Northwest Fishing Reports

Any suggestions of fly fishing for carp?
Where to go?
What flies?
Technique?
There are so many in long lake and it would be a blast.Thanks

I have been trying to catch them for several years now with no luck. My conclusion is they don't eat!

I haven't ever fished for them, but have heard that it is the craze in England. You might do some web searching on British fly fishing sites. I did catch one years back in the Spokane River. They do put up a good battle.

There is a document called Carp Fishing In Washington published by WDFW in April of 2005. I tried to upload it as an attachment but the file was to big. If you E-mail WDFW they will send it to you. Its contains some good tips.

I recently began fishing for these beasts this year, and have spent most of my time on Sprauque lake fishing for them. I will tell you what I have found out about these species and hope that it helps. (While I am not fly fishing, hopefully my success, can help your success). - These fish feed primarily on bugs and vegetations, though will eat almost anything, i.e small dead fish, bread, even gummy bears. My greatest success has been with bread and worms sprayed with catfish scent. I always scope out my fishing zone by find where they are active, they will jump and top feed mainly in very shallow water near tall weeds. If you can find an active school like this, you should have great success with a medium fly. Watching their feeding habits, it doesnt seem like they go after anything to large on the surface. IF you are going to use wet flies, I would go with something bigger.
This is just my experience, it may just be review of what you already know. But I hope you can at least pull something from this to help you catch these, because they are seriously fun to catch.
My question, is does anybody know a good way to cook them??

OK, time to show the POWER of Aaron's Search tool. Type "carp" into the search box. You'll see all the reports about carp. Go to the articles tab. First article is an excellent piece by Stu Whitehouse on how they do it "over there".

Thanks for the tips guys any advice given is greatly appreciated.

My only problem with these fish is they are just to ugly and Ive caught 3 in my whole life by accident and all 3 were taken on crappie jigs. The first 2 were pretty big around 10 lbs. or so (not to big for a carp but pretty big for a fish) so I didnt want to keep a fish that big and try it just for it to be nasty and waste a whole fish. Well last year at Sprague I caught the smallest carp Ive ever seen it was about 10" and when it came down to it, it was still to ugly for me. 1 of these days however I will man up and eat one cuz Ive always wanted too

gpc wrote:1 of these days however I will man up and eat one cuz Ive always wanted too

Please let us know how bad it tasted when you do. LOL

The cure for all ugly fish- smoke it. Not half bad, honest.

Mike Carey wrote:The cure for all ugly fish- smoke it. Not half bad, honest.

The only place that I have ever intentionally fished for carp was at Potholes. They were up in the shallows with romance on their minds. The only fly that they were interested in was a brown leach pattern fished really slow. Old rubber lips really can smoke the drag when they take off.

Floating line and long leader. I've had success using wooley worms, and buggers, crawdad patterns, girdle bugs, ***** creek nymphs and large brown and black hare's ears.
Keep at it and you hook fish. One you hook up it is a blast. I seem to enjoy the stalking part the best. Washington State bonefishing at its best.
Good luck,
Brian

Big, strong, and they make funny sounds when you get them in. What more could you ask for? I'm kinda surprised this thread is showing so much interest.

It's all the guys of English descent:-"

Ok I figured out how to get you the Carp Fishing In Washington Document

Follow this link and click on the button circled in the pic below to downlaod this PDF file


http://www.mediafire.com/?aquigwjhmnm

Thanks for the tips guys i'll try to go asap and let you all know how i do.