2024 Carpin’ Thread

[dc410]

I kicked off my 2024 Carpin’ season this morning by sticking my first carp of the year so I thought I would kick off the annual Carpin’ thread as well. I saw numerous carp this morning that were active and in their normal feeding mode, which is head down, tail up, rooting on the bottom with the mud clouds flowing. I managed to get two carp to eat my fly this morning. I brought one fish to the net and the other one came unbuttoned on me after a short run. Not a ton of action but certainly enough to knock the rust off.

Over the past number of years I’ve annually started up this thread for PAFF carpers or wanna be carpers. Some years it gains a lot of momentum … other years not so much. Last years thread was a whole lot of fun and it actively ran from late February through early October. There was a lot of participation from a good number of forum members. The thread is meant to be fun and informative where we can all share successes and failures, productive tips and techniques and even carp patterns with each other. Please don’t hesitate to ask questions because I’ve always enjoyed sharing many of the things I have learned by trial and error over the past 10+ years of chasing carp with the flyrod. Get out there and start locating some carp, they are starting to get active. Tight lines and screamin’ reels!

 

[mt_flyfisher]

John -

Nice fish, in an ugly sort of way. 😊

Although I haven’t been carp fishing in years, I really enjoyed following your carp thread and adventures last year, and am looking forward to more of the same this year.

Like Isaac Walton said many years ago ”I enjoy any discourse on rivers, and fish and fishing.”

This little box sits on a shelf above my desk at home.

 

[poopdeck]

Every year I say I’m going to chase carp and every year I pretty much don’t because I get easily discouraged. I even have a carp box ready to go. I’m going to try again when the Striper run tapers off in June. what did you catch them on?

 

[Kyle]

Every year I say I’m going to chase carp and every year I pretty much don’t because I get easily discouraged. I even have a carp box ready to go. I’m going to try again when the Striper run tapers off in June. what did you catch them on?

you should try it. they are a great fight. peeling drag. i wont even cast at a carp or less i can see them feeding. i cast upstream enough to make sure my flys are at the bottom where they are feeding. they will likey pick up anything that looks buggy. i hooked a bunch last summer on olive buggers. landing them is another thing...lol many times my fly broke off from the carp running into cover.

 

[dc410]

Every year I say I’m going to chase carp and every year I pretty much don’t because I get easily discouraged. I even have a carp box ready to go. I’m going to try again when the Striper run tapers off in June. what did you catch them on?

My early season carp fishing almost always revolves around using natural looking buggy nymph patterns. The two fish I got to eat earlier in the week both took a pattern that I put together many years ago - I’ve caught a lot of carp on this pattern. I simply call it my PMC (Pheasant-Mink-Crow). All natural fur and feathers, no synthetics, no head cement, no zap, no uv resin. If it falls apart I’ll blade it off and tie another one. If the bead chain eyes spin on the hook - I just spin ‘em back. I was really trying out a new hook with this particular fly, it’s tied on a size 4 Owner Mosquito hook. The hook performed well. I don’t know what the carp think this fly is but it is real buggy with some contrast and a lot of movement. If I can get it in front of a feeding carp without them knowing I’m there - they usually eat it. Oh, by the way - June is berry month!! Good luck with your carpin’.

 

[dc410]

you should try it. they are a great fight. peeling drag. i wont even cast at a carp or less i can see them feeding. i cast upstream enough to make sure my flys are at the bottom where they are feeding. they will likey pick up anything that looks buggy. i hooked a bunch last summer on olive buggers. landing them is another thing...lol many times my fly broke off from the carp running into cover.

You hit the nail on the head, Kyle. Targeting actively feeding carp is one of the biggest parts of the game. Good luck this year. Get after ‘em!

 

[falcon]

My feelimg is anything that resembles a crayfish is "Carp Candy".

 

[poopdeck]

you should try it. they are a great fight. peeling drag. i wont even cast at a carp or less i can see them feeding. i cast upstream enough to make sure my flys are at the bottom where they are feeding. they will likey pick up anything that looks buggy. i hooked a bunch last summer on olive buggers. landing them is another thing...lol many times my fly broke off from the carp running into cover.

I’ve never seen a carp rooting around tail up. I see them holding in current in large groups, occasionally moving forward a few feet seemingly to grab something before drifting back down to where they came from. Try as I might I’ve never caught one that I’ve seen. I caught plenty on spinning gear and dough balls where I didn’t see them at all. I’m going to try again only to reinforce how easy bass and trout fishing is.

 

[Terry Murphy]

My buddy and I have been finding a few carp and quillback . Mops and crayfish patterns .

 

[hooker-of-men]

I've been out walkin' twice since spots have thawed, but I can't quite say it was carpin' since no carp showed up to the party.

Despite the snow disappearing like 2 months ago in Upstate NY, the nights are still dipping well below freezing. Slow start to fishing in general

 

[dc410]

I've been out walkin' twice since spots have thawed, but I can't quite say it was carpin' since no carp showed up to the party.

Despite the snow disappearing like 2 months ago in Upstate NY, the nights are still dipping well below freezing. Slow start to fishing in general

Yeah, you’re probably a bit below where you need to be from the water temp end. It’ll get better!

 

[dc410]

I've been out walkin' twice since spots have thawed, but I can't quite say it was carpin' since no carp showed up to the party.

Despite the snow disappearing like 2 months ago in Upstate NY, the nights are still dipping well below freezing. Slow start to fishing in general

Nicely done! Thanks for sharing the pics. I don’t ever see many quillbacks but when I’ve seen them I have never been able to entice one to take a fly.

Sorry hooker, this reply was supposed to be Terry’s post.

 

[dc410]

I haven’t had much chance to get out after carp for the past month or so, but this morning’s mild temperatures got me in the mood. I quickly bumped into a pod of about 4 or 5 carp that were milling around and feeding sporadically. I really dislike taking a shot at a group of carp like this (just way too many things possible to blow it up). So I watched and waited until one of the group somewhat separated itself from the group. I took a shot at that fish and dropped a size 8 Clouser Foxy Redd Minnow in front and slightly to the side of the carp. It turned directly toward the fly and ate it without hesitation. It wasn’t a long fish but it was a chunky one and took me for a really nice long first run which gave me a chance to test out my drag. It’s amazing how the battle with one aggressive carp can send up the red flag to the rest of the local carp population. Every other carp that I took a shot at I very effectively spooked. Oh well, many days one in the net is as much as you can expect. Get out there and locate some carp, the water is starting to warm up! Good luck, carpers!

 

[bdhoover77]

Was this from a pond or a stream?

 

[dc410]

Was this from a pond or a stream?

This one was from a pond.

 

[dc410]

I stopped by one of my quick hitter carp spots for a short outing late this afternoon. It’s not my favorite time of the day to target carp but occasionally it works. In the bright sunshine I was spotting a fair amount of carp but they were all pretty far shots. I finally laid out enough line to present my fly to a fish that was pretty far from the bank and hanging deep in the water column. The presentation of my Foxy Redd Minnow was good and I saw the fish move toward the sinking fly. I never saw or felt the fish actually take the fly but it was one of those “sixth sense” moments that told me it should have the fly. I removed the slack, felt the resistance and quickly strip set. The battle was on! It was a fiesty two footer that really didn’t like the net. I managed to slip the net under it just before it came unglued, straightened out my hook and dove straight into the net.

The hook that bent was a size 8 Daiichi 1530. These 2X strong hooks are really solid hooks and I have bent very few of them over my many years of carpin’. I’ll blade off that fly and reuse the bead chain eyes to tie another Foxy Redd Minnow. Get out there and get after ‘em!

 

[acesedgley]

There have been feeding carp lately in the ponds at my country club. Always say I'm gonna give it a shot but have yet to do so. Gotta get over it and get out the 8 weight!

 

[dc410]

There have been feeding carp lately in the ponds at my country club. Always say I'm gonna give it a shot but have yet to do so. Gotta get over it and get out the 8 weight!

Absolutely! Stealthfully put some kind of buggy nymph into the zone in front of one of those feeders and hang on!!

 

[acesedgley]

ok I forgot the 8 wt.and net so unable to beach but this was incredibly easy even after spooking several when I of course got my fly caught on bankside vegetation and had to rip up the weeds to get it back.
Caught 2....one on small black marabou bugger,one on picket pin. Both flies broken off while trying to lip at the shoreline resulted in fish lunging away.
8 wt and net next time for sure!

 

[dc410]

View attachment 1641235628ok I forgot the 8 wt.and net so unable to beach but this was incredibly easy even after spooking several when I of course got my fly caught on bankside vegetation and had to rip up the weeds to get it back.
Caught 2....one on small black marabou bugger,one on picket pin. Both flies broken off while trying to lip at the shoreline resulted in fish lunging away.
8 wt and net next time for sure!

That’s awesome, Darby. Nicely done! I find it very interesting that you found it very easy even after spooking a few of them. Is the water that mudded up as a result of feeding carp? If it is that’s really cool. Oh yeah, one of the best ways to get into some fish is to forget to bring the net. 😉 Keep after ‘em!