Carp On A Fly Is A Chattahoochee River Record

The Chattahoochee is one of my favorite locations to chase several species of fish, and with the May full moon I headed to Bull Sluice on Sunday with both my bass tackle and a fly rod to search for bream beds.

I made my way on my kayak to the place I planned to fish, and the water was fairly clear and low, and there were quite a few carp cruising the shallows in what seemed like spawning and prespawn mode.

Don Anderson with the 9.66-lb. carp that he caught on a fly rod May 15, 2022 to set a river record for the Chattahoochee River between Buford Dam and Bull Sluice.

With that in mind, I tied a chartreuse Mop Fly on my 5-weight fly rod and started searching the banks. A friend of mine, Steve Almand, ties these flies for me, and they seem to catch everything. I knew that bedding bream would hammer them, and the slow-sinking fly seemed like it might also draw a bite from a carp. I caught several bream and few small bass, but the carp I presented the fly to had made some promising moves, but none of them picked it up.

The chartreuse Mop Fly hand-tied by Steve Almand that tempted the carp.

I made a cast to a spot that looked right for some bedding bream, and this time a carp slammed the mop bug. It was a great fight on the 5-weight fly rod, and after pulling me around for more than 10 minutes, I finally got my “Chattahoochee Bone Fish” in the net. The nice thing about fishing from a kayak is the fish really couldn’t break me off because the kayak would just move with the fish, giving me a good cushion when he surged.

I knew there was an opportunity for the fish to be registered as the record for the stretch of river I was fishing and that it had to be better than 8 pounds. My digital scale read 9-lbs., 10-ozs., and I later had it confirmed on registered scales at 9.66 pounds (9-lbs., 10.56-ozs.), thanks to the nice folks at Wilkes Meat Market in Cumming.

I caught the whole thing on video, and it can be seen on my YouTube Channel.

Thank you to GON for maintaining the Georgia Lake and River Records and for giving me to opportunity to share my story and register this record carp.

Editor’s Note: Don Anderson also once held the largemouth bass record for this stretch of the Chattahoochee River.

Benchmarks weights were begun in 2020 to set minimum weights to establish a new lake or river record. Once records are established, it doesn’t take long for exceptional fish to overtake those records, and over time the records become credible. The benchmark system used for Georgia lake and river records are the minimum weights established in WRD’s Georgia Angler Award Youth Program.

Requirements For Record Fish

• Fish must be caught legally by rod and reel in a manner consistent with state game and fish regulations.

• Catch must be weighed on accurate Georgia DOA certified scales with at least two witnesses present, who must be willing to provide their names and phone numbers so they can be contacted to verify the weighing of the fish.

• Witnesses to the weighing must be at least 18 years old, and they must not be members of the angler’s immediate family nor have a close personal relationship with the angler.

• Catch must be positively identified by qualified DNR personnel.