Here is a poorly lit photo of the largest carp I have ever caught. I hooked the carp on
a deer hair pellet fly. Dennis and I were fishing at Kissena Lake in Kissena Park in Queens, New York.
The day started late. I got to the park at 2:30 pm. There was no action; not even the turtles
were active. Based on our past experience here, we waited for evening to set in.
With the sun setting we chummed a spot that normally holds fish that like to be chummed.
A few dog food pellets on the surface caused the carp to begin to cloop ( eat on the surface).
This is the fly we used, It is made from spun deer hair. It resembles the dry dog food
we use to catch carp. Deer hair can be spun to resemble berries, bits of dry bread, seeds
and other things clooping carp fancy. The hard part is the accuracy you must have when casting
this type of fly. I rely on single hand spey casting technique to reach fish when I'm in a public park. We made dozens of cast to carp mouths which were breaking the surface of the lake.
Dennis is the master at this type of fly fishing. His timing for setting the hook is uncanny.
In order to do this well you must see your fly, anticipate when the carp will take the fly and
set the hook in a split second.
Dennis is great at this; making numerous cast to the mouths sticking out of the water, sort
of "wack a mole" with a casted fly.
out stretched lips of a feeding carp. I set the hook and the line moved steadily across the lake. I didn't see the size of the fish as only the mouth and lips can be seen. The ease and distance with which the carp made the first run was amazing. So were the next 5 runs. There were violent hard head shakes. Stubborn stand stills in the deepest part of the lake. And the endurance that would have made a marathoner proud.
Both the fish I eventually caught. and the fish Dennis landed exhibited the same characteristic. They each
made long, hard, powerful runs. Each fish had tremendous stamina.
