Books on Natives and Carp?

[itchmesir]

I flew through Fishing For Buffalo and am flying through Carp On The Fly... I'm really going to put in a lot of effort on catching more natives and carp this year... And am interested in any other good reads out there about them... any suggestions would be great... thank you

[StillwaterAaron]

There really are not any more books on them.

You will find more info online and on your own than any book. Pounding the riverbanks you will learn more than any way else. Learn your ID too.

[Comit 2]

Quote:

I flew through Fishing For Buffalo and am flying through Carp On The Fly...

Both good books and must reads. Fishing Buffalo was fun for me because I live at the upper end of the Cannon River and after reading the book my wife and I now take a drive down along the Cannon every spring. From near Rice Lake to Red Wing. With stops at Morristown (Best little town by a dam site), Northfield (for coffee and another dam), Cannon Falls (at the dam), Welsh and Red Wing. It's a nice day drive.

Youtube has a lot on fishing for carp. How to tie hair rigs and such.

The bug has bitten me too. I was thinking about getting my 7wt ready last weekend. When I get home I'll look through my books and see if there are others that I can recommend.

[Stick500]

There's a lot of books about fishing for carp, but the great majority of them are written by, and aimed at, British fishermen. A lot of that stuff doesn't necessarily apply to U.S. carpers.

Haven't found any other books that are specifically aimed at north american rough fish, like Fishing for Buffalo (oddly enough, the book only had a couple paragraphs devoted on how to actually catch a buffalo!)

[itchmesir]

I agree Stick... Though Fishing For Buffalo was a great read and I did learn a lot... It left something to be desired at the same time...

@Comit... I've been tying a ton of rough flies for the past month... I'm ready for the open water

[StillwaterAaron]

I agree Stick... Though Fishing For Buffalo was a great read and I did learn a lot... It left something to be desired at the same time...

You have to remember when this book was written there was not the shared knowledge of the internet. So much is still being learned about habitat and angling for many of these fish. This was two guys knowledge chasing fish where they could. Why is there not much written about how to catch buffalo? Because they probably caught some but not on a regular basis. Smallmouth buffs are much more common to catch than the bigmouth and black buffs. Books are not selling like they used to because of the internet so it would be tough to justify all the effort of putting together a book like this when there is a site that is free to research the info. Books are fading.

As for the carp books. Over in Europe the fishing is much different for carp. They are respected there and receive hard core pressure. Some tactics can be transfered but I prefer searching the web over spending money. I own many books about fishing bought most at half priced books. I have European books about fishing and I enjoy parts of that style such as using much longer rods.

I think it will be a long shot that a book gets published with the passion of Fishing For Buffalo. That book has inspired so many people. Before the new revision was published I bought 2 of the old school ones. I have enjoyed them passed one on to a friend. The new copy I have never picked up. I have a hard time with a carp being on the cover.

[Comit 2]

There is another book written by the same author as Fishing For Buffalo. Tom Dickson. The great Minnesota fish book. It is done in more of a coffee table book style. It has illustrations of all the fish found in Minnesota and a brief description of each. It doesn't show the lip patters on suckers, kind of a let down because that seam to be the best was to identify different Suckers.

Upper Midwest year-around guide, "Flies that catch trout and how to fish them" by Ross A. Mueller is a good book on the Minnesota and Wisconsin driftless. It is a good follow up to "Carp on the Fly".

[StillwaterAaron]

The Fish of Minnesota was a let down. Skipped over way to many cool fish and the illustrations where not completely accurate. It is a big beautiful book but a let down to those who love other fish. There were some of the redhorse but why put some and not all when there are 6 redhorse in MN.

As far as ID, the best way is to know multiple ways of telling the difference in the fish. After you know them you can see pics even bad ones where you can tell the kind of redhorse. Lips are just one part of it. That is why when people put up a pic and misidentify a fish I do point it out. You can only learn from lots of practice.

[Cthulhu]

Actually lips are tough way to ID most suckers. It works but it is really difficult in some cases. A clear broadside showing fins and everything clearly is easy to ID from. Lips are most useful on Buffalos and Carpsuckers, but they can be useful on other species. By far, the most obvious MN sucker to ID via lips is the Silver Redhorse. Once you get that one down the lips are the easiest ID method for that species

[bobbymalone]

google wisconsin fish ID database

[Cthulhu]

Going back to the original question. Becker's fishes of Wisconsin is great resource for any species found in WI (lots of overap in WI species and MN species). Unfortunately it is out of print. Fortunately you can find it avalible for free use online. A google search will bring up 2 copies - the WI EDU copy is the better of the two. One of the few fish books left that I'd love to own but surely never will. Unless somebody wants to donate $300-$400 to the Cthulhu Library Fund.

(Lyon's WI fish ID is a good resource too)

[Comit 2]

Quote:

The Fish of Minnesota was a let down.

I agree. That is what I meant by "coffee table book". Nice for the laymen to see what lives in Mn but not a good reference book.

It is always nice to have more then one way to identify any given fish.