This is a beautiful looking imitation, so I couldn't help myself. I tried two.
Brown chenille with similar colored mohair sac.
Black woolly bugger chenille with red yarn sac.
Can't wait to try these out.
But wait, there's more! The Orvis Book of Fly Tying (Rosenbauer) has soft hackles mostly in hair's ear, so I tried a little bit of fox for a tail. Hackles were a little too short, though.
Got some serious chase from some green sunfish on this one today.
And guess what I found in my wife's sewing bag? Yep. Pom poms. You know what that means!
Egg sucking leech! Woohoo!
Then, I just had to tie another bomber, this one with a lighter helping of foam, a taller hump and a badger wing on it. I dubbed with red yarn. I call it the Winged Widow Bomber.
I will let y'all know how these do! Any pointers, let me know.
So, I got another gift card to Bass Pro. I used it to pick up some more supplies. I grabbed some materials for the Stealth Bomber, and using instructions from the internet, got to tying.
Ready your hook. I used a Gammy B10S #2 here. A little too small on the foam for the size.
Tie in your tail material. Original calls for bucktail and flashabou or krystal flash. I used maribou and fox.
Using a template found online (FlyFishGA.com and look under tying), cut out your foam. Then, after making sure the part where the foam starts to spread is just behind the eye of the hook, tie the foam down at the rear of the shank.
Tie in dubbing and dub 60%.
Tie down foam, and dub up to behind eye. I used black woolly bugger chenille. Tie down the foam again.
Dub the rest of the way, then tie down again.
Backwards wrap to get to the middle tie-down of the three, then fold the "tail" of the foam over and tie down. Remember, the higher the loop, the more bubbles created in the jerk.
Tie on an underwing of the material of your choice, then fold the flanged back and tie down. Tie in two legs on each side for a total of 8, and you're done after the finish of your choice.
I tied another one on the much smaller hook Jim gifted me. Lost one last night going after bluegill, so the smaller one is a good size for big panfish.
Not that I lost it last night to a fish. I didn't. I lost it to a stump in the lake.
Went out to Cunningham two days ago and tried the Stealth Bomber with a Leech Bunny dropper. Hooked into a nice 13" bass with a decent tug. Blood on the tail fin. Looked like he'd been in a fight.
Can't wait to try the darker color. I still can't seem to entice the cats!
I'm 9 years old inside. I really love my birthdays. I got lots of cool things, of course, and got to spend some time with my family after work. Here's the breakdown:
DisneyNature Oceans was my daughter Ruth's gift choice, which we watched before I went to BPS with my gift card (thanks Jenny.) That was fantastic. I highly recommend this when you have a young child fascinated by the natural world.
One sad part, the baby turtles hatched out of the sand and everyone was happy... then the birds started swooping in for a snack. My daughter, breaking into tears, urged that, "They have shells to protect them!"
Broke my heart having to talk about how Heavenly Father gave them shells to protect them, and also has to feed those birds. Sad that it has to be that way to a 4 year old.
Oh yeah, buddy. I wanted to go to BPS as soon as I got my card, but my wife told me to wait. And this is why: the plethora of patterns Tom Rosenbauer presents herein.
Then I went to BPS. It was hard to choose what $25 should go towards. Here's what I bought:
Dynamite on a fly rod, distributed in 48 states, and amazingly tough, Cyprinus carpio, the common carp, has such a bad reputation as a trash fish. They trash the sediment of lakes, uproot valuable vegetation, increase algal blooms with their phosphorous secretion and feed on gamefish roe.
Minnesota classifiesCyprinus as a regulated invasive species, meaning "introduction into the wild is prohibited. Fish caught while angling may be returned to the same water body."
"If I angle for common carp, should I immediately kill them as an invasive species and leave them out of the water? Thanks."
Cue the Jeopardy music.
Then, awesomeness from Karie Decker at said extension.
"Hi-
Sorry about the delayed response- I just got back to the office.
Common carp cards are a tricky species- lots of folks like to fish for
them, but in some reservoirs, they can become invasive. Our main goal w/
common carp is to prevent them from spreading to other waters. And
actually, I would even recommend learning how to fillet them for
eating...they can be quite good. There is plenty of info online with
directions.
Thanks for your interest in invasive species, I hope this has been helpful!"
I asked her if I could quote her on my blog, because I thought it was great to get some authority behind the question. She responded:
"It is unlawful to sell,
transport or offer for sale as bait, any live carp, carpsucker,
bullhead, buffalo, gar, quillback, gizzard shad, alewife, or
bowfin. Live fish of those species may be used for bait only in the same
waters from which they are legally taken."
While common carp are not-native, they are different than the Asian carp
species generally referred to in the media. The 'group' of Asian carp
generally refers to silver carp, bighead carp, grass carp, and black
carp. These are listed in many states as aquatic invasive species,
including Nebraska, and several states have laws against the
possession/transport of live fish in this group. Nebraska just passed
this law in April - prohibiting the possession/transport of aquatic
invasive species."
A big shout out to Karie from the UNL Invasive Species extension.
Now, back to the original question, should carp be killed when caught?
(The following is my opinion and, although now influenced by Karie's comments, they do not reflect her professional opinion in any way.)
If its silver carp, destroy it, and here's why:
If it's not a silver carp, well... after watching this next video, I wonder if it wouldn't be better to throw on some classical, pull on some mesh and hack-and-slash. Or maybe, get out a hand grinder? No, kitchen shears should be sufficient.
Can't wait to catch one this year! I keep throwing out a double fly, one weighted soft hackle and one not. Haven't landed anything yet.
By the way, the Hairy Badger. Not a carp fly, but Bill asked for pictures:
Badger tail with eyelash yarn body. Actually dubbed black mohair under the yarn. Clipped a slot for the eye in the lower lip. Imagine this on a small Mustad, and you've got a killer bream fly. That was my first creation, and it really is killer on bream.
