Grass Carp

Flyfished a “new-to-me” public pond. Caught some small bass, bluegills, green sunfish and hybrid sunfish… and also this 28” Grass Carp, calc’d weight of 10.5 lbs. It hit a floating yellow foam bug.

Nice fish!

Nice fish.

Rick

Very nice David!

Thanks, fellas! They sure are fun to catch, but also very difficult and challenging.

You are right about the fun and hard to catch part. Congrats, that is a nice one I have a few around 7.5 - 8 lbs. One on a 3 wt.

That’s great, Uncle Jesse! And from a float tube, no less!! I bet you had a ball with those fish! :slight_smile:

Nice grassy Dave! What kind of hook did you use to keep the grassy on?

Interesting you ask that, because I’d been thinking about that. I tied the fly, but I use a lot of different hooks. This one looks like a Mustad or Umpqua #8 hook…maybe a dry fly hook, but more likely a nymph/streamer hook. It was bent out somewhat after this catch. I’ve had problems with Grass Carp straightening hooks in the past. This was the smallest Grassie I’ve caught so far, so I was surprised how it had bent the hook.

Do you have any suggestions on hooks that are less likely to straighten?

I’ve been using TMC 2457 in the past, but have slowly been switching to Mustad C068. I haven’t had any carp straighten one out yet. The Mustad hook is offset, if you can live with that. I’ve been trying it because of the price; $3.45 vs $9.25 for a pack of 25. Hooked one the other day on the Mustad, #12, but lost it. More than likely it was all me; lost sight of fly in muddy creek, and just felt the tug, a jump, and got off.

I’m cheap, all my old friends know that so might as well tell you. I tie almost all my bream flies using Eagle Claw Size 8 Aberdeen hooks and some trout flies, they are about the same size as a Mustad 14 nymph hook. I’ve never lost a fish because of hook failure, but if I get a fish on I think is over a couple of pounds I try to get them on the reel and use the drag.

Grass Carp #2 for the year, hit a chartreuse microjig about 8" under an indicator. Full disclosure, I had chummed with cat food to get the fish feeding within casting range. The water was so stained, I couldn’t see the fish before it hit, so even tipping the odds in my favor, it was still largely “dumb luck”.

What do they say about these? Body of a Tarpon, mouth of a Bluegill? :smiley:

I am almost ashamed. It should have been a catfish. :slight_smile:

Rick

Ha ha, yes… excellent point, Rick! :lol:

That will get the kinks out of your leader.

Torpedo in the water!

That’s exactly what I was thinking, Eric! Look at the magnificent shape of that fish! Long, round and streamlined…with a big ol’ tail. :smiley:

Are those grass carp listed as an invasive species where you fish? We are on constant lookout for them here in Ontario, as they are not native to our waters. A big concern here is the invasive carp species from the Mississippi getting into the great lakes.

I was fishing for these in Iowa. Other than the rivers, pretty much all the grass carp in Iowa have been intentionally stocked by the Iowa Department of Natural Resources.

Grass Carp originated in Asia… but the Asian Carp species folks seem most worried about getting into the great lakes is the Bighead Carp and Silver Carp. They are certainly a problem in the Mississippi and Missouri Rivers, and tributaries.