Conversations With Carp - Hot Topic

It is certainly heating up here on the prairie ocean and late in the afternoon around four or five is just too hot to fish.  Being somewhat beyond myself in wanting to hold discussions with the carp I decided to take a lunch hour today because the heat is still tolerable around the noon hour.

At the creek I decide to put Charlie's Biter Critter back in action.  Upstream from my position is a feeding carp and the Biter Critter goes sailing about twenty feet out and landing eight inches in front of the fish.  The carp sucks the fly right away and the conversation begins.

This one carp seem to satisfy my itch and not wanting to be off the clock anymore than I had to, I returned to work figuring this would be a one carp day.

However, around five this afternoon I received a carp hunter's blessing.  The sky darkened and became completely overcast hiding the sun.  The temperature dropped a good five degrees or more.  Within fifteen minutes I was on the creek.

The overcast sky created low-light conditions and most of us that hunt carp do not particularly like low-light situations. But, on the creek everything seemed perfect.  It was remarkable how clearly I could see and within thirty minutes I would bring four more carp to hand using the Biter Critter.

The carp were feeding in a shallow pasture of water we call the Bend.  Gently rolling the Critter out in front of the carp I would watch with a smile on my face as I could see the carp eat the fly.  Fishing the first four carp encountered, each one would swim to the fly and flare the gills.  It was almost too easy.

Wanting to go for carp number six of the day was squashed when the lightning started flashing, so I left the creek a happy, giddy carp hunter. 

Charlie's Biter Critter was today's hot topic of discussion.

Charlies Biter Critter quickly becoming unraveled.



Conversations With Carp - Charlie's Biter Critter

The hot fly for carp, here of late, has been Charlie's Biter Critter.  I say hot fly for carp... it's been hot for everything that swims it seems.

According to Charlie, it's an easy tie and the interpretation is left to the tier.  Colors and material can vary from tie to tie. 

One note on this fly that was noticeable as soon as it was tied on is the beadchain eyes.  These eyes are glossy and really stand out. 

Charlie sent the ingredient list and tying instructions and again the tie is up to interpretation. 

It fishes quite good.

Material list for Critter:

Scud hook size 8,10
Bead chain eyes gloss iridescent med/large (yes they came from Walmart)
Dubbing of choice (contrast off hair) or peacock herl
Deer or elk hair (this flairs, but any hair likely will do)
Rubber leg (I use spinner material)

Tying:

1. Mount bead chain eye on outside of hook close to hook eye. Placement is important as the shank bends slightly at the hook eye and you want the bead chain to capture the slight bend so the hook gap will ride up toward vertical. Mounting on the outside kicks a little debris when stripped.

2. Cover the hook shank with contrasting dubbing of choice or peacock herl.

3. Flip hook in vise so the point is up.

4. Stack hair of choice, cut length from front of bead chain to rear of hook bend. The amount of hair controls the fall and helps hook point to stay up.

5. Place cut end of hair at the front of the bead chain and tie in at rear of bead chain. The wrap is about 1/8 inch from cut end. This wrap will cause the hair to flair putting a head on the eyes and covering the hook gap.

6. For a touch of contrasting rubber, just add a couple of rubber strands to the top of the hair stack before tying in. Cut so that one end crowns the head and the other ends roughly at the hook bend.

Charlie

Conversations With Carp - Lunch Hour Chat

There are times at the mercantile store that things become more than I can bear, or more than I care to tolerate any longer.  Today was one of those days, so my thought was the best course of action was to take a lunch hour and see if any of the carp cared to carry on a... civilized conversation, which didn't seem to exist at the mercantile store this particular Thursday.

Today, Charlie's Biter Critter fly caught my attention and this variation of the Bonefish Biter went on the lasso.  At the creek bank I wanted to get the fly wet, so out she went to fairly shallow water above the Honey Hole pasture.  Not paying attention I begin to strip the fly in when I saw the carp on it.  But, I had already given the fly too much life and the fish turned away. 

Going downstream a position on a fallen tree was taken.  About twenty-five feet upstream there was the beautiful sight of an orange tail waving in the drink.  A tailing carp is what the carp by fly angler dreams of, what we hunt, the thing we always hold high hope of encountering. 

A problem existed however.  There wasn't any room for a back-cast.  In addition there was thick and heavy tree limbs both on my left and right.  With the fish being upstream and tree limbs extending far over the bank, a standard roll cast was out of the question.  The only way to get the fly to the fish was with a back-handed roll, so I let one go out.

When the fly landed a foot behind and to the right of the fish I figured a golden opportunity had just been lost and the fish would surely spook.  The carp did not spook, but turned and came straight to the Biter Critter, slowed, then lunged.  The rod tip went up hard and fast, the hook-point penetrated deep, and our lunch hour chat begin. 

This carp was a strong fellow, peeling line off, taking me to the backing.  While line was being taken out, I was trying to figure how to land this fish.  There wasn't much to think about really - to land this fish required getting wet and here I was still with my work clothes. on.  There was plenty of time left in my lunch hour break and this would provide time to go to the prairie home to change socks. 

Stepping down on another fallen log I was only about ankle deep in water.  The carp eventually yielded in his run and this give me some chance of gaining ground on the fish.  After a fairly lengthy fight a message was sent to the carp with a hard pull-up on the rod.   The fish answered with a riposte in the fashion of peeling all the line I'd just gained. 

Our meeting and chat would soon come to an end as I placed my right hand under the belly of the carp and removed the hook with the left.  It was a nice chat.

And as promised, since the perch require their due, here is today's Biter Critter perch.