At the start of the year I really had no idea that an egg pattern was a viable option for carp and I was quite content in my ignorance. I spent quite a few years back in the day chucking eggs patterns for MI Steel-head with frustrating results. I was quite pleased with the idea of letting all of my egg tying materials rot in their bin.
Ignorance is bliss but my bliss started to crumble this spring. It started with the fly swap and Gregg Martin's submission.
 |
| Gregg's Eggs |
This was interesting and I even went out and caught some pond carp with them. These were tough carp in a behavioral mode that I usually don't have much luck. On a rational level I chalked it up as a new arrow in the quiver for carp sleep-tailing in mucky mud but I was still emotionally ill-prepared to embrace the egg.
Unfortunately the onslaught on my fragile emotional state has continued.
First of all my buddy Mike decided to start sight-fishing a small unweighted peach egg almost exclusively this year, particularly for passive behaviors. Hey, sounds like a personal problem to me except for the minor fact that he has destroyed me virtually every time we have fished together this year. He even hooked Kahn (my grass carp nemesis) on one of these eggs! Kahn annihilated him of course.
Second of all John and I experimented with an egg in Oregon. The results were mixed but promising. We caught a couple of fish and once again it seemed like an option when faced with passivity. For example I had one (and only one) top-water sunning carp wake up and aggressively charge 2 feet for a slowly sinking un-weighted egg that I dropped ever so gently in front of it from 35 or 40 feet away. I would have bet you a hundred dollars that fish was impossible.
Third of all I pulled out the egg on the South Platte last Friday. Will Rice and I had found a bunch of small carp super slow cruising mid-column in deeper water. Waste of time right? Not so fast I had 4 carp turn 90 degrees and slowly follow the egg down. I have no idea if they eventually took the fly, but to even get a reaction was a miracle.
Which brings us to the conundrum. What is it about the egg? Lets get it out of the way and say there is nothing like a size 10 peach egg slowly dropping straight through the column in any of the waters I have gotten a reaction on. These waters don't even get duck feeders.
- Shape? I just don't feel it. Gregg's are perfectly round, while Mikes are the more typical home-tied quick and dirty half-moon blob of yarn on a hook.
- Color? Seems promising. I didn't realize it when I was plunging them to the bottom of Steelhead runs but now that I have tried them sight fishing, the fluorescence in egg yarn is shockingly visible in the water.
- Sink rate? Partially. Unweighted eggs sink pretty slow. Not nearly as slow as you would think but really really slow. Lots of flies sink slow though.
- Splash? Very promising. An unweighted yarn egg drops on the water like a feather.
- Sink-rate versus splash? Very Very promising. Although they sink slowly, after just a fraction of a second on the water egg yarn sinks much faster than you would expect for how lightly it lands.
The idea is to mix a meaty crayfishy profiled body, the action of a Trouser Worm and some of the possible benefits of egg yarn. Now I just need to weasel some time on the water to try it out!
I feel the egg yarn is held on to longer than some flies as many have hooked themselves unseen by me in the glare or turbid water, though you've seen them ejected in that small pond. To me it's a non threatening morsal in the water. And I know I probably fish them too often. But to your new fly, how was it tied? You KNOW it will do well.
ReplyDeleteGregg
Gregg
Nothing special Gregg. Tie in one clump of yarn on the hook-side with 4 wraps right down the middle. trim the front half short to puff a roundish head and then trim the back half diagonally (getting further from the shank as you go towards the hook) to puff a tapered back end then trim to shape.
DeleteA good layout and effective with the tents.
ReplyDeleteSalutations.
WWW.PESKACOR.EU
That one lost something in translaationn Alvaro. I am guessing you like the profile (shape). Thanks if so.
DeleteIt looks like a tadpole to me. I'm sure it'll catch.
ReplyDeleteYup, a peach tadpole! Lots of tadpoles around here in some ponds. Maybe that is just the ticket.
DeleteIt's the same for mi. I've some flies in my boxes made with egg yarn, but I never use them. They are 2 patterns: they are supposed to simulate crumb (cream egg yarn) and sweet corn (yellow egg yarn). After reading your post I'd try them with those sun-tanning apathetic carps that always ignore all the flies I show them.
ReplyDeleteThanks you for your words about my blog. I do my best to make it interesting. If you have any problems with the translation of some issue that interests you, do not hesitate to ask me.
I wouldn't worry about matching any specific man made food items Jorge. If it is going to work it will be as an attractor of some kind.
DeleteExactly, this is the point. I don't use these imitations because the carps I fish aren't supposed to eat this man made food items. But as you said, they have to be considered as an attractor so I'll use them.
DeleteWhen ever I talk to a guide about carp flies they always mention eggs. They say they especially use them for those dingy water days when you can see part of the carp and their bubbles but can't witness the take. They have told me many times the carp will take these flies and swim around for seconds. Not sure why they'd hold onto the egg yarn so long. Maybe some plant debri has the same texture.
ReplyDeleteThat is extremely interesting Kevin. As I mentioned in that post that is linked I saw them ejecting it immediately but those are fish feeding in a mode where they are literally just moving along sucking anything and everything up and ejecting most of it. They are hard to catch because they are feedling like cows in a field and usually care less about your fly.
DeleteI'm fastinated with carp on the fly. Is it all visual or do you feel the fish take the fly. I would love a little more how to as I'm new to this sport?
ReplyDeleteLove the blog have joined to follow, call in a see me some time?
Ocassionally you can feel the take if you maintian excellent contact with your fly. It usually works better if you can see the take because they suck in and eject the fly faster than you can imagine at times and it never touches thier lip to give you a bump.
DeleteI dunno - I have just had zero success with eggs. I floated to a pod of 15 carp this past weekend and didn't even get a sniff. Maybe the take wasn't visible, but my indicator never even revealed any sign of a take.
ReplyDeleteOnce fly that has been producing for topwater feeding carp is the devil bug. If they are slurpin, the bug kills em.
I will have to look up the devil bug. We don't get much topwater action here in CO but when we do I have had no luck with it so far.
DeleteWe typically don't have a ton here either, but this year it has been off the hook. So many bugs and other surface goodies has them slurping for days
DeleteDude, that is the south platte clam fly. I expect that to destroy many a carp.
ReplyDeleteI dunno, are there clams in the DSP? I was going for more of a phsycadellic crayfish profile but it should be generic enough to pass for many profiles.
Delete