Carp On The Fly

[trevally]

I thought it might be fun to try and pursue some carp on the fly here in AB. Has anyone ever tried this? I have heard they put up a great fight but can be a challenge to catch.

 

Any ideas on a potential location/time to take a shot at them?

[maxwell]

hey due im not too sure if there are many or any carp fisheries in alberta..i heard they put the grasscarp in some of the irrigation canals on the bow so that might not be a bad place too look..unless theres some carp pond thats gone unmentioned....goodluck on your quest dude

[grannyknot]

if i'm not mistaken there was a lake or two stocked with grass carp this year. check the stocking report on the srd site, don't know if they're existing fisheries or if this was a first time stocking.

[admin]

Not a lot of native carp in alberta. There are some stocked grasscarp and the odd Koi in a few ponds. I think that Quillbacks are likely your best wild bet, but they are pretty rare in Alberta. NSR has a few as well as a few around RDR in Dinosaur PP.

 

The quills will take flies like nymphs, but I'm not sure about the grasscarp. bread flies?

[Harps]

And you can't angle many of the stocked carp (ie the ones in Lethbridge).

[snakeman]

I saw a beastly grass carp in a slow, shallow, eddy on the Bow in Carburn Park some 3 years ago. The thing scared the crap out of me. I posted about it on FFA and someone else said that they too had seen a carp at that location. So there's at least one spot you can try if you really want one, assuming the monster is still around

[Harps]

I had a blast fishing carp on the great lakes and waters in S. Ontario... absolutely awesome!

I don't want carp here (very bad for the environment, rooting up vegetation and stuff), but I WOULD fish them if they were.

 

I fish the goldfish in my mother-in-laws pond near Sundre... they take chronomids.

[troutlover]

Now that you mention carp on the bow i think i know of a spot on the lower bow where ther are carp fry (school of bright orange little fish) Grass carp are next to impossible to catch and are probly the most spooky fish on the planet fish with grass clippings immitations amongst real grass clippings or bread crumb immitations amongst real bread the second tactic is tough seeing as chumming is illegal. If you want great carp fishing there are lots of places in Montana not to far. I've never bone fished but i've heard that carp are a good comparison. In my eexperience it's all sight fishing on the fly. Walk the shores of the lake try to go in twos one up high one on the bank your looking to clouds of silt the carp dig in the bottom with their heads and then eat what they stir up. When you spot a cloud cast into it kneeling down and from a good 40- 50 feet with a red copper John watch your tippit as it strightens out set the hook! and hold the hell on you will not turn a carp till it's done running i challange ANYONE! and be ready for runs into your backing and 2-3 good runs per fish. use a 5-6 weight rod as they are very spooky fish and heavier lines tend to spook them. I'm going to head down this year to montana i'll drop you a pm when i do.

[Harps]

Hey Troutlover,

 

I've watched the carp spawning in the river in Great Falls... some monsters there, be great on a long rod.

 

Anybody who gets a chance should take you up on the offer and wade flats after the "golden bones".

[grannyknot]

And you can't angle many of the stocked carp (ie the ones in Lethbridge).

 

Do you know why they stock them? Just curious.

[monger]

There's lots of them in the Big Horn river in Montana and they looked to be over 10lb

[Harps]

Do you know why they stock them? Just curious.

 

They're there as weed control, and too much money went into them for them to be removed by angling.

 

Grass carp are (or were, I haven't been there for awhile) raised at the aquaculture centre in the Lethbridge college campus. They have an excellent facility there, and they do research on raising different fish. Grass carp were an experimental weed control project while I was there, and now I think they are sold for dugout and other waters, not connected to natural waterbodies, as an alternative to chemical and pysical weed removal. there is a website I believe, if you do a quick google search.

 

As an aside, I thing Henderson in Lethbridge needs cattails and shoreline vegetation before it is ever a really healthy lake. It is cool to sit there in the spring and watch the carp pods moveing along the shore in spawning mode.

 

Cheers,

[grannyknot]

Cool. Thanks Harps.

[lethfisher]

Harps you mentioned not being allowed to angle for the stocked carp? Does that include the ones in Henderson? Also I have seen them in golf ponds at Keho Golf Club.

 

Look like they would be fun to catch!

[Harps]

Harps you mentioned not being allowed to angle for the stocked carp? Does that include the ones in Henderson? Also I have seen them in golf ponds at Keho Golf Club.

 

Look like they would be fun to catch!

 

Yeah, I actually just noticed the sign this fall/winter by the dock... no angling for the carp in Henderson Lake. Like I mentioned, its an expensive fish, and would cost to much if they were all angled out.

 

Grass carp, while they do "browse", also eat invertebrates and, I understand, can be fished for using the typical European method (long rods, boiled corn chumming, etc). It wouldn't take long to clean out a bunch of carp from the lake that way...

 

Great Falls is only 3hrs from here and there are carp...

[trevally]

I have been doing a bit more research and I guess that Last Mountain Lake in SK is a great spot to go in spring. I imagine it would be a bit of a challenge but I some some footage of the carp tearing into backing, looks like it would be a great fight!