Carp On The Fly
Fly fishing for carp on the shallow water flats in Central Washington should be heating up real soon. The weather experts here at Flytimes have informed me that this spring time pattern we've been in is on its way out. That translates to hot and sunny days out in the desert. The importance of direct sunlight while carpin'cannot be understated so check out the latest from our satellite before you head out.
If you are new to the "carp on the fly" game or just need to review, read this short primer written by yours truly . The word on the flats is that Kieth Meyers, a.k.a "Wrench", has forgotten more about catching carp on the fly than you and I will ever know so you should probably read his treatise on carp angling too.
Another carp guru, Jon Luke from Northwest Fly Fishing, has finally shown his secret carp fly to the world. The carp candy is now being tied commercially and is available along with a few other carp specific patterns at some of the more enlightened fly shops around the country.
If you don't like the wide open spaces of the desert or just don't have the time to get out of town that's all right too. John Montana of Carp on the Fly has been hitting the urban carp holes in and around the Portland area for months already this year. These may not be the wild crawdad eatin' variety of carp but they're on the look out for bread crumbs and fish pellets year round. John's a staunch fisher of trouts and has taken to carpin' like the proverbial fish to water. Check out his adventure with Highway Cone, the giant orange koi.
Speaking of leviathins take a look at General Sherman. Our close friend and carpin' consultant Jeff took The General on a crawdad pattern back in '04. "I was looking out into the waves and saw what I thought were two big fish nose down in the rocks. I made a long cast and put the fly right in there. When I saw that the two fish was actually one big fish move to the fly I knew that I was in for a fight." Strong work Jeff, nobody at Flytimes has seen a carp that big since then.
Our fly boxes are stocked and the boat is on the trailer, Flytimes is ready for the '06 carpin season to begin. If your stalking the flats at Banks Lake, poling your skiff through the dunes at Potholes, or otherwise hunting those bonefish of the basalt , we'll see you out there. Good luck!
1 comment:
One of the all time best blogs! Great work here WT. I especially appreciate the link to your carp lessons on westfly...I dug that out of the archives back when I was just getting started. I read that the night before a trip to the gorge and those simple lessons lead to an 11 carp day!
My only question, how do I manage an invite this year? We need to do some carping!
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