Carp on the Mind

My fascination with stalking carp on the fly had its genesis during the winter of 2009. I fancied pursing the carp because it's a worthy adversary, strong fighter and widely distributed across southwestern Ohio. Outings from 2010 yielded little action and no fish to hand. Frankly, my signature memory from last year's carping was spooking a very nice fish rooting around in the shallow mud, actively looking for food. Was my presentation inadequate, or even worse, fatally flawed? Perhaps I should have been more judicious in my fly selection? Canoe placement? It seemed fine at the time. Whatever the factor(s) leading to the carp bolting for deeper water, the situation underscored my neophyte status as a carp fly fisher.

Now it's 2011. A new year presents a fresh start and also offers an opportunity to rekindle the fires of passion. I'm focusing my tying efforts on producing carp specific flies on the vise -- two of my favorites being the Backstabber and Clouser's Swimming Nymph. Of course presenting a well designed fly can only be accomplished with sound fly casting mechanics. If you ever see a slightly deranged man waving a stick in the field, you can justly assume it's me practicing my accuracy casting. And if you're extremely fortunate, you might even help me with a carp grip and grin photo-op.

While fly fishing is my passion in life, I still get excited watching others execute the craft. Jay Zimmerman, designer of the Backstabber carp fly, has a great video of winter carp fly fishing in Colorado.Yes, please, I'd freeze my balls off for this.