Catching carp with ultra light equipment

Sometimes I feel like a nut, sometimes I don't.  Today I used a cheap 3 wt, fiberglass fly rod
to catch carp.  It is a 3 piece, 7' 6" slow flex rod. I really wanted to use my nine-foot graphite  rod
but I knew I would be casting with tree branches all around me in this spot.  So, the nine foot 2 wt was left at home for this trip.

After not having caught any carp in awhile, I set up to fish in Loeb Lake, one of the 5 lakes
located in NYC's Central Park.  My goal is to see how days I can catch fish before air
temperatures dip below 45F.   The sun heats the water here until 3:00 o'clock.  This is the time
when carp feed in this part of the lake.  Here the lake is secluded and quiet; which is what I want when I fish for carp.

Here is my 3 piece, 3 weight fiberglass fly rod with the carbon fiber, Franco Vivarelli semi
automatic fly reel.  I chummed with a ground bait.

Hutchinson River

Look what I saw in the Hutchinson River. Menhaden Swimming and feeding in the Hutchinson River
I have walked the Hutchinson for a few years now.  When I look at maps I see that the river
after leaving Pelham Lake flows into Eastchester Bay.

Today, I followed the flow of the river after it leaves the lake.  I came upon this sight of
"bunker" feeding.  They are filter feeders, which was evident as they swam by with
their mouths open.

What I found to be unique was that they swam in groups.  Larger fish swam above smaller
fish. It looked like a crisscross pattern .

The New Rochelle Water Company dammed the Hutchinson River in 1886 and 1907, to create three reservoirs (No. 1, No. 2, No. 3) at the northern end of the community. The Westchester County Park Commission purchased the reservoirs and the surrounding water shed property in 1927, for parkland and parkway purposes.^[5] A part of the land was used for the Hutchinson River Parkway, which follows the river for most of its distance.

The Atlantic menhaden (Brevoortia Tyrannus) is a North American species of fish in the herring family, Clupeidae.

Atlantic menhaden are found in the North Atlantic coastal and estuarine waters from Nova Scotia south to northern Florida. They are commonly found in all salinities of the Chesapeake Bay and Mid-Atlantic water. They swim in large schools that stratify by size and age along the coast. Younger and smaller fish are found in the Chesapeake Bay and southern coastline while older, larger fish are found along the northern coastline.

Characteristics
Atlantic menhaden are silvery colored fishes characterized by a moderately compressed body and a black spot on their shoulder behind their gill openings. They can reach a size of approximately 15 inches.

BiologyDiet
Atlantic menhaden are filter feeders, meaning that they collect food by filtering water through modifications of the branchial apparatus (gill arches and gill rakers). Atlantic menhaden’s diet depends on the size of their gill rakers, which change as menhaden age. When the rakers are smaller, which generally correspond to when they are under the age of 1, Atlantic menhaden feed primarily on phytoplankton. As they age and their gill rakers grow larger, menhaden shift their diet to primarily consume zooplankton

Lifecycle
Atlantic menhaden can spawn year round in inshore waters off the Atlantic coast, with the highest spawning rates near North Carolina in the late fall. The eggs hatch in the open ocean and the larvae drift to sheltered estuaries via ocean currents. The young spend a year developing in these estuaries before returning to the open ocean. At this early stage, they are commonly known as "peanut bunker". Atlantic menhaden usually do not become sexually mature until the end of their second year, after which they reproduce until death. A young, sexually mature female can produce roughly 38,000 eggs, while a fully mature female can produce upwards of 362,000.

Eggs are buoyant and hatch within 2 to 3 days depending on the temperature. The larvae will spend 1 to 3 months in waters over the continental shelf. The Chesapeake Bay is a popular nursery for juvenile menhaden. Larval fish will enter the Bay in late winter and early summer. The larval fish will move into lower salinity waters in estuarine tributaries while juvenile and immature fish remain in the Bay until the fall. Atlantic menhaden can live up to 10 to 12 years.

Predators
Atlantic menhaden are preyed upon by fish such as striped bass, weakfish and bluefish, and by birds such as ospreys and eagles. Humpback whales off the coast of New Jersey feed on Atlantic menhaden. Other cetaceans, such as fin whales and dolphins also eat menhaden. Dolphins can eat up to 20 pounds of Atlantic menhaden a day.

Fishing Woodlands Lake

I've caught carp in the Saw Mill River before.  This lake is formed where the River collects
near a waterfall.  A few trout have been known to frequent this water.  The theory is that they swim down from where they  still stock trout.

The sun was setting when I finally arrived ( I got lost).  And while the temperature had been like
summer weather in the afternoon, the weather changed to fall conditions and the wind picked up.
I had walked to the park; as a result, I had begun to perspire.   When perspiration meets cooling
breezes, the person perspiring becomes cooler too.  Another layer was needed.  I felt like I was fishing in a meat locker!  After almost two hours of no bites; I left for the train.

I saw no fish activity in the water (Bass,carp, crappie).

Woodlands Lake is on the Saw Mill River in Westchester County, New York and is used for recreation purposes. Construction was completed in 1840. Its normal surface area is 13 acres. It is owned by Westchester County Dept Of Parks and Recreation.

Woodlands Lake Dam is masonry, rock fill. Its height is 20 feet with a length of 200 feet. Its capacity is 87 acre-feet. Normal storage is 87 acre-feet.

Fly fishing in Prospect Park

Went out for  a short time in the afternoon.  Nothing special , just out to fly fish in Brooklyn.  Fishing is still slow in the afternoon.  I may need to change my sleeping patterns.  Water levels are low due to
a lack of rain.

I changed to a newer Franco Vivarelli semi automatic fly reel.  This one has an adjustment for the drag.  But this reel does not allow the drag to be adjusted while you are fishing.  The drag can only be adjusted before you begin to fish.  It has the quick spool release in the center of the spool which allows the spool to be changed quickly.

Fly Fishing The Meer

I went up to Harlem to fish The Meer this afternoon.  I was surprised to not see lots of algae
on the water surface.  It was there but not in the concentrated amounts visible during the summer.

I'm still fishing with my fiberglass fly rod.

You can see from the picture that the water looks almost clear around the bird sanctuary.
Normally you can catch a few bluegill around the edges of this island using small
nymph patterns.  This afternoon , there was nothing here.

Looking north across The Meer.  This part of The Meer can hold panfish, including
Largemouth Bass.  The Meer has less invasive plants than Prospect Park Lake at this time.

There was some landscaping being done on the stream that connects the Pool
at 103rd street and The Meer.  They've widened and deepened this channel making, I think,
it look like a real stream.

Here it looks like a wild stream in a forest.  I wonder if panfish will become established in this
part.  I can imagine the Tenkara Bums frequenting this part of the park.

As the sun set, I arrived at The Pool.  Sometimes, Bass less than a pound will attack
anything that moves on the surface or submerged!  Recently a bass weighing more than
three pounds was caught here.  I spent the remainder of the daylight trying to catch
a bass here.  I worked my way across The Pool, using different flies.  I could not see any
 indication that there were any fish.  After switching to a black wooly bugger, I got my first
hit .  It was a "club size bass (less than 12 inches).  It jumped and fought until it released itself
about twenty feet from shore.

Fishing at Prospect Park Boathouse

It is fall weather.  Normally fishing here picks up as fish begin to feed before colder temperatures and  winter arrive.  I went out with the hope that panfish would be feeding as the afternoon progressed.  The temperatures allowed me to fish in my shirt sleeves and not wear a jacket.

The water in front of the Boathouse in Prospect Park was not covered in algae and duckweed
as it has been for most of the summer.  There was no wind and the water surface looked like a mirror
I like to start fishing with nymphs or small wooly buggers.

I picked up this fiberglass fly rod on eBay a few years ago.  It is a 7', 6", 3 piece, 3/4 wt.
It is matched with my old Franco Vivarelli semi automatic fly reel.  This is one of the earlier versions.
There is no quick release so that the spool can be changed fast.

Usually fish like to hold under the wooden deck at the boathouse.  Today it was different
I saw no fish in front of or under the deck.  In fact, the only fish I caught was just south
of the deck.  The rest of the water here showed no fish.

Bronx River

The Bronx River was clear near Tuckahoe.  I walked completely around the pool of water.
But there were no carp feeding.

Since I had my hip waders I walked down the river to the next pool.  For the most part, the river is shallow here.  The water rarely exceeds three feet.  I walked slowly so as not to disturb any fish before I saw them.  There were no carp to be seen this morning.   The only thing I saw in the river that was unusual was floating patches of algae.

My advice about the river is to walk carefully as there are many "soft spots", especially
at entry points.  Whether wet wading or wearing full waders it is possible to find yourself
in trouble if you are not careful.

About eleven o'clock I located a pod of carp that were roaming the flats pictured above
but just as quickly has the pod appeared, it disappeared.  except for a small orange koi
I could not find the pod again.  I spent the remainder of the day looking for carp with
George.  George likes to swing egg patterns to catch carp on the Bronx River.  Neither of us
 caught anything.