Carp Fly Fishing
Carp are large, powerful, and strong runners–all of which make them popular with fly fishermen. However, the challenge they provide places them high on my list.
For example, when we teach our smallmouth schools on the Shenandoah River often one of the students tells me he would really like to catch a large carp. First I get the rest of the students started then I take this gentleman upstream about 100 yards to where there is gravel bars. These gravel bars are right along the bank with water 2 to 3 feet deep over it and run several hundred feet upstream. There are always carp feeding here and we can clearly see them tailing just like bonefish. By encouraging my student to crawl to within casting distance he was able to cast a size 8 Murray’s Lead Eye Hellgrammite out in front of the closest carp who took it solidly. After several long runs the student landed the largest fish he had ever caught.
Spotting tailing carp is my favorite way to fish for them, but there is another very effective tactic to use in water which is from 4 to 6 feet. When we float the river we are actually fishing for smallmouths, but we keep an eye out for feeding carp. They feed on the stream bottom usually right along the banks. The giveaway to their feeding is the discolored water which flows downstream from where the carp root out their food. When I spot this muddy water I cast my fly 6 to 8 feet upstream above it and allow it to sink deeply. I remove the slack with my line hand then keep a tight line on the fly so I can feel the strike and hook the carp.
Both of these tactics are effective when used in the proper places. My favorite carp flies are Murray’s Black Lead Eye Hellgrammite size 8, Murray’s Olive Marauder size 8, Murray’s Brown Carp Fly size 6, Mr. Rapidan Olive Soft Hackle Nymph size 8 and Bitch Creek Nymph size 8.