Old fart, still learning...

[big Neil]

Yesterday I had a text from fishing buddy Luke asking if I fancied taking the fly rod down the river. "Sure, why not?"

Luke had mentioned that he had been out fly fishing for Carp. I was mildly interested in how it all worked and when he sent a few pics of some 70cm models he had caught, I was very interested.

So we arrived at the river and the water level is as high as it can be without being flooded. There are a few backwaters, not very deep normally, but ok with the river up this high.

THE PROCESS Cruising around looking for Carp and QUICKLY casting to them before they get spooked and disappear from sight. My casting was in terrible shape and having the fly rod set up for Blackfish on fly didn't help. I had about 6ft of light leader attached to the tippet so that was never going to work on short, quick casts of 5-6 metres. I re rigged and that brought me into the game. Did some practice casts and got ready for spotting some Carp. I had a black Woolly Bugger fly on and cast several times to the shadowy figures just beneath the surface. No luck, mainly because my casting was either too slow or not accurate enough. Spotted about half a dozen Carp mouthing on the surface and managed to hit the zone with the cast. The fly sunk and I stripped a bit of line in, then was on. A great little fight and a Carp of 40cms. Many near hookups and Luke got a similar model with an excellent cast against a big dead gum tree. The wind got up and the Carp disappeared so we pulled the pin.

SUMMARY: With fishing there's always something new to try. This type of fishing has some appeal to me so I'll definitely do it again and see if I can perfect the technique. Will probably get some bread flies and do a bit of berley with bread crusts...might add another dimension.

Thanks for reading. If any of you have done this type of fishing, I would be interested in reading about your techniques. 

Cheers, bn

[Little_Flatty]

Good on you for getting your first carp on fly Neil. If you can't easily target new species, the next thing to do is to target the same fish with a new technique, which is what you've done.

I'd love to get one on fly one day, the upper parra has plenty but I think bread flies will be more my thing.

 

[Yowie]

Good on you for having a go. Won't take long to get with it again.

I am not a carp expert by any means, but my limited experience is when the carp are surface feeding - mouth sucking the surface - floating bread crusts, or bread flies, would be worth trying.

[kantong]

good on you for getting one the fly. I'd be soo tempted to lob a piece of bread crust out. Must be thrilling to see the line go tight

[big Neil]

2 hours ago, kantong said:

good on you for getting one the fly. I'd be soo tempted to lob a piece of bread crust out. Must be thrilling to see the line go tight

Yep and a good little fight on the fly gear. Would be nice to hook into some of the monster Carp that abound down here. I intend getting some bread flies and putting out among some surface pieces of bread. Should get a result.

Cheers, bn

[bessell1955]

It will not take you long BN to get into the big'uns!

[jordy]

  Well done i can tell you from experience the bread burley and bread fly combo can lead to exciting fishing. They can actually become aggressive with their takes on the surface very visual especially when the real big carp home in on your presentation. Good luck mate.

[DerekD]

Hi @big Neil 

congratulations on the new species on fly rod. It doesn't feel so long ago that the goal was to get you on a blackfish on fly rod - which you successfully achieved.

Hoping the casting on a fly rod is getting a bit easier and isn't causing you physical pain in the joints. I could be wrong but I think with a bit more work on your technique the body shouldn't be giving you any issues.

Regards,

Derek

[Hill373737]

Nice work mate,can't wait to hear of you doing battle with a 70cm model.

If you don't care too much about being a fly fishing purist and just think of a fly rod as a different lure delivery method,  try a cut down slim swimz or 2" squidgy paddletail on an unweighted worm hook or 1/40th jig head if you want some sink. I used this method on bream when I wanted a different challenge and I know the carp around here will readily inhale a small paddletail.

Edited January 22 by Hill373737
typo

[big Neil]

1 hour ago, Hill373737 said:

Nice work mate,can't wait to hear of you doing battle with a 70cm model.

If you don't care too much about being a fly fishing purist and just think of a fly rod as a different lure delivery method,  try a cut down slim swimz or 2" squidgy paddletail on an unweighted worm hook or 1/40th jig head if you want some sink. I used this method on bream when I wanted a different challenge and I know the carp around here will readily inhale a small paddletail.

Thanks for the heads up on that technique Hilly. Along with a bread berley and bread flies I will give that a try down the track. Cheers mate, bn

[Pickles]

Greatwork Neil, always good fun catching hard fighting fish on light gear.