Posted: Fri 03/06/09 3:27 pm Post subject: Carp Flies: What Flies Should I Try?
Seems like lot's of people recommend giving a shot at fly fishing for carp. So, this season I am going to be doing a lot of new stuff that I have never done before or at least pursue species of fish that are available to me in my home state of Maine .. but have never really targeted. Carp, is on of those species. So, here is what I do know (and it is not much)
1. There seems to be 2 kinds of carp? Grass carp and due to not knowing the scientific name for the others I will call them "Regular Carp"
2. I know that the grass carp tend to eat berry's that fall from trees and so berry flies work best (I think?)
3. Then there is the "Regular Carp" - I am assuming that there are pretty good populations of these in Maine? At least some friends have told me so. The only time that I have seen carp was in Wisconsin (I forget why I was there .. it wasn't a fishing trip though .. it was some conference or something and there were carp in the lake that I on) .. and I have seen lots of carp in the Charles River in Boston. My friends in college used to go fly fishing for them .. but, I would always go to the saltwater in South Boston and fish for stripers.
4. So, if anyone else out there is from Maine - do we have Carp? What is the best season to fish them? Rivers or Lakes? Southern Maine or Up North? (no need for specifics - just general broad locations will do) .. Maybe we don't even have carp? In which case I would have to go to Boston's Charles River I guess?
5. FLIES? - What flies should I use? I am sure like most species there are literally thousands of options -- but I am just looking for some general guidelines. Dry flies? Popper type bass flies? Streamers? Wooly Bugger type stuff?
Ok .. Thanks! Hope to catch my first Carp On the fly this season. Thanks!
as far as I know, the Kennebec south of gardiner is the only place in the state with carp. I've seen pics of fly caught carp from the K, but from what I hear, they're pretty tough to catch up this way.
Jeremy,
I have never fished for carp anywhere alse but in Denmark, but I know a fly that really works well here.
We have a video at our site - www.fly-only.dk - where we fish for carp, and at the same site we made a video of our most popular carp fly.
The fly itself is nothing special, but it really works around here..
The best of luck for you, chasing the carp with a flyrod... it's really fun stuff
Jeremy it`s funny you mention that, I was out last year hooking up on european carp in the Black Forest of Germany, the best time for me to go was in spring when they came near the shore to spawn, what I found out that there are three types of feeding carp on this lake, the one that just skirts along the edges to feed near the shore line, the bottom feeder and the top water feeder,that day I only saw the shoreline feeder and top water feeder.
I found this tactic to be useful for the carp up here in this lake anyway, these are the european common carp, but Nymphs of any colors were good for the shorline feeders, usually I would stalk up close enough with out spooking them and I would cast about three feet in front of them and wait for them to feed on the path of the nymph, I hook a few them this way, also the top water feeders are the harder one to hook up, usually I`ll look around for them to come up and feed in a certain area and cast torward the feeding school, the flies use for these top waters are bright colors,dry fly, usually yellow will imitate a piece of corn and white for bread crumbs or a small ball of bread, as most european fishermen use them quite a bit up here as well.
But I also heard that they also hit pretty much on any insect that lands on top of the water, my best time to pursue these species is around spring when they are near or in their spawning period, guess it`s just like hunting white tails or elk when they are in the rut, they tend to lose some of their instinctive senses to dangers because of spawning.
But I went with Nymphs for Shoreline feeders and top water feeders were dry bright colors flies. Hope this tactic work for Maine Carps.
Carps up here get pretty big and they are consider good table fare, My inlaws love them, and you can see carp being sold at some local grocery store in the fish section.
Good topic that seems to be a very popular one the last several years. It is interesting to me the wide range of beliefs and ideas people come up with about fish. Carp are at the top of that list. In europe as some of the guys here have written, they are a highly sought after species, considered to be very beautiful and in many cases even eaten as a delicacy during special occasions. In the U.S., they somehow acquired the reputation of a "trash fish" that is considered dirty, ugly and inedible. This to me is ironic (and totally inaccurate), because they were introduced to American waters on purpose as a game fish and food source. They took to our aquatic environments and their populations have since exploded. They are found in a huge range of water types from totally polluted, trash ridden urban areas to crystal clear, pristine lakes and everything in between. In many cases, people have tried everything to rid their waters of them to no avail. We spend billions of dollars trying to raise and stock trout, bass and other "game fish" species and protect their populations. In many cases, the fish can't even survive the season and they are restocked every year in huge numbers(very common in east coast trout streams among other fisheries). All the while, the carp with zero protection or help fluorishes and thrives. As a result, they are starting to gain some attention in the U.S. They are literally everywhere.
There are actually several species of carp, three of which are fairly common and available in American waters:
1. The "Common Carp" which is what most people are familiar with. They have a pointed down, sucker like mouth and uniform scales all down their sides and can grow very fat. These are the most common ones hence the name and are found most frequently. They are omnivorous and feed on both insects and plant matter and about anything that can provide nutrient, which is probably a major reason for them succeeding.
2. The "Grass Carp". These look a lot different. They grow longer rather than fatter and have a mouth shaped more similar to a trout. They feed mostly on plant material, hence the name grass carp although occasionally they will take other foods such as insects. As a result of this they are often introduced to control algae populations in lakes and ponds. They are much harder to take on flies than common carp because of their feeding habits.
3. The "Mirror Carp". These are very similar to common carp, except that their scales are irregular sometimes almost non existent except for one here and there. In some waters, they don't get as big as common carp, but I have seen some pictures of some that are over 60 pounds.
There are many other species of carp, but these are the most available ones to us in the U.S. All of them can get very large. I have seen pictures of common and mirror carp up to 80 plus pounds! I have personally seen common carp up to 50 pounds in water I have fished. I saw a picture of a another species of carp in thailand that was 265 pounds!
Fly fishing for carp is awesome. There are many scenarios where you can do it, but my favorite is sight fishing them in shallow water. It is exactly like flats fishing in saltwater. I have a friend who had never fished bonefish, but caught hundreds of shallow water carp and on his first bonefish trip he found it very easy. They cruise into very shallow water to feed and are extremely spooky and very selective. You have to have very good casts and presentations and lighter tippets. When you hook them in this type of water, they absolutely freak out and run well into your backing and give awesome battles. I have fished them in some of the lakes and reservoirs in Utah where the water is crystal clear and fish up to 40 pounds are cruising in water that is only 18 inches deep, sometimes less. I have done it in flats boats and on foot and it is a blast!
I have seen them feeding on the surface many times both on insects and plant matter. I have seen blanket hatches of mayflies or caddis or blooms of algae or flooded plants with flowers or cottonseeds or hovering damselflies. In some situations, the carp were literally so thick, you could walk across them. Literally hundreds of them feeding right next to each other swimming with their mouths open on the surface sucking thousands of bugs or seeds or flowers in. In this scenario, believe it or not they can still be very selective. In fact, they are much more difficult to catch on the surface. I have even seen them take cicadas, i was fishing with friends one day for trout and smallmouth with cicadas and he hooked and landed a 25 pound carp on a dry on a six weight!
I have not carp fished in Maine, but i do a lot of carp fishing in Wisconsin and Illinois. I fish for carp in rivers, ponds, and lake michigan. Carp fishing is some of the hardest fishing you can do. Many people compare it to bone fishing and i would agree. Carp will move over a flat and tail almost exactly like a bone fish. They will refuse a perfectly presented fly more times than not. It is amazingly frustrating, but when the line comes tight it is always worth it.
I find it is very important to see the fish you are fishing for, a perfect cast is essential. you need to predict were the fish is moving to next and let the fly sink to the bottom before the fish passes it. One technique that seems to work well is letting the fly settle to the bottom, when the fish approaches give the fly a small strip to make a little mud trail. Other than that don't move the fly. When you feel the take strip set very hard. Carp lips are rubbery it can be hard to get the hook to stick.
For flies there are so many options depending on the situation. You mentioned berry flies, these work well at times. when the cotton wood seeds are covering the water, a light cahill can work well, caddis dry flies are another good choice.
The San Juan worm is another very good fly. I tie one with some glass beads under the worm part. Tie them lousily so the beads click when in the water. All types of nymphs work well as well, it really depends on the time of year. Pheasant tails, princes and hares ears are good places to start. Don't forget about the small crustaceans. Small crawfish patterns, wooly buggers, and even small Clouser minnows are all good choices. People have designed all sorts of corn flies and crazy flies to catch carp as well.
Carp fishing is extremely fun, you need to have some very good equipment when fishing for carp. When fishing the large lakes for large carp a 8 or 9 weight saltwater type rod and reel set up is not out of the question. For the small ponds i will use 4 -6 weight rods. make sure you have a good reel with a good drag. I have come close to being spooled by more than one carp.
Here is a pick of one I caught last year on a four weight while small mouth fishing.
By the way they get way bigger than that.
Good luck and happy fishing
This is a great version of the san juan worm, I have used this pattern for carp too. I found this fly on the roughfisher.com that is a great site to learn a lot about carp fishing.
I got so carried away i didn't mention flies. I agree with kopalks, many of those are good. In addition, damselfly nymphs are very productive where i have fished for them. There are also some very weird crazy colored flies that look similar to bonefish patterns that work as well.
If I am not mistaken, that photo isn't actually a carp, that is a sucker. It looks similar to a carp but it is much longer and not nearly as wide as a carp. This fish also doesn't have the two small whiskers that carp have. It is a pretty big sucker though and they can also be fun.
I fish for carp alot during the summer, they are very abundunt in the Housatonic river. I like to use flies like Barr's meat whistle, fox squirrel nymphs, and berry type patterns. Overall the main pattern that I tend to chuck smaller crayfish patterns.
Here are some carp from the Housy last summer, both taken on a berry fly.
Cool, that is a perfect example of two different species of carp that i mentioned. The first picture is a common carp and the second picture is a mirror carp. You can see the difference very easily with these photos. The common carp has the uniform scales covering its body while the mirror carp has the irregular scales in a varying pattern.
As otheres have said carp can be tough. I love them since hardly noone else fishes for them around here. They are challenging, powerful and will test your equipment. Given all of that when we fish for them we target actively feeding fish. If you see a bunch, sometimes hundreds, just under the surface sunning keep moving, they are not feeding and impossible to get, at least for us. They tail like bones/reds and can be increadibely spooky, so approach with caution. As for time of year, here in upstate ny we start mid april when they move into warmer waters to feed before the other parts of the rivers/lakes are warm and pre spawn. Once they really start spawning they can be tough since they have other things on their minds. Once they are post spawn they seem to put the feed bags on and once again are catchable. Try to find more than one place as we have found if you find some and keep going to that well they will get harder and harder to catch. As for flies we use crayfish patterns or leach patterns 90% of the time. Nymphs make up the rest. If your out this way drop a line as we are always happy to show what we know. If your like me all of a sudden other fish won't seem so appealing. Right now I can't wait to go carp fishin. Good luck.
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