Stalking the Golden Ghost II

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This story was originally published in the September 2008 issue of Fly Fisherman.

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I’m pleased to announce, on the 10th anniversary of the story “Stalking the Golden Ghost” [FFM, July 1998] fly fishing for carp is alive, healthy, and increasing in popularity. Congratulations to all out-of-the-closet carpers and new converts for embracing this unique gamefish.

Over the last 10 years, the art of fly fishing for carp has evolved rapidly. Today most fly fishers have some knowledge of, or at least a new respect for carp, especially if they have stalked and hooked one with a fly.

There have been numerous magazine articles, television episodes—including an episode of Walker’s Cay Chronicles I did with Flip Pallot on Great Lakes carping—, books, DVDs, and new carp flies. Some guides are even offering fly-fishing trips for carp.

As a result of these changes, I thought it was high time to update the state of fly fishing for the amazing golden ghost. The nice thing is that I no longer feel compelled to avoid that four-letter word—carp. Now I can just dive into teaching you how to be successful at finding, stalking, and hooking carp on flies.

The Origins of Common Carp

Carp are native to Asia. Introduced to Greece and Italy during the Roman Empire, carp eventually spread throughout Europe during the Middle Ages. Carp were introduced to England in 1496 and to

Ireland around 1625. During this time, carp were considered a gift and feast for kings and aristocrats. They soon became a cultural food and valued sportfish. In most of Europe today, carp are valued more as sport and food fish than trout.

Carp were brought to America in the 1800s to provide an additional food source. They were so valued that during election campaigns, politicians promised to stock carp in rural areas to get votes.

Gradually their food value was overshadowed as other native fish became popular and the new commercial saltwater fish market exploded. The carp’s ability to live in polluted water—where other fish could not—gave many people the impression that carp were “trash” fish. Actually, carp were displaying their superiority by being adaptable to water temperatures, chemical concentrations, low oxygen levels, and turbidity.

Because of these misconceptions, carp fishing pressure dwindled and their numbers steadily grew, aided by the decreasing populations of predators such as bass, pike, sunfish, catfish, walleye, trout, and salmon due to overharvest and loss of habitat. Without sufficient pre- dation, carp overpopulated some fisheries, damaging habitat by excessive grazing of aquatic plants and invertebrates. Their feeding and schooling activities in shallow water often turned clear waters into muddy, turbid eyesores.

From the 1940s through the 1960s, many states implemented eradication methods including netting, rotenone poisoning, commercial fishing, and pond and lake draining to reduce carp populations. Carp recipes were even published to encourage more consumption. These tactics, in part, were and are successful.

However, because carp minnows are such important prey for most predatory freshwater fish, restoring gamefish populations through state and federal regulations is the most important factor in bringing carp in North America under control and in balance with nature.

Carp Biology

Carp are omnivores, and are usually classified as warmwater fish. However, they also flourish in cold, temperate, and tropical environments because they can tolerate an amazing range of water temperatures—from 32 to 106 degrees F.

This is one of the main reasons carp are so successful over such wide geographical areas. This adaptability, plus their toleration of low dissolved-oxygen levels and pollution, and a diet that includes almost anything vegetable or animal, gives carp an enormous survival advantage. If there is massive global warming, carp will most likely survive it.

Fisheries research has shown carp can swim faster and farther than trout or bass of similar size. This means you usually get a stronger and longer fight from carp. If you’ve been fortunate enough to hook one, you already know this.

Carp Senses

Carp also have superior senses of smell, hearing, taste, and touch compared with trout or bass. Their eyesight is similar, but it’s not as important to them for locating food and avoiding danger. However, don’t let them see you, or you won’t be in sight of them for long.

Carp typically locate food with their discriminatory sense of smell, reported to be 100 times more sensitive than a bird dog’s. Avoid flies that have objectionable odors, such as glue or head cement. “Deodorize” your fly by rubbing it with plant material or a little muck from the stream to neutralize or obscure unnatural human odors.

When startled, carp emit a pheromone that warns other carp in the vicinity of danger. When they are physically injured, the wound also gives off a scent that scatters other carp. I’ve witnessed both these warning systems, and either usually means moving to a new section of water to find relaxed and feeding carp.

Carp have a threefold sense of hearing, where most fish have only two. First, with their inner ear they hear high-frequency sounds that we hear as noise. If you can hear it, they can too.

Second, the lateral line sensor detects low-frequency vibrations generated by objects moving in the water. With this lateral line sensor, carp can detect the direction, speed, and general size of a specific movement for up to 40 feet. They probably use this sense to locate danger more than food.

The third method of hearing comes from the Weberian apparatus, which may be unique to carp. It is a system of small bones and ligaments that connect the carp’s large, suspended swim bladder with its inner ear and brain. This apparatus detects lower and wider frequency vibrations than the lateral line sensor, and allows them to sense boat hulls, push poles, or wading anglers. They almost seem to be detecting you by premonition.

With all these sensors, and because sound is transmitted exceptionally well through water, carp can easily hear us talk and wade. Any sounds you or your equipment make can be detected and cause most carp to be alarmed and probably stop feeding, at least temporarily. Carp also have highly developed senses of taste and touch on their heads, mouth, and barbules. The skin around their snouts and noses is especially sensitive and is called tongue skin, and for good reason. As they root for live foods, anything that comes in contact with this skin is analyzed for its edible potential.

Carp lack teeth but have a tough mouth skin that is ideal for holding a hook. They capture most food by sucking it in. They then chew or crush hard-shelled foods like crayfish, clams, and snails with crushers located in their throats. Because of this lack of teeth or sharp gill plates, carp are safe to handle around their heads. However, they lack the jawbone structure needed for lipping them or using BogaGrips.

They have one sharp and serrated-edged spine on the dorsal fin. It seems a danger more to cutting tippet or tangling in landing net mesh than puncturing or cutting your hand. There’s actually no convenient handle on a carp, so use a big net or beach them, and then carefully cradle them with your hands during release.

Carp seem fairly immune to mortality from hooking and handling, and they cope well with being out of water for a short time. I call them stainless steel fish. Of the hundreds of carp my wife Emily and I have caught, we’ve never seen one go belly up after release. They usually zoom away as if nothing happened.

Carp, though quite bony, are edible but seldom eaten by fly fishers. They live long and feed on bottom-dwelling foods, so they tend to accumulate and store manmade pollutants like PCBs, heavy metals, mercury, and pesticides. Anglers in the Great Lakes and some other polluted water systems should eat limited amounts of carp, or none at all.

Carp Foods

Carp are omnivores but they prefer live animal foods such as aquatic insects, crayfish, worms, snails, clams, leeches, minnows, and fish eggs. They readily supplement their diet with aquatic plants, algae, terrestrial plant fruits, and seeds.

Carp also eat manmade foods like canned corn, cereal, bread, dog food, doughballs, popcorn, and fish pellets. Where there is high human traffic, such as around boat launches, docks, and ponds in public parks, carp can become domesticated and congregate to beg for junk food handouts.

Carp are not only smart, they’re opportunistic.

Finding Carp

Carp are designed to feed close to the bottom using their senses of smell, taste, touch, and sight—in that order. This requires that their food remains stationary or moves slowly. When water clarity is high, they occasionally use their vision to feed above the bottom on faster-moving emerging insects or schools of minnow fry.

Diehard carpaholic Bob Grey, owner of Fly & Shot Outfitters near Cincinnati, recently took us to fish for carp that were surface feeding on huge schools of gizzard shad fry in an Indiana reservoir.

Carp sometimes vacuum the surface film when there is plentiful, floating food like spent mayflies, caddis, midges, flying ants, tree fruits such as mulberries, or maple, cottonwood, and willow seeds. Occasionally I’ve taken big, aggressive carp on surface hoppers, cicadas, and small poppers while fishing for bass, panfish, or trout.

Carp seem especially attracted to wind-accumulated scum lines or scum-covered eddies where food becomes trapped and concentrated. When I locate these areas, I take a minute or two to listen for sounds of feeding, and watch for big bubbles and lips poking up through the scum.

Several years ago I located a big, foamy eddy below a dam in Texas where dozens of 3- to 5-pound carp were working. I used a 2-weight rod and size 18 parachute midge emerger to hook three before the rest spooked.

Carp are richly colored and marked, somewhat like a cross between a brown trout and a golden dorado. Although easier to see than bonefish, they can be difficult to spot without clear water and sunlight, and you’ll most likely see their movements or shadows before you see their dark torpedo forms.

Carp feed in all depths of water but it’s easiest to present a fly to them in shallow water. Three feet or less of clear water is ideal because you can accurately observe them. In clear lakes we sometimes see feeding carp down 4 to 8 feet, but getting a fly to their level and close to their mouths can be difficult.

The best places to look for feeding carp are in 1 to 3 feet of water on flats, shorelines, stream inlets to lakes, the back ends of coves, river sloughs, scum lines, and under overhanging trees that are dropping seeds or fruits. I prefer bottoms composed of sand, gravel, and/or small rock rubble because these areas usually support the most diverse supplies of carp foods. Carp like to congregate under the sunken parts of fallen tree roots, trunks, and limbs. Though they are not actively foraging there, they regularly take carefully placed flies.

Carp cruising in 4 feet or deeper water, swimming together in a big circle, basking in the surface of sunny, calm water, or noisily splashing in tight pods near the shoreline, though tempting, are not often feeding and are usually a waste of casting time.

When Carp Feed

Carp feed most aggressively when the water temperature is 65 to 85 degrees. That’s usually from mid-spring to early fall. Noisy groups of carp congregate in shallow water during late spring to spawn. If you see this rampage, avoid it, as they are not the least bit interested in feeding. Carp prefer to feed in the early morning, late afternoon, or at night but those are also the times it’s most difficult to sight-cast to them.

I prefer to fish from midmorning to midafternoon on cloudless, sunny days when I can best see them. There may be fewer carp feeding, but I’ll catch more of them than when visibility is poor.

The exception to this is when carp rise to spent mayflies at dawn or dusk. Then, their heads and backs poke through the surface and make easy targets to put the fly close and to see their takes. John Randolph has often told me about the fantastic carp and catfish dry-fly fishing he’s had on the Susquehanna when the White Flies hatch after sundown.

Carp Flies

Good carp flies imitate favorite carp foods, do not scare carp on presentation, and can be fished slowly at the depth carp are feeding. There are three basic designs: bottom flies, swimming flies, and surface flies.

Most successful carpin’ is done with bottom flies that imitate the foods carp favor in their particular waters. The best designs are bonefish-type flies (#4- 10), which make a low-impact water entry, sink promptly, and then hop, crawl, or swim along the bottom without snagging.

Crayfish flies are popular carp patterns. They’re certainly my favorite, especially my NearNuff Crayfish series. Next come the crab/crayfish/shrimplike, rubber-legged bonefish patterns, then aquatic worms and egg clusters. Based on my experiences since the first “Golden Ghost” article, I believe it’s important to have these bottom flies in three specific types of densities: Fast sinkers (III) for carp in 3 feet or more of water, medium sinkers (II) for carp in 2 feet of water, and slow sinkers (I) for carp in 1 foot of water. When a carp is in deeper water, you need a heavier fly to get down quickly, and the loud entry sound of the heavier fly is not as startling to deep-feeding fish.

As the water depth gets shallower, carp are warier. Lighter flies do not splash as much and don’t snag the bottom as easily.

It’s critical to use flies that sink close to their feeding zone—an approximately 24-inch circle in front of their heads—without scaring the carp. If the fly doesn’t quickly reach the zone, the carp will move or change direction and you’ve lost your best opportunity— always the first cast. Repeated casting spooks most carp, even if it is not obvious to you. Using type I, II, and III density carp flies significantly increases your chances of success.

When conditions are good for slow-swimming flies, have a selection of colors and sizes (#4-12) of Woolly Buggers, marabou or rabbit fur leeches, small minnow fry, and swimming nymphs such as damsels, dragonflies, and Isonychia mayfly nymphs. Tie them with the hook point up and with snag guards so you can swim them realistically through the aquatic vegetation where carp hunt.

Floating Flies

When carp are at the surface, it’s best to imitate the foods they are actually eating and, equally important, to get the fly within visual range and directly into the path of their mouths. Unlike trout, surface-feeding carp seldom notice a particular item and change direction to eat it. When carp are working on top in stillwater, I use small surface flies like midges, Tricos, spent caddis, and flying ants. Using two or three flies about 6 to 10 inches apart significantly increases your odds.

As I mentioned earlier, big solitary carp, especially downstream from tailwater dams—or carp close to cutbanks and overhanging terrestrial vegetation—rise to take hoppers, small bass and panfish poppers, sliders, and sponge spiders. These older, experienced fish have discovered the one-bite delights of grasshoppers, cicadas, crickets, big beetles, and crippled minnows, and seem to be triggered more by the fly’s plop than its visual form.

One last note on carp flies: Being able to see your fly makes it much easier to catch carp, so choose flies you can spot well both on and under the water. Flies in white, yellow, or fluorescent orange colors are easier to locate and track once they are presented. Of course, polarized sunglasses are mandatory for sight- fishing.

Stalking Carp

Harry Potter would be a master carp fly fisher because he is a wizard with a cloak of invisibility.

Bonefish, permit, and redfish fly fishers do well on carp flats because they know how to use stealth for success. When feeding in clear, shallow water, carp are spooky and cautious. If you can eliminate your scent, make no noise, and remain invisible to a carp, they stay relaxed and focused on feeding. If you or your tackle distracts or frightens them, they stop feeding or vacate the area immediately.

Fishing the same area two or three days in a row often causes these intelligent fish to temporarily abandon the territory. While Emily and I were scouting Lake Michigan flats in preparation for shooting our Walker’s Cay Chronicles episode, I located a large group of carp in an out-of-the-way, shallow cove. I hooked and landed one, and the rest left the cove. They didn’t return to that cove in the four days we shot the show.

The best ways to get within the short range needed to present a fly accurately to a tailing, mudding, or rising carp are: 1) Wait on shore or in ankle-deep water for them to approach you. 2) Wade very slowly and quietly to them. 3) Use a float tube, or other boat that can be maneuvered quietly.

It’s best to approach a carp from behind and to the side of it. If you approach a feeding carp from the front, especially one feeding into the current, it will most likely scent you just as a deer would. I wade barefoot or with felt soles to make the least amount of noise. Keep in mind that waders emit less human scent than wet wading.

All boats scare carp, especially large boats. They can feel them. The waves lapping on the sides of a boat, even if it is anchored, can alert every fish on a flat. Metal boats create the most noise. Push poles on hard lake bottoms are a guaranteed deal-breaker, as are electric motors. Wooden paddles or oars are better. If you must use electric motors, use the lowest speed and only use it intermittently.

Try not to talk or bang things around in the boat. Keep your profile, rod, and line as low to the water as you can. Don’t false-cast over a feeding carp, or pick up the fly with a jerk if it misses the target. Instead, quietly retrieve it out of the area, then pick it up. Sidearm casts are the stealthiest.

Try to make your cast and presentation when the carp has its tail up and nose down. Quietly cast within that 24-inch circle in front of the carp’s head and then wait until it uprights itself before you move the fly to attract its attention.

Move the fly with line strips only, not with the rod tip, which creates too much line commotion and results in slack line. Watch closely how the carp moves and try to detect when it notices the fly. With the rod tip low and pointed at the carp, strip slowly to see if you can detect a restriction that occurs as the carp takes the fly into its throat crushers. If it’s there, immediately make a smooth strip-strike to set the hook.

If you can see the yellow mouth open and take the fly, that’s when you’ll have your most successes.

Just describing these magical carp moments gives me goose bumps! A shallow-water hookup with a carp is exactly the same experience as with a bonefish, permit, or redfish.They explode the instant they feel the hook, and then sprint to deep water. Don’t try to stop them . . . you can’t until much later.

Carp Fly Tackle

Generally 6- to 8-weight fly tackle is most practical. Carp seldom require large flies but because they are so brutally strong and long-winded they are most pleasant to subdue on heavier fly rods. A carp will fight two to three times harder than a trout of the same size.

Low-contrast floating fly lines, such as Scientific Anglers Redfish or Bonefish lines are good for most carp fishing. The next most useful line is a transparent, intermediate sinking line for swimming nymphs, leeches, and small minnow flies. Long (9- to 16-foot), knotless leaders, especially when connected with my Zap-A-Gap knotless connection, help distance the fly line from feeding fish, and help make softer presentations. On the leader tip, add 18 to 24 inches of fluorocarbon tippet. The low visibility, toughness, and extra density give you an edge when fishing for subsurface carp.

Carp reels require backing, and in most carping situations 100 yards of 20-pound Dacron is ample. On big rivers like the Missouri, or on the Great Lakes, you need 200 to 250 yards, especially if you are wading. If possible, use a large-arbor fly reel on a rod with a fighting butt.

Higher Plateau

Fly fishing for carp may not appeal to every fly fisher, but I encourage all to at least try it because there are many positive rewards. Carp are incredible and plentiful sport-fishing treasures, usually within a short drive and a 40-foot cast of most freshwater fly fishers in America. The more success I have with them, the more beautiful and valuable they become to me.

I feel that because they are so smart, spooky, and strong, catching carp requires our best skills and elevates us to a high plateau of sport angling. It’s a celebration each time we hook one.

Every opportunity I have to fish for carp, write about them, illustrate and photograph them, and teach someone to enjoy them, I thank my carpin’ mentor George Von Schrader. George appreciated and shared his love and carp expertise more than any person I know. His book Carp are Game Fish is my bible for carp fishing, especially in the greatest carpery of North America—the Great Lakes. I know George is looking down from Carp Paradise and smiling as he sees that his beloved carp are finally being recognized as a superb fish to catch on flies.

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Dave Whitlock was a Fly Fisherman editor-at-large. His web site is davewhitlock.com.

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