see them and not all places lend themselves to sight fishing, I've found both grass carp and common carp tend to have favorite hang outs. The grass carp will find a big tree on the bank with half its roots in the water. you may find 90% of the visible fish gathered in these spots. It may be the tree is dropping something...in which case you may find common carp and catfish underneath as well. anyhow i'll quit pointificating...keep your eyes open and good luck.

[FishinCricket]

I got two out of a fleet of 100 to attack my fly... At least I think they attacked it, the clouser didn't make it into their bulbous mouth, but they bum rushed it.. That was a wild day!!

This is a buffalo, isnt it? My largest fish to date on the fly. I'm pretty sure this was a freak occurance though.

[Wayne SW/MO]

How did that smallie taste you got on the stringer? Did you fry it?

[FishinCricket]

How did that smallie taste you got on the stringer? Did you fry it?

Nah, I just cut their fins off and toss em back... After I've drug em around all day, that is..

(thats a couple of whites, pops.. For the record!)

[esox niger]

I got two out of a fleet of 100 to attack my fly... At least I think they attacked it, the clouser didn't make it into their bulbous mouth, but they bum rushed it.. That was a wild day!!

This is a buffalo, isnt it? My largest fish to date on the fly. I'm pretty sure this was a freak occurance though.

Looks like a smallmouth buffalo. Nice One!

[FishinCricket]

Thanks, it was an odd fish.. Hard to get ahold of but had the "skin" texture of an elephant or something! Really weird...

[Kayser]

You do realize that "river fish" (buffalo) are pretty tasty? Especially out of that semi-clear water. Just fleece, fillet, score, bread, and fry!

Rob

[FishinCricket]

You do realize that "river fish" (buffalo) are pretty tasty? Especially out of that semi-clear water. Just fleece, fillet, score, bread, and fry!

Rob

Well these were schooled up in that little creek spawning, but they had just come up out of LOZ, so I almost wanted to handle em with gloves!

Yeah, I'm told their pretty good....