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| Stu's Superior Flies - the full Stu's Superior Carp range will be available soon |
IT IS MAGICAL
There is something absolutely magical about sight fishing. It is all about the visuals, watching the fishes' behavior as you try to tempt it with your hook covered in thread & feathers. "Come on fish "
"This is the best tasting morsel you will ever eat."Trust me!"
More often than not you will get the famous carp rejection. It is this part of the game we play with nature, that I am sure that keeps us coming back. We Humans love the big R, I am sure.
The bonus part is when we do not get rejected and the fish moves gracefully towards your fly and inhales it. That fuzzy warm sensation comes over us and for some a heart attack is not far away.
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| sexy rubber lips! |
KISS OF DEATH
With carp fishing here in the USA on some of the gin clear waterways in which carp may be found, the visuals of this type of fishing are the draw card.
You will get rejected, humbled and once you have experienced it, you will keep coming back. Because when you get your fly accepted and engulfed by miss rubber lips, you will be converted. And you will dream about those rubber lips.
TIPS ON CATCHING THE LIPS OF DEATH
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| Stu's Deadly Gimp |
Very few carp take to the air when hooked, they just seem to go and go with amazingly strong thrust of their very powerful tails.
Like most fly fishing, you can use any rod and reel to catch carp. Though if you have a stiff fly rod with a fighting butt and a good drag on your reel, you will enjoy it even more so. A 6wgt is OK, though a heavier wgt rod will help you cast into wind and control the fish more easily. You will also be able to cast some heavy weight flies out with more ease.
Although it's great casting light flies out, I have found that in deeper water with carp that primarily feed on the bottom, you will need to use heavy flies at some point - to get down into the zone.
FOOL THE WARY BUGGERS
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| "come and eat me strip" - success!! |
Carp feed by smell and sight mainly. If you have for example a carp moving along the bottom looking for food, you need to intercept the fish with your fly and make the fish see it. Do not cast on top of it.
Cast far enough in front of the fish and let your fly sink to the bottom. Be patient. Wait for the fish to be pretty much on top of the fly and then give it the "come and eat me strip."
Remember carp and most other fish do not like flies attacking them so always try to get your fly looking like it is trying to escape from the carp. This will trigger the predator instinct of the fish.
THE TAKE- STRIP STRIKE
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| Dylan is doing some fancy yoga moves to get this one in. |
Once you feel the fish, keep a tight line, adjust your drag settings quite high and hang on for a powerful fun fight.
STRONG HOOKS
12lb- 20lb Fluorocarbon tippet and saltwater bone fish leader and flies tied on the best strongest hooks! are recommended. Knowing this will help you fish and fighting the fish with confidence. I like to push my gear to the limits when carp fishing and not exhaust the fish. Very rarely do I see my backing, though it is needed.
The few occasions I have seen my backing is when I have connected with a 15lb+ fish on a still water - when even with a lot of pressure on. The big ones you just can not stop.
I have a been a carp junkie for over 9 years, coming over to the States in my quest for my visual carp fishing fix.
Months at a time has been spent working out how to catch these awesome fish. This carp season I have managed to put the finishing touches to my go -to Superior Carp flies.
They all should be available through the web site by November 2013.
The carp fly range will have bottom flies, mid column flies and surface flies - all especially designed for fooling our rubber lipped wary carp friends.
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| All my flies are tied on the best strongest Tiemco hooks. |
CARP BOOKS & DVDS
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| Kirk Deeter & I @ ICAS Las Vegas - thanks for signing my copy. |
A few DVDs have also been made, though I feel none are that special. One I do remember and it was an old one, showed carp all over the place in a lake,though they struggled to catch a few. That was great to view, though I do not think that's what they were trying to show.
CARP FLY LINES
This year also sees two of the main fly line companies releasing carp fly lines. RIO was the first in 2012 and this year Cortland has also released a line. Both lines are floating and are capable of fishing over medium weighted flies.
CARP GEAR
I have purchased two carp fly fishing t-shirts over the years from USA fly shops. Derek De Young - the fish artist from Livingston, Montana has now carp scale iPhone covers. Lots of USA guides and shop owners on their days off prefer to go for a carp fish rather than trout.
INTRODUCED TROUT & CARP
An interesting point from the book Fly Fishing For Carp was the reminder that carp were introduced. To the USA from Europe at the same time as they introduced brown trout.
The two main species of carp I fish for are the common and the mirror carp. There are also grass carp which I hear are even harder to catch as they feed on vegetation only. The mirror and common carp are very opportunistic and will feed on nymphs, minnows, crayfish and midge and hopper from the surface in some areas.
Give another species a try and you will find out why they are known as the fresh water bone fish and fresh water permit.
I hope this has helped some of you and got you twitching.
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Book your guiding trip for this year - the NZ Fly Fishing School is taking bookings now. November is nearly booked out, some days are available in October.
Cheers,
Stu
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