Serious carp fishing

[carpanglerdude]

Well, carp are omnivores, so they're not only bottom feeders.

I've seen em in lakes eating stuff that floats like seeds and berries from trees and bushes, or if you're in city park lakes or Laughlin, stuff like Nacho Cheese Doritos, popcorn, Cheetos, that fake chicharrón that the street vendors sell, and so forth.

In areas where there are insects still left, they will also eat those that are floating, like hoppers, ants, beetles, bees...

But unless they're actively feeding on top, don't waste your time. Instead, fly line some masa on a small mosquito hook on 4 pound test, set your drag correctly, buy a raspado or a paleta, and hang on.

I've typically caught them on bread, corn, tortillas. However, I have run into hyperaggressive packs of carp on several occasions. These tend to be in shallow water, slurping up insects and other meals. Each time, I've tossed a lure nearby, and the entire pack races for. Once, it was a small microcrankbait, at the San Gabriel Reservoir. The leader of the group absolutely nailed the crankbait, then took off running...on 4lb mono, and a ultralite trout pack rod it was a blast.

You can see it here roughly in the middle of the video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oMPT6_u0RlY