2026 Carpin’ thread

Well, I finally broke the ice this morning and stuck my first carp of the ‘26 season. I immediately saw the bubbles and located the feeding carp and took one shot at it and there was no hesitation -.it just ate it. When I was setting up my rod I spent some time digging through my carp box to find a fly that I really haven’t used much lately, just to throw as a bit of a change up. I stuck this fish on a fly called the Siltsifter and according to my carp fishing log the last time I caught a fish on this fly was July 27, 2024. It was a scrappy 24” Mirror Carp and it put up a really good battle. It was the only fish I took a shot at this morning as I spooked quite a few other fish during the fight. It always is a great feeling to get that bend back into the old 8 weight at the start of the season! Good luck carpers, get out there and find some feeding fish!

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Hey carpers, just a heads up. It’s time to try to start locating some fruiting mulberry trees along some of your carp waters. In past years I have started catching carp on berry flies as early as the last week of May (around Memorial Day). The peak of the “berry hatch” in my neck of the woods generally falls around June 9th or 10th. I have about a half dozen mulberry trees that have consistently produced for me over the past 12 years or so, but I’m always on the lookout for new ones as I cover different stretches of streams. The “berry hatch” is definitely the highlight of the Carpin’ season - it is an absolute blast!! Good luck!
 
A bit of bad news on the impending “mulberry hatch”. It appears that the mid to late April hard freeze totally took out the initial foliage and developing berries on the mulberry trees (at least in my area here in SE PA). The good news is - I’m pretty sure that with the sap flowing the trees will produce a second batch of foliage as well as additional berries. I have no idea what the intensity of the second batch of berries or the timing of them will be. This will be interesting to watch as the normal late Spring to early Summer mulberry event will probably shift to more of a mid summer event this year. More northern areas of PA may be fine if the mulberry trees had not broken buds or set any fruit previous to the late freeze event.
 
I was out early this morning and saw a lot of very actively feeding carp. I could only see part of the elevated tail on a fish that was in the perfect spot for me to take a shot at it. So I did. Not knowing how big the fish actually was, I dropped my nymph into an area that I thought would put me in the game. My leader very slightly twitched and I immediately strip set. Game on! This was actually a smaller carp by normal standards but it was a real scrappy one. It took an initial hard, straight away run that took me to within a couple of feet of my backing before I got the brakes on it and turned the fish. Great battle - lots of fun! I caught the fish on a version of the Clouser Swimming Nymph. Good luck, carpers!

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not I. My focus shifted for April and May but will be shifting back soon.
 
I have had a few opportunities on cruisers having a look but no feeders. Damsels have been the ticket for bass and sunnies
 
Went out to the carp hole this morning. I found them to be happy and healthy as they swam circles around the hole they were in. Once again, no carp for me. Im beginning to think my carp don’t eat when the sun is up. I did catch plenty of sunnies and a few small bass though.
 
hooker-of-men said:
Haven't seen a fish moving at my go-to spot yet this year. I'm a little worried that some combination of mink / heron predation or possibly even bow dudes cleaned them out.
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I’ve had that same experience several times over the past number of years. I had attributed the decline in the local carp population to some heavy bowfishing pressure, but I’m not totally sure that I’m correct on that assumption.
 
poopdeck said:
Went out to the carp hole this morning. I found them to be happy and healthy as they swam circles around the hole they were in. Once again, no carp for me. Im beginning to think my carp don’t eat when the sun is up. I did catch plenty of sunnies and a few small bass though.
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Keep an eye on things. If they are cruising around a hole they may still be in some form of spawning behavior. They pretty much won’t eat when they’re doing that. After the spawning antics are done they will go into a more consistent feeding mode. Try sneaking up on them just after daybreak before the sun even hits the water.
 
dc410 said:
Keep an eye on things. If they are cruising around a hole they may still be in some form of spawning behavior. They pretty much won’t eat when they’re doing that. After the spawning antics are done they will go into a more consistent feeding mode. Try sneaking up on them just after daybreak before the sun even hits the water.
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Good tip. However, I don’t crawl out of bed until well after daybreak so that would be a tough one for me.
 
I hit the stream at 5:30 this morning. The first spot I checked I immediately saw the silt cloud and traced it back to the bubbles. The carp was actively feeding but was at a really tough spot. I thought I could get my nymph in front of it but was unsure what I was going to do if I hooked it. It was an extremely steep bank down to the water. My motto in carpin’ is “nothing ventured - nothing gained”! So I went for it. Without hesitation, the fish ate it. Game on! Place the net so I could reach the handle after I was down and while fighting the fish slide down the bank with my muck boots hoping there is some firmness to the substrate at the bottom of the bank! It all came together and fish #1 was in the net.

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A bit later I spotted another actively feeding fish. I had to navigate through a patch of armpit high burn hazel which was a bit denser in the middle than I anticipated. However it did provide me the cover I needed to present my nymph in front of the fish. It also immediately ate my fly and carp #2 was in the net!

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The last fish I saw feeding I could tell was a pretty good fish and it was at an absolutely great spot to take a shot and fight the fish. I slowly got into position and softly flipped my fly in front of the carp. I clearly saw the fish eat my fly and it was game on again! I don’t catch a lot of 30”+ carp but after about a 10 minute battle fish #3 came to the net and it measured exactly 30 inches.


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Normally this time of year I would have been fishing mulberries, but they got froze out in that late frost back in April so there are not any to be found at my berry spots. However, the carp are actively feeding and this morning they were taking nymphs readily. I caught all three on a Clouser Swimming Nymph which is quickly climbing my list of very effective carp flies. Overall, a really solid carpin’ outing and just a ton of fun! Good luck out there carpers - in my opinion June is the best month for catching carp on the fly.
 
On my evening walk last night I noticed the mulberries starting to fruit. I still haven’t found a mulberry tree in my carp creek yet but I’m trying.
 
I spent a really, really long time looking for them. Finally found some. I believe someone planted them a long time ago.
I found several along the Susquehanna, and not one of them hung over the water. I believe the constant flooding knocks them down.
 
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