Friday, March 12, 2010

Spring Colorado Carp on A Fly! It's Time

Warmer Weather, Short on Time, Do Some Carpin

Between a few recent Trout outings I was thinking about how soon before I could get back out Carpin again. The bite has definitely been on and an hour after work yesterday proved why I needed my Golden Bone fix for the week. Yes they're different, yes they are an acquired taste -not literally, yes they are extremely hard to catch on a fly....what better reason to get out after some Golden Bones!

Catching a Carp on a fly, for those who still haven't tried it, you need to at least try it sometime this year and see what the fuss is all about. Springtime can bring some of the best fishing of the year and since the Popularity has grown here in the Denver area, don't think the Carp haven't figured that out as well and soon become even more challenging to catch once Summer rolls around. During the winter time Carp enjoy a sluggish period of doing little to nothing and waiting for the water to warm up. That's why Spring is when to get out to chase them. They go from a "dead log" fight in the winter to all of a sudden bonefish-backing mode! By Summer you will get the best fight out of them for sure but depending on how much it's warmed up in the Spring, the fight may be just as good.

colorado carp2

Don't forget if you do get out and chase a few up in Commerce city where all the hotspots are at. Make sure you pick decent weather conditions to chase them. Optimal times would include: bright sunny days -so you can see, lack of wind, decent flows -too low and high spook factor, too high and too muddy for sight fishing, no clouds if possible for better viewing and lastly, go where the Carp are! Where is that? Patience, time and hours spent on the River will be your guide to find out that answer. You can hit REI if you want like everyone else or take your bike down the bike path in Commerce City for some real adventuring.

There's not much that helps in preparing for an upcoming
Saltwater trip, like sight fishing does. No indicator dredge fishing Allowed here, if you want to do it right, if you truly want the right experience get out for some sight fishing and see how much fun you can have.

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6 comments:

Mark said...

GOLDEN BONES!

I cannot wait to tie into my first of the year!

Troutdawg said...

With a warm spell here lately I had to get out again, this week the Carp have been a blast on a fly!

Anonymous said...

I love carp. They are great game fish and hell of a fighters!

Unknown said...

any favorite patterns? techniques? I know they eat everything but I've never caught one on a fly! would love to though!

Troutdawg said...

Yeah they definitely eat quite a bit evertything around. They are bottown dwellers for the most part and focus on crustaceans.

Favorite flies of mine inlcude crayfish patterns, stonefly patterns (my fav) and many saltwater bonefish flies.

Depending on the depth of water you may need to find the proper beadhead, or lead eye weight to get out in front without too much of a splash and also the drop ratio to get in front of them. If you can get one in front of them they should bite but the biggest tip is that you need to find the feeders, easier said than done. Sunbathers wont bite, cruisers may but not likely, it's the nose to the ground/tail up carp you need to find.

Good Luck!

Troutdawg said...

Oh yeah forgot to mention, if you see a pod, fish the small ones in the back 1st, they are not as skiddish and one bust with a big one up front spooks them all.

Rivers focus on high ground sight fishing or simply walk the bank edges for then hanging tight.

Lakes look for early spring, non spawning periods. Cottonwood seed hatches rain supreme. Grass Carp? Good luck with that, start with common/mirror 1st and make your way up to Grass since they almost never feed and extremely hard to catch.