Carp Fishing with Steve Hunt and William Gerrard
This is a belated summary from our club meeting on the 13th March 2018.
Steve and William reviewed the local fishing spots in and around Hamilton, for hooking into really large carp. The Ontario record for carp stands at 38.5 lbs.
They emphasized that these are common carp (Cyprinus carpio) and not the invasive species of Asian carp that are plaguing our bordering U.S. states.
Carp are very skittish in clear shallow waters; lob casts should land the fly outside the carp’s field of vision. A short slow retrieve should be used with a final few jigging movements as the fly bottoms out at the end of the retrieve.
The history of carp introduction in Ontario goes back to….
A cheap 8 weight rod is preferred as these fish are well known to test the tensile strength of all rods and cheap replacements are a must.
Reels, however, are a different story. They should hold at least 200 yards of backing and should be terminated with 10lb plain monofilament line. The reels should also have a smooth, reliable drag system.
Some of the flies that Steve tied are shown here:
Photos by Douglas Brien
