A large part of becoming a successful Carp fisherman has to do with being properly prepared and making the right decisions. When someone says “I’m
doing everything right but I’m still not catching these fish” our response is
you’ve missed something in the planning or execution. We’ve summarized
a simple but detailed list of 30 little things that count.
1. Never cast to a carp...cast past it if it is rooting around, or out in front of it if it is moving...then draw your fly to the fish.
2. Carry several sizes of your favorite patterns - muddy water allows for bigger imitations sometimes including flash, low clear conditions require smaller more innocent patterns sparse of flash. You need weighted and un-weighted versions of your subsurface flies.
3. Leader of 8 to 10-feet are ideal in most lake or river situations.
4. Always pull or strip set after a carp takes before elevating the rod.
5. You want sunny clear days with minimal wind- fish early or late.
6. Constantly check your leader for knots and abrasions and rebuild it when you find one.
7. What you do after your fly is in the water is more important than your cast! Move the fly in front of the fish making it easy for him to eat!
8. Pick you shots but cast fast! More often than not, the window of opportunity is very short…if you can’t see the fish, you can’t cast to it! If you’ve got time on you side take it waiting for the carp to move to an advantageous position.
9. Always have some line off the reel and your fly in hand…and be ready!
10. Stealth in approach cannot be over emphasized - slow and soft walking.
11. Unless you know where the fish are blind casting is wasted time.
12. The weight of the fly is very important - heavily weighted flies will spook fish in shallow water.
13. Wearing drab clothing is always a smart decision.
14. Hook sets are often relatively intuitive and patience is critical. Many "missed" carp are due to premature hook sets.
15. The distance threshold at which you fish can be quite variable, ranging from 10 to 50 feet. It’s a function of conditions and fish behavior, and can change daily.
16. Have the discipline not to fish to every single carp you see. Pick your battles and focus on specific fish that may be actively feeding or are displaying aggressive body language.
17. Don't fish a leader length, fly size, or rod you are uncomfortable with.
18. Find the head of a feeding fish and cast off to the side in the direction you think he is headed
19. Consider fishing with two flies - use different styles and sizes spread 24 to 30-inches apart.
20. Persistent ultimately pays off, but keep moving and looking for opportune targets.
21. Feeding carp are easiest to present flies to in areas of from one to four feet of still or slow-moving waters.
22. Carp feed most aggressively at water temperatures between 65 and 80 degrees
23. Impart just enough movement in your retrieve so that the carp notices the offering
24. Carp are incredibly sensitive to taste and smell. Before you use a fly for the first time rub it with mud or algae
25. Every day is an adventure in terms of what Carp might be is in the mood for - change flies until you find out.
26. Wear good gasses and learn how to spot fish – watch for tails and mud clouds
27. Spooked fish may hang around but they are not about to take your fly
28. In bright sun carp will pull off the flats between 10:00 and 11J) am
29. If you get a refusal to a well-presented fly go smaller.
30. If possible stay out of the water and fish from the bank.
Flex Spex (One Small Great Idea Amongst a Herd of Idiocy) …let me tell you about one man (and his daughter) making a simple, but very cool new gadget for us fishermen. Flex Spex he calls them. Sure, there are a ton of different magnifying lenses available already...
Smallmouth bass off the rocks! April is a great time to find these hard fighting fish in close to shore at most of our larger reservoirs. Rob Kolanda likes to throw one of his infamous Bellyache Minnows on a long leader. These flies are tied with a large tungsten belly weight, giving them a real minnow shape, but more importantly they will sink quickly to get down over any drop-offs just off the edge of rocks and rip rap...deadly for bass and walleye! I went out with him the other day and he had two good smallmouth in hand before I could finish my first cast and retrieve! All I could do was give him the finger from down the bank and then try to butter him up in 
order to get a fly from him...jerk. 
Once we have a few warm, sunny days in a row we will begin seeing all warm water fish start moving into the shallower water. Look for bass holding tight to cover, sometimes they will be buried into some real thick stuff along the banks. Move slowly, wade only if you have to and use weighted, sub-surface flies.
Checked out all the local lakes looking for carp on the move the other day. Saw a few in the afternoon, but was having a lot of blank looks. As a last resort I stumbled down to the St. Vrain and looked around. Found one pool with a few active fish, but the water was low, cold and the carp were spooky. I gingerly cast to several fish only to spook them as soon as I moved my rod to cast. So I backed off, got low in the brush and waited. Just before dusk I saw the shadow of a big fish (over 20 pounds!) moving up in the pool and I let the current take my black leech Backstabber carp fly out to her....
Read The Story Micro-Streamers for Early Season Bass Sure can't wait for Spring and bass fishing!" How many times do you hear your fishing buddies say that as it is dumping snow in the first week of March? "About a month away" they will tell you. Bullshit. Largemouth bass will feed under the ice...they just move slower...
Read The Story Rise of the Urban Angler I have heard that the rise of the urban angler has to do with the recent decline in our economy. We can not afford to chase “real” sport fish, so we are forced to catch bass out water hazards and carp out of irrigation ditches. We are poor, awful wretches scrabbling for fish scraps in what amounts to an open sewer. Whatever...
Read The Story Sometimes Ya Just Gotta Swim... How many times can you remember standing along the bank of a river or shore of a lake looking longingly to a run, eddy or far shore wishing you could get a cast that far, or be standing there instead of where you happened to be at the moment? You have just the spot picked out that you believe would be the best place to cast from, too. But, for whatever reason, you can’t get there…
Read The Story Spring on Boulder Creek In mid March when the water temperature reaches 40 degrees the trout will move out of their winter holding lies, spread out in the creek and begin feeding more actively. From this point on the water temperature will continue to rise. Once the temperature reaches the mid 40’s and the flows are still low (25-35 cfs) the “spring window” officially opens…
Read The Story The Best Flies for Carp Carp will take all manner of flies depending on the availability of food sources. At times dry flies imitating mayflies or midges or terrestrials are the ticket. Other times it's subsurface patterns including streamers, nymphs and crustaceans...
Read The Story 30 Tips to Make You a Better Carp Angler A large part of becoming a successful Carp fisherman has to do with being properly prepared and making the right decisions. When someone says “I’m doing everything right but I’m still not catching these fish” our response is you’ve missed something in the planning or execution. We’ve summarized a simple but detailed list of 30 little things that count... 
Read The Story Take Your Medicine Yes, it has been agreed upon...Colorado is beautiful and it is great to live here. But most of us still have to spend the vast majority of our time locked away indoors. Stuck behind a computer or in a cell-like cubicle. Even us in the fly fishing industry...
Read The Story The Chironomid Solution Rarely will you hear midges or chironomids brought up in a conversation about carp fishing. It is well known among carp fishermen that these fish are willing to eat just about anything. This is why they can survive almost anywhere and be hard to take advantage of. I prefer to use carp flies that mimic larger prey, such as crayfish and leeches. This choice in fly selection has to do a lot with my approach to carp fishing. I like to cover as much water as possible...
A large part of becoming a successful Carp fisherman has to do with being properly prepared and making the right decisions. When someone says “I’m
Rob Kolanda and I were bass fishing just north of Boulder the other day...the fishing was good, but we discovered that bull frogs will eat your bass fly if you're not careful! Kermit took a chartreuse Belly Ache Minnow. He was released unharmed...although Rob did comment about the meatiness of the hind legs.
We got a fresh batch of Backstabber carp flies in from Umpqua Feather Merchants! Just in time for the beginning of really great carp fishing here on the Front Range. I use this carp fly almost exclusively...with much success!