Nigel Griffin

(Nigel owns Eurotackle and can be reached at [email protected])
Buy your Carp tackle from EUROTACKLE!!!
Fish one rod close to shore if the water is deep enough, carp will patrol the edges searching for food.
Use food coloring to dye sweetcorn red, this may improve your catch rate.
Use a weigh sling to get an accurate reading from your scale, the fish will stay calm while in the sling.
Try chumming 2 areas & set one line on each.
Give Boilies a try if you are looking for bigger carp!
Chum an area for several days if possible or to keep the bait going in, fish the same spot a few times.
When winter comes & fishing slows, now is the time to be looking for new spots to try next spring.
If you are having trouble with dropped runs, adjust these things one at a time - Length of hair, Length of leader, Size of hook, Size of sinker
Go to CAG fish-ins if you wish to learn a lot in a hurry!

Fritz Vatter

(Fritz is the Canadian Chairman for CAG)
When we experience these "twitch" bites we try a couple of basic things to help in getting hookups. If possible fish a float, this technique offers much less resistance to a neutral/negative carp. When using a fixed lead (bolt rig) shorten the hooklength to 4-6 inches, keep the hair short (bait just touching the bend in the hook), use smaller baits on the hair i.e. 3 grains of sweetcorn/maize which have been highly flavored.
Make up some ground bait (wetter than usual, paste like) and mold it around the sinker. not a huge ball just enough to cover the sinker and aid in attraction. This sometimes "turns them on" and results in a more aggressive take.
Try a quiver tip when using a running lead, this again gives less resistance to the carp and will allow you to strike at the slightest rod knocks.
Even strike at rod "knocks" and slight drop backs. We have found that early and late in the season carp may not run even with a well set up fixed lead system. By striking at these bumps and knock we have significantly increased our hooking percentage.
Without going into "fancy flavors", Cinnamon is a great cold water flavor sprinkle some into a can of sweetcorn the night before fishing. Upping the flavors of your baits in cold water conditions really helps in provoking some more confident takes. BANG garlic spray works as well (available at most Bass type tackle stores). Anyway these are some things that we do under tough conditions.
High Protein Pig feed makes an excellent groundbait. Add some flour to help bind it a bit better. This is much cheaper then making it from scratch with breadcrumbs etc. Cost: approx. $10.00 for 50lbs.
When fishing a fixed lead (bolt rig) and are getting a lot of false runs or "twitches" try shortening the hooklength to only 4-6 inches and increasing the weight of the lead, to at least 3oz. This will often hook these neutral feeders as there is little room for the carp to turn or ejects the hook before the heavy lead causes the hook point to penetrate. (Keep the hair length such that the bait just touches the bend in the hook).
When catching carp with the intent of releasing them: ALWAYS use a landing net. a) Either a European fine mesh specimen net, or b) at least a large RUBBER net as can be found at most good angling stores. Coarse "Salmon" nets remove slime and tear fins. This results in post release fungal infections, which result in death.
NEVER HOLD OR WEIGH A CARP (OR ANY OTHER FISH TO BE RELEASED) BY THE GILLS!!! GILLS ARE VERY SENSITIVE. ALMOST ANY HANDLING OF THEIR SURFACE WILL RESULT IN BLEEDING OR FUNGAL INFECTIONS LEADING TO DEATH. You may see In-Fisherman staff doing this but that does not make it right. My training and experience in Aquaculture and years on the job as shown that most invasive gill contact by which a fish is suspended by the gill cover leads to the death of the fish. Death may not be instantaneous but chances are that fatal damage will be done through this type of handling, resulting in delayed mortality.
ALWAYS USE SOME SORT OF UNHOOKING MAT. Extreme? I don't think so. There is no need to have a "Special " mat flown in from Europe for $150.00 if you don't have the means. A simple and effective replacement is a piece of "Blue Foamy", you know, the foam mats used for camping etc. Available almost anywhere for $10.00 or less. Simply cut a piece to the size you want and store it in a camping stuffsack ($5.00) of the right size. This will prevent large carp from banging itself on the ground or rolling in sand etc. which also removes vital protective slime. Also, they look much better for your photo album when not covered in dirt and grass.
It takes upwards of 20 years to grow a specimen size carp. Don't waste the energy spent in its growing to that size and the energy and time you spent in catching it. Showing respect for the fish in these simple ways increases your self-respect and confidence as an angler.

Tom Conner

(Tom is the Fly fishing editor of NACA)
There is no "best" rod size for carp and grass carp, but you better use a strong stick if you want to bring them in! I use an 8/9 wt. Rod with a fighting butt. In addition, I use a strong tippet, most North American carp are not line shy as they have never seen a fly fisher go after them.
If you don't have a reel with an adjustable drag, don't despair. Epoxy or otherwise attach a piece of leather to the bottom of the reel in such a way that you can press the free part of the leather against the rim of the reel as it moves on out. This way, when you palm the reel to stop the fish, you won't burn your hand in the process. Just press your palm on the leather instead and the leather will slow the reel.
One trick, especially if you are chumming the area to attract carp, is to dip your flies in the juice of the corn or other chum. This way you can create a "scent fly" to attract the fish. Carp use taste and smell to find food, especially in turbid water.
For you unbelievers, let it be known that fly fishing is the best presentation for grass carp, especially those in a pond from which all of the vegetation has been stripped, a common situation in a pond with too many grass carp per acre. In this situation grass carp will eat just about anything and will look for falling leaves, cut grass, etc. Take advantage of this fact and catch the fish.
Blind Cast Retrieves You have chummed to a nice table top sized area of still water and the carp are sweeping back and forth in and around the area. Your favorite bottom bouncing fly is tied on and you cast it to the chum area. Now what? How should you retrieve your fly so as to attract the attention of the carp and entice them to bite? The answer lies both in the behavior of the carp and the behavior of what the carp considers food. Typically a carp sucks in an assortment of stuff, keeping some of what seems edible and spitting out the rest. It may then grab whatever morsels it sees in the cloud that was expelled. You can be sure that it will quickly spit out your fly, even if it originally thought it was food. You can also be sure that you cannot set the hook in time just by sensing that the carp has taken in the fly. Occasionally, a la bolt rigs and hair rigs, it will hook itself, but mostly the fly is expelled and you don't even know it. Most flies that are likely to interest carp are those that resemble things like crayfish, leeches, and nymphs, especially in their movements. The case of the crayfish is instructive. Even though they do sometimes crawl along the bottom both forward and backward, when they sense intruders they move away backward in short spurts by expelling water. The movement is a rapid burst backward and somewhat upward following by a slower drop to the bottom. Carp can see the movement and "hear" the vibrations it makes and will quickly pounce on the crayfish as it settles. If you want to entice a carp, your fly should act just like the crayfish.
So we want a retrieve to accomplish two things -- entice the carp to bite and set the hook before the fly is spit out. I call retrieves that do that "just in case" retrieves. The first part of the retrieve imitates the motion of prey and the second part sets the hook just in case a carp has taken the fly in. Of course, most of the time a carp will not have taken your fly. But you will not have missed those occasions when it did take it. The simpler retrieve begins with a short, quick pull on the fly line of about and inch or two. This moves the fly in a crayfish-like way and attracts the carp to suck in the fly. Next is a similar short pull timed to set the hook while the fly is still in the carp's mouth. In other words, even though most of the time nothing has taken in your fly you assume it has and gently set the hook anyway. I like to slowly say "one potato" during the first pull ("one" for the pull and "potato" for letting the fly drop down). While you are saying "potato" take up any slack in your line in preparation for the second pull. After the second pull let the fly settle down again.
A second retrieve sounds more complicated, and it is somewhat, but it is more realistic and in the long run more likely to catch fish. For the first part, imagine your hand that holds the fly line is directly in line with your wrist. Now cock the hand up without moving the wrist up or down but sliding it forward a bit so as not to move the fly yet. In a sharp movement rotate your hand to below your wrist. Immediately take up the slack in your line and then give it a short, hook setting pull. The theory is the same as the first retrieve - set the hook just in case. But the fly movement is closer to the rapid acceleration of an actual crayfish. These two retrieves are designed to deal with your inability to see the carp take your fly even though the carp itself can see the fly. You can also make use of them when neither of you can see the fly. Recall that a fleeing crayfish makes a distinctive "sound" or vibration when it moves. If you attach a rattle to your daytime fly then these retrieves will mimic crayfish vibrations and the carp will find your fly even in darkness. So will bass and other fish but that is just part of the fun.

Chris Widram

(Chris guides fly fishing trips for carp on the Housatonic and Hudson Rivers. You can view his web page at: http://www.saltwaterflies.com/houssie.html. He also produces a selection of effective fly patterns for carp fishing; if interested you can e-mail him at: [email protected])
Tying Hair Rigs.
Being a fly fisher I quite naturally turned to fly tying techniques to construct hair rigs. It is fast, easy, and anyone can do it. Equipment: cheap fly tying vise ($15), spool of black tying thread, fly tying bobbin, and clear finger nail polish. Put the hook into the vise clamping the jaws at the bend of the hook. Start the thread at the eye of the hook by laying it along the hook and winding back over it. Trim the thread tag. Wind the thread to about the mid point of the hook in close wraps. Cut a piece of Spiderwire or similar line about 4 " long and fold it into a loop. Lay the loop on the top of the hook with the loop toward the bend and the ends toward the eye. Wind a couple of turns of thread around the line. Adjust the length of the loop to the length hair you want. Tie down the ends of the thread by winding all the way to the eye. Trim the ends flush. Put on a couple of more turns of thread. Tie off the thread with two half hitches and trim it flush. Coat windings with finger nail polish.
Fly rodders who like to chase carp can still enjoy some good angling, even in the colder months. Pick warm days, and focus on two areas: shallow flats and river channels. Some fish will move on to flats to feed when lake or river water temperatures reach the upper forties. These are spooky fish, but with some care anglers should be able to stalk them with some success. I have typically caught my last carp of the season in November, and the first carp in March. This year we are still catching fish as of December 3.
Some of the best winter action occurs when warm air temperatures bring carp to the surface to gulp warm air and feed on midges, which hatch prolifically during the warmer days of winter. You may need to look closely to notice the subtle rises that carp make at this time, but keep in mind that if you find the fish, there will probably be plenty of them. A floating "berry" fly, Griffith's gnat, or even an elk hair caddis can take fish at these times. With the above normal temperatures that the Northeast portion of the United States has enjoyed in the past several weeks, fly rodding for carp has been excellent.
Long casts and subtle, drag free presentations are very important for catching carp on dry flies at this time of year, so be prepared to work a little harder for winter carp. With some effort and a little luck, you may be rewarded by the sound of a screaming reel as a fat December carp peels fly line and backing off your reel.

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