Fly Fishing for carp

[jim doyle]

Fin-s, from your address I take it your carping is done in a slightly warmer climate? I too stalk carp with a fly rod, to be honest if I hooked a carp on some of my bloodworm patterns, that I use for trout they would straighten on the strike. I use various patterns the one that is going to get some stick this year is a foam daddy long legs, fished on the surface.

[Fin-S]

Jim - Yep I live in Cape Town now (but spent a few years in Wales and Southampton) and warmer - well normally so, but today it is pouring down, 15 degrees and blowing 45-50 knots - hence more writing of things piscatorial today rather than catching! Good luck with the daddy, I'm sure it will work, and for the bloodworm I use Gamakatsu grub hooks 12/14.

[jim doyle]

I use fulling mill heavy grub hooks,but even they straighten at times I,ve tied on small, and not so small carp hooks. I fish a commercial fishery in scotland so your weather sounds like our summer, its nice to fish the ripple!! Ive managed to get the fish to feed in mid water my next attempt is going to be heavy buzzers and watch them on the drop. I use an origonal thomas + thomas rod thats got a fair bit of poke. My best fish is a 21lber from out of a tree!! I find that if you keep knocking the fish off balance you can beat the fish quite quickly. pm me an address and I,ll send some patterns for carp and trout. Jim

[whistlekiller]

Norfolkdan:

Hi all you fly fishers, not very often I come in this forum.

 

Well, as the fish are taking biscuits off the top at my local lake now I REALLY want to try and catch 1 on a fly rod.

 

I'm guessing I'd need a fly reel as well, or would a normal fixed spool work (or does that defeat the whole object?       )

 

Anyone got any recommendations for a type of rod, type of line, flies (if not I'll just use chum mixers etc..)

 

Cheers for any help, Dan

[whistlekiller]

Sorry about repeating your post in the above Dan! I'm a bit new to forums....

 

I fly-fish for carp quite regularly now and have had great success with carp to nearly 18lbs on a Deer Hair pellet imitation from Sovereign Super Baits (do a Google search to find them). I catapult out a small amount of dog biscuits to get the carp on top and cast the fly to the area before the ripples have subsided.

 

I use a Greys GRX 6/7 weight 9' 6" rod (make sure you have a fighting butt attached!) with a Cortland 555 WF 7 line and a good helping of backing. Onto this I tie a 10ft tippet of 9lb mono (the stretchier the better) via a braided loop. I tie on the fly with a grinner knot but not really tight. This gives an extra bit of shock absorbancy when the carp takes.

 

The takes are always, always extremely violent and it's very important to get the line onto the reel as quickly as possible to prevent line burns to your hands! You should ensure that you have a reel with a good drag system and to this end I use a Greys GTX, a good reel for under £100.

 

I like trout fishing but carp on a fly rod is something else. The fight is incredible and on one memorable occasion lasted nearly 50 minutes although this is probably down to my preference for lighter tackle. If you choose to use a light rod I would definitely suggest checking that the water concerned doesn't contain any monsters or you could be in serious trouble!

 

Once I can work out how to do it, I'll put up a picture of a nice fly caught carp.

 

Good luck!

[normarker]

I'm in Southampton and have fished Moorhen, there are quite a few carp in there. I've not had one on a fly from there but I have from other local lakes, even a t6ench once. A friend of mine catches quite a few by getting them going on dog biscuits then using a spun deer hair artificial.