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  1. #1

    Default Carp & Cats

    Flyfished last night for a couple hours at a large reservoir. Northern Iowa has gotten 5+ inches of rain in the past few days, and the reservoir is expected to rise as much as 30 feet! It was supposed to rise just 4' yesterday!

    My buddy Jay and I headed out, and the water is moving up into vegetation that has grown up along the normal pool shoreline this year, but we could still walk along the shoreline easily.

    We started out searching for carp to target with flies. We didn't see any in the shallows, but we decided to fish an area where the wind was blowing into shore, and there were some rocks and gravel in the water.

    The wave action from wind and boats was substantial, and I was blind casting, there are a lot of small fish fry/fingerlings in the water right now...so I decided to use a beadhead woolly bugger under an indicator. The indicator would give the fly plenty of action and keep the fly off the bottom, plus make strike detection easier. I caught 2 Largemouth Bass while trying for carp, but finally got my target species. I was happy!


    Not a huge carp, but it was a good fight. I imagined it probably spooked other carp in the area. I decided to put on a shad-imitating fly pattern and practice casting it with my 12' 5wt Allen Olympic switch rod. I wanted to determine whether this would be a viable option for the White Bass blitz later this Summer/Fall. I think it will be.

    I got 3 nice surprises while doing my testing. I caught 3 Channel Catfish...23", 24", and 25". (Corresponding weights according to a conversion table for catfish suggests these would be @ 5.5lbs, 6.3lbs, and 7.3 lbs.) GREAT FIGHTS!








    I was worn out after that, so we left.


    As we were walking out, we saw a lot of these big caterpillars...Hawk Moth/Sphinx Moth caterpillars, I think? I was sad to think that they will be drowned within the next day or so.


    David Merical
    St. Louis, MO

  2. #2

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    Nice catfish, Dave! How do you like that rod??
    The Green Hornet strikes again!!!

  3. #3

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    I'm really liking this rod! Casts great, fights fish great. Trout and crappies put up a good fight on it, but you can still put some muscle on the carp, catfish and smallies, too!
    David Merical
    St. Louis, MO

  4. #4
    Join Date
    Nov 2008
    Location
    Southwest Florida
    Posts
    597

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    I can't imagine how much fun a channel cat would be on a fly rod! Nice report!

  5. #5
    Join Date
    Feb 2003
    Location
    port charlotte,fl usa
    Posts
    784

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    Quote Originally Posted by smij View Post
    I can't imagine how much fun a channel cat would be on a fly rod! Nice report!
    As if there's not enough catfish in the lakes & canals of Florida !

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