My first carp on fly.

[Rokkobc123]

Hey fellas, thanks for the tips!

I've had a few take LCB's on the drop too, but usually when targeting Goldens. It's always a bastard when you hook something solid and realize it's just a dirty ol' Slank.

I did get out for a cast this afternoon with the Whip stick though.

Went to a local creek and started to trek the banks casting a small woolly bugger. There was a bit of action on the surface from small Redfin attacking Mosquito fish in the shallows and it wasn't long before I hooked into one. The hooks didn't pin very well and he got away but it was still exciting to see the little guy come out from his rock and smash the fly in open water.

I continued to walk further and further downstream, the water was the lowest I have ever seen it and very discoloured. During winter the water in this creek was flowing clear and fast. I pulled some substantially sized Redfin out of some water further upstream during that time.

I finally spotted two medium sized carp cruising a shallow pool clearly feeding on what ever was in their view. A well place cast about two feet from a spectacularly coloured Koi carp and sure enough he ate it in plain sight. The battle was short lived as the tiny gauged hook came free as it powered off downstream through the rapids and into the next pool.

I was pretty excited at this point but the other carp that was cruising this pool was no-where to be seen so I continued on down stream.

The next pool I came to was deep and full of snags, it looked more like somewhere i should be casting spinner baits for Murray Cod or Golden perch but it was absolutely full of carp. At least 30 fish were cruising under the surface here and I assumed it was only a matter of getting a decent cast into the sight of one of these fish and I would be hooked up. This wasn't the case though as every cast put into the view of the fish seemed to be refused. I soon realised that most of the fish that I was casting to weren't feeding at all and I needed to find a nice cruiser. There were some absolute monster fish mixed in with this school and one large Koi seemed to be feeding but i couldn't quite get the cast into the right spot. So i continued downstream...

The next section was slightly shallower and there were less carp in view, but most here were feeding and it wasn't long before i got a clean shot at a rather large cruising fish. The cast landed almost on top of his nose, he seemed dis-interested but at the last minute he turned and sucked the little fur and feathered fly into his mouth. I gave him a second to get it down and firmly set the hook. Off he went straight for the rather large timber pile on the other side of the bank. The battle was fierce and lasted over ten minutes, He struggled in and out of the timber and reed lined banks pulling line off my spool every chance he got. I was starting to worry about where i was going to land this fish as i was at least 8 feet above the water with no visible path down. Luckily my good mate Thom was on his way over after work to lend a hand and made it just in time to guide the fish into the lip grips, and what nice a fish it was!!

At an estimated 3-4kgs I was super stoked with my efforts and it sure was a thrill to land a fish this size on fly gear!

We continued further downstream but the fish that were previously cruising and feeding heavily were no where to be found. I assume all the commotion from the battle sent them deep into the structure, but it was also starting to get very hot in the sun so that could also have something to do with it.

Here is the photo!

[Karpfen]

Nice report, makes me wanna go fishing.

Well done on your first carp on fly.

With carp a lot of cruisers aren't in feeding mode and can be hard to tempt. If you can see fish with their noses down feeding in shallow water they'll be a lot easier.

[William]

[pale ale]

[bream master 4]

good to see the ospreys doing there bit to get rid of these ferrals.

[William]

^^^ Can't leave all the dirty work to the ospreys - plus 2wt for added pleasure


_________________
The highest form of existence is play