Fishing over spooky, pressured, or otherwise well-educated carp.
- Thread starter Evan B
- Start date
I don't have an answer for this. My experience is more in line with your previous seasons.
But I would think if increased pressure was causing this behavior, they would be more wary of the approach and bug out when they detected someone coming close. It is odd that the fly is what is causing them to spook, and it doesn't matter which pattern. I have never found them to be leader shy, but maybe dropping down to a lighter tippet? Fluorocarbon? These are just guesses which you probably already thought of.
Yeah I was going to post up here that I think my next move is to drop from my 12lb fluoro to like 6 or 8. I'm running a floppy fiberglass rod, so it should still be enough to fight a carp unless they bury in the weeds.
In Britain, carp are considered to be the smartest, wariest and hardest to catch of all fish. Of course that means that there’s lots of fishing pressure. There’s a whole industry based on catching these difficult fish, and some really cool innovations have come out of it. The same fish get caught over and over again (they even get named), and apparently get tougher and tougher to catch each time. They live a long time, so they have many chances to learn, and it does seem that they do. I don’t believe that they learn from each other, but a lot of British carp fishermen do believe that.
The biggest difference that I see between here and there is that the carp populations are much higher here. Is the effort and catch rate here high enough that many of the fish have been caught a time or two? If that’s true, then maybe they are learning.
Of course, it might be something else altogether. Is your leader too shiny and causing a disturbing reflection in the water?
The biggest difference that I see between here and there is that the carp populations are much higher here. Is the effort and catch rate here high enough that many of the fish have been caught a time or two? If that’s true, then maybe they are learning.
Of course, it might be something else altogether. Is your leader too shiny and causing a disturbing reflection in the water?
Have there been any commercial carp seiners in any of these areas? There were a couple that worked in this area a few times and carping became unusually difficult after those events. Carp became fewer/non-existent and spookier following such visits.
Darc (Desert Fly Angler) and I fished a lake today, the weather was perfect (although we were a bit too early as the sun was still too low on the horizon) and the carp were ............. very easily spooked and nothing but mud puffs until later in the morning. The first couple hours I started to wonder if we'd get a shot at a fish rather than just seeing a trail of bubbles and puffs of mud. It didn't help that the water varied in clarity too:
We found clearer water but the fish continued to be easily spooked. I grew a bit tired of me blowing casts so I took over the push pole to let the guru work at it. He too struggled, until he didn't . And then it was my turn on the bow.
An observation, no scientific methodology utilized, not data crunched; in isolated bays off the main lake, and once we'd been into that little bay, it is done for the day. The fish that were in there and were spooked out apparently find another place to look for their dinner.
We found clearer water but the fish continued to be easily spooked. I grew a bit tired of me blowing casts so I took over the push pole to let the guru work at it. He too struggled, until he didn't . And then it was my turn on the bow.
An observation, no scientific methodology utilized, not data crunched; in isolated bays off the main lake, and once we'd been into that little bay, it is done for the day. The fish that were in there and were spooked out apparently find another place to look for their dinner.
See any guide boats?
Not that day. But I know they've been in that spot lately. Friend of mine who lives in Corbett spotted him near there today actually.
do you approach this flat about the same time of day and same way each time? Also have you tried to come off the trolling motor earlier?
Had some tough fish and we changed our approach and how we got there (walked boat in rather than row and came more across river than almost in casting line) and I think it helped some but certainly not a cure all.
Hope you figure em out!
Had some tough fish and we changed our approach and how we got there (walked boat in rather than row and came more across river than almost in casting line) and I think it helped some but certainly not a cure all.
Hope you figure em out!
We figured out that electric trolling motors are a big warning to carp and never use them when getting close to water we want to fish. I don't know about "rowing". I've tried to fish carp from my 8-foot pram. There simply no way to ship the oars silently so I either drift or anchor and wait for the carp to come to me. Neither of those two "techniques" are particularly effective (for me).
I don't know who these two young fellas are, but that wood dowel used as a push pole worked pretty well for them. (Never hit the dowel to the boat or motor, might as well hit a drum, don't lift the pole out of the water so mud can "plop" into the water and whisper to each other rather than talk out loud, when getting off the bow or stern seat - do it QUIETLY.)
Yesterday I hit the Columbia for a morning steelhead session with carp for dessert as I often do. This time, I forgot my push pole.
I went into the same flat, but on the minn kota. Not a single fish spooked on us yesterday except for the ones we deserved to have spooked with crappy casts. I practically ran over a couple fish, one continued feeding until my minn kota (now off) almost hit him in the head. He's lucky I spotted him so late because I can't hit an oversized hula hoop within 20' when using a 12' leader, let alone a dinner plate.
This was a quick session yesterday, but I managed to hook three and stung a couple others. I did go with a lighter tippet this time, 8lb. All the fish I hooked were red hot and ran me into weed beds, breaking me off. But at least I got the funnest part.
Actually had a pair of comfy carp I cast to. They were sitting side by side, but not visibly showing feeding behavior. Landed the fly maybe 2' in front of them, and one of them shot forward and aggressively attacked the fly like a bass. Was super fun to watch.
A comprehensive list of things I learned from the past few experiences on this particular flat:
1.
Bonefish Jack
Steelhead
Think about it
Love this. Do nothing different or even some things “worse” and get better results.
Hoofer
Life of the Party
I wonder how much they travel. Carp hooked multiple times might be like permit hooked multiple times — could be pretty rare. The big carp in Europe get caught repeatedly, and named, but they also get chummed, etc. and they live in ponds, not The Big River. Maybe you got a new pod of fish?
I fished the Schmoots Clooper this weekend, I again joined Team Airball with no carp in two days. In my defense the total carp caught number was pretty darn low, if not a record. The lake was plagued with wind and cloudy conditions for most of both days, and there was poor visiblity in the water. Yet, the good anglers caught a few fish anyway, and folks managed to find spots on the lake where there was visibility and less wind on each day. On Saturday I learned at least 75 new ways to spook carp...Sunday when I found fish I managed some decent casts and drops, but alas my fly(s) was not what they wanted.
I will say these fish spook much easier than fish at lakes I fish over this-a-way. I think you Grant County guys are teaching the fish. At least I'm blaming you.
My personal thanks to Bill and Boyd Marts for another blast at the alacozy, and to all the sponsors of the tourney for generous donations of prizes. I cannot enumerate you, but I can remember your products. Georgetown Brewing stood out for their substantial effort at crowd refreshment. 'Twas a great convivial crowd, and a great deal of fun.
I will say these fish spook much easier than fish at lakes I fish over this-a-way. I think you Grant County guys are teaching the fish. At least I'm blaming you.
My personal thanks to Bill and Boyd Marts for another blast at the alacozy, and to all the sponsors of the tourney for generous donations of prizes. I cannot enumerate you, but I can remember your products. Georgetown Brewing stood out for their substantial effort at crowd refreshment. 'Twas a great convivial crowd, and a great deal of fun.
after yesterday, I've decided I'm going to go do something else on cloudy days.
I heard it was rough. I was bummed to miss it this year, but I guess I missed the right one.
Hey @Buzzy sounds like they didn't disturb too many of your fish.
I heard only 13 for the whole group for the whole weekend. I guess it was more of a carp conservation tourney. 
Good thing Bill brought lots of Georgetown brew!
I dunno what you're talking about about!
