Carp Advice

[Corb90]

Looking to get into a little carp action when the water gets warmer. I live in st. louis county and would like to keep these trips kind of close to home if possible. I love sight fishing and think it would be sweet to do it for carp this summer also just got a new 7 wt and want to get some use out of it since 90% of my fishing can be done with my 5. Can anyone give me a good general spot to stalk some carp?(without giving away your honey hole, unless you want to!) Also what flies work for carp? I've read alot about cray fish patterns and buggers.

[Wayne SW/MO]

You might look back over some of the blog, missouriflies.com

[Jason R.]

Looking to get into a little carp action when the water gets warmer. I live in st. louis county and would like to keep these trips kind of close to home if possible. I love sight fishing and think it would be sweet to do it for carp this summer also just got a new 7 wt and want to get some use out of it since 90% of my fishing can be done with my 5. Can anyone give me a good general spot to stalk some carp?(without giving away your honey hole, unless you want to!) Also what flies work for carp? I've read alot about cray fish patterns and buggers.

7wt will do it. i like black flies for carp because they work for me. Anything with lead eyes and lots of movement- size 6 hooks work well. Key for me is finding feeding carp- definitely the hardest part in my area at least.

[Feathers and Fins]

San Juan Worms or anything berry patterns work well.

[Troutnut69]

Jason hit the nail on the head...find the feeding fish and then don't worry so much about what fly you're using. Everyone has a favorite and they all work at different times and different situations. Presentation is KEY...A carp in shallow clear water won't hang around if you make an errant cast like a trout might , he's gonna be in the next county before you know what happened and he's probably taking most of his buddies with him. Check out this guy's blog for fly pattern ideas , you can find some of his own creations plus others from some of the best carp fly fishermen out there. http://www.flycarpin.com/

My favorite carp fly is a pattern along the lines of a backstabber (Jay Zimmermann carp fly). I like to tie them in olives and blacks with small red dumbbell eyes and some rubber legs as well. Good movement , hook point up , soft landing , proper sink rate for depth of water you're fishing...these are the things you want to consider when choosing the right fly for the situation.

Jeff