I’ve been asked by enough people now to finally get my ass in gear and write this post. So here we go…
The Ins And Out’s
Once you’ve found a body of water that contains carp, preferably a good amount of them. Wear neutral colored clothing, and be more cautious than you’ve ever been your entire life when trying to locate them in the water, carp are a very spooky fish. Carp in my opinion have three things in which they could be doing, feeding or “mudding”, cruising, or sunning themselves near the surface.
Your best bet is to fish for mudding or cruising fish. Mudding fish are the most easily caught obviously because they’re actively looking for food. I’ve found most carp enjoy mudding right along the shoreline, creeping along in the shoreline foliage (with your rod at the ready) is the best way to spot them. Once you’ve located a fish, don’t move anything but your rod. Depending on what you see, if just a mud plume…watch closely (polarized glasses are a must) look for its tail, then place your fly 4-6 feet in front of it. Slowly, and I mean slowly bring your fly into the fish’s line of vision. If you just pull your fly up to the fish, this un-natural movement and vibration will send the fish in the other direction. If done correctly with the right fly, the carp will see it, and since already in feed mode will inhale it (by far the easiest way to fish for carp).
Cruisers on the other hand are somewhat tricky for a few reasons. One, they like to cruise in shoals…spook one and your done. Two, they are more aware of they’re surroundings, place the fly too close, or even worse, right on top of them and kiss your chances good-bye. You need to place your fly ahead of the fish with enough distance, A) to not spook the fish and B) to allow your fly to reach the the proper depth. Depending on how far away the fish is, watch your fly sink or watch the fish’s body language. If too far away to see your fly, body language is your only way to know when to set the hook. Watch for head down tail up, or a lazy turn in the direction of your fly...pause..then set the hook. Practice makes perfect when timing a proper hook set.
Sunning fish are the hardest to coax into taking your fly, I’ve done it, but these fish are easily spooked. Use the same technique as the cruisers, give a generous lead and slowly swim your fly past the fish. The majority of the time the sunning fish will spook once it sees the fly, its like they’re in a trance and the fly snaps them out of it.
Now lets say your doing all of this right (not spooking the fish) and still the fish are refusing the fly…I’ve been there. Take a look at the body of water your fishing, try and figure out what the fish could be feeding on. Flip rocks, rip out weeds…these fish can be more selective than trout.
I began carp fishing with sucker-spawn and san juan worm patterns. These patterns were productive in some fisheries but readily refused in others. Only until a particular waterway rendered me fish-less for four straight months did I do something about it. I sat down at my vise and created a fly that revolutionized the way I fished for carp. I designed a hybrid between a dragonfly and damselfly nymph that has yet to fail me in any situation.
My Life Changing Creation
Some Do’s
-Use olive floating fly line
-Use at least a 12 foot fluorocarbon leader
-Get used to being bitten by 30 mosquitoes at the same time, not swatting them away. Because if you do you'll spook the fish that you just casted to.
-Beat the crowd, most carp water is highly trafficked. Get there early.
-Present your fly as naturally as possible, use a weightless fly, it will stay in the strike zone longer. Heavy flies that plummet to the bottom will just spook fish in my experience.
-Make your first cast count.
-Think of how your going to land a fish in the area in which your fishing…scout out all obstructions and be sure to steer the fish away from them…this is one of the hardest fighting species I’ve ever caught, screw smallmouth bass and steelhead…I never seen my backing more.
Some Don’ts
-Yelling is not a good idea. They can hear you…I cursed out a mosquito today, and sent a mudding fish out of sight.
-Try not to get angry or discouraged, it takes time to get the hang of things.
-Don’t be afraid to change fly patterns, even if the one you’re using produced before.
-Boy Oh Boy!…DON’T wear a white shirt.
-Try to not use a "Big Scary" strike indicator, practice makes perfect.
-Don’t give up…
I made two casts this morning…this is what came of it…
A Below Average Fish...still pretty big...
Outta' The Weeds!
Average...Huge
Pleased...