too many rookie fly fishermen are buying high end rods that are too fast for their level of casting skills. Overly weighted lines will help load a stiff rod, or dampen it, so that a hack caster can still get a fly out from under their boot. The problem is these overweighed lines land sloppy and hard on still water. I use what amounts to a 9 ½ foot 3x leader. I start with a 9 foot 2x tapered leader, trim off a foot of the tippet and then add a foot and a half of 3x fluorocarbon tippet. I add the fluorocarbon because it is so much more abrasion resistant than nylon or mono. Even the tiniest nick or abrasion will spell doom with a heavy carp and a hard strip hook set. The best still-water carp flies are sparse, simply tied and usually about 1 inch to 1¾ inches long. Most are weighted, but only slightly (they need to sink, but land in the water quietly). I prefer to use lighter weight flies when sight casting to carp on shallow flats in reservoirs; one weighing from .2 grams up to .5 grams. Many of the best carp flies are tied so that the hook point rides up to help it resist snagging in shallow water. The most effective colors are black, dark olive, brown or rusty brown. Few carp flies are obvious mimics of something in nature, but are very suggestive once they are fished. They can look like a damselfly nymph, crayfish, leech, or anything else a carp might fancy. The brilliance of
these suggestive fly patterns is not in the absence of painstaking detail, but in the liveliness, or animation once it is wet. These flies work because they take advantage of a very intelligent fish’s imagination. The two flies I use most are the Carp Bitter and the Backstabber. Taking Shots at Feeding or Cruising Fish This is the most difficult. There are two options in presentation for fish moving away from a fly caster. The first is a curve cast (side arm it and check the cast at the last minute) and either twitch the fly as soon as it sinks to the eye level of the carp, or let it sink and stall the fly and hope the fish notices it. The second option is to make a straight cast alongside the retreating fish and hope the fish turns into the fly in the natural course of its meandering. When faced with a broadside shot lead the moving carp with your cast much like wing shooting a high flying waterfowl. Make the cast and either twitch the fly aggressively past the carp’s face or slow play the fly by letting the fly sink and then giving it subtle, suggestive movements. The behavior of the carp will dictate which retrieve you use. Spooky, nonaggressive fish will call for the subtle approach. Hungry, highly aggressive fish can be a lot of fun. Try to bounce