Grass Carp.
- This topic has 13 replies, 10 voices, and was last updated Apr 13, 2010 at 1:17 am by
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I have access to three city ponds with huge grass carp. Other than me trying last spring and summer they have never been fished. Some of these fish will push 50lbs and 4ft long. They are very spooky and hard to sneak up on, a boat is not an option here.
Any advice on flies, tactics, or personal experience would be great. And if anyone is in the Wichita Ks are I would be more than happy to bring you along.
Thanks
Hey Jake,
We have them here in our local golf course ponds. When they mow the rough and blow the grass onto the lake the can be easier than catching panfish. Just get about a size 4 hook and a wad of grass latched onto it and hang on.
When they arent mowing I have a fly tied out of the plastic grass stuff from fish aquariums that I have caught a few on ! Good luck to you.
Huh. I guess I need to figure out the mowing schedule. Honestly I have never seen the feeding on the surface. They always seem to be cruising the shallows. I will try and check the ponds more often to observe.
Thanks
I have had a few successes with a bright red egg pattern with a black rubber stem (berry fly), and with an inch-long strip of bright green closed-cell foam (grass fly). They are extroardinarly spooky, even by carp standards, and do not fight well. I suppose pulling in a 50 lb fish will put a bend in your rod, even if the fish is dead. The fight seems to consist of a series of short net runs: the fish bolts out 20 or 30 feet, then goes comatose, letting you drag it to the bank again; repeat.
G
I’ve caught them in south Florida mostly under tree’s dropping berries with a purple/black egg type fly.
Caught several in the 30″ range one spring in St. Louis, again fishing under a tree that was dropping buds.
I suppose pulling in a 50 lb fish will put a bend in your rod, even if the fish is dead. The fight seems to consist of a series of short net runs: the fish bolts out 20 or 30 feet, then goes comatose, letting you drag it to the bank again; repeat.
G
That is interesting. I would figure they fight more like a common carp. The ponds I would be fishing are around 350 yards long by 150 yards wide and at the deepest 12ft. So hopefully no matter how they fight I should be able to keep up with them.
I can catch them at will on one of the rivers by me. They will even chase down streamers and even bass bugs. It is awesome.
Grass carp are fun to catch but very tough to get to bite. The grass fly works great but normally they’re keyed in on certain times of the day or the week for landscapers cutting around the edges of lakes. Here in Colorado we have the Cottonwood drop, the cottonwood seed hatch around late spring that provides incredible dry fly action. A 30-40lb carp on a fly rod is a fight to remember!
I have good luck with bonefish flies and the wooley worm. Stealth is key when approaching this fish. I frequently stake out on grass carp travel lanes to avoid spooking. Regardless of the fly for grass carp present it at eye level. I have success when grass do not have to move up or down in the water column.
Jake,
Let me know if you figure out those monsters. I’m a little far away, and overly employed, to make a run down there easily, but if you manage to find a way to catch them, I’ll make time!
I’m in the Manhattan area. Plan to be in the area on 1 July to do a program for the Flatland Fly Fishers club meeting, and owe a lesson to a young lady in Mulvane who won the fishing package prize at the last Becoming an Outdoors Woman event, so if we don’t do the lesson on the same trip as the club meeting, maybe we can get together and give those grassers a shot.
Craig
Will do. Feel free to email me before you head down.
jakeatkins@gmail.com
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