Fishing Carp vs Redfish From An Expert Angler

Wait. Before you roll your eyes and think, “My God, another article on carp…”. Let me have a couple minutes of your time. OK, I agree they are kind of ugly. And they are perfectly happy in water with old shopping carts and tires. But there is something really cool about carp that I appreciate.

Check this out. Fly fishing for carp is the next best thing to fishing for redfish, and casting to carp prior to your redfishing trip makes for great practice. I use about the same rod, reel, line, leader, and fly when fishing for both of these species. Carp sometimes live in slightly murky water, so spotting the orange glow of a carp is very similar to redfish in the Louisiana Marsh. Is the fish facing left, or right? Is it moving slowly or laid up? My favorite cast to a shallow-water carp is the same as for redfish. I cast a little bit past a redfish, or carp, slide the fly into its zone, within ten inches of its nose, then drop the fly. Boom. Practice your strip set.

Where I live, on the Snake River in Eastern Oregon, the carp average around 10 to 15 pounds and there are many that are much larger. Pound for pound, redfish are stronger, but the river current evens the playing field, making both fish fighting and landing about the same. Carp are in almost every county in the US and your local fly shop probably knows a couple of good spots. So, if you go after carp to practice your fish spotting, casting techniques, strip set, and fish landing, just be ready for one thing: Carp are very often much harder to catch than redfish. They are skittish and noise sensitive. No mistakes allowed. Maybe we should compare them to permit…

   Carp or redfish? Can you spot the differences? 

 

 

By: Brian O’Keefe
Angling Product Manager