carp anyone?

papaoak · Veteran Member

carp anyone?

AbelBoy · Senior Member

Papaoak,
You are the official Putah Creek Carp Angler.� For that you deserve one of these:

I have hooked into a few carp when I was targeting other fish.� They will pull your line hard.� Nice catch.

AB

iFish · Senior Member

What's next? High stickin' for Koi? confuse

The big smile on your face is worth a thousand words, Papaoak. If you reeeeally wanna have fun, next time try a 3wt.

Carp-e diem...

-- Edited by iFish on Friday 1st of May 2009 02:00:20 PM

vince · Senior Member

What a coincidence - I was just thinking of trying carp fly fishing today...

I know there are some monster carp in the UC Davis Arboretum section of Putah, but I don't think it's legal to fish there. Any other good introductory carp waters near Davis?

Vince

live2fish888 · Senior Member

haha i was going to hit that same spot up tomorrow but unfortunately the rain will screw everything up... that place is loaded with them!

shon42073 · Senior Member

vince wrote:
What a coincidence - I was just thinking of trying carp fly fishing today...

I know there are some monster carp in the UC Davis Arboretum section of Putah, but I don't think it's legal to fish there. Any other good introductory carp waters near Davis?

Vince

The whole lower section of putah is loaded with em. Closest thing I've gotten to a carp on a fly is a sucker, Aren't they pretty closely related ?

iFish · Senior Member

Hey Shon - Do you mean squawfish, also called suckers in some parts and typically in large rivers? Lots of them in the Kings River system, the Feather I'm told and to some degree in NF Yuba. Hooked one in the Kings once. Nearly ripped my 5wt rod apart. It was giant! Never did bring it to hand, thankfully.

Some info
Fly fish for Squawfish? That's right. Squawfish. Ptychocheilus. A poor man's bonefish. A destitute man's carp. Sometimes called a pike minnow. Sometimes called a coarse bottom fish or scavenger. Sometimes confused with carp. (Sometimes confused with crap.) photo of squawfish by Daryl Martens

How does it get any respect? If it isn't devouring endangered salmon in the Columbia, it is being protected from endangerment in other parts of the country.

One of several edible fishes of the genus Ptychocheilus found in the rivers of western North America. They are the largest members of the carp family (Cyprinidae) in North America. Because of the offensive connotation attributed to the word squaw, these animals are also referred to as pikeminnows. Squawfishes are long, large-mouthed, pikelike fishes. Voracious carnivores, they make lively sport fishes. The largest species, the Colorado River squawfish, or white salmon (P. lucius), may grow to about 1.5 metres (5 feet) with a reported weight of about 36 kilograms (79 pounds); because of changes in its habitat, this species has declined significantly and is considered endangered.

-- Edited by iFish on Saturday 2nd of May 2009 08:47:56 AM

live2fish888 · Senior Member

in some columbia river system up in washington, they are paying� anglers to catch these fish to help save the salmon population, so if anyone is up there and you wanna make some quick money, you might wanna check this out
http://www.pikeminnow.org/index.html.
I think shaun was talking about actual sucker fish. we had a discussion on the board a while back on this. They look like a carp but without the big scales and a dark lateral line. there are some in a little creek by my house that spawn when the trout are spawning. They sit behind the spawning beds and pick up the eggs, so im trying to get them out of the creek. here are some pictures of my friend with a nice one

-- Edited by live2fish888 on Sunday 3rd of May 2009 07:42:10 PM

flyfishingjunkie · Veteran Member

Nice!

In Europe Carp are considered game fish and when prepared right they are actually good eating, that was the main reason they are here btw

I have only targeted them once with the fly, but used to fish for them as a kid growing up in Germany. They are very hard to catch, have an extreme sense of smell, are fairly smart and fight like a game fish should fight. I have been wanting to do some Carp fishing for some time, but really don't know the spots or the flies to use. What did the carp take, I once read that some people tie "bread flies".

JMO32 · Senior Member

There are squawfish spawning all over the yuba right now.� I don't know how to target them, but do catch one every few trips.�

Alpen Glow · Senior Member

San Juan worms and egg patterns are great for Suckers on the lower Yuba.

Papa Oak i'm in for some carp'en if i don't work Saturday... i have a 5wt thats got a�warranty�and i'm not�afraid�to break it!

ever try the San�Rafael�Civic Center fountain? there's some big ones in there too...plus some large mouth Bass to boot...

papaoak · Veteran Member

I have never fished that pond but would give it a shot.� I am strictly sight fishing, I think its a lot funner and the take is almost non existant.� If you can't see em it makes it very tough.� I have been successful with buggy looking hares ear nymphs, and recently have been killin em with a #6 Chuck Stranahan Golden Stone fly nymph that is heavely weighted and darkened with a magic marker.� I have use a 5 wt rod and landed a nice fish and it worked but a big ( 15+lb.) fish will have you running.� I�don't have a 6 or 7 so the #8 is it.� I would suggest trying this if you like big fish.� I would be happy to join anyone if you have water that you can see carp in.� Keep fishing

lightfoot · Senior Member

Try anywhere along this canal through abut the end of July.� Most of the water is pretty thin.� You can sight fish for those slurping stuff off of the top and see the tops of tails and a mud trail for those rooting in the muck on bottom.