Chas Wade wrote:

I agree with you, pound for pound a carp is as good a fighter as any
fish you can find in fresh water. I have caught a couple big pike up
north that went way into the backing at speeds aproaching a bonefish,
and that with 20 pound leader straining hard to stop them, but out of a
couple thousand pike, only a handfull fought as hard as a typical carp.


I usually fish for Carp during runoff. From the look of our rivers and
the very warm this Spring, I didn't think we were going to get ANY
runoff. I crossed the river this AM on the way to the paint store and
saw it was up a bit and carrying a little color. Hopefully this is just
the start.

The Carp are in the shallows this time of year and are getting ready to
spawn. I found that if they're spawning, they're uncatchable but if
they're in the shallows feeding, you can sight fish them in our clear
local lakes and ponds. They're tough fish, spooky in the clear water and
they can be fussy about what they eat. They're able to enhale a fly and
spit it out without giving you any indication, so seeing them is a big
help. I used to use big flies like buggers etc. but Charley W., who
fishes them alot, recomended soft hackle flies. They do seem to get
taken more readilly. I'm not too good at it and my success per fish is
low, maybe one in fifty, but since they're very plentiful and easy to
see, you get lots of chances. I'm learning to recognize when they're
actively feeding and not just cruising or chasing or spawning or ? and
if you find one that's feeding, your chances go way up.

PS for Jeff - I used to think they were butt ugly and hated handling
them. After fishing for them, I can see the beauty in their strength and
apart from the difficulty in unhooking them and their size, they're not
much different to handle than a trout.

Willi