Carp + Suspicious

was out in LI this past weekend to visit my mother-in-law, and decided to try my hand at catching those carp in that nearby public pond.  you can see that the pond is fairly weedy, but pretty shallow.  i was fishing an area that held the deepest part of the pond, at 5 feet.  bluegill are rampant, and there are bass up to 5 lbs in this very spot.



i tried using fly patterns that imitated crawfish, eggs, damselflies, and worms (san juan), but the carp would come and inspect the fly, and then move on. i'm sure they were suspicious.  argh.  it was hard to present them with a fly that requires some minor stripping since one strip would pull the fly into some weeds (even with some mono weedguards).  i think the issue was either that my presentation was wrong, or the fish had become so used to people feeding them bread, they just weren't that aggressive (so i've heard).  i think it's more likely the first scenario.

frustrated, i ended up deciding to switch to the spinning rod, and landed a 10 lb.  of course, it was the smallest one that i spotted.

 


on a side note...is it weird if someone decides to fish next to you, and then spends a lot of time eyeing your gear? i had my fly rod, fly boxes, and spinning gear/lures on the ground next to me, and this person who decided to fish 5 feet from me, kept staring at what i had. it made me so suspicious, but should i have been?