# Bayou Carp Fishing Techniques



## JayTeeDubya (Feb 24, 2013)

So I was running around buff bayou yesterday near downtown Houston and noticed a huge school of carp surfacing. I've seen them in the past, but this time I really got the urge to go away them, but I didn't know what I should throw at them.

So what are some popular fly patterns for going after carp? And what is the best presentation/technique to get them when they are schooling/surfacing for air.

Thanks!


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## Pete A. (Dec 10, 2010)

I can tell you I have to work harder for each carp we catch than any other fly fishing quarry I've been after. So patience, more patience and persistence is the key.

Which carp are you seeing? Common carp, big sloppy mouth, grass carp small neat mouth.

I see grass carp ganged up and seemingly sipping the surface. My guess is they are sipping much smaller stuff than I'm throwing. I use 5-6wt rods with 10# leader so #28 midges are not in the scope. Mostly I use #6-10 size flies. Plus with even with a strong 6wt you'll feel "under gunned" in the fight at times. Lots of limbs, snags, 'stuff" underwater that you can't see.

I have had limited success with green dry flies and hoppers. My guess is they think they are weeds. 

Their "pick up and spit out time" is very very quick. So since the water is nearly turbid or 1' visibility I try to get the fly to drift right over them with leader nearly perpendicular to them. They tend to scoot when a leader comes over them. 

So if I have to adjust/drag the fly before getting I don't worry just that 5-10' drift above them is clean and smooth. When they hit you got to strip set immediately. So make sure before fly comes over them that your line/leader is near straight. A "trout" set won't do the trick. 

Down side is if they bite and you strip set but no hook up they head for the hills quick.

Hope you catch one of these as they are wild on the rod and way fun.

Pete A.


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## cheapsk8 (Jul 17, 2007)

Several years ago I ran into a guy fly fishing braes wood bayou for carp and he was using a coffee bean fly


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## southpaw (Feb 25, 2009)

When I was a little kid, I used to spend a lot of time on lake conroe. In the particular cove we were in there were always carp. If I wanted to catch them I would get my wrist rocket (type of sling shot) and corn and sling corn out off our dock. After awhile a bunch would come and start sipping it up. I'd put a kernel of corn on a small hook and hang on. Maybe you could just tie a big fuzzy piece of yellow yarn to a hook and catch em that way ha


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## crw91383 (Nov 21, 2008)

Coffee bean fly works well!


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## Golden (Aug 1, 2006)

cheepsk8 that was probably Mark Marmon the Urban angler. Just saw Mark yesterday and he is doing fine. The coffee bean "fly" was his go to for big carp...just make sure if what you are seeing are the "buffalo" type Good Luck! They have an uncanny sense of the Beware that makes them virtually uncatchable. Oh sure you can get one every once and awhile but he was probably committing suicide anyways! What Pete says is true your fly can not make any noise when it enters the water. It must drift perfectly with the current (much like dry flys when trout fishing), the leader must be fluorocarbon as small as you dare go and it must never touch the water. In other words your having to high stick the fly during the presentation and then it must imitate something we cant see, smell or well I'm not tasting anything from one of our bayous. But you get the picture by now. Tough quarry. 

I caught a bunch one day when a local bakery was dumping stale donuts into the bayou (I know WHAT!) and the carp came from every direction...hum...well anyways all I had to do was throw something that was off white and floated and the carp scarfed it down like now! So my five weight got a major work out. As soon as the "goodies" were all gone the carp went back to milling around and wouldn't eat a dang thing!


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## JayTeeDubya (Feb 24, 2013)

Pete - I believe they were grass carp based on the mouth... I was viewing them from a bridge. Thanks for the details on technique/presentation.

Golden - did it happen to be the Sunbeam bread factory just north of the bayou?

I'll stop by iFly after work and grab some flies and talk with them. Hopefully I can successfully report back within the next few weeks.


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## texasflycaster (Jun 16, 2009)

If they're sipping off the top, then try a small black dry fly. That's a hard deal though. Otherwise (on the bottom), some of the typical flies will work, but I have to weight them just a bit -- about 8 inches up from the fly. That's because there is plenty of current in those concrete bayous.


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## SMcD (Apr 10, 2013)

*tough on the ankles*

I tried this for the first time last weekend. The carp are in buffalo bayou in numbers in the conrete areas with any kind of debris in the water creating a current. I ran up and down the concrete slope making multiple casts at the every carp I saw. I did catch one and it was a blast but I must have made 20 casts at it before he finally decided to eat. I hooked another big one in the back while retrieving my fly to recast and he was not happy. He fought like a tarpon with about 4 jumps all the way out of the water. I was using 4X Flouro so I couldn't put much heat on him and he nearly spooled my entire flyline! it was a blast. He eventually kicked the hook.

The one I caught proper was cruising and I found that a dry fly never made it into his line of site and the wooly bugger was maybe too big. A *small green beedheaded nymph with some flash *seemed to be the ticket when I landed it right in front of his nose and it basically sank/drifted straight into his mouth.

Patience is key but this is challenging sight casting with a very rewarding fight .3 miles from my house.....what more could I ask for.


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