Screwed up posting this before so here is a condensed version..

Fishing for carp on a flat in a lake. Use one of my Smallmouth set ups (7' spinning rod/reel with 6 lbs test mono and a small hair jig.) Casting accuracy and gentle lure entry is key. Too far away from the targeted fish and jig will be ignored, Too close and the fish will be spooked. Off to one side or the other and the jig will usually be ignored. Too large a splash on lure entry and fish will be spooked. Basically, this is just like fishing on a salt flat for Red Fish, Bone Fish, Snook, or Snappers. Always lots of fun. The potential to stalk, target, and catch a fish that is often over 10 lbs on light tackle is fairly common in my area (Cayuga Lake in NY state). Aside from being so much fun, it can turn a boring day into a real experience. It will also improve your sight fishing, casting, and presentation skills. Give it a try if you haven't already.

I do this, just with drum. They respond much better to baits and are easier to see. 

I’ve tried this for Carp my whole life and I think I’d rather just get kicked in the groin 

I want to try   fly fishing for them . I once put a mullberry on an ultralight and flicked it out under an overhanging mullberry tree . That mullberry did not sink a foot before a carp sucked it in .

One of my all time hill country wide-spot fishing adventures was hooking up a black buffalo the size of a samsonite on Tonka Queen cane fly rod and Hardy St. George - took my bottom-bounced cats whisker (basically fly-rod jig on sinking line). 

There was never a consideration of landing the fish, but it was an amusement park ride.  It porpoised continuously for a solid 10 minutes, Ran far out into the backing, charged, still porpoising the whole time, and halfway out again before happily becoming unhooked. 

Not the fish, but this was the rod and reel

the place - that's my buddy Danny on the same day - where he's wading is about the deepest in this wide pool

I got this pretty red-ear buck, different crossing, same day

@scaleface

I've targeted carp in a cottonwood seed fall. 

The fly is easy, size 14 or 16 scud hook, tufts of waste white marabou tied with brown thread.  Fish 4" below a strike indicator - put it right in their face when they're circling on the surface. 

 

@Bluebasser86 - a 10-lb drum on a fly rod is something, too - bottom-bounced them off my sister's boat dock on Lake Livingston. 

my daughter with her catch off the dock

On 12/15/2021 at 9:35 AM, TnRiver46 said:

I think I’d rather just get kicked in the groin 

No you wouldn't. The results aren't very advantageous.

28 minutes ago, Jigfishn10 said:

No you wouldn't. The results aren't very advantageous.

Tough decision, think I’ll still take the carrot over carp 

6 minutes ago, TnRiver46 said:

Tough decision, think I’ll still take the carrot over carp 

OMG...I gotta clean my computer screen from coffee I just spit out. ?

I've caught smallmouth by pitching a tube into the mud clouds created by rooting carp for years. I switched to a TRD Bug for this task a couple years ago. The smallies eat it better than the tube, but occasionally the carp pick it up and take me for a ride. Takes awhile to land 'em on 6# mono and a ML rod.

1 hour ago, T-Billy said:

I've caught smallmouth by pitching a tube into the mud clouds created by rooting carp for years. I switched to a TRD Bug for this task a couple years ago. The smallies eat it better than the tube, but occasionally the carp pick it up and take me for a ride. Takes awhile to land 'em on 6# mono and a ML rod

 

On our tailwater, rainbows learn to feed in the fallout behind grazing redhorse suckers, and fishing those visible mudballs is a good tactic for fall holdovers. 

 

The redhorse suckers, we call Guadalupe redfish, and they're a ride on a fly rod. 

They spawn in March, and a spawn fly is a good attractor for rainbows then. 

 

This is also how you catch Kenai rainbows and dollies - in summer salmon runs, the big fish tag onto salmon coming up to Kenai Lake and follow them into the spawning creeks.  You fish for them behind the visible salmon. Twenty of these in a half day will send you to the firepit for a cigar and cognac. 

 

on the salt flats, you can find redfish feeding behind stingrays