# Grass Carp and Cichlids on Fly - Miami Canals



## bonehead

So the Peacocks havent been real active for me. Just seeing some but not really interested in my offerings(changes in the summer). Seeing good amounts of Largemouth and of course a bunch of Cichlids. Mayan, Midas, Spotted Tilapia, you name it...

I always see a bunch of Grass Carp, I am talking about big ones, giant fat mommas, up to 40 lbs. Yeah, up to 40 lbs (crazy right!?). After only about 17562233 or so casts with a Clouser, it was time to change tactics. Using about a 9ft, 20lb Fluoro (all the way) as my leader, and a Size 2 Mustad C70SD hook, wrapped with bread, my luck changed. Instantly. I just dropped the "fly" in front of it, let it eat, and strip set like a maniac. After some blistering runs, I had my first grass carp ever.

As usual, the cichlids were in full force, with the Spotted Tilapia, Midas cichlid, and the Mayan cichlid all taking our flies. Good fighters, scrappy is a better term. They do get kind of annoying after a while but they have saved plenty of days for me, and they always have some crazy looking colors. (not even going to post the pics, bad quality :/
View attachment 3892


Thats it for now, enjoy the picture and the report
Until next time...
Flats


----------



## bonehead

We estimated it to be at around 15-20lbs. Need to work on the photography lol. 
My buddy Kyle at the Fly Shop of Miami showed me a fly that should work magic on these fish, will post a pic whenever I have them tied up...

And thanks to Withering Wilds for sponsoring me with some cool shirts!

Flats


----------



## permitchaser

FlatsRoamer said:


> So the Peacocks havent been real active for me. Just seeing some but not really interested in my offerings(changes in the summer). Seeing good amounts of Largemouth and of course a bunch of Cichlids. Mayan, Midas, Spotted Tilapia, you name it...
> 
> I always see a bunch of Grass Carp, I am talking about big ones, giant fat mommas, up to 40 lbs. Yeah, up to 40 lbs (crazy right!?). After only about 17562233 or so casts with a Clouser, it was time to change tactics. Using about a 9ft, 20lb Fluoro (all the way) as my leader, and a Size 2 Mustad C70SD hook, wrapped with bread, my luck changed. Instantly. I just dropped the "fly" in front of it, let it eat, and strip set like a maniac. After some blistering runs, I had my first grass carp ever.
> 
> As usual, the cichlids were in full force, with the Spotted Tilapia, Midas cichlid, and the Mayan cichlid all taking our flies. Good fighters, scrappy is a better term. They do get kind of annoying after a while but they have saved plenty of days for me, and they always have some crazy looking colors. (not even going to post the pics, bad quality :/
> View attachment 3892
> 
> 
> Thats it for now, enjoy the picture and the report
> Until next time...
> Flats


I have put grass carp in my daughter's farm pond 2years ago so they are 10-15 lbs. now so I'd like to know more about yur fly...bread on a hook?


----------



## bonehead

Yep, somehow kept a ball of bread on the hook. It took several tries to figure out how to cast it without coming off. If you want to know, I used butterbread to be exact...

It seems that no one believes me lol, my next goal is to get one on the "secret" fly and get a pic with the fly in its mouth...


----------



## bonehead

Permit,

I did some research on Carp flies. It seems that bright, especially chartreuse, hoppers and woolly buggers in sizes 8-14 do really good. Also, a ball of chenille or something will work. I have found that the cast is the most important, to not spook the school or fish. Another note is that it should sink, to get in front of the fishes face. If you ever visit that pond again, let us know how it goes!


----------



## CurtisWright

Yea, my neighbor feeds them bread every day. My only luck was by chumming with bread and then casting a bread fly. Cheating, but it works. 

Everything eats bread. Even the mullet.


----------



## bonehead

Yep, bread is like the shrimp of freshwater!

Was planning to hunt some carp but the rain ruined my plans 

Oh well, had to clean my fly tackle anyways


----------



## firecat1981

I used to catch them all the time as a kid in south florida. I used bagels, the hook would stay in the crust, and it floats. The carp were attracted by the bream hitting it and after a few minutes it would get slammed.......

That being said I got in trouble with the FWC once for catching them. Apparently they are/were a protected species and you could not target or harvest them. This was 15+ years ago, but I think the rules are the same because they are used for vegetation control.


----------



## bonehead

In trouble for targeting grass carp?!

Will look into it, and I dont harves any fish from the canals...


----------



## Riverrambler

Tie yourself a bread pattern. Don't laugh, here in North Georgia we have private, pay a lot to fish, trophy streams, specifically the Soque River. Because, these trout are raised on fish pellets sometimes that's all they'll bit so the guides started tying fish pellet pattern flies. Its simply a piece of brown foam tied or glued to a hook. This is a bread pattern I found lol.


----------



## WhiteDog70810

Grass carp are usually triploid/sterile in most urban/suburban settings. Triploid doesn't mean sterile, but it is the description of the genetic abnormality that causes sterility. This keeps them from taking over the world when used for vegetation control in golf course ponds. Since folks paid money to put them there to perform the Herculean task of keeping am impounded area in the swamp from looking like a swamp, they get grumpy if you take them out. I expect the carp in the canals are escapees. Per the FWC site, you can catch them, but they "must be released immediately and unharmed...". From what I can tell on from the FWC site, all grass carp were put there intentionally, as no mention is made of a self-sustaining wild population.

Nate


----------



## Flats Hopper727

It all comes down to a bread ball NICE...., Great pic of the Carp....


----------



## Backwater

You can eat the chilids! Aside from being a great fighter for their size, they taste great and have no bag limits, since they are an invasive specie.


----------



## THX1138

I have spent a lot of time chasing carp on the fly in central Indiana. Commons will eat wide variety of things but craw imitations seem to get the most attention. As far as grassies go, they will eat small nymphs and beetle type flies from size 10-16. They are primarily vegetarian so look for places with trees or bushes over hanging the water. Try flies that look like the flowers or berries of those trees and such. 
Cheating or no, great catch! Just put an asterisk next to it on your catch list till you get one on a fly ;-) tight lines, cheers!

Lou


----------



## THX1138

Here is a pattern I like a lot. Sz 4 carp crab. Looks rediculous on the vise but once you get it wet it really takes shape. LMB really dig it too ;-)

Lou


----------



## permitchaser

The grass carp in my daughters lake are not subject to FWC or GA DNR. They be mine. I put them there and I hear they taste good. I just got to figure out a fly they will eat. No one feeds them bread. I might try some clover on a hook or try to tie a grass fly. Maybe I'll chum with clover


----------



## WhiteDog70810

permitchaser said:


> The grass carp in my daughters lake are not subject to FWC or GA DNR. They be mine. I put them there and I hear they taste good. I just got to figure out a fly they will eat. No one feeds them bread. I might try some clover on a hook or try to tie a grass fly. Maybe I'll chum with clover


They are hard to fillet. They have rows of y-bones that are tough to avoid. I've watched videos on line about how to fillet them, but you will waste a lot of fish in the process.

Nate


----------



## permitchaser

WhiteDog70810 said:


> They are hard to fillet. They have rows of y-bones that are tough to avoid. I've watched videos on line about how to fillet them, but you will waste a lot of fish in the process.
> 
> 
> 
> Nate


Maybe clean the bake them skin them and pick the bones. That way you don't lose as much


----------



## WhiteDog70810

permitchaser said:


> Maybe clean the bake them skin them and pick the bones. That way you don't lose as much


You just described the way that the rest of the world eats carp. Gut the fish, possibly remove the head or scale it, but otherwise cook it whole. The y-bones are easier to find if you never cut them. You could easily grill one like a redfish. My dad used to pickle carp, mostly common and big mouth, when he bowfished for them in Iowa. The vinegar in the pickling brine decalcifies the y-bones. I was little and never ate the stuff, but Dad liked it. My dad ain't a picky eater, but he generally doesn't like things that are too "fishy".

I was spoiled. My dad always filleted fish while the rest of our family just scaled and gutted them. Since I never had to get used to eating around fish bones, a mouthful of them nauseates me. If I can't fillet it and get the bones out, I won't keep it.

Nate


----------



## permitchaser

WhiteDog70810 said:


> You just described the way that the rest of the world eats carp. Gut the fish, possibly remove the head or scale it, but otherwise cook it whole. The y-bones are easier to find if you never cut them. You could easily grill one like a redfish. My dad used to pickle carp, mostly common and big mouth, when he bowfished for them in Iowa. The vinegar in the pickling brine decalcifies the y-bones. I was little and never ate the stuff, but Dad liked it. My dad ain't a picky eater, but he generally doesn't like things that are too "fishy".
> 
> I was spoiled. My dad always filleted fish while the rest of our family just scaled and gutted them. Since I never had to get used to eating around fish bones, a mouthful of them nauseates me. If I can't fillet it and get the bones out, I won't keep it.
> 
> Nate


Well I'll probably never catch one on a fly maybe a cast net
When I grew up we would go to a catfish restaurant and pick the meat off the bone. Now I am a fillet guy and don't like the bone surprise while eating fish


----------



## Limp Shrimp

Riverrambler said:


> Tie yourself a bread pattern. Don't laugh, here in North Georgia we have private, pay a lot to fish, trophy streams, specifically the Soque River. Because, these trout are raised on fish pellets sometimes that's all they'll bit so the guides started tying fish pellet pattern flies. Its simply a piece of brown foam tied or glued to a hook. This is a bread pattern I found lol.


 There's some land locked tarpon in a ditch near my place... Someone has obviously been feeding them bread... Someone who lives near by came out and laughed at us with our fly rods.. he threw a whole slice of bread out and about a 4' tarpon came up and sucked it down.... never dawned on me to make a bread fly though! !


----------



## js555

Amazing... I have also thrown a lot of casts at them. But never got one. 
I walked through my old neighborhood last year and I met the neighbor of my good friend in Jr. High... He lives on a canal... I asked him about the carp and he said, you see the berries on the tree over them ? I said yeah, he said all you need is a red ball... not sure what the tree is or the name of the berries... but that is something to think about. He has landed many. 
( according to him ) He used bead size and colored them with nail polish from his wife he said. Might as well give it a try.


----------



## MistyEye

Nice catch.


----------



## FlyBy

You can also tie a bread fly with spun deer hair. I tie with white and then finish with brown at the hook eye for the crust. Works where people are feeding bread to fish.


----------



## lemaymiami

For a "bread fly" or just to have something to use at a fish cutting dock (where snappers and other species are feeding on every little bit of fish that drops into the water...). Here's all I use. Take four white saddle hackles and cut off everthing except the last one inch - of the butt section -not the nice tapered end you would usually use. You're going to use the part of the feathers that normally you'd toss away -thick stems and all... Tie it two on a side facing inwards for what looks like a one inch square of white feather with the hook inside... (you'll tie in the feathers right at the hook eye -and the finished "fly" will look awful - but fish just like a piece of bread or a big of fish trimmings that just fell into the water. Don't move it at all (unless the current moves it...then let it drift away from where all that food is falling into the water). Watch the end of your fly line closely if it moves strip strike and hang on....

Then just hang on - fish feeding on bread or bits of fish expect an easy meal...


----------



## flytyn

When I had to temporarily move to St. Loius for three years I lived on a 4 acre pond loaded with 30 pound grass carp to keep the vegetation clear. I found the best way to consistently hook them was to chum them with fish food pellets. I'd tie up some size 16 flies with spun deer hair to match the color and size of the fish food. I'd use my 4 weight with 6 lb Tippett. Cast it out and let it sit amongst the fish food that was floating. They'll come up to it and sip it in. Just lift your rod tip gently and they're on. Real brutes as they run and jump great. They can be very deliberate eaters and if the size and color of the fly did not match the pellets they'd refuse it. I got to the point where I'd hook 3-4 30 pounders each time. Loads of fun when snook, reds and tarpon are a thousand miles away.


----------

