How do you catch these carp that are on the surface?

[carlcmc]

Saw huge (30+) schools of large carp sunning on the surface of the water. Tried to catch them with a hook and big glob of worm but couldn't keep their attention. I have had good success with that if they were on the bottom, but I don't know how to catch them when they are the top water.

I was watching the carp schools in the southern lake at the south west corner of a sand pit in rochester. I saw this MASSIVE black shape start rising out of the depths. It drawfed the LARGEST of the carp by about 1.5-2x size larger. The head (from my vantage about 30' away I guess) appeared to be wider than 2 of the heads of the carp at least. The fish was large enough the from that distance I could see the barbels on it. I believe it was catfish/bullhead. whichever is the ones that are black and grow to huge size and you always see pictures on the river boards of guys holding them with two hands.

[Fisher Dave]

A good way to get those carp on the surface is with a bobber. Use a float just big enough to hold up your bait(crappie/walleye size).. a single night crawler or a #4 snelled hok covered with corn will do fine. I have been quite successful on some lakes fishing about 6 inchs below the float on top of weed beds... I dont see where your situation should be any different.

[Roughfisher]

Hey. Were those carp perhaps feeding on cottonwood seeds? If so, they are a sucker for a floating piece of fluffy crud. Like marabou. Easier to do with a flyrod, but a spinning reel or a noodle rod you can place a fluffy piece of floating crud right in their path.

The catfish was probably a flathead cat. Interesting behavior.

[Lost]

Someone told me that if they're eating off the surface, use marshmellows. Vary the size depending on the size of the fish you see.

[islander]

Flyfishing, I tried it for the first time this past weekend. I was suprised how easy it was to get them to take a fly and what a blast catching a 20lb carp on a fly rod.

[Roughfisher]

Islander it sure is a blast isn't it? Man I can't wait for the white fly hatch! The carp go nuts!

[ironman]

I caught a couple of carp on the mississippi by clearwater last summer using a rebel pop-r. It wasn't so much the bait I dont think as it was getting it front of a feeding carp. If I casted to close to them...gone. If I moved the bait to fast...gone. So it wasn't the action. The fish were up and slurping crud...I cast well beyond them and slowly retrieved my plug to intersept the slurping lips...and to my suprise..slurp!!!! Off we go. It was fun.

[Lost]

Last year while I was catching smaller carp off the bottom (8-10 pounders) the larger ones were eating off the surface. My estimate is that the big ones were closer to 15 pounds. Gotta feed them some floating stuff this year!

With all the rain we've been having I haven't seen them feeding off the surface. But I have watched them surface and jump and swirl at the surface. But I didn't see any food in this area. Must have been some no-see-ums.