[Troutwhisperer]

Hi everybody,

The more and more i see people catching carp on a fly the more i want to catch one.

I have a few questions ablout this fish and catching it.

First question. what weight of rod should i use: i know i shouldn't use my little 5 weight on those fish. ive seen people shoot 20 pounders on average where i'll be going with my fly rod.

What flys should i use: i dont have any clue on that

What: fish should i target: should i target splashing fish with their tails in the air, fish swim along the shoreline or fish basking in the sun.

What size of tippet: I want to catch the fish not lose it.

Thanks for your advice everyone.

[twospots]

First question. what weight of rod should i use:
I would go with 7 wt minimum

What flys should i use: Carp are strange, some days they will eat anything, others nothing. But I have caught them on an Adams and I have caught them on a wooly bugger and nymphs.

What: fish should i target: If they seem to be doing nothing, I usually ignore them because you can spend a day casting to them and do nothing but spook them a bit. If they are tailing, they are feeding off the bottom or at least subsurface. If you see them slurp something fromm the surface you have a decent chance of getting a dry fly bite. If you have moving water cast as if they were trout and if in still water cast to where they seem to be headed and let the fly just sit there.

What size of tippet: I would try not to go below 8 pount test, but if they continue to shy away from you. try 6, just know you need to work them real easy. Now for nymphs, as big as you can get away with... 8 to 10 test.


Hope that helps

[twospots]

PS, Ypu can make a fake "corn fly" and chum the water with corn as well, but some call that cheating... In my opinion, there is no cheating. If it is legal, go for it.

[packfancjh]

Carp are easily spooked so you need to be stealthful in both approach and casting. Try not to slap the fly on the water. Other than that the above advice should get you into a few fish.

[BlueBird]

I have no luck catching any Carp...

I always see them swimming close to the surface and whatever kind of flies I throw for them, they never bite. They get spooked easily.
I asked the local tackle shop, they suggest to use fast sinking fly line with fly that look like bread dough or bait with real corn.

Real corn is cheating... LOL

[MikeG]

I got a recipe for a pretty good bread fly, but it is from another forum. If no one cares I will post the link to this other forum so you could see the bread fly.

[mcnerney]

I have never fished for carp, but it does sound interesting. The North Platte River Fly shop in casper, WY offers guided carp trips. They have a little information on how to fish for carp on their web page:
Carp Unlimited | Fly Fishing | Platte River Fly Shop

Larry

[flyflingerandy]

Take your five weight. In low water, that is what we use around here. Be sure you have a good disc drag reel though with plenty of backing!

[basher]

ok first off you should use a 8wt rod for em. but you could land up to a 13lb carp on 6x tippet with a 5 weight rod. but for the big ones i wouldn't trust it. patterns are mostly brown they bite the best on them. you want to target them when they got their tails up in the water and their head is in the ground then you know that they are feeding. i read where some guys got 20lbs plus and they where in a boat and they had to follow the carp with they boat because they were almost out of backing. so i hope this info helps


tight lines

[CoMtFishing]

There are two easy ways to target carp both depend on region and regulations.

1st: Maulberry trees, this is probably the easiest tactic... get a maulberry fly weighted so it sinks (do not use splitshot to sink it). Position yourself so you can cast under the tree, you do not have to cast delicately like in other senerios because the kerplunk sound your fly makes actually attracts the carp and they tend not to hit the ones that do not make that sound.

2nd: Chumming... its illegal here in Colorado but in other states where it is allowed you can get the carp tuned in on a certain bait, over seas they will chum a lake for a week or so with the boilies they are going to use then the carp start eating them and it is easier to catch them... same tactic wad bread up into little balls and toss them into a certain area of the lake for a couple days. Then on the day you are going to fish it tie on a yarn egg pattern that matches the bread (unweighted) cast it out and they will mouth it thinking its bread.

If neither of these options are available to you, match seed hatches like cottonwoods or berry trees.