The "dancing corn" : Fly Fishing or not?
With a dry spring and a cool and rainy summer, year 2011 is one of the worst I have known for trout fly fishing.
I made a dozen outings with my beaver meadow rods in my usual small brooks, but the water is just too cold and only small trouts come to surface.
Even sea fishing is a disaster because of too cold water ...
So, hoping for a more favorable September, I fight boredom by fishing carp.
In May, I caught many carp thanks to tadpoles imitations. Obviously, the "tadpoles period" lasts only a few weeks, as tadpoles quickly become little frogs that come out of the water.
In summer, fishing is more complicated, many carp turning into a vegetable diet. I have taken some carp with nymphs (dragonfly larvae imitation), but the most effective technique in July and August has been for me a fishing with... corn!
The technique I'm going to describe necessarily brings the question "is it still fly fishing?" : it's up to you to judge...
My carp fishing technique with corn is inspired by carp stalking : I walk along the banks of a pond or river, and when I see carp in the process of searching food, I pass them and I throw a few corn grains in their path. Then, once they are installed to eat the corn, I cast a corn grain imitation, very discreetly, which I quietly retrieve back to the carp. Bite is generally fairly clear, but can be reduced to a mere tremor of the tippet. I also noticed that a slightly moving corn can sometimes incitate the carp to take it (the "dancing corn"...)
This method is the best to fish carp in muddy water, when it does not come to surface.
Yep, this is a bottom fishing, with baiting ! So why using a fly fishing tackle and not fishing with real corn ?
First of all, for fun! Second, because fly rod and fly line allow to cast quietly and accurately a false corn grain ten yards, and that accuracy and discretion are paramount here. Third, because it's an intersting experiment and a good way to learn more about carp and its fishing.
Is it still fly fishing? I do not know ... What I know is that it's a very efficient fishing technique that allows to catch wild shy fish and have fun, even when times are hard for fly fishermen...
One last thing : I loved to read Craig Dennison's recent post, about fly fishing for carp. As Craig wrote : "give carp a try", it's a fascinating fish!
I made a dozen outings with my beaver meadow rods in my usual small brooks, but the water is just too cold and only small trouts come to surface.
Even sea fishing is a disaster because of too cold water ...
So, hoping for a more favorable September, I fight boredom by fishing carp.
In May, I caught many carp thanks to tadpoles imitations. Obviously, the "tadpoles period" lasts only a few weeks, as tadpoles quickly become little frogs that come out of the water.
In summer, fishing is more complicated, many carp turning into a vegetable diet. I have taken some carp with nymphs (dragonfly larvae imitation), but the most effective technique in July and August has been for me a fishing with... corn!
The technique I'm going to describe necessarily brings the question "is it still fly fishing?" : it's up to you to judge...
My carp fishing technique with corn is inspired by carp stalking : I walk along the banks of a pond or river, and when I see carp in the process of searching food, I pass them and I throw a few corn grains in their path. Then, once they are installed to eat the corn, I cast a corn grain imitation, very discreetly, which I quietly retrieve back to the carp. Bite is generally fairly clear, but can be reduced to a mere tremor of the tippet. I also noticed that a slightly moving corn can sometimes incitate the carp to take it (the "dancing corn"...)
This method is the best to fish carp in muddy water, when it does not come to surface.
Yep, this is a bottom fishing, with baiting ! So why using a fly fishing tackle and not fishing with real corn ?
First of all, for fun! Second, because fly rod and fly line allow to cast quietly and accurately a false corn grain ten yards, and that accuracy and discretion are paramount here. Third, because it's an intersting experiment and a good way to learn more about carp and its fishing.
Is it still fly fishing? I do not know ... What I know is that it's a very efficient fishing technique that allows to catch wild shy fish and have fun, even when times are hard for fly fishermen...
One last thing : I loved to read Craig Dennison's recent post, about fly fishing for carp. As Craig wrote : "give carp a try", it's a fascinating fish!