Indiana Fly Fishing for CarpTips for Catching Hoosier Carp
The first weekend in March of 2010 brought crowds of hikers, kayakers, mountain bikers, wilderness campers, and fly fishers to the campus of Wright State University in Ohio for a gathering called the Adventure Summit. Among the speakers was Joe Cornwall, Editor-in-Chief of Fly Fish Ohio, who gave a presentation titled, “Fly Fishing for the Golden Bone.”Little-known Facts About CarpAccording to Cornwall, carp are very smart fish. He surprised the audience with the news that, while the average fish has an IQ of 6, carp are relative geniuses, with an IQ of 12. Carp also have excellent color vision, an especially well-developed sense of taste and smell, which is really one sense for fish, and they are blessed with exceptionally keen hearing. Knowing this, it is easy to understand why carp pose such a challenge for fly fishermen.
Carp live in every US state except Alaska, as well as in Canada, Mexico, Europe, Asia, and Africa. The hardy fish can survive, even prosper, in less hospitable environments, such as the turbid water of many impoundments.
Carp have a long history of being a prized food fish. The Romans farmed carp. In 1877, the fish were brought to the United States from Germany, and placed in ponds near Baltimore, Maryland. These fish were considered so valuable that the ponds were fenced off and protected by guards.
Carp as Sport FishAccording to Cornwall, carp are the most important freshwater sport fish in Europe today. He believes that carp, which are abundant in North American fisheries, can provide fly fishermen with frequent, great fishing close to home. Cornwall says the experience of catching hard-fighting carp on fly tackle is easily a match for tropical fish angling in terms of challenge and excitement.
The successful carp angler must develop stealth and cunning along with the ability to cast accurately. Carp are ultra-sensitive to pheromones in the water, and use these to communicate. A carp that is alarmed by the presence of danger releases pheromones that signal other fish to get away and stay away. Cornwall explained that carp can detect these pheromones in concentrations as minute as 1 gram in 10 billion liters of water.
Feeding Behaviors of CarpCarp are omnivores. They will consume seeds, insects, crustaceans, or bait fish. Cornwall described the various feeding techniques carp use, along with photographs illustrating these situations, the varieties of foods carp eat, and a number of flies that are proven carp-catchers.
The four feeding behaviors of carp are:
Tailing and Mudding – Anglers should sight-fish to carp feeding on the bottom in shallow water. Flies that mimic aquatic worms and Wooly Bugger-type flies that sink are effective. Water may be very muddy and cloudy, requiring blind casting.Snooping – Carp are seeking an easy meal near cover, such as partially submerged blow-downs. They will often strike flies on or near the surface. Cornwall says, “Overhead cover makes the first few minutes after hookup very exciting!”Clooping – Carp are slurping food such as cottonwood seeds or a spent hatch off the water’s surface. Cornwall advised anglers to wait for the line to come tight before attempting to set the hook, then prepare for a long, head-shaking battle with a powerful fish.Hunting – Carp are preying of schools of baitfish. This often occurs in deeper water in late summer and early fall. Flies that mimic baitfish, fished near the surface, are key to hooking up with extremely selective hunting carp.Cornwall also cautions carp anglers to come prepared with the right tackle. He recommends 6 to 8 weight rods, matched to weight forward lines. “You will likely see your backing knot on any fish over 6 pounds,” he said, and “You will definitely see your backing knot on any fish over 15 pounds.”Cornwall communicated his excitement about Hoosier fly fishing for carp. His smile was infectious, and his eyes sparkled as he talked about the thrill of spending over an hour fighting a carp, fly rod bent as he pulled the powerful, head-shaking fish from the depths. Those who had gathered to hear him left the program armed with enough information to make “Fly Fishing for the Golden Bone” their next angling adventure.
Indiana Fly fishing For CarpA lot of people who fly fish in the warm waters of Indiana have had the experience of accidentally catching a carp. But few try to accomplish this deliberately. For those few, this brief guide should be helpful. Hopefully you will also experiment and share with others your successes and failures.
1. General TechniquesBasically there are only two ways to fly fish for carp -- sight casting and blind casting. Sight casting involves seeing carp in the water and casting the fly to about 1 or 2 feet in front of them. While this is not always possible, it often is and provides some of the most exciting carp fishing. An analogy is often drawn to fishing for bonefish and the analogy is quite accurate. Like bonefish, carp can often be seen tailing in the shallows. Like bonefish, carp are eating whatever organisms they find on or scare up from the bottom. And like bonefish, when they take your fly expect a long hard run that may take you "into your backing".
Blind casting can take two forms. You can cast to places carp are likely to be and hope you are right. This is usually not a high percentage technique. More reliable is to cast to where you know carp are because you have tossed groundbait in that area. The groundbait not only attracts the carp and concentrates them in a relatively small area but it also gets them into a feeding mood, maybe even a competitive feeding mood. People who bait fish for carp know a great deal about groundbaiting and I suggest you consult some of their published information. In particular I recommend Modern Bank Fishing by Michael Keyes.
2. A Puff of SiltGary LaFontaine reports watching trout in the shallows of a mountain lake. They would cruise along and suddenly change direction to begin rooting on the bottom and another leech would become trout fodder. It took him a while to discover how the trout knew where to root. It was a small puff of silt stirred up when the leech moved. He used this information to design the Bristle Leech -- a leech imitation that sits on the bottom but creates a puff of silt when retrieved. The Bristle Leech catches not only trout but also carp and the mechanism that triggers a strike in both fish would seem to be the same.
Bonefish anglers know that bonefish also look for puffs -- shrimp, crabs, and the like moving along the bottom of mud flats and creating a small cloud with each jerky move. A common technique is to cast in front of a bonefish, allow the fly to sink to settle to the bottom, and then give about a short pull on the flyline. The fly rises up off the bottom and creates the puff of silt. A bonefish, even some distance away, can see the puff and rush over for a meal (your fly).
My experience with carp is that they respond just like the trout and bonefish. As they cruise along the bottom vacuuming up what they find, they are also watching for fleeing prey. Perhaps it's a crayfish scurrying out of the way or a leech or a mayfly nymph. But carp will see their puff of silt and charge after them. I saw this graphically demonstrated one day when I was fly fishing for bluegill off the end of my dock. My fly was an olive nymph with bead chain eyes. It resembles both a crayfish and a dragonfly nymph. I looked on the bottom about 6 or 7 yards out from the dock and there was a carp, just sitting there facing me and gently finning.
I cast the nymph about 4 or 5 feet in front of him. As it sank he paused, and, I assume, watched the fly drop to the bottom. But he made no move until I gave the fly a twitch, creating that little puff. The carp took the fly in a flash, and, realizing its mistake took off for parts unknown. Unfortunately I was using a light rod and tippet and had no hope of controlling the fish. It broke off in short order. I have since caught lots of carp (and one catfish!) using just the following techniques: choosing a fly that sinks to the bottom hook point up and stirs the mud or silt when twitched; either sight casting to carp in the shallows or blind casting to an area where I have groundbaited; and using very slow, short retrieves with long pauses in between.
3. Carp FliesYour best chance of catching a carp on a fly comes from choosing a fly that imitates a food that the carp recognizes. These fall into three broad categories. The first is aquatic creatures. These include larval and pupal stages of aquatic insects (mayflies, dragonflies, and damselflies), small aquatic organisms (leeches, worms, scuds, and immature crayfish) and small baitfish (e.g., sculpins). The second is plant material. This includes the fluffy seeds of the cottonwood tree and mulberries. The third is introduced food -- food that humans toss into the water that carp learn to eat. This includes corn, dogfood, and bread. There are flies that imitate all of these items and in the right circumstance you can expect most of them to be successful.
Flies can be impressionistic or realistic in their imitation of carp food. Carp will take impressionistic flies but they are often less likely to do so than other fish. For example, there is a large mayfly that is common in most lakes and streams in Michigan -- the hexagenia limbata or "hex". Its nymph is a major food source for many fish, including carp. One of the flies often used to imitate the hex nymph is a Gold Ribbed Hare's Ear (GRHE) in larger sizes. It impressionistically resembles a hex nymph, just as it resembles many other nymphs. Trout seem to find that good enough and you can catch a lot of trout using that nymph. It is almost always on lists of essential flies for trout fishing. But consider the experience of an aquaintance of mine fishing in Michigan's Grand River. He spotted a group of tailing carp and assumed that they were eating nymphs (among other things) that they were rooting up from the bottom. He tied on a GRHE and cast perfectly just in front of one of the group. The carp all ignored the fly and went on about their business. They also ignored successive casts. Then he tied on a different, more realistic imitation of the hex nymph with feathery gills, black eyes, darker back and lighter bottom and more distinct legs and tail. A carp took the fly before it reached the bottom on the first cast. If you have a choice, choose flies that accurately imitate carp food.
Carp are very sensitive to taste and smell. Before you use a fly for the first time rub it with mud or algae from the bank or bottom of the river or lake. The mud will come off after the first cast but your fly will have a "natural" taste and smell that will help mask your own odor and keep the fly in the carp's mouth a little longer before it tries to spit it out. Or, add a bit of commercial scent to your fly.
4.1 NymphsNymphing for carp is essentially similar to nymphing for trout. There are a number of good books that go into it in great detail. I personally like Nymph Fishing by Dave Hughes. The gist of most of these accounts is:
Be sure the nymph is on or near the bottom. Use weight, if necessary, in the form of small split shots about 6" above the fly. Use several small split shots rather than one large one.
The nymph should move "naturally." On a stream this means drifting along the bottom at the same speed as the current with no "drag." Drag is unwanted motion imparted to the fly by the fly line. On a lake this may mean moving the nymph hardly at all except in very small twitches.
Use a strike indicator.
I agree with all of these recommendations except the use of a strike indicator. They are useful for depth control and bite detection but they tend to spook carp, especially if you are sight casting.
If possible, find out what kind of nymphs are present in the water you are fishing. Turn over rocks. Collect some mud from the bottom and seine it. Inspect pieces of vegetation or run a net through the vegetation. Use whatever you find as a guide to fly selection.
Dragon Fly Nymph Flies that resemble the nymphs of dragon flies or damsel flies are good for lake settings. They should be weighted and are fished on or near the bottom. Use short strips and long pauses. My own simple version of a dragon fly nymph can be seen by clicking on the name. The only disadvantage of this fly is that it will also catch bluegill and bass and other species as well. If you groundbait with sweetcorn (rather than particles or the like) and fish the nymph through the groundbait area you will definitely catch other kinds of fish. I even hooked a bullhead once. One major advantage of my version of the fly is that it rides upside down and will not snag on the bottom as easily.
All Round Hex Nymph. My version of the hexagenia limbata nymph. It is realistic enough but not overly detailed. It generally rides hook point up (a definite advantage) and it looks the same no matter which way it turns or tumbles (hence the name). In lake settings I cast it beyond a groundbait area, let it sink, and slowly retrieve it through the area in very small jerks. If there is current or wind let them move the line and add tiny jerks as the nymph moves along the bottom. If possible keep slack out of the line and point the rod tip at the nymph. In river settings cast it above where carp are and let it dead drift down to them.
4.2 ScudsScuds are small freshwater shrimp-like creatures that cling to vegetation and swim around in small, jerky, erratic motions. When alive they are typically tan, olive, or brown in color. Most standard scud flies in those colors will work fine. Fish them like a nymph but with very small movements of no more than 1". When scuds die they often change color, becoming bright orange or yellow or pink. A scud imitation tied in those colors will sometimes work as well. This probably accounts for some of the success reported with flies like Agent Orange (a bright orange saltwater shrimp fly) or flies that are largely orange or yellow or pink chenille wrapped around a hook.
Generic Scud A general purpose scud pattern that can be modified to serve most needs.
Rollover Scud A scud pattern designed by Gary LaFontaine that rides hook point up and rolls over in an enticing way when retrieved.
4.3 LeechesThere are many leech patterns and most can be used with success. But the best for carp, I believe, is Gary LaFontaine's Bristle Leech mentioned previously. Not only does it sit on the bottom hook point up but it has two monofilament projections that dig into the bottom to produce the puff of silt when the fly is retrieved. Click on the name for tying instructions.
4.4 WormsGold Bead Red Wiggler Variation on the San Juan worm. Fish like a nymph.
Rollover Worm A variation of the San Juan worm that incorporates the properties of the rollover scud (see above). As the rollover worm sinks the hook rides up, but as soon as the fly is retrieved it flips over. This gives the impression of a worm struggling and wiggling in the water.
4.5 BaitfishCarp Booby Booby flies are known for catching trout in lakes and ponds. They are floating flies which probably imitate baitfish and are made to hover near the bottom of the lake by a sinking fly line and split shots above the fly. This is one of the more successful patterns for blind casting over ground bait. I use an intermediate sinking line and a short leader (about three feet) of 2X fluorocarbon. I don't usually need any additional weight. Cast the booby out beyond the groundbait area and let the line sink to the bottom bringing the fly with it. Let everything just sit there for a while. The fly will float and move as small currents in the lake dictate. If nothing bites after three to five minutes begin retrieving the fly through the groundbait area. Do so VERY slowly. Use one inch strips and pause often. A carp is most likely to take the fly after a strip following a pause so do at least two strips in a row before pausing again. The second strip will set the hook. Click on the name for tying instructions.
4.6 Plant Material and Introduced FoodWhile carp typically find their food on or near the bottom they do surface feed at times. Usually that takes place because they have to learned to eat something that falls into the water and floats (like mullberries or cottonwood seeds) or something that floats that people toss into the water like pieces of bread or dog food kibbles. Fairly typical is my brother-in-law who has a house on Lake LBJ in Texas. He goes out on his lighted dock in the evening and tosses handfuls of kibbles into the water. The carp, who apparently spend most of their time under the dock, swim about and snatch the kibbles off the surface with a rolling motion. A dogfood fly can be tied by spinning normal deer hair and trimming to the shape of a kibble. If carp surface feed on poplar seeds, tie a fly using any sparse, fluffy white material such as yarn. Bread flies can be constructed of white and brown egg fly yarn or pom pom balls from the craft store.
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