Carp vs Carp

last saturday, i met this retired gentleman while fishing a reservoir about 25 minutes from home.  he showed me a lure that he makes from scratch (hook, weight and all) for catching panfish.  using 1 lb pound test line, he cast into the water, and hooked up with a bluegill instantaneously.  needless to say, i was impressed.

since he lived in the immediate area, he told me of a couple of public ponds nearby that held incredible amounts of carp and was fairly open, making it easier to fly cast.  i was an eager beaver to try out the ponds, so i went out yesterday.

and i did find carp.  loads of them.  but i didn't catch a single one in 4 hours.   i couldn't find out what they were eating!  they would come up top, stick their backs out of the water and wiggle around, or...they would stick their mouths up and out of the water, sucking in air or whatever.  i tried dry flies, san juan worms, egg flies, crawfish imitations, damselfly imitations, etc...and i couldn't even get their attention.  the problem was that they weren't moving at all.  if i cast 2+ feet away from them, they wouldn't notice the fly, and if i cast less than 2 feet away, they would spook.  what was i doing wrong?  i think i'm going to review Mr. P's Lessons From the Carp Lodge.  maybe they just weren't interested in eating.

but i got to thinking...maybe pond/public carp are completely different (and much harder to catch) than river/wild carp.  so far, i have not caught a public pond carp, because they just won't pursue my fly presentations.  is the lack of food competition and predators keeping them from being aggressive, unlike river/wild carp?

lastly, i saw one thing i have never seen before, and was able to catch it on my iphone video.  it was 4-6 baby carp, huddled together, slurping the air.  they didn't really spook, and they weren't eating.  i drifted a dry fly right over their mouths, and nothing happened.  anybody else seen this behavior?

8/24/12 update:  turns out these carp are 'clooping' and they are not 'babies'.  they are probably between 4-7 lbs.  since i can't identify what they are eating up top, most likely they are midges.