Wallflowers

It has been a really really really good pre-spawn for me this year.  My best ever actually, but I am getting word of early spawning all over the Denver Metro area.  As your waters phase in and out of spawning season across the country remember - if you can ignore the spawners and find the wallflowers this can be one of the most productive times of the year.

Wallflowers are carp that are either resting or actively feeding during the spawn and they can often be found just on the edge of, or outside of, the main spawn.  These are positive fish and can be extremely good targets!  Just don't get sucked in by the fast cruisers and active spawners - its a rookie mistake.

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.

Fly Fishing For Carp Survey Results: Carpin's Dirty Little Secret

Fly fishing for carp has a dirty little secret. I am willing to share that secret but you gotta promise to keep it between us OK? Actually, I change my mind. Please share the hell out of this because I think it could really help people new to the game gain critical perspective.

The secret is this: It turns out that you don't have to cast very far to catch carp. As matter of fact it turns out you barely need to be able to cast at all - at least in the traditional sense. I bet some of you don't believe me, but that is OK because I come armed with data!

The following graph charts the distances where the 200+ respondents to our recent fly fishing for carp survey catch the most carp. Well over 50 percent of the respondents fly fishing for carp survey catch most of their carp at less than 20 feet. Almost 90 percent of the participants catch most of their carp at less than 40 feet. Most shocking of all perhaps, about 17 percent of them catch most of their carp at dapping range!!!!!

  
The Internet has spent years and years convincing us that only master fly casters can catch carp on the fly.  Well, sorry to disappoint, but at least when it comes to distance it just is not true!  Personally I would actually counter that even trying to catch them at any significant range is usually counter-productive and damaging.

Now, that does not mean that a certain level of skill doesn't help - just that distance has absolutely nothing to do with it!  Getting close and presenting the fly are actually orders of magnitude more important.  Instead of practicing casting a line 80 feet you should first work on mastering your crouching tiger stalking heron. Once you have gotten the hang of getting close you should master several different short range casts and presentations that make a huge difference - some of which can be seen here:

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.

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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.

Presenting The Fly to Carp - The Calm Before The Storm

In Football I think they call it happy feet - when a quarterback in never comfortable enough to just settle down in the pocket, set his feet and let the ball fly.   Well, there is an equivalent in Fly Fishing for Carp and I used to have it.  I used to have it bad.  Lets call it the fly fidgets.

Well, over the past year I have finally beat the fly fidgets.  It started in October when I finally got glasses. My improved vision gave me a level of confidence in my presentation and take detecting I had never had before. Those new glasses took a little getting used to, but by December I was knocking it dead.  I couldn't necessarily tell you exactly why - just that the glasses had made some kind of difference.

Then in December John Montana put out a post on not moving your fly.  It was nothing new to me conceptually, but it had always been difficult for me in reality.  Well, at about the same time I got a Go-Pro and I started to get some footage of me hooking carp (video1, video2, video3).  Because of John's post, not moving the fly was central to my mind and upon reviewing that footage I often noticed where there was a moment when I would go completely motionless between presenting the fly and setting the hook. The cool thing was that the video would take me back to those moments and I could re-feel a moment of complete and total calm and confidence.  A moment where time would almost stand still and my fly would not move at all.   A moment that I could clearly recognize as new since I had gotten the glasses and the increased confidence in the presentation the take detection they brought.

Once I re-lived those moments and those feelings, suddenly I found I could capture them. Contain them. Accentuate them.  Now, six months later, not only do I almost never move the fly after presenting it, I have found that there is a whole new and different class of take that I never even knew existed.

A Carp Caught On a Delayed Reaction Take Of The Fly

Previously if a carp did not react to my fly in the first split second after it hit bottom I believed that the carp had not noticed it.  At that point I would try and twitch it or strip it in order to draw attention.  Now I have learned differently.  In the last six months I have learned that some carp - MANY carp - will ONLY take my fly after a delayed reaction of a second or even two without the fly moving!  As a matter of fact, I now think that many carp that I had previously thought unwilling to eat were just more patient than I was. 

Another Carp On A Delayed Reaction Take Of The Fly

It turns out that now we - and by we I mean the carp and I - both have a calm before the storm.  A moment between action and inaction.  A moment when the predator waits but then pounces.  Find that feeling, and your carpin will take a big step forward.  

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?

Underhand Flip Cast for Carp

I have been having fun making videos lately.   I am no Spielberg but sometimes it is so much easier to show something than explain it in writing.  Here is another one, this time on the underhand flip cast which is a very useful tool for presenting the fly to carp in the 10 to 20 feet range.

Stupid Fly Tricks #3: Un-Snagging With a Roll-Cast

If I could catch a carp to save my life I probably would have other things to talk about.  As it is I haven't had a legitimate shot since the flood.  Not one.  Nada.  Nilch.  Nine.  Niete.  Caput.  Not for lack of trying either!  My season has been over for quite some time - and my off-season looks to be on time-delay.

I guess it is not all bad though.  I HAVE had a little more time to start to work on some of the videos I have been planning on putting together.  While I was working on a video for the underhand flip cast this weekend I kept snagging my fly on my target and un-snagging it with a roll-cast without even thinking about it.  That is EXACTLY the kind of silly little trick that I try to capture in the "Stupid Fly Tricks" series.  The kind of thing that if you happen to not know it for some reason you have a v-8 moment when you first see it.

Longtime fans of the blog will know that I have touched on this little trick before but video always helps!

Non-Slip Mono Loop Knot For Carp

As you may be aware I have been working on breaking the clinch knot habit for several years now.  If you do any research, any research at all, you quickly find out that the clinch knot is really the weakest commonly used fly connection but a wide margin.  Unfortunately I have been tying it since I was 12 and am very comfortable with it.  I can tie it rapidly and repeatedly and certainly get the maximum possible strength out of it but still wanted to change.

I tried the 16-20 knot for a while.  It was very strong when I got it right, but difficult to tie and very difficult to tie repeatedly.  I would either get a very very strong knot or a disaster.  I then tried the Double Davy Knot for a bit.  It was much easier to tie and once again tested very favorably in head to head strength competitions with the clinch, but I had similar issues with repeat-ability.  Neither knot managed to overcome my clinch comfort zone.

In all my research the Non-Slip Mono Loop kept popping up as an intriguing alternative.  Not only is it one of, and possibly even THE strongest fly connection knots, it has several other advantages because it is a loop knot.  I first learned of this knot from Captain Brian Horsely on the Outer Banks in North Carolina on one of the few guided trips I have ever taken and from Lefty Kreh's knot book.  It is yet another example of a knot that grew in popularity with saltwater guys that should be embraced in freshwater whenever you need light line for big fish.  In other words carp!

This time I have managed to get on the wagon and stay there.  The loop knot has been my go-to knot for carp for the past 6 months and I am extremely pleased with it's performance.  I am absolutely positive that this knot has saved me a carp or two or more.  Here is an instructional video in how to tie the Non-Slip Mono loop knot.

 

McTage's Theorem on Catching Boat-Loads of Carp on The Fly

My Theorem:

Through a full season the person catching the most carp on the fly on ANY body of water is the one who knows how to induce takes from passive carp and detect subtle takes from all carp.

I have fished allot of aggressive carp this year.  I spent a week in Lake MI and have found some fun new water here in CO.  I have found that even when I find large populations of aggressive carp when I REALLY start laying the smack-down is when I am generously mixing in techniques that I have learned for passive carp.

When I am talking about mixing in techniques for passive carp I am talking about:

• Dead-dropped the fly onto the feeding zone with no action or letting the fly go dead after one twitch or SLOWLY swimming it into the feeding zone.
• Getting as close as possible in order to present the fly very very closely.
• Using indirect presentations in order to present the fly very very closely.
• Switching from crayfish to nymph, worm or hybrid patterns at the drop of a hat.
• Believing that if the carp twitches a quarter inch towards my fly or pulses it's lips in my flies general direction it ate.  PERIOD.  And then making a point of setting the hook on a hair trigger (often with a small pause).

Fishing aggressive techniques is often important to starting out as a beginner because they are less intimidating and technical but there is a limit to how far it can take you.   SO - For those who have been at the game long enough that they catch carp but feel as though they have plateaued it may be time to grow out of the crayfish patterns and the fifty foot casts and the stripped presentations until you know how to do it responsibly.  And by responsibly I mean rarely!

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!

MUST ALWAYS Strip-Set Is a Dirty Word

I hear it on a regular basis.  You MUST ALWAYS strip-set carp.  I hate blind paradigms.

When should we not strip set carp on the fly?  For many of you my answer is going to be very surprising.  For some my answer is going to actually be offensive!  I trout set carp most of the time and I am going to tell you why you probably should as well.  Just please read on before you decide I am stupid.

First of all I certainly know how to strip-set.  Before carp I had a long and healthy addiction to blind fishing streamers for predatory fish.  For this style of fishing trout-set is a dirty word and for good reason!  When you are stripping streamers for predatory fish a trout set is just absolutely ridiculous.

So, why in the heck would it be different for carp?  Well, partially because MUST ALWAYS is actually the only dirty word for carp, but there are actual reasons.  Really good ones.

First of all 90% of the time you are not stripping streamers for carp.  You sure as hell shouldn't be at any rate.  There are exceptions.  There are always exceptions.  Remember, MUST ALWAYS is the only dirty word.  At certain times of year in certain bodies of water you can and should present a steadily swimming or stripped fly to carp but it is the exception not the rule!  Unfortunately this exception means that guys from Lake Michigan or Blackfoot Reservoir and similarly freakish fisheries are gonna think I am stupid.  So be it.

In general you are better off presenting the fly on a dead drop onto the dinner platter with little or no action.  Even when you do apply action it should be small twitches or strips with significant pauses.  As a result you may not be perfectly tight to the fly when the fish eats.  As a matter of fact it is often better to NOT be perfectly tight to the fly because carp often try and inhale the fly from a distance and If you have the fly under tension it can prevent it from getting to the carp.  The less tight you are to the fly the less effective a strip-set is.

Now second of all carp have soft mouths.  One of the arguments I have heard for strip-setting is that you cannot generate enough force with a trout-set.  That is true.  For Tarpon!  That is true for a whole lot of predatory species, but not Carp.  A Carp's mouth is tough but fleshy and not too dissimilar to the flesh on a persons hand.  So, I will make a deal for anybody who doesn't believe that I can trout-set with enough force to set the hook in a carp's mouth.  We will make a little bet.  You hold a hook in your hand.  I trout set.  Here is the bet.  I betcha it is gonna hurt like hell when I bury that hook all the way into the bend!  And no, I do not always remember to de-barb.

The third reason may be the most profound.  I call it carpin's dirty little secret.  You know how they say that 90% of fish caught fly fishing are within 50 feet?  Well for carp the number is really more like twenty feet.  Now given that you typically have a nine foot rod and a nine foot leader it turns out that most of the time if you have your rod-tip on the water and want to strip set under 20 feet your leader to line connection is going to be inside the guides.  Often when you strip set the leader knot is going to hang up on a guide and you won't set the hook at all!

Being close to the fish creates other issues with the strip-set.  Primarily, when you don't have any significant fly-line between you and the fish you don't have anything to absorb the shock of a strip set.  Unless you are really good at slipping the strip-set you are going to break off allot of close-in fish in the initial shock.   People who have just made the transition from SMB to carp are particularly likely to hold the strip-set too long and shock their leader.  Additionally, when you start to get within dapping range (lets call it 15 feet) strip setting starts to become extremely awkward from a physical  standpoint.  Imagine for example trying to strip-set when you only have three feet of line out and your rod-tip is directly above the carp's head.  It just doesn't work!

Now, another common argument for strip-setting carp is that you some-how get a better, deeper and more positive hook-set and land more fish with a strip-set.  I strongly dis-agree.  I trout set roughly 80 percent of the time and I land a shocking percentage of the carp I hook.  A stunning percentage.  Many people catch more carp than I do but I know of none who land them at a higher percentage.  I fully expect to land every single fish I hook and even though it doesnt always work that way I am legitimately pissed when it doesn't.

Often when I do lose a fish it is either because I had to strip-set and hooked it in the soft delicate skin lining of the roof of the mouth and it pulled out under heavy pressure or because I held the strip-set too long and broke it off.  Trout-setting seems to do a better job at lifting the fly up and burying it deeply into the strong rubbery upper lip, particularly at close range.

And finally, the best carp fisherman that I have ever fished with (John Montana) trout sets even more than I do!  As far as I can tell John Montana catches as many or more carp than anybody else in the country.  I have fished with him on multiple occasions.  His carp catching ability is awe inspiring.  You are going to have to argue hard and fast to convince me he is doing it all wrong.

So, when SHOULD you strip set for carp?

1)  You should usually strip set when fishing to carp at range.  Lets call it > 40 feet.
2)  You should always strip set if you absolutely have no chance of visually detecting the take because of poor or no visibility and must feel the take.
3)  When continuous stripping or swimming a fly.

That is about it folks.

Sigh Deeply and Throw Down Blind

It comes every off-season.  A point in the year where I have to sigh deeply and let it go.  I am not talking about giving up on carp of course.  You know I don't give up that easily.  I can have a stubborn streak that would make a donkey grin in admiration.

No, my issue is sight fishing.  For most of the year I sight fish to near exclusion of all else, but you can't expect it to work out that way in the winter.  For the next couple of months sight fishing is the exception, not the norm.   

Many of us carper lack confidence in blind casting.  Sight fishing is not only more fun it is often much more effective.  When we do try it, blind casting can quickly feel like a waste of time.  Simply not true.  Fight that feeling.  That feeling is nothing but a projection of your own lack of confidence on reality.  

Today I found myself on the water with one hour (no more, no less) to burn.  No sun, no shallow carp and no time to change spots looking for the improbable.  After 45 minutes fighting it I finally sighed deeply, tied on an Egan's Headstand and started ever so slowly working a deep back-eddy.  It is easy to forget what comes next and it is really cool.

Nothing exists except the fly-line in your fingers and, incomprehensible twirls of the surface currents.  Your soul slows.  Your consciousness fades.  And then out of the deep silence and mystery your line, rod and soul are suddenly brought suddenly and shockingly back into focus.  

Life

Incidentally, if you are looking to try blind casting for carp in a river I would recommend "Active Nymphing" by Rich Osthoff.  I was excited when I found this book and bought it on the spot because it captures everything I do to work a fly blind for carp and more.  

Stupid (And I Mean Stupid) Fly Tricks

Well, sometimes things just don't work out as planned.  Welcome to the first (and only) installment of stupid (and I mean stupid) fly tricks.

I may just have to keep my day job, not sure "America's Got Talent" is gonna work out.

Fly Fishing For Carp in Rivers: Ambush or Attack

I think I need to start to evolve and diversify my overall approach to the river.  I am familiar with two very different basic approaches on fly fishing for carp in rivers, but in the last year I have gravitated to one.

Lets call these two approaches "Ambush" and "Attack".  I enjoy them both, but I am a little better and certainly more experienced with the ambush method which is really a philosophy.  This year in the carp slam one of the main things I learned from Ty was that looking at the river in terms of ambush fishing has slipped from preference to habit to the point where it is holding me back.

Throw down some crappy graphics and I think we can use this small run I have fished a couple of times lately as an example.

This run has four critical sections.  Section A is the main current seam and the current is ripping.  Between the current ripples, depth and bottom structure they are hard to see.  There are fish holding in this seam, typically using rocks and weeds to break the current but I don't spend a whole lot of time trying for them.  Perhaps this is where indicator nymphing would come in handy if I was into it.

Section B is interesting.  We did see some very positive carp up in the extreme shallows on the left hand side when I was there last Friday.  Fish feeding with their backs out of the water are relatively rare in my river but if you find them and can keep a fly out of the weeds you are in business.  Whether you fish these carp from ambush or attack mode is strictly a function of which side you find them on.
   

Section C is a sand trough that slopes slowly from section B to the depths of the run.  Carp do not hold here but if you are lucky you will find a fairly steady stream of carp circulating up onto the sand from the current seam.  They will typically move up onto the sand on the bottom half of the run and make their way slowly to the top where they will hold briefly at the top of section C before planing back into the current seam and dropping back to start the cycle over.  Although negative and neutral carp will circulate in this fashion, some of the most positive carp in the river do too and therefore you are on the lookout for this behavior..

Section D is the current break on the right side of the river created by the bank.  The structure creates a narrow window of minimal current that carp can use to rest or feed.  Carp will either be holding in this area, circulating front to back or continuously dropping in and out of the main current in several areas.  Although you will occasionally find carp tailing against the bank, the most typical mood is neutral.  They aren't looking for food but won't kick it out of bed for eating crackers either.

This run can be approached in two very fundamental ways.

Attack:  If you are attacking this run you will fish it from the middle or left-hand side of the river.

You have absolutely no cover and stand out like a sore thumb.  Your only hope for not scaring the carp is as much distance as you can get and still achieve a good presentation.  Figuring out the best place to stand in order to achieve both is really the first key to this method.  Crouching helps as well but I usually find that if you want to have enough vision to really sight fish that you usually have to just stand tall and accept the risks of detection.

When I get this to work it is almost always on some form of downstream presentation that is not a simple swing.  A simple swing seems too fast and un-natural.  You might very well cast well ahead of and past the carp and swing it into the carp's path but once it is there if at all possible you want to "kill" the velocity of the fly with a mend, a change in stripping pattern or by just feeding some slack with a rod motion or angle.  You can also cast directly into the carp's path or cast past but not well ahead of the carp and get it into position with a long fast strip.  It all depends on the currents you are dealing with and the skittishness of the carp.  If that explanation seems inadequate that is because the whole process can be complicated.

Regardless the end goal is some combination of a slow seductive swim, short small hops, a truly dead fly or a nearly dead fly with twitches in the zone.  All are options that you have to experiment with if you actually get past the art form of killing the fly which is far from easy.



Pros:

• When you do hook a fish they are already aways from the run.  You have a decent chance of landing the fish without freaking out the entire run.  If the carp are extremely positive this gives you the chance to catch more than one carp in the run.
• You may have to roll cast or single handed spey cast but regardless most of the time you are actually getting to cast which is fun.
• When they are on the sand and positive you are putting yourself in a position to have a very good day.

 Cons:

• The balancing act between not getting made and being in position for an excellent presentation is difficult to judge and you will scare many many carp for every one that somehow fails to see you.
• The presentation itself is difficult for all but the most aggressive carp.
• If you don't find the right carp in the right mood you are way out of luck.  Even if you find fish in the correct positions it is hard to gauge their true mood and it is easy to waste time fishing to negative carp in this area of the river. 

In summary this method has always seemed like a bit of a boom or bust scenario.  In my opinion you are going to get skunked frequently, but occasionally you are going to go gangbusters.    

 Ambush:  In contrast if you want to ambush fish this run you are going to go run straight to the right-hand side of the run.  Actually you are going to creep your way straight to the right side.  Ambush fishing is 100% about stealth.

Cover, silence and slow motions are key.  Every motion is considered, every possible piece of cover is used.  If you can make the cast and see the take behind that 2 foot tall shrub you damned well better be crouched behind it.  If you can be sitting directly above the carp on a cliff and just dapping your fly on it's head even better.  

Even your casting methods are modified to use slow gentle motions (lobs, pitches, short slow roll casts) that are less likely to be detected.  On this particular run I was able to fish it with my body entirely hidden in the bushes with nothing but my head and my rod sticking out far enough to flip the fly in a 10 foot arc in all directions which is optimum.  

Sometimes you will poke your head out of the bushes to find a tailing fish, but more typically you will find fish ranging from slowly cruising to sitting still or holding in slight current.  You must be close because the carp are likely to be neutral.  You cannot afford a splashy presentation which requires the carp to move very far from the fly.  The presentation has to be prefect and you rarely have much more than a couple of feet of fly-line out.  As such your goal is to get get into a position to be able to present a fly that is absolutely as close to the carp without scaring them as you can achieve.  

Your presentation will almost always be a dead drop.  Sometimes a super heavy fly that forces the carp to commit and dive works best.  Sometimes a slowly sinking fly that triggers a vacuum take (where they open their mouth and flare their gills to suck the fly from a distance) works better.

 

Pros:

• You are much less dependent on finding carp in a great mood.  Because you are close your presentations are more suitable to coaxing or triggering a take.  
• Because you are less dependent on finding fish in a positive mood you are less likely to get skunked.    
• The takes are easy to detect and the hook-set is almost always a vertical trout set directly into the rubbery upper lip.  In my experience you land a higher percentage of the carp you hook because of this.  
• Nothing else in the fishing world is more like hunting.
• When you do get a take you often get an extremely good view of it and seeing the take in fine detail is addicting.

Cons:

• When you hook and land a fish you are hooking them in or close to the holding waters. It is rare to hook and land more than one fish from ambush
• You will almost always have access to carp.  You will not always know if they are on to you and you can waste significant time fishing to carp that know you are there but cannot be bothered to really be afraid of you.  Of course they can't be bothered to eat either.
• The carp you have access to will tend to be neutral at best.  This means that you may cast to many carp before you find the one willing to eat your fly.
• You almost never get to do a real fly cast and it turns out that casting is kind of fun.
• This form of fishing can feel like it lacks glitzy and glory.

This approach seems to have less variance (nerd term for more consistent).  I almost always catch some carp when I am sticking to this method but I rarely catch allot of carp.  Occasionally you want to catch allot of carp.

Both methods work, both methods should be in your arsenal.  I just need to balance them out a little better.

Bimini Twist for Carp

I use the Bimini twist to attach my tippet to my leader for carp or any other big fish on light leaders.  The Bimini twist is a 100% knot and when tied correctly it will always be stronger than your fly connection.  The opposite is true for most other tippet knots.

I read a story about somebody losing a very special carp at their tippet knot recently so I finally got off my butt and made a video to show you the process.  It really isn't that bad and may save you a trophy down the line.

Tricks of the Trade #1 - Saving that $3.00 fly

The following are some tricks to prevent losing all those grudgingly purchased flies to trees, stumps, rocks and other vengeful inanimate objects:

1. If you are snagged on the bottom and can get close enough you can easily get your fly back at least 90% of the time by running your rod tip down the line and leader while stripping in the line with the other hand until it hits the fly and pushes it off.  Double check that your line is still strung through the tip. This usually makes your fly go through the top eyelet, even and especially if you fly is much too big to possibly fit.
• This does not work with two fly rigs or indicators.  This is the only definitive (and admittedly highly irrational) proof I have that both are evil. 
2. When snagged deep or too far out working out some extra line and throwing a hard roll-cast past the snag a couple of times occasionally works.
• Standing tall and screaming "f-ing snag" is encouraged during this process.  You are probably going to scare any nearby carp with this rather violent and noisy technique in order to save that $3.00 fly and might as well get your licks in while you can.
3. Hold the rod tip high and forward with as much line held off the water as possible.  Gently wiggle the rod tip side to side and fore-aft so that the line develops standing waves with pulses of LIGHT pressure followed by slack. 
• You can pretty much tell that you have progressed from gentle wiggles to violent thrashing when your rod breaks. 
4. Walking over and gently pulling the fly off of whatever ails you works really well.
• Yeah, this always surprises me as well.
5. When all else fails grab the line in your rod hand, point the rod and pull with slowly and steadily increasing pressure.
• Neither tungsten nor lead is delicious.  To avoid eating it channel your inner baseball pitcher and keep the rod butt low and outside. 
•  If your favorite fly gives you a prison tattoo or piercing somewhere on the fore-arm grit your teath and repeat after me:  "Fly-Carpin is not responsible" and " De-barbing is for wussies.". 
6. Heck with it, tie your own flies and save the money.
• If you buy that I have at least $3000 dollars in partially used bags of fly-tying material I will sell you.

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