Paddle-Fishing.com

this morning I was at the local canal for poons...I cast at some carp while waiting....instant hookups and stayed bowed up for a solid hr....I then cast to a big one and hooked up, a really big one....very long fight and the bottom guide broke on my rod...this sent the pressure on the next and it broke also...now there is no backbone to fight it....I slowly finessed it in but the line caught on the guide and snapped just before the picture....now I need a new LOOMIS GLX...the carp has done what no tarpon/redfish/bonefish/permit could do

What fly were you tossing to them?

Nice fish btw!

Carp are very under rated as a game fish. Nice fish, sucks about the rod

Sorry to hear about your rod but man, that's a nice fish!

New rods are always fun.

I have seen huge, say 4' long grass carp in one of the Cape Coral canals.

But the grass carp is protected statewide I believe.

As for common carp, I used to catch them up north when i was a kid on the popular "dough ball" fly.

NOT protected...they have bow and arrow hunts for them

Nice Carps BFW, sorry to hear about the 8wt. but its lead a good life. My son used to catch huge Carp in the S. Broward canal systems on his 7wt., he says that would be a good place for me to klearn to use that fly rod I purchased and have not learned to use yet.

I may be wrong but I think the Triploid Grass Carp we have in most canal systems down here in Sunny South Florida are somewhat protected, but I've never seen any rule or regulation saying we can't catch them.

"Stocking triploid grass carp in private ponds requires a permit from the Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC), and it is illegal to possess any grass carp without a permit"

They are farm raised sterile so as they would not mass produce and take over, as an alternative effort to fight the never ending battle of aquatic vegatation as opposed to the continued use of chemcals.

I have received sterile grass carp from a Lee County Vegetation control agent for my small backyard pond. But predators got them all, Ospreys I think.

thats cool you HAD your own...how big is your pond?

I live on a pond of about 2 acres. There's a couple 20 lbers in there but I have never targeted them. Might have to now.

Get permission from the HOA first.

my pond is quite small, maybe 50 x 75 feet - it suffered badly this winter and spring because of the total lack of rain - the water level has risen a foot or more in the last two weeks and lilly pads are back so the carp will have cover - the County guy says he will put five more in soon

I like to watch the grasscarp eating the algae grass - they appear to be very solid and streamlined and powerful - my internet research says they were imported from their native stream in far eastern Russia

i would have no quams about accidentally hooking and releasing one of the monster grass carp I see in the Cape Coral canals but they are strictly vegetarians - so what is the fly? a salad fly?

actually it was a muddler...thing is it a high competition situation with dozens of carp sipping the surface like trout...they are slammin berries that are falling from a huge tree next to the water...the berries are endless and so are the carp...at the same time jacks and tarpon roam in and out...a couple dys ago I jumped a tarpon there and it snapped my line also so I didnt have any flies except a berrie fly{salmon egg} so I tyed it on and it was every cast from there out...after 4 cast I stopped because its a no contest

wow- that is a nice carp you caught under the berry tree

But, back to the baby tarpon. I have still have not had another one eat in my neighbors canal. I did not have a black muddler but have tried similar dark flies with no takes. I had one nip at a dark foam fly similar to a stone fly but no hook up. Meanwhile I am studying them. This particular small group are very peaceful, just cruising around the saltwater pond which is the size of an olympic swimming pool. I can only sight fish to one when it surfaces as the water color is coffee and the bottom is dark.

I was surprised to see a gator in there today, about 4 or 5' ;ong - the tarpon paid no attention to it - I have heard that there are a few gators on Pine Island but this the first one I have seen.

I am going to try a purple tarpon toad fly next. It has small dumbell eyes, crab shaped head and bunny strip tail so should sink slowly.

Nice fish. We have carp in the lakes up here in NC. They will come up on the "flats" and "tail" just like bonefish and reds. I have not yet tried to catch one but I am thinking an attempt might be in order. They are usually solo fish here cruising the shallows and supposedly quite hard to catch.