Carp Flats Fishing Was Happening!

Yesterday afternoon, I decided to go flats fishing for Carp, and I scored it while it was happening. The water looked really good, and the fish were rooting around and cruising around the shallows. The opportunity was looking like a promising one, and after a short while I was tight into a nice golden treasure of a carp.

Common Carp Taken on Carrot Fly

After admiring that hard bodied carp, I let it swim off, and was ready for another one. Too bad some guys speaking foreign tongues wanted in on my action too. They literally came up to me blabbing about my carp. They asked what kind of bait I was using, and when I explained a fly; they gave me a dumbfounded look. When I showed them what I was throwing, they got all excited, and literally parked too close to me to fish also. After a little bit of loosing my patience, I bailed in search of more flats and fish.

The "Carrot Fly" Stuck in the Carp's Mouth

Before I knew it, I was back into a hot pack of fish, and they were looking promising to catch. I threw a nice shot at a fish that was cruising toward me, and it inhaled the offering and was off to the races. The fish was hooked at about 15', and it sprinted off and cleaned my clock all the way into the backing. What a bee lined run that was! I managed the wrangle that fish from the grass, and it submitted itself onto the shallow grassy ledge where I admired it.

Carp landed after a serious sprint into the backing....

I popped the "carrot fly" out of the fish's mouth and then I let it swim off, and I was one stoked fisherman. When the fish were given the right presentation, they would slam the fly, and you would see it. It was a really great way to spend a few hours in the afternoon. Obviously, I am going to have to try that again today; so we'll see how it goes again. Should be even better today.....

Fly choice is a funny one with carp, and it seems like the confidence in your fly is the most important thing. I know some people who love the San Juan Worm, and others like crawdad imitations. Buggy nymphs also are used a lot, and then hybrids of all of the above seem to work too. The more I fish for the carp, the more I realize it is about the presentation, and the fly has to be in the ball park of what they want. Every fly in this pic will work, and it seems that finding fish that are willing, and fishing in shallower water will help you get into carp on the fly.

Some of the Carp Flie I have been tying and using