what did i do wrong??

[srfishin15]

Okay so heres my situation. Last night i was fishing the mississippi where the watab flows into it below the sartell dam. I fished there before and knew there were alot of carp.. So this time i decided to bring the fly rod. The watab was flowing in qucikly and the carp were jumping everywhere on the edges of the current in the bubbles where it was flowing in. I tried a couple nymphs, a wolly bugger, a muddler minnow, and three floating flies of different color. I sat there for an hour trying to catch these fish and there were a couple who literally jumped and landed on my flies. Thats how close they were getting. I have no idea why i didn't get a single bite!! > please help.. any advice would be great. My setup is a 9ft 6wt rod with a pflueger medalist reel with weight forward floating fly line to a 2 ft section of 6lb test to another 2 ft section of 4lb test. HELP!

[carpmanjake]

just because they were jumping does not mean they are feeding. you need to see the carp feeding to be sure. look for them sucking on the surface of calmer areas during HOT days and cast to them. DO NOT let the fly land in the middle of them, they will spook!

unless you know EXACTLY where they are feeding, fly fishing is pretty much useless.

[hydro]

If the current was moving fast, fish right in it. The fish you don't see are the ones that will take the bait. I doubt a fly would work here, but my experience is that if you can get corn down deep in the flowing water you will get carp. Maybe modifying your fly presentation to do that would produce fish. (BTW, that is one of my all time favorite sopts!)

[Comit 2]

Most Carp are taken on weighted flys that hold the hook up. So when a carp that is feeding down takes the fly off the bottom it can't help but get the hook in it's mouth.

Streamers are not the best Carp flys. Muddler Minnow are not a classic Carp fly. If you are going to use a Wolly Bugger make sure it is a cone head or bead head so it gets down fast.

Active Carp are feeding Carp to some degree. Get some flys in olive, rust or rootbeer. Dumbbell weights are best to hold the hook upward. Get back and hit them again. Change up your retrieve but a slow figure 8 retrieve to pickup line is a good starting point.

[Comit 2]

Quote:

My setup is a 9ft 6wt rod with a pflueger medalist reel with weight forward floating fly line to a 2 ft section of 6lb test to another 2 ft section of 4lb test. HELP!

You might want to go with 3-1/2' of 20lb test mono to 2' of 15or12lb test mono to 4' of 8-6lb test tipit. With weighted Carp flys 4lb test would be hard pressed to keep the fly on your line.

Good luck with the Medalist reel a good sized Carp can take you to your backing in no time. So a good drag is a nice thing to have, more so for Carp then any fresh water fish I can think of. Not to say you can't do it with a Medalist, I think it would be great fun to see some one fight and land a good size Carp on an old school (Trout/Panfish) reel like a Medalist. It's just not easy.

Good luck and keep at it. There is a learning curve that is steep at first but as the pieces come togather it will be a lot easier. There is always corn if you want to take the short cut.

[srfishin15]

this maeks me feel betrer, jake, with you saying that im pretty positive they weren't feeding. But i did drop the fly into the middle of the bubble and the fish were still jumping next to it, i think there was enough current the fly hitting the water wasn't spooking them. hydro- i tried corn and bread twice last year and couldn't catch a one! comit- i was outta options on the flies, yes I know its not really a [PoorWordUsage] fly. and I'll wait until I hook one to change outfits lol kinda on a budget..

[carpmanjake]

hydro, i have used Caddis creek rod and reel combos for carp for years (and they are HORRIBLE quality). and have had no problem. and i target carp on the fly several times a week. and almost every day a couple years back.

right now i have a pflueger purist 6wt rod, and a pflueger medalist pro. the only reason i went with the pro is because i have some areas with possibilities of 30+lb carp (which i have yet to even hook up with)

i have the drag set at the loosest setting, and have already caught about 50 carp on it since i got it just after ice out

so if its just not that easy to do it.... i must be pretty dang good. lol

heck... ive even landed some nice carp on an automatic fly reel that i used because i wrecked my caddis creek reel, and didnt have the $10 to get another one right away

[Comit 2]

Carpman, you are the man! No one said you were a beginner nor did I say I was trying to help you.

That is one beat up Carp in the net by the auto reel.

I know how you must have felt with all those Carp and not one taker. I was out today and saw well over 100 Carp. I had one on right away this morning on a small cray fish fly. It picked up the fly and moved to the center of the the stream and I couldn't move it with my 7wt. Then the hook pulled out. Right after that Muddog had one on and it came off too. Not another bite after that from that area. It is hard to stay on task when 15 feet away from you there are 20 Carp trying to fit up a 12"dia storm drain pipe in 4" of water (I have a pics of it but with a new phone I'm not used to yet). There was even one Carp with red and white spots swimming around the area.

Right place, Wrong time.

Jake. Muddog says Hi.

[carpmanjake]

lol, im just saying, its actually quite possible to catch nice carp with even a 5wt. all you do it play the fish right. never try and stop a carps run. or horse it in. thats when the hook will eventually work its way out.

not trying to toot my own horn. i guess what im trying to say is that people worry about their tackle far too much, and that mindset, can lead to alot of lost fish.

muddog, hi. lol

[goblueM]

i used to use my St. Croix 5 wt with a Medalist growing up. caught TONS of carp on it in fast current. I never even used the drag, i just stripped line in and when they went off like crazy I held the line and let it slip out. manual drag, i guess

used to hammer the carp on mulberry flies. if you can find a mulberry they should be fruiting right now - find one on the water and you are golden. purple chenille on a hook is all you need

i did end up breaking my 5 wt on a nice carp though. i second the leader, you want at LEAST 6 pound, if not 8

[srfishin15]

like i said, ill hook one before i change up leaders.. but thanks!

[gooty]

Tred Barta style!

[Comit 2]

Quote:

like i said, ill hook one before i change up leaders.. but thanks!

4foot is a short leader. It may work for shallow water but then again the fly line may spook the fish.

It is fun to land Carp on light line but that is more for lakes where there is no current and nothing but open water and no snags.

Good luck and have fun. There are a lot of carp over 30lbs all over this state that have never beed cought.

[srfishin15]

I caught smallies up north with that so i just hadn't made it longer since then. It's about 7 ft long now, all 6lb. possibility for sunfish or bass at other lakes we fish so i didn't up the poundage on it yet. If i do go for carp again i will change up though.