Carp on the fly

[FishMoken]

This is one fish I ALWAYS see and then think I wish I had taken the fly rod! I herd they can be a blast taking you into your backing. Has anyone targeted these fish on the fly in our area? If so what kinda flys are you throwing? I was thinking Woolley buggers, or smaller crawfish type patterns. I've seen them "rolling" on top while on float trips down the upper Potomac. Would that be a good time to break out the fly? I've always herd to only target them while feeding. Only problem is I've only seen them one time feeding in a lake but ALWAYS see them swimming around. This is a bucket list fish for me on the fly, I suspect this will be a great topic!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[bignose]

There's a bunch of video on YouTube about carp fishing with flies.
I remember that Lefty Kreh was fishing for them on the Upper Susky using long leaders and small nymphs. Carp are very leader shy.
I also remember that they can be caught on "Mulberry" flies when the berries overhanging lakes fall in.
Also during cicada hatches!

[DanMarino]

I would love to catch a carp on the fly eventually too. Yes, there are huge schools of carp on the Upper Potomac. I've never had one show any interest in my offerings. They always spook off when I cast to them.

[bignose]

Yeah, that works.

Unknown-2.jpeg

BWCflies-4-x-Corn-Fly-for-Carp-_1.jpg

The carp you see suspended on the edges are actually "sleeping" (hard to tell when they have no eyelids). I see this behavior from my goldfish in the aquariums.
You can see and target carp that are nosing along and stirring up the bottom. Often you will see smallies, sunnies and dace following the nosing carp hoping to pick up some morsels.

[Mark]

I've never had the pleasure of hooking a carp on the fly.

That's a wonderful catch, Stu.

Does the corn fly float or sink?

Years ago my fly fishing mentor told me he painted some of his poppers brown during a cicada hatch and used them to catch carp on the surface.

[bignose]

Mark,
To be honest with you, these are images I downloaded from Google, just for fun.
The corn fly is meant to be facetious, as is the caught fish.
It wasn't caught by me.

I've caught a mess of carp, mostly on corn, but never from a fly rod. I have caught several of them from a well known Trout stream, if that counts.
They are under-appreciated as a game fish, not unlike the Cownose Ray.

Watching Lefty fish for them on the upper Susky, he was sight fishing in the shallows with a very long leader, 12-15 feet, and using a curve cast to place the nymph slightly in front of the carp without spooking him with the fly line. It was similar to fishing for tailing bonefish.
The carp weren't huge, not the mini submarines, like the one I snagged last week.

[Mark]

Stu,

Glad to hear I'm not the only flyrodder who has never caught a carp.

I do use long leaders and I can throw a curve, however! It's a technique that comes in handy when fishing structure.

Maybe one day, I nail one of those big goldfish that have heretofore ignored my flies.

[sega]

I've spent a lot of time targeting them with my fly rod. I've hooked two, and both had my 8wt screaming before they pulled the hook.

It's a really difficult fish/technique combo to master. A lot of guys have good luck with Joe Montana's hybrid fly. You can order em online. Otherwise i know a guy who does well with a mulberry fly when they're in season.

I don't think I've cursed over a fish more than I have the carp on the fly. I must look like a scolded ape when I'm slapping my rod all over in the water after I spook one after almost getting em to eat my fly.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk