Kayak Fly Podcast

 I was recently invited to join the Kayak Fly podcast for an hour.  We talked a fair amount about 3D Fly Reels - and a whole lot about carpin.  I am and will always be a carper first and foremost!

You can listen to the podcast via the embedded player below or on Youtube:

Ten Tips for Catching Carp In Muddy Water

I probably get more questions about catching carp in turbid water than anything else.  It is a tough topic but I will give it a shot.  Some of this comes from my own experience - some of it is based on discussions with other experienced carpers.

1)  Don't Settle For Chocolate Milk:  If you are trying to catch carp in really muddy water and having difficulty, the first step may be to look for the clearest water you can find.  That may sound like a cop-out, and it is to a certain degree, but bear with me for a bit.

The first thing to realize is that if you are fishing big water, water clarity can vary dramatically in the same body of water.  The location of the inlet, the wind direction, local vegetation and local bottom composition all change local water clarity to a certain degree.  If you spend the time to explore your water and pay close attention I think you will be surprised how different the next bay over can be.

The second thing to realize is that in many parts of the country the next carp pond is just a bike ride away.  Be sure you have exhausted your options before resigning yourself to fighting the good fight.

That being said you may legitimately have no recourse.  If all you have access to is dirty water, that is all you have.  All is not lost!

2)  Fly Color:  In dirty water I tend to prefer black flies.  Or black.  I hear black works as well.  It turns out that if there is any light penetration at all the color black is one of the easiest colors for carp to see in dirty water because it creates contrast.  

Surprisingly enough (to me at least), egg yarn colors also seem to also do well.  I don't know if that is because they are bright or typically include fluorescent UV effects but I know of quite a few carpers that do very very well with brightly colored egg patterns in turbid water.

3)  Lighten Up Man:  Generally the cloudier the water, the more likely I am to fish a lighter fly.  I have found that in low visibility it helps if you fly doesn't plummet for the bottom because it gives the fish more time to notice the fly mid-column when it has a chance of creating a contrasting profile.

4)  Flash Dance:  I used to use a bit of flash in my flies if I was expecting dirty water, and in general I think it helps a bit.  I don't as much any more because I can usually find clear water at some point in the day and want my flies to work there as well - and there is nothing worse in clear water than anything but subtle micro flash in your carp flies.  For a long time a black backstabber with an olive body with significant flash in the dubbing was my go-to fly in dirty water.

5)  Shallow Hal:  Be sure and check the shallowest water available in your water first thing every time you go.  Carp are actually extremely light sensitive, and they tend to be more willing to feed shallow if turbidity shields them from the sun.  As a result, in very dirty water you are much more likely to find them with their tails, or even backs, out of the water.  If carp are feeding in 6" of water you can almost always see them and they can almost always see your fly.  Also, your odds of finding super shallow carp go up if water levels are rising or high rather than dropping or low.

6)  The Suspense is Killin' Em:  IF you can find the fish tailing shallow enough that you can find them and IF you can sneak up close enough to dap them, the suspended dap is absolutely deadly in turbid water.  In the suspended dap you hold the fly under your rod-tip just a few inches off the bottom near the head of a tailing carp.  This insures that the fish has the best chance of detecting your fly and works so good.  Ohhhhhhhhhh so good!  And yes, it would seem to follow that suspending your flies just a smidge off the bottom with and indicator would work......I just haven't tried it, but that brings us to:

7)  Indicate This:  I know of several experienced capers who catch allot of fish in cloudy stillwaters using indicators.  Some of them suspend the fly.  Some of them put it on the bottom.  The key is that even when you do find the right carp in the right scenario in muddy water it can still be excruciatingly difficult to detect the take.  An indicator can help!  Another alternative is to watch your leader for any slight motion.

8)  Set Early, Set Often:  If you would prefer to skip the indicator and try and detect and time the take using whatever visible cues are available then I would advise that you should be liberal with your hook sets.  The fundamental truth is that if you NEVER set the hook you will virtually NEVER catch a carp in dirty water so you better make sure you are setting the hook at the slightest hint of a take.  All of the following (and anything else mildly suspicious) should be treated as a hint of a take:

• Speeding up or slowing down of tailing rhythm.
• A tailing fish who's tail suddenly disappears - It may seem like they have spooked, but they have often actually just leveled out in order to make a move on your fly.
• A change of direction while tailing or cruising.
• ANY change in speed while slow cruising.

You will foul hook a few more fish - and as we all know those don't count.  I am sorry, it sucks, but I don't know how you avoid that if you have any real intention of catching a fish except for possibly using an indicator.

9)  Subtle Cues:  When trying to find carp in dirty water you often have to look for more subtle visual cues.  Learning these cues can be a useful advanced skill in clear water too, but they are an absolute necessity in dirty water.  These include:

• Tiny micro-wavelets in the surface caused by a carp feeding just under the surface.  When you learn what too look for these tiny little wavelets can be visible from a shocking distance in calm water and are unmistakable.
• When carp feed on the bottom they often create a stream of bubbles because they liberate methane trapped in the bottom as they feed.  In general you are looking for bubble streams that are erratic and move.  The ones that are a steady stream of the exact same size in the exact same spot with the exact same rhythm over time are just little methane seeps.
• Even in extremely cloudy water you can usually detect subtle changes in clarity that indicate a carp, or several carp, are feeding in an area.  When you detect that subtle change stop and take your time.  Often a tail will become visible with enough patience.

10)  Faith:  As always my final piece of advice is to believe.  If you don't believe that you can catch carp in dirty water you never will.  Keep looking, keep learning and most of all keep trying.  It will come.

Other resources:  I have always liked this article on muddy water carping.

TMD Swap - Stankify

Recent carpin has been so good for me, and today started so well, I decided to see if I could catch a carp on each and every fly I received in the The Midwest Drift fly swap.  I didn't pull it off, but man did I make a show of it!

When I was putting on the fly swap I would have such an weird emotional connection to the flies I received that I almost never fished them.  In an odd way I would associate the flies with all the hard work from putting on the swap and any time I would lose one it was a negative experience that just wasn't worth risking.  

This is better.

Ben's Underfuzz: 

Collies HS Evening Star:

DeMoss' Mixed Bag:

Mr P's Black Betty:

Rinehart's Hybrid Variant:

Updshall's Truckstop Charlie:

  

Zach's Butterball:

  

All is not lost - Midwest Drift Splinter Carp Fly Swap

For those who were bummed out (or even a little pissed) that I canceled the carp fly swap, the boys over at the blog Midwest Drift are throwing down!

They only have about 10 spots left as I publish this so better hurry and sign up....details HERE!!!

Evolution of the Revolution: The Orvis Beginner's Guide To Carp Flies

In the beginning there was the book Carp On The Fly.  A book so timeless, so prophetic and so profound that it still frames the fly fishing for carp discussion over 15 years later, particularly when it comes to feeding moods and behaviors.  For the purposes of this post we will think of it as our Old Testament.

Next came the age of blogs.  Carp On The Fly, Roughfisher, Mr P's Blog, and Colorado Fishing Reports to name just a few.  These institutions turned fly fishing for carp from an oddity into a full blown counter-culture.

Through it all we have learned and evolved, and we have done so to the point where I would argue that fly fishing for carp has, to a certain degree, come of age.  We have our own unique techniques and styles that set us apart from all other species.  We have an extremely wide variety of the most innovative flies in flydom.  We have our own language.  We have our own traditions.

And now, courtesy of Dan Frasier, we have what may very well be our New Testament.  This, the first of two major new carp fly books this spring, brings new concepts and ideas but also builds upon all that has come before.  Its a book that not only gathers all the best carp flies into one massive tome, but also does a great job capturing all that knowledge we have gained since Carp On The Fly.  

  

The Orvis Beginner's Guide to Carp Flies: 101 Patterns & How and When to Use Them

 

NOTE:  This book also features some of the best carp fly photography of all time.  I may have helped with that last part, and modesty may not be my strong suit.    

Dry Fly Dreams - By Dan Frasier (Guest Post)

In this, Fly-Carpin's first ever guest post, we are going to hear from Dan Frasier on his favorite dry fly for carp.  Dan, the fly fishing editor at CarpPro.net, is a heck of a writer, better fly-carper and even better friend.  His first book "The Orvis Beginner's Guide to Carp Flies" is currently available for pre-order at amazon.com and will start shipping late January.  

You may also recognize one of the fly photographers.  Some dude named McTage.

 

You came to the stream expecting to dredge a couple of nymphs in the deepest holes and pound up a few trout. That's what works most of the time: getting deep and feeding the fish what they are eating. But as you pushed your way through the brush downstream of the slow moving pool you see that today is different. Today the fish are up and eating. Gently picking tiny sailboats off of the surface. Great pods of torpedoes are casually assaulting the armada of mayflies as they make a break for the tail-out of the pool and safety. This isn't what you expected. You thought you'd be blind-casting to deep water. So you get out of the stream and head upstream, looking for trout that are holding deep like you thought they would. Right? That's how you would approach this situation?  

Of course you wouldn't. Finding trout, carp, or any fish for that matter, actively feeding on the surface is something to be cherished. You'd snap into fly fisherman detective mode, the one we're all constantly trying improve, and look for what bugs were on the surface. You'd tie on the nearest imitation you have and get stealthy. You'd have to contain your excitement at the prospect of catching fish on floating flies for the rest of the evening. Why is it, then, that we react so totally differently when we encounter surface feeding carp? Anglers walk away, looking for tailers. Or they tie on a crayfish and cast it at the pod of rising carp. At best they stumble over themselves looking for a big hopper pattern without knowing if hoppers are even on the menu.

In a sense I’m lucky that I didn't know anything when I first attempted to catch carp on the fly. I carried no preconceived notions, and was immune to the idea that there was a right way to do this and everyone else knew it. Instead I had to figure it out on my own. Don’t get me wrong, I went to the resources available and read and studied them, but they were all trout focused. So there was very little specific information available about carp, but there was a lot written about how to approach and evaluate a fishing situation. That’s the information that proved invaluable.

In my book, The Orvis Beginners Guide to Carp Flies; 101 Patterns & How and When to Use Them, it took thirteen patterns to scratch the surface (pun absolutely intended) of the dry flies a carp fly fishermen should be carrying. Carp rise to a variety of different floating food organisms, and like any fly fishing, a good angler will spend a little time looking and listening and figuring out what the carp are eating. After they have an idea of the forage, they will try to imitate it, and only then will they feel confident in their fly.

Ok, got it. Match the hatch. But what happens when you can’t tell what the fish are eating? Simple, do what you would for trout. Tie on a generic confidence pattern and start there. Get smaller if it’s getting refused and worry most about your presentation. For me, that confidence fly for carp is a size 14 Parachute Adams. The low profile allows the fly to float low in the film, making it easier for the carp to eat with their oddly shaped mouths. Additionally, the Adams is a good generalist pattern, imitating many possible bugs that the carp might be picking off of the surface.

Adams Parachute Dry Fly (Example of Photography From Dan's Book)

Using an Adams allowed me to catch nearly a third of all my carp last year on dryflies. If you’re keeping track at home, that means a third of my carp were on dries, a third on nymphs and a third tailing to crayfish or other larger organisms. Not a bad split and a good way to keep things interesting when you approach your carp water.

2014 MVF (Most Valuable Fly)

It was about this time last winter when I started working on the Chubby Chaser Leech.  Pat Cohen had sent me some of his Carp Dub and it gave me an idea and about 30 prototypes and several landed carp later I had finalized it and named it.

Well, I was going through my log last week and figured out that it only took one year for the Chubby Chaser to become my second most productive carp fly ever!  I caught more carp on it this year than I ever have on a single fly pattern in a single year before - by a wide margin.  I therefore declare the Chubby Chaser Leech my MVF (Most Valuable Fly) of 2014.  It is probably the name.  Must be the name.

I would have never guessed that this fly would work as well as it has.  It worked in ponds, the Denver South Platte, big lakes and little lakes.  It worked in the Spring, Summer and Fall and has been ridiculously effective in the Winter.  I caught tailers, shoppers, cruisers and even sunners (on a lightly weighted version).  I caught carp varying from aggressive to ultra passive.  I caught big carp, little carp, medium carp and mutant carp on it.  It fooled carp in clear water and absolutely destroyed them in dirty water.  Essentially, what I am saying is that it seems to be a shockingly flexible carp fly that works across a wide range of scenarios.

The crazy thing is that this is a pretty big fly.  Actually this is a ridiculously big fly to be as universally effective as it was.  Somehow it defies expectations.

I love you Chubby Chaser Leach.  Is that so wrong?

Fly Fishing For Carp Survey Results: Carp Fly Preferences

In this post I would like to review the results from our fly fishing for carp survey as they relate to carp fly preferences.  You can see the Google auto-generated results from the survey here.

There weren't many earth shattering surprises when it came to preferences on carp flies, and frankly I don't think this post is going to change how any experienced carpers look at their fly box much.  I do think that it will be very helpful for beginners looking for a starting point.

The first question in the survey relating to carp fly preference was favorite size.  I don't think anybody would be surprised to see that size 6 and 8 dominated.  Eighty Percent of the participants favored size 6 or 8!

I was a little surprised, however, that size 14 even made even a modest showing - not because they are not productive, but because it is hard to have faith in such a small fly for such a large fish.  The truth is that every serious carper I know of who has given small size 14 flies a serious try has been successful and one of my personal goals is to explore the lower limit of the size spectrum this winter.

We also asked participants for their favorite carp fly color.  Olive, Rust and Black accounted for over 75% of the participants preferences!  For me, the only real surprise there is that black was so close.  I have only this year really discovered how extremely effective black can be.  I actually responded with olive for this question myself but black has been making a massive push for my top affection all year.

Also note that I lumped all the egg colors together to accentuate the fact that there is a small but VERY passionate sect of the revolution that swears by various egg yarn colors.

.

The only other point of interest is that I suspect Red is a little under-rated.  I recently took the time to figure out what percentage of carp I have caught on different colors and Red was right up there. I suspect that with how popular the Hybrid is that these days allot of people are probably treating red as the secondary color in their flies.  I hope so, because I guarantee you that if you don't have some form of red worm in your arsenal you are missing out on what can be at times the most deadly carp weapon.

The final survey question relating to fly preferences asked what the angler's favorite carp fly was and let them fill in the blank.  Survey nightmare!  It turns out that everybody and their brother has their own custom carp fly.  The answers were all over the place!  In the end all I could do was dig through the data and try and find common themes.  The next chart has any flies where I could find a common theme repeated more than three times.  For example: 

• If the participants said "blah blah blah bugger blah blah blah", well I called that a Woolly Bugger. 
• If the participant said "My version of a hybrid", well I grouped that with Montana's Hybrid. 
• If the participant chose different random ways of saying "Un-Named Damsel Fly" that got grouped with "Various Damsel Fly"
• Etc. Etc.

The post-processing on this one was very very manual - and had some subjectivity involved. Additionally almost 50% of the participants couldn't fit into this graph.  Many favor their own unique creation, others quite honestly didn't know yet and so many of the well known named flies only had one or two participants name them that the chart would have been fifty feet wide if I didn't cut if off at 3 or more repeats.  

In other words the data is pretty sketchy, but nevertheless it is clear that Montana's Hybrid, Zimmerman's Backstabber and about a zillion different variants of the venerable Woolly Bugger are very very popular carp flies.  

Egg flies also made a shockingly strong showing....shocking unless you know somebody who consistently kicks your ass with them.  Lookin at you Medina.

So what does this all mean?  Well, like I said, probably not much for experienced guys.  Most anglers with more than a couple of years of experience fly fishing for carp are going to find this interesting and possibly thought provoking but far from earth shattering.  For newer carpers I hope this helps allot.  It certainly would have helped me about 15 years ago.

Carp Fly Colors: Black is the New Black

I have been using black flies here and there for many years, but over the past 6 months it has become a more and more important tool in my arsenal.  I recently realized that a really surprising percentage of the carp I have caught in 2014 have been on predominately black flies.  Like over half - and that got me thinking.  Has black been one of my most effective fly colors all along and I just never realized it?  In order to answer that question I went back through my records and estimated the percentage of total carp caught with a couple of basic color schemes.

The hybrid category is a combination of a red tail with an olive or black body.  The first thing that may surprise you - and certainly surprised me - is how few basic fly color schemes I really fish.  The second thing that may surprise you  - and definitely surprised me - is how may carp I have caught on black in my lifetime. I would have certainly guessed much less than 15 percent,  and when I look at this year the percentage seems to be increasing rapidly, mostly at the cost of rust.  

Almost the moment I finished putting that data together I got an email that was almost creepy in the level of coincidence.  Tim Cammisa wanted to let me know about a new fly tying video he had put up on YouTube - about a black variant of the Trouser Worm!  And THEN within 10 minutes of first publishing this post I ran into this fascinating article about a new material blacker than black.  The carp spirits have spoken and I would be foolish to ignore the message.  Black is the new black.    

Trouser Worms For Sale at CarpPro

CarpPro now has the Trouser Worm (Along with McTage's McLuvins, Montana Hybrids, Hopes Damsel and many more) for sale HERE.  It is already the best carp fly line-up on the Internet bar none, and it is still just getting rolling - All courtesy of Catch Fly Fishing.

So many people have asked me over the last couple of years if I sell my flies. It hurt me to turn people away because I know how it is to be starting out fly fishing for carp.  It is HARD.  The learning curve is brutal, but I have known for quite some time that if there was a supply of honest to goodness GREAT carp flies on the market then it would make things easier.  If there were more proven patterns on the market, then new carpers could leave the flies to the experts and focus on the real stuff. Sneaking into position. Presenting the fly. Detecting the take.

Well, CATCH Fly Fishing has been working hard over the last year and a half to bring us all the best damn carp fly line-up any carper can possibly imagine.  I am not exaggerating.  It is awesome.  This last week marked a critical milestone (at least in my book) in that mission when Catch delivered the first batch of Trouser Worms to CarpPro.

The Trouser Worm is my most productive pattern and I have caught hundreds of carp on the Trouser Worm.  It helped win at least two Carp Slam Championships.  It has caught many many carp in many parts of the country.  Mostly though, it has the coolest damn name of any fly ever.  I love it.  I hope you will too.

2014 Fly Swap: Hackenberg's Dirty Harry

Click HERE to visit the swap summary page.

Tier:  Treavor Hackenberg
Location:  PA
Instagram: @thackenberg

About: "This fly is just a mix between Roughfisher's Carp Crack and Egan's Headstand.  I fish the fly with slow long strips and random hard short strips to make it look like it's digging down in the mud."

Notes:  At 15 years old, Treavor is a member of the significant youth movement in carp on the fly.  His energy and passion are awe inspiring and you will be able to read his full story in the next issue of CarpPro.  As far as I can tell, many (most?) fishermen under 20 really have no concept of carp as a "trash fish" and that is very very satisfying.  

I ran into a young man at a local lake a couple of weeks ago.  He saw me getting out my fly rod, nodded sagely at me and asked how the carp were biting.  I did a double-take and asked him how he knew I was chasing carp.  His looked at me like I was insane, and said "Well, you are fly fishing so I just figured".  No shit - honest truth.  I am a little more used to people looking at me insanely BECAUSE I am chasing carp.  The new reality is going to be confusing at times.

Oh yeah - this is the last fly in the swap.  Kaput.  Done.  - McTage 

Recipe:

• Hook: Straight shank, size 6
• Tail:  Red Fox
• Body: Crystal flash dub, rusty orange
• Leggs: TCO Round Rubber - medium
• Hackle:  Orangish / Reddish hackle 
• Head : Greay crystal Flash dub
• Eyes:  Medium bead chain

2014 Fly Swap: Scott Wells' Carp Fly

Copyright 2014,  Scott Wells, http://reelfishink.com

Click HERE to visit the swap summary page.

Tier: Scott Wells

Location: Denver, CO
Website: http://reelfishink.com/

About: "This is a guide fly with only two basic materials.  I have used this fly or close variants to it for many years and have caught a ton of carp on it."

Notes:  Scott Wells has been harassing the Denver South Platte carp on the fly as long as just about anybody I know.  He has a passion for anything having to do with water and the outdoors and he has extended that passion into his art.  We are going to get a little side-tracked from his fly on this post, because You HAVE GOT TO check out his fish prints. 

Scott specializes in making carefully enhanced prints of real fish and his mirror carp prints have got to be the coolest carp art I know of.  They are also for sale - so don't be shy if you like his stuff.

Copyright 2014, Scott Wells, http://reelfishink.com

Recipe:

• Hook: Size 6 Gamakatsu SL-45.
• Eyes:  Medium Brass, silver coating
• Thread: 6/0,  fluorescent orange
• Body: Leech Mohair 
• Tail / Leggs: Hareline Buggy Nymph Leggs, Brown

Copyright 2014, Scott Wells, http://reelfishink.com

Fly Swap 2014: Galvin's Olive Soft Hackle

Click HERE to visit the swap summary page.

Tier: Chris Galvin
Location: Denver, CO
Website: Trout Hunters

About: "Because I am faced sometimes with more difficult carp like in the South Platte and some local stillwaters I often like to show them something subtle that they havent seen.  This fly has a nice soft landing and the fish will often find it mid column while it is dropping and it rarely scares the fish.  I also like little flies for carp because I can animate them a little more without intimidating them."

Notes:  Unlike most of the swap flies I have had the pleasure of watching this one catch several carp.  One of them was on a lake that drives me absolutely nuts because the fish are difficult.  Or I suck.  Hard to tell.  I have spent many many hours on this lake with limited success and Galvin walked up and landed a fish on his second cast.  He has no idea how close he was to getting thrown in.  Oh and please don't notice all the UV elements on this fly.  Those are top secret. - McTage

Recipe:

• Hook: size 4 owner mosquito
• Thread: Olive
• Head:  Color the olive thread with black magic marker and cover with super glue.
• UV Hotspot tag: Glo-Brite floss #6
• Body: Custom blended dubbing (Chris blends dubbing like paint, from feel not by measurements.  See picture below):
• Brown Olive, Olive and Grey Hares Ear Blend from performanceflies.com
• Amber and orange sow scud
• Umpqua olive cdc dub
• Spirit River UV2 Enhancer Light
• Two colors of peackock dubbing
• Hackle: Olive Hungarian Partridge.
• Weight:  Optional 0.015" Lead Wire.  The swap flies had 8 wraps.

2014 Fly Swap: Frasier's Foxy Lady

Click HERE to visit the swap summary page.

Tier: Dan Frasier
Location: Sioux Falls, SD
Website: www.carppro.net

Instagram: @dcfrasier

About: "The Foxy Lady is the product or a horrific vehicle accident. Returning from a fishing trip a few years ago, I ran over a red fox with my Wrangler. So it was more horrific for the fox than it was for me. Anyway, I jumped out, put the fox out of his misery and then got to looking at his fur. I couldn't resist so I took the tail. The color and, especially, consistency intrigued me. I went through many many different prototypes of flies, using the fox fur; attempting small crayfish patterns. The color was what I wanted, gray's, rusts, and blacks, and the action in the water was perfect, but I just couldn't get the profile I wanted. The fur would collapse on itself. Eventually I stumbled upon the answer. By tying in the hackle with the tips facing forward and then folding them back eventually when it came time to tie the head, I created a collar that stood almost as wide as the fly is long. That, along with the SUPER delicate presentation and slow sink rate allowed me to target the super skinny fish I frequently encounter. This is my go to fly all summer long when faced with crayfish eating carp."

Notes:  It is a good thing Dan stepped in and offered to help with the swap this year because otherwise it just wasn't going to happen.  It certainly wasn't going to happen with free Orvis fly boxes and free Scientific Anglers lines to boot!  Dan making stuff happen is nothing new though.  It is just what he does, and behind the scenes Dan has been putting the fly fishing for carp revolution on his shoulders and lifting it on high.  The poor guy's fingers bleed with all the messaging, emailing and electronic kbitzing he does coordinating the various cells of the revolution across the country.  Thanks man. - McTage

Recipe:

• Hook: CarpPro Gaper Size 6
• Head: Bead-chain Eyes
• Tail: Red Fox Tail Fur
• Body: Rust coarse dubbing of your choice
• Hackle: Red Fox Tail, spun with tips over the eye and folded back when tying the head

2014 Fly Swap: McTage's Chubby Chaser, Leech

Click HERE to visit the swap summary page.

Tier: Me
Location:  CO
Website: This one.

About: "I have been working on this fly for several months now specifically for this years fly swap.  It started complicated, got simpler, and now after about 40 prototypes, hours of bathtub testing and 20 or so carp hooked, it is really pretty simple.  Take a Jaime's Krazy Karper style peirced rabbit strip, add some sweet Cohen's Carp Dub in a loop, throw in my signature head-stand style and the coolest freaking carp fly name ever (if I do say so myself) and there you have it.  A relatively easy to tie head-stand leech pattern with a laterally flattened profile and some good looks.  

So far I have had really excellent luck with it to hard tailing carp over a silty bottom that are creating thier own heavy dust cloud that makes it hard for them to find your fly.  I have actually had outstanding success in that scenario, which is pretty common on many of the front range reservoirs which are basically silt pits."

Note: I'm adding this to McTage's post without his knowledge... man I hope he doesn't yell at me. Trevor is not only a tremendous carp flyfisherman, he is one of the true revolutionaries in carp fly design. The amount of thought, testing, and trial that go into his fly patterns rivals that of new airplane designs. That's why his flies are not only shockingly creative, they also act EXACTLY how he hopes they will in the water. On top of all that, Trevor is a great guy who puts forth a gargantuan effort to make this swap happen. I've helped this year and you wouldn't believe the amount of hours spent away from his family and the water in order to bring you this; the best fly swap for any species, full stop. Thanks for making this happen for everyone McTage. You are a gentleman and a scholar. - DF

Recipe:

• Hook: CarpPro Gaper Size 6
• Thread:  140 Denier UTC, black
• Eyes: #6 black bead-chain (what you get in the store is painted brass)
• Bead: 3.25mm brass, black
• Over and Underbody: Pat Cohen's Carp Dub Northern Lights Black from Hareline
• Mid-Body:  A 5/8" long magnum rabbit strip tapered on both ends 

Tying Video:

2014 Fly Swap: Berrell's Deadpool

Click HERE to visit the swap summary page.

Tier: Wendy Berrell
Location: MN
Website: http://fishingandthinking.blogspot.com/

About: "Deadpool. This goes to the character in X-men who was a cocktail of the various superpowers of the captured mutants. That's how this fly's name came to be. It's a cocktail of various mutants. 

The Peabody may be called the basic starting point. I think it was noted in a critique somewhere that the Peabody is much like a partridge and orange. So maybe it is not even a bookend in itself but one must start somewhere. From there, these attributes were pooled:

(1) The soft hackle of the Carp Carrot and the Montana Carrot.
(2) Deep burgundy of the carp-effective San Juan Worms.
(3) Headstand of the LOD.
(4) Twist tail of the FYI.
(5) Foam tab of the Holschlag Hi-Tail Craw.
(6) Worm + soft hackle of the Hybrid. 

The tier needs to consider the dumbbell eye size relative to foam tab size and arrive at desired sink rate; oversize the foam tab to start, do some testing and if necessary trim the foam tab."

Notes: For years Wendy has foregone the opportunities to fish trout offered by living in the Driftless Area in favor of chasing carp. He's fished them from the Pacific coast to the Great Lakes with immense success. When he's not catching carp Wendy is writing beautifully at his blog, one of my favorites. Also, I once spent 3 days at Wendy's house without changing clothes...an odd theme involving me spending the night is developing with many of these tiers. - DF

 

Recipe:

• Hook: strong scud hook, varying size per water type
• Head: dumbbell eyes of your preference
• Subtail: tab cut from sheet foam
• Tail: twisted chenille, either one strand doubled or two strands twisted together
• Body: chenille wrapped forward to head
• Hackle: Any good matching soft hackle; these are from pheasant

2014 Fly Swap: Crazy Charlie's by Chase Harmon

Click HERE to visit the swap summary page.

Tier: Chase Harmon

Location: Nebraska

About: "I live in the panhandle of Nebraska and primarily fish large mud flats for carp when I am not in Wyoming trout fishing. These particular mud flats have a lot of Fathead Minnows that the carp love to chase and suck up. The Crazy Charlie is a simple, yet effective fly to immitate these minnows. I like to use carp flies that fall slowly instead of plummeting straight to the bottom. I feel that it gives the carp a chance to take a look at the fly on the way down. In most cases, the fly never hits the bottom before getting sucked up by the carp. I fish this fly primarily when the carp are on the move.

Oh yeah, carp on glass is fun!"

2014 Fly Swap: Martinez' CSG Convertible

Click HERE to visit the swap summary page.

Tier: Steve Martinez
Location: MI
Website: http://thirdcoastfly.com/  http://www.indigoguideservice.com/

About: "This fly is a convertible fly, taking some tips from bass fishermen. A stinger hook is looped off of the main hook and held with a piece of silicone rubber. The extra tail has a great action and adds some bulk to the profile. If you want a more delicate profile the trailing hook can be slipped over the hook and removed. When the tail is removed the fly resembles  a sculpin/goby profile. When the tail is attached the profile has a more crawfish look.  "

Notes: Steve is one of the most innovative tiers out there and I think the design of this fly illustrates that nicely. An accomplished tier, world class guide and CarpPro prostaffer, Steve Martinez exemplifies the carp on the fly world. Out of the box thinking, intense creativity and trying the untried. 

Recipe:

• Hook: Daichi 1530 s24
• Tail 1: Barred Marabou
• Tail 2 : (seperate hook, cut) Grouse or Pheasant
• Tail 3: Grizzly Hackle
• Rear: Orange Shlappen Palmered Intruder Style
• Rubber Leg 1: 2 Orange centipede legs, tied on side of hook
• Body: Olive Brown Lazer Dub
• Forward Coller: Orange Schlappen Palmered Intruder Style
• Head: Dubber Razer Dub
• Eyes: Med - Large Black Bead Chain

McTage's Chubby Chaser Leech Tying Video

Chubby Chaser Leech, because I like my carp round and juicy.

2014 Fly Swap: Clifton's Carp Bug 2.0

Click HERE to visit the swap summary page.

Tier: Ty Clifton
Location: CO   

About: "I wanted a fly with lots of movement but small. I want my flies to be like high class strippers... Lots of movement. That's what gets our (DSP) fish you know. "

Notes: This is a variation on the fly Ty sent for the 2013 swap where he is looking for even more movement.  This fly is only about a half and inch long and is really discreet.  These kind of small super simple super lightly dressed carp flies are ideal on the Denver South Platte where the carp have been inundated with beefcake crayfish patterns. - McTage   

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Recipe:

• Thread: 140 Denier rust
• Hook: Gamakatsu SL45 size 8
• Eyes: 1/8" Spirit River Dazzle Eyes, 1/8' brass.
• Legs: Pumpkin Silly Leggs
• Body:  Rust midge diamond braid
• Wing:  Two rust grizzly marabou tips.