Grass Carp on fly

[FishnDave]

Fished a new-to-me pond today.  Caught some small bass, bluegills, and green sunfish.  Also caught a 28” Grass Carp.  Lotta fun on fly gear!  It hit a floating yellow foam bug.

 

[MOPanfisher]

Cool, I caught a big.one many years ago from a small lake/pond on a floating rapala, caught several common carp out of pond on fly rod when I was a kid, lots of fun.

[FishnDave]

Chummed with some cat food.  Caught my 2nd Grass Carp of the year, a new PERSONAL SMALLEST, at 27" and maybe @ 9 lbs.  This one hit a chartreuse microjig about 8" below an idicator.  The water was stained, I couldn't see the fish at all until after it hit.

 

[FishnDave]

Speaking of big ones, though...my biggest was also on a fly rod... 5wt rod with badly damaged (abraided and sun degradation) 8 lb test mono tippet. By all rights, I shouldn't have won that battle.

It was after dark by the time I landed it, so the pictures turned out HORRIBLE.  Caught about 5 years ago.

41.5" long, estimated weight of 35 lbs.

[Johnsfolly]

Great fish Dave!!

Can't  wait to catch a few grass carp. Have not caught one yet. I have a buddy that gave me a location where he caught a 20+lb grass carp on strawberry carp bait after he chummed with corn soaked over night in strawberry flavoring. Don't  think that I will have time in Columbia to try for those guys. Haven't  heard any reports of grass carp in MD. Probably in some private ponds.

[FishnDave]

I have noticed fly anglers fishing concrete-lined drainage canals in Texas and Arizona catch quite a few sight-fishing them.  They spot them, get close (not easy, in my experience!), then drop a #8 or #10 nymph near them.  Also a buddy near Omaha, NE, fishes creeks for them, gets them to eat lime green San Juan Worm flies fairly regularly.  Another acquaintance in Arkansas flyfishes for them from his kayak, does really well on a floating or very slow sinking fly....says he sees them eating drowned wasps off the water surface quit a bit.

[Flyfisher for men]

18 hours ago, FishnDave said:

Speaking of big ones, though...my biggest was also on a fly rod... 5wt rod with badly damaged (abraided and sun degradation) 8 lb test mono tippet. By all rights, I shouldn't have won that battle.

It was after dark by the time I landed it, so the pictures turned out HORRIBLE.  Caught about 5 years ago.

41.5" long, estimated weight of 35 lbs.

 

 

Nice !

I caught one on a few years ago on a 6 wt. fly rod that I estimated at the same weight. Mine was 48" but wasn't quite as deep in the belly as yours.  I was actually stalking a different carp when I saw him and cast a black woolly bugger in his direction. He took it as I stripped it by him.  

[Johnsfolly]

They are in the White River in AR. This one hit a Zig Jig above Rim shoals.

I've seen them in Big Piney river in MO.

 

[FishnDave]

2 hours ago, Flyfisher for men said:

 

 

Nice !

I caught one on a few years ago on a 6 wt. fly rod that I estimated at the same weight. Mine was 48" but wasn't quite as deep in the belly as yours.  I was actually stalking a different carp when I saw him and cast a black woolly bugger in his direction. He took it as I stripped it by him.  

Yeah, this one was a tank!  But at 48", I'd guess that would weigh quite a bit more than 35 lbs.  So, with some help of a DNR Fisheries Biologist friend, we found 2 studies that produced length vs weight calculations for grass carp.  One was for Missouri River fish (thinner), and one was for Lake Gunthersville, Alabama (lake fish, fatter).  I used the lake calculation for the fish I caught.  If yours was thinner, you could use the river calculation.  I ran 48" through it, and the result was 40.78 lbs.  (and for fun, I put it through the lake fish calculation, and got 56.1 lbs)  Big difference, but either way that's a HUGE FISH!

If you want to know what the formulas are for those calculations, you can check out my blog entry here:

https://fishndave.blogspot.com/2013/10/grass-carp-length-vs-weight-table.html

 

[FishnDave]

2 hours ago, Johnsfolly said:

They are in the White River in AR. This one hit a Zig Jig above Rim shoals.

I've seen them in Big Piney river in MO.

 

They are all up and down the Missouri River in good numbers.  They are in nearly every sizable bank eddy.  They are even in creeks around St. Louis.  Apparently a fly about the size, shape and color of a ripe mulberry catches them during the warm months.