Big and Beautifulish

[John H]

Carp take some getting used to but I could see getting to the point where I think they are a good looking fish. This one had full fins, bright color and some size and was probably as close to handsome as a carp is going to get. Here are a couple of carp flies I made which are without question handsome. Apparently a carp fly needs to look buggy and have bead chain eyes so it will sit on the bottom point up. The water was muddy today. It is hard to catch carp when you can't see them but a couple were caught.

http://i.imgur.com/7hj5MzE.jpg (https://imgur.com/7hj5MzE)

http://i.imgur.com/BW4VhwY.jpg (https://imgur.com/BW4VhwY)

[Darian]

Good lookin' Carp. Must've been a fun fight. I like your flies. Have you heard of the Moco Loco carp fly?? It has a tail made of closed cell foam discs threaded on to mono thread which is then tied in so as to cause the fly to stand up on the eye while the tail wiggles with ay current. As far as I know, the Moco Loco Carp fly was/is the creation of Glen Ueda who lives in SoCal. He has a couple of videos on YouTube describing how to tie the fly and build the tail.

[Vaughn Willett]

John,

That's about as handsome as a carp is gonna get. Nice photo. The flies are beautiful! Nice work!

Vaughn

[John H]

I checked out to moco. I need to keep it simple for now. If I wrangle a few 20 pounders I might work on some better flies. It seems like the most important thing in carp fishing is stealth. John Sherman seems to be carp king of the Delta and he poles for them because they can hear the trolling motor. I watched a guy on YouTube fishing in urban Denver and he said it was all about stealth. There was a hawk overhead and he said the carp got spooked and would not bite. It would be nice to fish for them somewhere that is not a polluted urban waterway or next to the landfill or the sewage treatment plant.

[Darian]

"....It would be nice to fish for them somewhere that is not a polluted urban waterway or next to the landfill or the sewage treatment plant."

If you're familiar with Lake Natoma, there're places where Carp are located in that lake where the water is clear/shallow on the north side. The bike trail used to run across these areas and I've seen some large Carp in those side waters. One caveat, there was a substantial collapse/mud-slide around that area that may've impacted the fishing. If you decide to try it, check it out on Google-Earth before going.

[guido]

Well big anyway... Great pics John!

[Jay Murakoshi]

Loco Moco is an easy pattern to tie up. That's one of my best producing flies. I've been looking at all the local lakes around here and haven't found any signs of those golden bones.

[Natekursow]

haven't found any signs of those golden bones.

You and me both! (For shallow sight fishing, that is. I've seen/caught a few in coves at Bullards)

NK

[John H]

I saw that on the Columbia carp eat a lot of clams which seems to be what the moco is closest to imitating.

[Darian]

"I saw that on the Columbia carp eat a lot of clams which seems to be what the moco is closest to imitating."

Good observation!! That's a new view of the Loco Loco for me. Altho, I probably should've seen it before (been clamming a bunch during my life). It should work on Catfish, too. Glen Ueda reported that it worked on Bonefish after a trip to the Bahamas (calms again??....)

[Upper Kings]

"Carp....It's what's for dinner."

I grew up with a creek in my back yard and spent countless summer days floating on my belly with a mask and snorkel just watching the big monsters cruise the deeper holes. Still a rush when you hook into a big 'un. Nice work!