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.

Ten Keys to Carp On The Fly in the Winter

Until sometime in the past five years or so even the most hard core of us fly carpers would put aside dreams of big lips and gold scales in the winter.  No longer. Nowadays, many of us from all across the country treat fly fishing for common carp as a year round endeavor.  It turns out that because of their amazing temperature range, carp are one of the most viable winter fly fishing species not named Trout!    

So, how can you catch common carp in the winter?  Here are the top 10 keys:

1:  Faith (AKA hardheadedness):

The first key is to just believe that it is possible.   I can't stress enough how important faith is.  If you don't believe, you won't commit.  Chasing carp in the winter may be viable, but it is not necessarily always easy.  Commitment gets you past the steep part of the learning curve, when it will often seem like it just isn't going to work.  

I know, I know, the requisite level of faith can be hard to come by.  After all, fly fishers as a society have thought of carp as a warm-water species for a long time.  Well, they are not.  Because they have the widest temperature tolerance range of any North American freshwater sport-fish they defy shallow labels such as "warm-water" or "cool water".  Common carp are whatever they need to be, which is why they have managed to populate nearly every puddle of water below 7,000 feet in the nation. 

Perhaps I can help you believe a little.  Consider these facts:

1. I myself have caught a carp every month for three years running.  Actually I have only missed one month in the past 5 years!  Although we have some unusually warm days here in Denver, due to our elevation we are typically considered to be in the same "cold" climate zone as the upper 1/3 of the United States.
2. I have personally caught a carp while it was snowing.  I know of several people who have done the same.
3. I have seen carp tailing under shelf ice.
4. Carp live and thrive in 11 Mile Reservoir in Colorado - which sits at 8602 feet in elevation.  

Does this sound like a warm-water species?  Stop thinking of them as such and it will go a long way in bringing you faith.

  

2.  Running Water Helps.  Allot:

Most of my winter carp on the fly happens on the Denver South Platte River for two reasons.  First of all, most of the still-waters freeze in the Winter around here.  Second of all, even when they don't, it is much more rare to find an active winter carp in still-water than running water. 

It seems as though carp in still-waters can huddle up on the bottom and essentially hibernate.  In rivers though, they have to swim, and if they gotta swim they gotta eat!!  As a matter of fact, in the most productive areas of the Denver South Platte they actually put on weight during the winter.  Lots of weight.  Several pounds at least.

As far as I can tell, no matter what your climate, if you have carp living in running water that does not freeze over you can catch them in the winter.

Update:  A friend pointed out that the river can't be too large.  In large slow moving rivers like the Columbia, carp can just find a deep dead hole to hunker down in just like in stillwater.

3.  Warming Trends:

You may be surprised to know that the trend in the weather is often more important than today's high temp.  Winter Carp are much more likely to be happy and feeding if you are in a warming trend.  The first nice day in an big upswing works, but the day after that is usually better!

4.  Not So Low Overnight Lows:

You will be shocked to know that the over-night low is often ALSO more important than today's high temp.  The reason is that no matter how nice of a day it is, the water is a massive heat sink and it takes time to warm it up.  If the over-night low was 42 it takes a whole heck of allot less time to warm it up to active levels than if it was below freezing.

It seems like once or twice a winter we will get an over-night low in the high 40s or even low 50s here in Denver followed by a nice day.  On three occasions I have caught it, it has been one of my best fishing days of the entire year every time.

5.  Above Average High:

Carp are very adaptable, and they seem to adjust to their circumstances.  What constitutes a nice day seems to rely heavily on what is average for your location and time of year.  If you live in Texas and it is 50 degrees in the winter the carp are probably fairly unimpressed.  In Denver, I can tell you first hand that they are pretty happy with the situation.  In South Dakota you are in for a banner day if you can escape the biblical amounts of snow melt.  

In the depths of Winter here in Denver I usually draw the line at about a 42F high.  I have caught them colder but that seems to be the point where it gets ridiculously difficult.  I also personally start to turn into a total whiny-baby wuss if it is much colder than that.

6.  Big Ol Nasty Crayfish:

Well, NO.  Absolutely NOT.  I mean, I know crayfish flies are fun to fish, and the "carp only eat crayfish" mass delusion is at least as strong as the "carp are a warm-water fish" mass delusion but CMON!!!! crayfish are dormant in the winter, give it up.  I catch most of my Winter carp on Soft-Hackles, Leaches and Worms.  Egg patterns are also reputed to be ridiculously extremely effective.

7.  Down-Size?

Down-sizing your flies may or may not help in the winter.  Most people agree that it does, but I find that I don't actually bother most of the time and my most productive fly over the past two Winters has been a rather meaty size 6 Chubby Chaser Leech.  

8.  Stop Moving Your Damn Fly Already!!!!!

I don't move my fly very often anymore regardless of what time of year, but learning to present the fly and leave it rest for a moment or ten has made a big difference in my Winter catch rates.  Carp are rarely interested in chasing down dinner this time of year, stripping your fly is even less productive than usual.

It has gotten to the point where I find that I will actually leave my fly still for a full second or two. As I described in this post, I often find that a carp will take my fly after a long, almost uncomfortable pause.

If you do finally decide that your target has not noticed your fly or is otherwise uninterested you may want to give the fly a small twitch.  A very very small twitch.

9.  Find the Warm Water

Any river (and some lakes) has local areas of slightly warmer water.  Carp are very very good at finding these local hot spots.  Or not so-cold spots as it may be, because just a degree or two can make a very big difference in carp activity.  Examples include:

• Water treatment plant inflows
• Power Plant Discharges 
• Freshwater Springs
• Sewer Discharges
• Dark bottoms subjected to sun-light

10.  Faith

Did I say faith twice?  Huh.  It might be important.

Mixed Bag Spawn and Post Spawn

Many of our waters across the country are going to be moving into post-spawn.  This is my absolute favorite time of the year but if you are trying to time post spawn on your waters there are a couple of things to be aware of.

First of all, on many larger bodies of water it can be hard to really nail down post-spawn because everything is all mixed up.  At any given point in time there is a mixed bag of fish in every possible phase of spawn. This was the case when I was on the Columbia River a couple of years ago, it was that way when I was on Lake MI last summer and there are a couple of reservoirs here in town that have a mixed bag spawn.  It also used to happen on Lake St. Claire in MI when I live there - but not the Detroit river for some bizarre reason.

A mixed bag spawn like that is the absolute bomb diggity.  It brings every fish in the system shallow for different reasons and you can really catch the heck out of fish as soon as you learn how to ID and ignore the hard core spawners in the mix.  For the most part you are looking for what I call the wall-flowers.  They are almost always off to the side just a little bit with the possible exception of single cruisers.

• Single fish tailing off to the side (pre and post spawners).  
• Single fish off to the side laid up in shallow water.  This time of year these are almost always spawned out.  Do NOT confuse these fish with sunners.  These fish are resting and very very very very very hungry.  They can be almost ridiculously aggressive at times but will almost certainly eat a well presented soft-hackle.  
• Single slow cruisers - some of which are pre spawn and will eat, but some of which are post-spawn who are tired of resting, are still very very very hungry and have slipped into full on seek and destroy mode.  Oh my god, I love seek and destroy.  I live for seek and destroy.  

Spawned out Resting Female

Ignore the fast cruisers, they are just spawners looking for a lady.  Kinda the Tony IROCazini of the carp world.  Cruising for chicks with a silly car, gold chains, greased back hair and a little too much cologne. Also ignore any carp in a group, they are almost certainly in full spawn.  Just pretend they don't exist.  If you waste your time with these fish you will never find the wall-flowers.  

Now lets get back to the post-spawn, because that is what I really meant to write about but got side-tracked.  Post-spawn is really awesome.  It is my favorite time of year because it is almost always the most aggressive phase of carp behavior of the whole year.  

When trying to time post-spawn the first thing to be aware of is that there is a short lull after the full-on spawn.  On bodies of water with a mixed bag spawn the lull tends to be shorter (or even not exist) because some of the carp finished spawning early and they get out of the lull quicker then the rest so everything kind of blurrs together.  On bodies of water where every carp spawns at once it tends to last about a week and is shocking.  Suddenly the spawn is over and the shallows go from explosions of life to deserts almost overnight.  I am not sure if the carp stop eating all together or just move deep and out of fly-fishing access but for all intensive purposes they don't exist for fly fishermen.  It is infuriating because you never know when it will end and you really really want to know when it ends because when it does things get awesome.  It comes to mind because the reservoir I am focused on right now just went into lull.  The day before yesterday I had 6 shots at various forms of viable wall-flowers and hooked 4 fish in under an hour.  Yesterday I had zero shots at any carp in two hours.  

When the lull is over you enter post-spawn.  Not all waters have a clear post-spawn, and how long post-spawn last varies dramatically from year to year from body of water to body of water.  The longest I have seen was three weeks and on that body of water in that year everybody who knew about it crushed any and all records for how many carp they had caught in a day.  I call it the great carp bubble.  Otherwise it seems to last between three days and a couple of weeks and is by far and away the best time of the year to put up numbers.  The carp are shallow, the carp are hungry and the carp are aggresive.  Don't miss it.

Spawn Wall-Flower Tailing Mirror

Fly Fishing For Carp Theorem: The West Bank of the Front Range

Lets stop and pretend for a second that you have just sauntered up to a new lake.  Where do you start?  What is the best section for catching carp on the fly?  If you really want to learn that lake you are going to walk the whole bank many times over many season, but what is the most likely shore-line to start?

I have noticed a trend in the Denver metro area of the front range that might help.  I started noticing a couple of years ago that most of my favorite lakes and ponds seemed to generally favor the west bank.   It wasn't a 100% thing, but in general it seemed like the western half of a lake or pond was almost always the better half for catching carp on the fly.

This was just a theory really.  A feeling if you will, but it seemed to be pretty reliable.  In order to test out the theory I sat down today and put together a spreadsheet where I rated the eight sections of shoreline (N, NE, E, etc. etc.) of my favorite 18 ponds and lakes in the area.  I tried to do the ratings as fast as I could in order to get my first impression.  Like taking a test if you will - your instant response is your most honest feeling.  The rating was from 1 (sucks) to 5 (rocks).

Once I took the average of the ratings a clear trend appeared.

It would appear that at least subjectively the theory holds true.  The western half of my favorite ponds and lakes clearly got a better average rating.  WHY????!?!?!?!?!

My first thought is that the mountains are to the West here and that in general the ground is sloping from the West to East.  That means that the shallows and inlet are more likely to be on the West half of the lake or pond.  It would seem to make sense.

Another thought is that it might also be related to the sun going from East to West but I don't see how that would be directly related.

So, on the front range (area to the east of the Rocky Mountains) it would seem that you should start on the west half of the lake.  How about in your area.  Have you noticed any trends?

Carp on the Flats

I have made a conscious choice to spend more time fishing wade-able flats on still-waters this summer. Between Lake Michigan and a couple of local lakes it has really paid off and I have had my best four months of fishing...ever. I would like to share a couple of tidbits that have been helping. Note that John Montana showed me all of this in my two trips out to Oregon. It just took some experimenting on my own for it all to sink in!

1) Structure:  Even on a flat structure matters! Look for transitions between soft mud, fine sand, coarse sand and gravel. Most transitions tend to concentrate carp. Combine a transition in bottom composition with a change in depth and you are really talking potential. In other words gravel bars rock!

Lake Michigan Gravel Bar Carp

2) Fear-Not the Deep:  While it is true that if you can find shallow carp they are often easier to catch that doesn't mean that you should always be wading in calf-deep water. When fishing gravel bars or shore-line give wading deep and looking shallow a try. This is an approach that had never occurred to me until John Montana showed it to me and it can be extremely effective. Additionally it is almost always true that there are more carp in knee-deep water than calf-deep. Whenever I can find enough clarity to have a chance I spend 80% of my time in knee-deep water.

A Mirror from the only knee deep water in a shallow bay

3) No Tunnel Vision:  I have a really hard time with tunnel vision. I will get into a mode where I am walking along focused on the bottom three feet in front of me. DON’T DO THAT!! It is a terrible mistake. Instead you should be constantly scanning out and back and if anything spend more time looking at a distance than close. That might be 50 to 60 feet in calf deep water or 30 feet in knee deep water.

A gravel bar 20 - spotted and caught from 40 feet away - ONLY because I was looking that far.

4) Drop-Pop-Pause-Set:  I have been spending a considerable amount of time fishing flats where the fish are keyed in on crayfish (or gobies in the case of Lake MI) this year. These fish are aggressive and will move to a simply stripped fly but really is not the the most effective presentation. One particularly effective presentation for me lately has been a Drop-Pop-Pause-Set. This starts with a drag and drop where I drop the fly just to one side of the head with a slightly raised rod. When the fly hits bottom I lightly pop it once (roughly 6” forward) with the rod and then kill the fly with a pronounced pause and then set the hook when the carp turns. There is a certain rhythmic quality to this presentation akin to slowly saying it. Drop-Pop-Pause-Set.

Drop-Pop-Pause-Set!

Weather and Fishing and Carp

 The weather is honestly irrelevant for most fisherman.  We pretend to obsess and worry about it but most real people living real lives don't really get to pick and choose when they get to fish.  Really. 

This weekend I had the pass for a full day chasing carp on the fly on Sunday with my friend Mike.  As early as Thursday it was clear that a 15 to 20 degree cold front was moving in Saturday night.  I should have bailed and I knew I should have bailed.  But, well, you know.  Obsession and all that. 

When I do have the flexibility to pick and choose my time on the water there are really only three and a half things that I pay attention to when it comes to weather and catching carp on fies. 

1)  Yesterday:  Unless the temperature is going to be relatively cold (<50deg) or really really hot (>100) I don't actually care much what the daily high is going to be but really care about how it compares to yesterday.  Carp seem to prefer stability above all else and it seems like the best days happen when the weather is just like it was yesterday and preferably the day before.

2)  Sun:  Sun is a paradox in Colorado.  For sight-fishing you want pure blue skies and mid-day sun but in Colorado the high altitude makes the sun very harsh and it turns out that carp are fairly light sensitive.  In Colorado it seems like the best sun for sight-fishing is often the worst sun for sight-catching.  While too much cloud cover can be a disaster the best days are just barely ever so slightly over-cast.  Those seem to come around about 3 to 4 times a year in Colorado and weather reports don't tell you when they are coming so they are barely even worth hoping for.

3)  Wind:  Carp can demand extremely precise presentations and nothing hurts your presentation like the wind.  For bass and Pike I used to set the limit where I knew I was going to have a tough day somewhere around 20mph.  For carp my threshold seems to be somewhere around 15 or even 10mph.  I may still manage to catch carp at 15 but I am going to be one frazzled SOB by the end of the day.

3.5)  The night before Christmas:  As you may know I fly fish for carp all Winter.  People are always curious about what weather I look for in the Winter.  This time of year I am very concerned about the trends but also pay particular attention to the overnight low.  A stable or warming trend of above average temperatures gets my attention but combine that with an overnight low above 50deg and you are talking vacation day.

So how did we do Sunday?  I would rather not talk about it but the month of the mirror seems to be going strong since the only fish we landed in 13 man-hours of fishing was this cool little mirror Mike suckered into taking an egg pattern.  Weather.  Sucks.    

Mike's Small Mirror

Denver Trout Unlimited Carp Panel

As a lead in to the Carp Slam DTU had a panel of experts give a session on fly fishing for carp at their monthly meeting this Tuesday.  Many fly-carpin experts have come by their knowledge slowly and painfully.  It is not always easy to share and honestly it isn’t always fair to even expect them to.  Given this natural reluctance the panelists did a great job and it was fun and I feel extremely lucky to live in an area with such a vibrant carpin community.  The panel was: 

• Michael Gracie (Blogger at michaelgracie.com, part time at Trouts fly shop)
• David Luna (2010 Carp Slam champ x 2, part time at Discount Fishing Tackle)
• Barry Reynolds (Author of “Carp On The Fly”, ROSS rep, )
• Tim Emery (From fishexplorer.com, radio and podcast personality)
• Will Rice (Contributing editor at Drake Magazine.)

I was too busy listening to take notes and too shy to whip out my camera and record so I can’t quote directly.  I can paraphrase some of the key themes from memory though.  Some of my own thoughts on these subjects are also included in red:

Case Study: Shopping with Circulators

Regardless of your experience level the cruising carp can be one of the most baffling and frustrating patterns to fish.  They are very common, mysterious and frequently passive to the point of appearing brain-dead.  Once you understand a subset of cruising carp called circulating carp though, things can move from frustrating to fun.

This summer I had a chance to really get down and dirty on one lake for a three week period during post-spawn in early summer.  One of the dominate behaviors for that entire period was cruising carp (with some spawning mixed in) that were actually circulating carp.  And these circulating carp were actually changing modes in a somewhat predictable pattern.  Since I had the opportunity to put allot of time on the water I was able to really study them and figure out quite a bit. 

Below is a sketch of an interesting section of water on this lake. 

Diversify Your Carp Pattern Portfolio: Seek and Destroy

When I can find it my favorite carp is an aggresive carp.  By that I mean a carp that takes hard and aggresively on the strip.  Coaxing a tailing carp to slurp up a perfect presentation or charge a foot forward and pick up a twitched fly IS extremely gratifying...but so is getting your shit hammered on the strip.
Enter the most ultra aggresive carp feeding pattern.  "Seek and Destroy".  And yes Metallica should be ringing through your skull right now.

Diversify Your Fly Fishing for Carp Portfolio: Bank Fixated

A human tendency is to make single or limited observations of behavior and then generalize.  This is the foundation of many prejudices within our society.  Fly fishing for carp is all about establishing patterns in fish behavior and then taking advantage of those patterns.  When we generalize too much it hurts our ability to understand a complex portfolio of patterns.