Carp

[fishinguy 0]

this has been good for me in shallow parts of lakes.

[TheCream 0]

My #1 carp fly by miles:

 

 

I fish mostly shallow mud flats with feeding fish in less than 2' of water, 100% sight fishing. Familiarize yourself with the drag and drop presentation, it ain't pretty but it's very effective on carp. The best piece of advice I can tell you is don't cast until you're sure you know the fish's position/orientation. You have to get the fly close to their face (in my experience) and hitting the fish with the fly ends the game. They aren't the easiest thing to catch, but like I tell people, they don't get that big by being stupid...or anorexic.

 

They eat. A lot. Put a fly that roughly shows an outline of something they like to feed on in their grill and you'll hook up some.

[MouseManiac 0]

This is the pattern I ended up with. I posted a step by step of a slightly different one but that fly ended up having some minor issues. It looked better, but this worked better.

 

 

[Dave G. 0]

Throw them something that looks like a piece of bread. Back where I came from growing up in the 50's and 60's carp always took bread and floating or in the surface film..

[spiralspey 0]

I know people catch grass carp, but hooking a fish that eats mainly plants seems like an exercise in frustration to me.

 

I've caught a few common carp on flies. I learned to look for feeding fish and do the drag and drop in front of them. They're like bonefishin the way you only sometimes see the actual eat, instead you have to read the fish and how they're moving to know if they saw your fly and have sucked it in. They don't have the speed of bones, but they'll show you some backing if you hook one on big water.

[MouseManiac 0]

Throw them something that looks like a piece of bread. Back where I came from growing up in the 50's and 60's carp always took bread and floating or in the surface film..

Idk if this would work where I am, since I don't think anyone feeds them bread. It's worth a shot

[McFlyLures 0]

My #1 carp fly by miles:

 

 

I fish mostly shallow mud flats with feeding fish in less than 2' of water, 100% sight fishing. Familiarize yourself with the drag and drop presentation, it ain't pretty but it's very effective on carp. The best piece of advice I can tell you is don't cast until you're sure you know the fish's position/orientation. You have to get the fly close to their face (in my experience) and hitting the fish with the fly ends the game. They aren't the easiest thing to catch, but like I tell people, they don't get that big by being stupid...or anorexic.

 

They eat. A lot. Put a fly that roughly shows an outline of something they like to feed on in their grill and you'll hook up some.

I'm no where skilled enough to tie one of those... lol

[rstaight 0]

Carp on a fly is a blast. You fish them like bonefish.

 

There are several guide services here in Indiana that specialize in carp. Yes you read that right, guides for carp. The flies they have developed are very similar to some pictured here.

 

One of better services is Indigo Guide Services out of Beaver Island MI.

[Philly 0]

I use to fish for carp before I took up fly fishing. I used to use balls of corn meal based on my grandmother's polenta. Added sugar and either anise or vanilla flavoring. A carp is still the biggest fresh water fish I've caught on any tackle. I haven't really fished for them with a fly rod. Hooked two while fishing for other species. One took a white estaz bug while I was fishing for smallmouth and the other took a CDC and Elk while I was fishing for trout. I did drop a PT Nymph in front of one that was actively feeding, but he spit it out before I could set the hook. Around here, the "mulberry hatch" is prime time for carp fishing. They actively feed on the berries dropping into the water. A purple spun deer hair fly or purple foam cylinder tied on a hook are prime flies for them. I wouldn't be surprised if a purple mop fly would catch a few or a gray or white one that imitates a crane fly larvae.

[rstaight 0]

Carp are also fond of cottonwood seeds. When they are blowing around a simple fly of sparse white marabou works well.

[TheCream 0]

 

My #1 carp fly by miles:

 

 

I fish mostly shallow mud flats with feeding fish in less than 2' of water, 100% sight fishing. Familiarize yourself with the drag and drop presentation, it ain't pretty but it's very effective on carp. The best piece of advice I can tell you is don't cast until you're sure you know the fish's position/orientation. You have to get the fly close to their face (in my experience) and hitting the fish with the fly ends the game. They aren't the easiest thing to catch, but like I tell people, they don't get that big by being stupid...or anorexic.

 

They eat. A lot. Put a fly that roughly shows an outline of something they like to feed on in their grill and you'll hook up some.

I'm no where skilled enough to tie one of those... lol

 

 

They don't need to be pretty. You can also tie this fly in a foam version, I have done it before but never really fished it. The point is to have a buoyant articulated tail. The front half, with the lead eyes, gets the fly to fall slowly while the back half wiggles and stands upright at rest on the bottom. I have caught most of my carp on flies that sit upright at rest, some of them nearly vertical. For whatever reason, it seems to trigger or tempt them where I fish. My thought is that it probably helps make it visually stand out by not being flat on the bottom of a mud flat.

[TheCream 0]

I also have used (no pics handy) a variation on this pattern with a lot of success:

 

 

What I do differently is use all black (a given for me), omit the bead at the end and tie in a clump of Laser Dub to "hot tip" the tail. Instead of a worm-like front half, I wrap some black India Hen soft hackle and add some rubber legs. It's a great fly, but time consuming, even when using a hole punch for the foam discs. It takes me longer to tie that fly than the deer hair bug, which is why I haven't done it in a while.

[MouseManiac 0]

 

They don't need to be pretty. You can also tie this fly in a foam version, I have done it before but never really fished it. The point is to have a buoyant articulated tail. The front half, with the lead eyes, gets the fly to fall slowly while the back half wiggles and stands upright at rest on the bottom. I have caught most of my carp on flies that sit upright at rest, some of them nearly vertical. For whatever reason, it seems to trigger or tempt them where I fish. My thought is that it probably helps make it visually stand out by not being flat on the bottom of a mud flat.

 

 

Oh yea! Great idea. You've got me thinking now. That would be easy with foam I think. Just wrap the back hook like a segmented bug body with some bright-colored or red marabou tail sticking out. Do the front hook with some dubbing and more rubber. I know what I'm doing this evening...

[stabgnid 0]

I found this pattern on a carp page I tied it for the carp swap

Steve-stabgnid

 

[McFlyLures 0]

 

 

 

My #1 carp fly by miles:

 

 

I fish mostly shallow mud flats with feeding fish in less than 2' of water, 100% sight fishing. Familiarize yourself with the drag and drop presentation, it ain't pretty but it's very effective on carp. The best piece of advice I can tell you is don't cast until you're sure you know the fish's position/orientation. You have to get the fly close to their face (in my experience) and hitting the fish with the fly ends the game. They aren't the easiest thing to catch, but like I tell people, they don't get that big by being stupid...or anorexic.

 

They eat. A lot. Put a fly that roughly shows an outline of something they like to feed on in their grill and you'll hook up some.

I'm no where skilled enough to tie one of those... lol

They don't need to be pretty. You can also tie this fly in a foam version, I have done it before but never really fished it. The point is to have a buoyant articulated tail. The front half, with the lead eyes, gets the fly to fall slowly while the back half wiggles and stands upright at rest on the bottom. I have caught most of my carp on flies that sit upright at rest, some of them nearly vertical. For whatever reason, it seems to trigger or tempt them where I fish. My thought is that it probably helps make it visually stand out by not being flat on the bottom of a mud flat.

Ok I'll try that, I'm going this morning to try, if nothing, I'll tie those up (at least attempt to) and see how I do. So is black a color they like?