Flarping a Ghostie

I've tried for a couple of years to fly fish a local community lake with flies I've tied, but it's always so muddy there's never any heads to throw at. So this year, I'm throwing corn baited hair rigs using my fly gear. I'm calling this technique Flarping. This pleasant but windy morning, I landed this ghostie with yellow on his face. I fish two rods, and stake them down if I walk away. The carp usually hook themselves running away with the rig. Lots of fun on a 4 wt. rod.

Nice catch do bet it was fun on your 4 wt.
Good to hear their are some others using fly rods in unconventional ways.
I frequently use mine with worm or shad for perch and catfish.
Hope you catch many more.

Good job, especially on a 4wt. Nice looking fish.

Nice fish and a super job on the fly!

Nice ghostie

So cool!

Thats a pretty fish!

I bet that is fun.

pop r,

It is a blast to catch 5 + lb carp on a 5 weight fly rod, and I've been refining the method a bit. However, I feel a little guilty...the carp fly fishers would condemn me for using a baited hair rig, but they would also say blind casting to carp with an artificial fly is a waste of time, and my local community lake is always stained so there are never any "heads to throw at". With a corn baited hair rig and a yarn indicator, which is a challenge to cast, I'm learning how to watch the yarn for signs it's just about to take off. I fish two rods (Cabela's CGR 5/6 with a fighting butt...$40 when they occasionally go on sale), and I've tied a rope loop to the butt so I can stake it to keep from losing a rod to a big fish when I'm not paying attention. The real advantage to this method for me, beyond big fish on light gear, is that the gear is also super light. A half mile walk with a folding chair is no problem. A baggie of boiled deer corn is the heaviest item in my kit, as the Brits say. I'm outdoors, fishing, and look forward to my time on this nearby lake trying to catch the next larger fish. My biggest so far came yesterday. Nothing over 10 yet...

Keep on catching them your way. I like your innovative thinking.