Reader Drew Ross sent me a link to this cool video about chasing grass carp on shallow-water flats in his native Arkansas. This looks every bit as exciting as stalking the flats for bonefish, and the fish are a lot bigger. I especially dig the head-on shot of the fish coming into the net. Here’s Drew’s description of the video:
I’ve been using my Clearwater 6-weight and sight-fishing grass carp from my Jackson Kayak Cuda 12 for few years. I’ve had a lot of success and recently started capturing it on camera. I hope the videos show how exciting fly fishing from a kayak can be, especially when you target spooky fish in shallow water. This video was filmed on Friday, May 6th. I moved some grass carp—including a couple large ones—on dry flies and landed several in just a few hours.
Drew Ross blogs about fishing and kayaking at Looknfishy.
Aren’t you supposed to kill these things if you catch one?
Not necessarily. Depends on the rules and regulations of body of water your fishing. Some lakes state you return the fish back to the water immediately.
Grass carp are sterile and pose no danger of taking over a lake or pond. They are intentionally stocked to control weed growth.
I’ve gotten follows by grass carp on dries but have never been able to get one to bite. Good stuff
I have gotten hooked on chasing the grassies in my neighborhood pond. Most success with a green foam grass hopper. Let them slurp it in then strip-set. Loads of fun.
Heck yeah!