A Gander at Carp on the Fly

Carp on the Fly

The boys get an early head start as Jack reels one in

My son Jack (6) joined the ‘opposition’ in borrowing one of their spare rods and it was also Jack’s coarse-fishing debut. So it was three against one, but I was feeling quite optimistic as I’d read a recent article or two about the increasing popularity of catching carp on the fly. Or perhaps it was sheer naivety.

It was a good day for fishing with an overcast sky and the sun breaking through here and there in patches. There was virtually no wind.

Speaking to the proprietor who had recently had some other fly fishermen visit, he remarked that there was really only one suitable swim with no trees and enough space for back-casting at the rear of the lake. The others were able to join me a short distance away, but close enough to mock me, should the need arise.

Armed with their coarse rods, strange floats, weights and gadgets that I just simply didn’t understand, I threaded on my floating line and was glad that fly fishing was so simple. My only challenge was which fly to use, so on went a big rubbery daddy longlegs. No sooner had I started to cast when the boys were squealing with glee that they had one on.

Jack’s first carp at around a pound

It proved to be the first of many, ranging from that first half-pound roach to a number of respectable five and six-pound carp, some common, some mirror and a few grass carp.

Jack, with flawless timing, declared that coarse fishing was “more fun than trout”. Cheers Jack. But I couldn’t argue with him that it was proving far more action-packed than our usual fishing experience, where we’d catch perhaps just one or two trout over a half day.

Spurred on by blind faith, I cast towards some dorsal fins slicing the water just in front of a central island. There were plenty of fish in the water but it seemed very shallow and as a result, it was a cloudy tea colour. In order to see the takes a little better, I put on an indicator just at the point where my leader started. I was able to cast quickly and accurately thanks to little wind and it was this that I thought may give me an advantage over my ‘blind-fishing’ friends.

The fish immediately went for the daddy but were swift to reject it, swifter at least than I was able to strike. Seeing how interested they were in my bright orange indicator, I chose an orange winged fly from my ‘traditional’ box. I cast again and bang – the fly was quickly sucked in.

A first for the fly man

This time I struck like lightning and the fish was off to the sound of a screaming reel. Some more shrieks from my left told me the others were doing well too, as my fish doggedly led me on a trip through weeds and sunken branches. Not for this fish the tail-walking and aerial acrobatics that I was used to seeing with trout, but he did fight sub-surface like a demon. In fact, he felt like he was twice the size until I lifted a nice common carp of a pound or so into the net. I was struck by his vibrant, orange fins and golden flanks. I hadn’t seen coarse fish up close and personal before and now the silver and pink of the rainbow trout seemed almost gaudy by comparison to these understated specimens.

Visibly hooked on Carp on the Fly

Spurred on by my first fish and the realisation that these particular carp will go for virtually anything, I varied fly, retrieve and distance for the afternoon with plenty of success. In fact we all lost count after the twenty-odd fish each that we caught that afternoon.

Whilst I did try all manner of flies, the carp seemed to be happier downing less ‘leggy’ or spiky offerings. They quickly sensed (in a matter of a second or so) if something was wiry and unpalatable and out it went. I got around that with downsizing the fly and keeping it simple. In fact I heard recently that the favoured ‘fly’ for carp is the ‘hedgehog’, a biscuity-brown fly with short, coarse hair that resembles erm.. a dog biscuit.

Not exactly the science of ‘matching the hatch’ then, more a case of ‘aping a cake’, but lots of fun for sure. Now I just need to find some coarse fisheries closer to home with a fly-rod-friendly attitude as I am well and truly hooked.