How deep is the canal?

So exactly how deep is the canal? It's a question I've wondered for a long time. Of course, the answer is "it depends" but I now have a much better idea. With a few hours to kill on Saturday afternoon, I ran over to Fletcher's Cove to have a run at some carp. I realized immediately that the water levels were down about 3 feet. Looking towards Georgetown, I could see some mud islands poking out of the water. I realized this would mean one of two things: Either water levels would be great for sight fishing to big carp OR I'd be able to finally get a good understanding of bottom structure and depth. It turned out to be the latter. Walking south of Fletchers, you have about a quarter mile where there's still a good amount of water - to the point where you can't see the bottom - so you're talking a depth of probably 5 feet or more at normal water levels.

Once you hit a quarter mile down the canal, you get into another quarter to half mile stretch that's between a foot or two of depth, so it's likely 4-5 feet at normal water levels. Both this section and the last had a distinct "V" shaped bottom, where it was clearly deeper in the middle of the canal. There were lots of schools of shad, a few nice sized largemouths, and even the occasional carp. What had the potential for ideal sight fishing was quickly destroyed by the movement of all the fish stirring up the silt and giving you less than 6" visibility.

Moving past this, nearly the entire rest of the canal down to the foot bridge crossing at 34th St was basically dry with no more than a trickle of water in the middle of the canal. The closer you got to Georgetown, the flatter the bottom became with little to no drop off. The majority of this section is about 3 feet deep. There are a few deeper holes that are holding lots of sunfish and a couple carp around the Key Bridge.

Despite this being mostly a scouting trip, I was able to stick one fish, and it was a hefty one. Probably one of the bigger I've gotten on the canal, actually. I'm not going to hit that section of water again until the Park Service begins refilling the canal. There's too little water, and I think fishing it any more will really over-stress the fish. Next time, I'll walk north of Fletcher's. I've only hit that stretch once before and saw nothing, but all the fish in the lower stretch had to go somewhere, right? On a side note, rumor has it water levels are normal up at locks 7 and 8. I haven't checked it out myself yet, though.

Not quite carp but...

Who doesn't like seeing some serious fish porn? And it was sight fishing redfish, which is pretty similar to carp. I hit up the marshes of Louisiana with Captain Greg Moon for a few days (ok, weather only cooperated one of four days I had scheduled) and crushed it. 20-25 fish with nearly all being over 20 lbs. They averaged close to 25 lbs, with a few creeping close to the 30 lb mark. Awesome, awesome fish and awesome fishing. Read the whole story about the trip and see all of the pictures on the blog section of Find the Fishing.

Joaquin Effects

The effects of Hurricane Joaquin will be impacting our fishing for a few days at least, but it's hard to say how long with how frequently it seems to be changing directions. Few of the models still have it making landfall over the mid-Atlantic, or even anywhere in the mainland. Regardless, all the streams should be blown out for the next week at least, I would guess based on the rain we've already received. Besides the rivers just being too muddy, it would be downright dangerous to wade into any streams or rivers. The non-tidal section has predictions at the Little Falls Pump Station of the river still rising by Monday approaching flood stage. The Tidal Potomac at Georgetown is expected to approach flood stage with the next two high tides, and is expected to flood with continuing intensity at high tides through at least Monday. The predictions don't go beyond Monday yet, but I'll be keeping my eye on them. While no one wants the property damaged associated with floods, when the Tidal Basin floods, it creates some fantastic grass flats where the carp are known to come up and feed. We often see that with spring floods, but we may may not see that in the fall. Depending on how badly things flood, the river could mix with the C&O Canal, which could either let fish escape, or hopefully, bring some big fish in that get caught up in the canal. I'm thinking we won't hit those levels though.

Looking ahead at the forecasts, Saturday is definitely a wash (pun intended) for fishing of any sort, but maybe there will be a break Sunday if you have some still water you can hit. Next week should be nice, so lots of opportunities to stick with the still water or even the Canal. Hopefully the following weekend will give the waters enough time to get in some fall fishing.

Is it still summer?

I had a very busy end of the summer, but finally was able to get back on the water on Saturday. Fall made a rapid appearance last week with some fairly cool temps all week. I had no idea what to expect for the fishing.

I first hit Lock 7-8 on the Canal to tune up on sight fishing. The water was high again. In fact, I've never seen more water above Lock 8. The first section of water below 8 was crystal clear, but quickly became pretty muddy after a couple hundred yards. I could only find on fish that was mudding and visible. A few more were throwing silt, but were too deep. There were quite a few that were feeding on something off the surface, but I couldn't figure out what it would be this time of year. Needless to say, after a couple hours, I struck out and moved on to the main stem of the Potomac.

The water was lower than I ever fished before on the main stem. It was also crystal clear. I thought this might be good because the fish would stack up in some of the holds and I'd be able to see them from further away. I'm not sure if it was the low water that made it too difficult for fish to get into the normal places I find them or if the cooler temps made the shallows less appealing, but I didn't see a single fish. I'm sure it didn't help that it was overcast and windy, two things that don't help finding these guys when the bottom is dark as is. I did find tons of crawfish though. Oh, and my scale randomly broke as I was walking around.

Lastly, I went off to Fletcher's Cove. I walked for a while before I saw my first fish. As I was prepping for the delivery, an interested lady ran over to see what I was looking at and promptly spooked it. I thought for sure that would mean a skunk for the day. Luckily, a little while later, I found another fish, delivered the cast and watched it suck in the fly. Several minutes later, I landed a fish I'd estimate in the 8-10 pound range. I had one more shot before I called it a day, but couldn't coax an eat.

Carp on the South Fork of the Shenandoah River

I went out on a smallmouth float on the South Fork of the Shenandoah River this past weekend. Of course, With the possibility of carp, there was always a rod rigged up just in case we saw a feeder. We floated the section upstream of Elkton, almost at the beginning of the South Fork. Within the first 5 minutes, we saw a silt plume, and the guide handed me the carp rod. I patiently waited for the fish to turn any direction except away from me so I didn't line him. Once my opportunity came through, I got the right amount of line out, went to drop it in front of him.... and hooked my smallmouth rod on the forward cast. By the time I got it untangled, we lost track of the fish. Bummer. We saw a few more feeders, but never actually got a shot off before the fish spooked away. There were a lot of other BIG fish we saw in some of the deeper holes. It really makes me want to try a float dedicated to carp, but there probably wasn't quite enough water conducive to fly fishing for carp to make it worth an exclusive trip on this section of the river.

Lock 8 sight fishing

After exploring Violette's Lock on Sunday, I used the last hour or so of daylight to check out Lock 8 again. The water got pretty muddy, but there were still a few sections that were easily sight fished. I ended up landing one small carp around 2 pounds, and broke off a roughly 5 lb carp after he made a quick dive into some logs after being hooked. The light was low enough and casting crazy shadows that I was pretty limited in which sections I could even see fish. There were a few areas where I could catch a glimpse of a tail or see the silt plumes, but couldn't stick a fish.

Exploring Violette's Lock

On Sunday afternoon, I made the trip up to Violette's Lock (aka Lock 23) near Potomac, MD. I knew there is carp fishing in that area because one of my friends sent me a picture of a carp he caught from the area. I didn't get the intel from him on exactly where he caught the fish, and there was minimal information I could find online for carp. Go figure. It was up to me to find the fish.

I started off the day walking along the C&O Canal for about 1.3 miles. The first 3/4 of a mile was completely unfishable. The canal was completely choked off by weeds, and the height of the tow path would make landing a fish nearly impossible, but even worse, the bank was completely covered with high brush growth making casting impossible. There were also a couple kayakers paddling up the canal which would've spooked anything you wanted to fish anyway. It wasn't until the end of the stretch where the weeds started dying off and I saw a few carp behind the trees. Once the canal became fishable, I didn't see any carp, which surprised me because the conditions looked great. Shallow-ish water with a nice muddy bottom. After about a quarter mile, the water got deep to the point where sight fishing would no longer be possible unless you find fish feeding on the edge of the bank. Once it shallowed up again, weeds started choking out the canal. I didn't find any fishable spots for the entire length I walked. This time of year - especially on nice days on the weekend - I would not plan on fishing the Canal near Violette's Lock.

After that, I grabbed my waders and jumped into the Potomac. I saw someone with a spinning rod in hand walk down a little path, so I went that way instead of walking out towards the direction where people were launching kayaks. The water was surprisingly dirty given how little rain we've received. I couldn't see my feet once I was about thigh deep. It may have been silt getting stirred up from the kayak launch. Because of this, I didn't explore much on the Potomac side since I don't feel comfortable wading in water where I can't see where I'm stepping, particularly with the bottom formation of this stretch of the Potomac. Perhaps next time, I'll try going upstream of the kayak launch. Or just go with my friend that's fished it before.

BFC - Big Fletcher's Carp

I got out for a couple hours on Friday afternoon after work. Given my limited time, I decided to simply hit the Canal by Fletcher's Cove. I found one carp right off the bat and got him to the net, ringing in around around 5 lbs. Moving on down the canal, I saw a big silt plume and found a big fish to match. A couple casts in, I get it to eat, but it only stings the lip of the fish. I figured game over for that guy. Surprisingly, it kept eating. This fish would poke at the bank, move along 10 feet, and eat again. I chased this fish for nearly a quarter mile making casts and getting ignored. Finally, I decided there was no way he'd eat the fly he already tried (I should have realized this from the beginning) and switched to a different color. The first cast with a pink bug and he inhaled it. I fought the fish for about 25 minutes before an onlooker gave me the assist with netting the fish. Surprisingly, this fish never took me into my backing, but it would not let me gain an inch. Every time I got it 20 feet out, it would take back 30 feet of line. It rang in at 14 lbs. I need to stop using 3X tippet in this section of the canal.

95 Degree Pay Dirt

I hit the section of the C&O Canal between Fletcher's Cove and Georgetown this weekend with my friend Nick from TwoFisted Heart Productions. We had some success, but we had a lot more mistakes. I landed a nice 8 lb carp and Nick one just shy of 6 lbs. We lost a heck of a lot more between broken tippet and missed hooksets. The carp activity was great until about 11 AM, then it became almost impossible to find anything until about 1 PM when the fish started showing up in the shadows again. Our best guess is with the super hot temps and bright sun, the fish went deep when the sun got straight overhead. It was hard work trekking a total of about 12 miles along the canal in 95+ degree weather, but at least we hit our pay dirt.

All pictures are courtesy of Nick!

Carp on the Canal with a snakehead bonus

I got a couple hours yesterday to run out on the C&O Canal after some carp. I fished a different section than usual - from Georgetown to Fletcher's Cove. This is about a 2.5 mile stretch with minimal opportunity for true sight fishing (I'll get to what that means) outside of mulberry season, but lots of huge fish. Most of this section of the canal is too deep to see bottom, so the sight fishing here is really just finding "bank diggers," which are what I call the carp that are nosing against the banks looking for food. All you need to do is walk along the bank and keep an eye out for muddy water or slight surface disturbances emanating from the bank. The muddy water is the best indicator, but you usually can't see it as far away as the water disturbances. The water disturbances are easily seen and can be from the tail of the carp pushing water or even the back of the fish breaking the surface, but they can also be false alarms from sunfish or frogs. Either way, keep your eyes peeled even if you don't see either sign of a carp - some of them aren't mudding, but are still actively looking for food. Once you find the mud, look for the fish before doing anything. Once you locate the fish, you usually get one shot to drop your fly in front of it's mouth.

You might seen some other obvious signs of fish that are in the middle of the canal (air bubbles from when the carp takes a mouthful of silt), but that fishing gets tough since you need an indicator and have no idea how deep it is out there.

Yesterday, I saw 6 fish total, but only bagged one. I started out with the carp fly I typically use on the Potomac. I spooked the first two, then pulled the fly out of a fish's mouth. After I spooked one more with the Potomac fly, I switched to my normal, unweighted C&O special. The very next fish I saw ate and I got a good hook set. Without even slowing down, he took me out to about 25 yards of backing deep before I could turn him. After another 5 minutes or so, I brought him to the net and he weighed in at just over 9 lbs on my scale. Pardon the terrible carp selfie - no one passed by for me to get to take a picture again.

As a bonus, on the way back to my car, I saw what looked like a bait ball you would see going after pelagics, but with really small reddish-orange fish. Peering in, I saw a snakehead. I quickly switched over to a clouser minnow, dumped it into the fray, and got startled to all heck when I saw a second snakehead come out of nowhere and slam my fly. Unfortunately, the fight with what would have been my first ever snakehead was pretty short lived and my line broke after about 15 seconds. I lost sight of the second snakehead and couldn't draw one back out and elicit another strike. I later learned that what I saw wasn't actually a bait ball, but was almost certainly a snakehead "nest" of their fry. Apparently both the mother and father guard the fry and the strike on my fly was to protect the fry themselves. Pretty cool! The quality of the picture is mediocre since it was with a cell phone through my polarized glasses. Hopefully next time I'll have my big camera with the polarized lens on deck.

Cacapon Golf Course

So this isn't exactly a report on how good the fishing was, but instead how good it might be. I was at my buddy's bachelor party this weekend, and we hit the golf course at Cacapon Resort State Park in West Virginia. Of course, as we're going by the ponds (I somehow managed to avoid getting in them!), I notice a surface disturbance. The water was chocolate milk, and you had less than 6 inches of visibility, but that didn't stop me from seeing the tails of carp waving as they were picking stuff off the edges and bottom of the ponds. I'm fairly certain I even saw some sort of koi. I have no idea what else it could have been - they had fairly long and "frayed" dorsal, anal, and tail fins, and were more black in color versus the orange/gold you typically see on a carp.

If you're up for some golf course pond fishing (and I have no idea if it's legal there), give it a shot. The fish looked pretty big. Bring some small nymphs and a strike indicator and hold on!

Reflections from 100 Fly Fishers

Recently, I was featured in a book about fly fishermen (and women!) from around the country called Reflections from 100 Fly Fishers. The book contains a one page "blurb" about each of us. There are some interesting tips and tricks in there, as well as some great short stories. Best of all, the proceeds benefit Casting for Recovery and Project Healing Waters. You can get a copy on Amazon.

Reflections from 100 Fly Fishers is a beautiful collection of fly fishing memories and tips from over 100 top guides and fly fishers from across the globe. All profits support the Casting for Recovery and Project Healing Waters Missions.

Potomac Hunting

Two days on the Potomac and nothing to show. I found more carp yesterday on the Potomac, unfortunately, I only found them once I spooked them off. I didn't find any fish in the "normal" carp holes I fish, but I of course stumbled across them (literally) in places I don't normally see them. I've still yet to see the monsters I saw last summer, but my friend went out yesterday and said he saw one that looked to be approaching 40 inches.

Summer Flows

We are finally seeing some normal summer flows on the Potomac. I decided to check it out to see if I could find any monsters in last year's haunts. I saw one fish in the few hours I was out there, and it wasn't eating and I think I heard it laugh when I took a shot at it anyway. Oh well. At least I caught a few smallmouth. I wish the Potomac was easier to wade so I could cover more ground.

I did poke my head over to the C&O Canal, but didn't fish it. Water levels seem back to relative normal between Lock 7 and 8. Above lock 8 has nothing more than a trickle in it, but I never fish there anyway.

Still seeing abnormal conditions

The canal is still a bit off as of last weekend. Lock 7-8 is still high enough to be using the overflow, and Lock 6-7 is still dirty, but not as bad as last time. The water level there also seems to have dropped by 6 inches to a foot, so a lot of fish holding places were just a hair too shallow. I found a pod of about 15 carp sitting under the overflow discharge at Lock 7, and for fun, threw a fly at them. I got one to eat and landed him, but didn't bother trying for another because the landing process was a disaster. I had to high stick the fly line over a tree that was taller than me holding up the fly line, then I had to fight with the insanely tall bank. If I hadn't just recently bought a net with a retractable 48" handle, I never would have landed him. I got one more on a different section of the lock, with the net again saving me. For the most part, there weren't a ton of feeding fish today. The vast majority of fish I saw were simply relaxing under trees. Everyone once in a very great while, you'll get one of them to eat, but most of the time when you see one hanging out, it's a waste of time to throw at it.

I got a couple great pictures, but I forgot to download them off my camera and won't have access again for a few days. I'll update with those.

Makeshift Strike Indicators

When I found myself with all my strike indicators sitting at home in a situation that required one for success, I thought about how I could improvise. Thinking about the times I accidentally catch a leaf, I remembered how well it floated, but how it made casting hard. I came up with a great way of saving the day of fishing with my makeshift strike indicator. I plucked a blade of grass and tied the grass itself to my leader using an overhand knot. The grass will slide down the leader, so you'll need to have a surgeon's knot (or whatever your favorite knot it) connecting your tippet to give the grass a stopper. Tie your tippet the right length, leave the tag end of your surgeon's knot just a little longer than normal, and you've got a makeshift strike indicator! It's not the most durable, and it won't float back to the surface if you sink it, but grass is nearly unlimited in supply, it won't splash at all, and doesn't impede your casting. In a pinch, it can save the day!

A blade of grass can serve as a makeshift strike indicator in a pinch!

Ingenuity Saves the Day

With the recent rains, every stream in the area is completely blown out. I haven't found a lake/pond/reservoir in the area yet with good wading or shore access to carp spots, so I'm "stuck" fishing the C&O Canal for now. Of course, the canal was chocolate milk. We're talking 6 inches of visibility or less. I could see obvious signs of the carp - silt plumes contrasting with the muddy water - but aside from the occasional fish surfacing for a few seconds, I couldn't see one to save my life. I realized if I wanted to catch a fish, I had to throw an indicator. Of course, I open up my fly box and remember I lost my last indicator in that box last time I was out, and I didn't bring the replacements. I also realize I don't even have so much as a popper or a dry fly to drop my nymph off. Bummed out that I probably wasted a trip, I got desperate and relied on some good old fashioned ingenuity to create a makeshift strike indicator. I grabbed a blade of grass and tied it in a knot above my tippet. I test cast, and it worked. First cast to a fish, I see the twitch of the grass, and boom! I'm on. I popped that one off, though, after a couple minutes. Next fish gets to the net - a nice 6.5 lb well colored fish. The following one breaks me off on a branch. My last fish of the day was a monster. I never saw his whole body - only his tail. This guy went off on a tear and I had no way to slow him down. He zigged around a branch almost immediately and kept pulling line. He zagged again around a second branch. My fly line is completely gone, and I'm dipping deep into my backing. I can see him splashing at the surface almost 100 yards down the canal, wrapping around at least a third branch. I've never had a carp take me that far into backing before. At this point, the fish must have wrapped himself enough times that he could put enough slack to throw the hook, leaving me with the slow, sad process of reeling in 100+ yards of slack backing and line.

A day of frustration

I found myself with a few hours after work on Friday to hit the C&O canal.What a day. I have never had more shots and more fish eat or attempt to eat in such a short period of time. Unfortunately, it was almost all frustration. In the few hours I was out there, I had well over 30 fish come at my fly. I landed one. I had three fish break me off, and I pulled the fly out of the mouth of three more fish's mouths on the hook set. The rest of the fish just annoyed me. They were spooking like crazy just as they were about to eat. I even tried my normal trick of dealing with spooky fish by changing up colors, but it didn't help. Maybe it was something to do with the kids that were running through and lobbing bobbers and heavily weighted worms at every fish they saw. I also ended up with a tiny warmouth that stole my fly from the face of a carp. I've caught plenty of varieties of sunfish in the canal before, but this is the first warmouth.

Virginia Grass Carp

One of my friends had me get out with him on Sunday to chase some grass carp, and hopefully show him how to catch them. We went out to a reservoir in the middle of no where in the western part of Virginia to hunt our quarry. I started off with the same nymph I used during my last outing in South Carolina. I managed a couple nice sized sunfish, crappie, and largemouths, but I couldn't get the grass carp to eat. After a few fish ignored the fly, I threw on my favorite beetle pattern in size 12. It didn't take long before I got a refusal. Next shot, the fish tips up, and sucks it in. I set the hook and break the tippet.

I tie back up and go at it, this time with a size 14 or 16. I see a few more fish coming along, drop the beetle right in front of it and I get another sip from a 15-20 lb grass carp. This time, the tippet holds. The fish fought exactly like a typical grass carp - an initial brief run before letting me bring it in, then taking a hard 20-30 foot run whenever you try to net it. Unfortunately, after 5 minutes, I misplayed the fish and raised my rod tip to try to help my friend get a shot at landing him. I didn't know the hook had bent ever so slightly under the weight of the fish, and the angle I gave the line was just enough to pop the hook out of the fish's mouth.

I was a little unprepared for the trip - I tried running to Orvis to get more beetles the day before, but they closed just before I got there. That was my last beetle pattern, so I bent the hook back into shape and hoped for the best. Unfortunately, that fly was gone. I got another fish to suck down the fly, but this time, the hook almost straightened completely.

We called it a day not too much longer after that and headed off to the Shenandoah to try to find some common carp. Our venture was unsuccessful though - the water was a little too high, fast, and dirty to get many places safely.

Don't forget to check out our article for more tips on fly fishing for grass carp.

Friday Afternoon Carp

I got a couple hours to hit the C&O Canal late on Friday. Conditions were so different than normal. My favorite stretch, between Lock 7 and 8, had water about 2 feet higher than normal. Most of the water became too deep to actually sight feeding fish. I only got one legitimate shot at a carp in that whole stretch. I kept walking towards Lock 6 in search of more fish. Water levels there were slightly low. I usually don't have many shots in this section, but for whatever reason, they were all over the place. I ended up pulling in three. No one walked by while I had any of the fish in the net, so I only got some basic in-the-net pictures. Unfortunately, I missed one mammoth, probably pushing 20 pounds. He was just hanging, so may not have eaten anyway, but I dropped the fly right on his nose and he wasn't a fan.

Carps Revenge

I found a couple spare hours Saturday afternoon to get back out to the canal to get one last shot at the mulberry hatch and to hopefully enact my revenge upon the fish that broke me off. The season is really done now. I only saw about four fish in the 2.5 hours I got on the water. I broke two of them off. Ugh.

Mulberry Hatch

I fished the mulberry hatch with my friend Aaron yesterday on the C&O Canal right in Georgetown. It was my first time ever fishing that stretch of the canal, and the first time ever fishing the mulberries. What an experience! Of course, the fish weren't in thick under most of the trees, despite a steady drop of berries, but I still managed some success anyway. The total to the net in a half day was 3. I broke off one big boy that would have been a great fish. Aaron also broke off a fish after he set the hook so hard, I thought he was going to backcast it into the trees behind us.

The story of the day, though, was my last fish. I found a section where I saw a bunch of big fish feeding. I was fishing near the south side of the old boat (the "barge" which was tugged by donkeys in the old days) in the end of the canal, and didn't have a good game plan for landing a fish. I was about 12 feet off the water, with a narrow stretch of about 5 feet of water between me and the boat. I literally have no idea how I landed this fish, because nearly everything possible went wrong, but I still managed to get it to the net. Once I hooked it, it went on a hell of a run and of course made a sharp left around some bridge pilings. He had no thoughts about slowing down, and I started seeing my fly line getting low. I contemplated for a minute breaking him off on purpose because I was afraid he'd sever my backing and I'd lose the whole line, but I decided to press on and hope it held. I saw almost 100 feet of backing out of the rod tip before I stopped the fish, and luckily the backing held against the bridge. Just as luckily, the fish decided to come back around the correct side of the pilings to not completely wrap me up. But it wasn't over yet. Once I cleared him of the boat, the fish decided to swim around the other side of the boat, promptly getting the leader stuck on the boat itself. At that point, I had to do some passing the rod to myself around some trees, climb up on the bridge and walk across, and somehow popped the line free. At this point, there's a good 25 people watching this spectacle. Finally, the fish was getting tired, so I walked him down to the end of the lock where there was only a foot or two to reach into the water and was able to scoop him up to the cheers of the crowd. I felt the leader, and it felt like I was running my hand over sandpaper. I still have no idea how it held up.

Sucking a mulberry off the surface

This turtle was waiting for his chance too

So close to an eat... but he refused 

Grass carp on the fly rod

I pulled off another grass carp on the fly rod this past weekend. It measured 37" and I'd estimate 30-35 lbs. Online weight calculators agree. The fight was pretty disappointing, with only a couple hard runs. He came out of a community pond in Bluffton, SC. Grass carp are crazy difficult to get on the fly. If you're going to target them, be sure to check out my post on how to catch grass carp on the fly rod.

Phoenix Carp Fishing

After a conference in Arizona this past week, I found myself with some spare time for fishing. I hit up The Hook Up Outfitters for a couple trips, one being some urban carp fishing. My guide, Dale, took me to the Crystal Gardens, which is a community development with a bunch of ponds stocked with all kinds of carp and koi. Over the half day, he taught me the tricks to getting them to eat, and I pulled in about 5 fish. I went back out on my own the next afternoon and even more. Here's a few pictures, with some pointers for doing it yourself after the jump.

Urban Fly Fishing for Carp in Phoenix

Where to Fish

We hit the Crystal Gardens. This is a community where the ponds are open to the public. You can walk around every pond on the map. You need is a freshwater license. All of the ponds have fish. I only had time to explore a few of them. The ponds all range in size and, at least this past weekend, in water clarity. Some are crystal clear, while others have a foot of visibility or less. My favorite was the pond by the playground because it was one of the crystal clear ones.

What to Catch

There are several different kinds of fish in these ponds. The most common are a type of koi, but don't ask me to break down the species of koi because I have no idea. You'll find lots of different colors though. There's also a healthy population of common carp, with my guide witnessing one catch of a mirror carp. I saw a couple grass carp as I was walking around, too. Of course, there are a bunch of smaller largemouth bass in the 10-14 inch range. I'm sure in the next year or so, they'll keep growing to a decent size, but with the general lack of cover, I doubt you'll run into monsters.

Tackle to Bring

We used 5 and 6 weight rods. The fish are all nice sized, but not are huge, and there are few obstructions from which you need to muscle them away. No need to bring big rods for these guys. Check out my post on picking the right equipment for carp. Leaders need to be VERY light. These fish are spooky. You'll need to run 6X tippet or smaller. I caught all the fish on small egg flies. Orange was the most productive color for me, but pink and yellow also worked. I tried a hare's ear for a little while, but visibility was too much of an issue. I'd suspect a San Juan Worm or something similar would work too, but I never tried it.

Technique to get the Eat

The bad news is these are SPOOKY fish, and you probably have a legitimate shot at around 5% of the fish you will find. The good news is you will find hundreds off fish. To have success, all you need to do is walk around the ponds. Most of the fish swim counter-clockwise, so I walked clockwise. The ponds have a few feet of gentle sloping flats and drop off to about 4 or 5 feet deep about 10 feet out. You'll generally find several different behaviors:

• Fish eating algae off the edge of the wall
• Lone fish (sometimes a pair) poking along the ground on the flats for food
• Small schools of 4 or 5 fish slowly cruising along the edge of the flats or coming onto the flats
• Enormous pods of 50-100 fish cruising along

These fish are spooky. Have I mentioned that already? No? These fish are spooky. In the more clear ponds, they're more spooky. The technique is generally the same for all of the situations, except the wall eaters. Find the closest feeding fish (the further away you can accurately cast to it, the better) and figure out it's relative depth. The eggs sink slowly, so you'll need to lead it enough to have enough time to get it in front of the fish's face. On the first day, I used a tiny bit of split shot to help get it down, but on the second day, the splash would spook the fish. 

When these fish want the fly, they'll swim a few feet for it, so you don't need to be perfect - but you should still try. If the fish looks like he should have seen the fly, but doesn't eat, I found stripping it a few inches would sometimes get them to come after it. Even still, you'll probably have 80% of the fish being completely uninterested in it, and 10% refuse it last second. The remaining 10% are the ones you're looking for. If the fish ignores your offering, move on. There will be many more shots in these ponds. After the closest fish ignores it, go for the next closest. If they're grouped together tightly, you'll need to be careful casting to the next fish. Once one fish spooks, they'll often spook out the entire group. This is especially important on your first cast to the large pods of fish.

When you find a fish eating against the wall, you need to take a slightly different tactic. These guys will often be poking their mouth completely out of the water. They're generally keyed in on algae and pond scum, so you'll have a more difficult time getting it to eat. Your best bet is to gently drop it as close as possible to the fish, and hope you time it well between when he's coming out of the water to eat and when he ducks under to move a few inches down the wall.

Final Word

This should give you enough information to get out there and duplicate my success. It's always a riot catching fish in an an urban setting - in my opinion anyway. Next time you're in Phoenix, swing by Crystal Gardens and let me know how it goes!

Gearing Up for Carp

A frequent question I get when talking to people about carp fishing or taking them on the hunt is "what gear do I need?" This is one of those "it depends" questions, but I can give you some general guidelines to get you started. Here's my personal gear list for Washington DC carp fishing:

• 7-weight Orvis Helios 2 Rod
• Mirage Reel
• Weight Forward Floating line
• Either nylon leaders or fluorocarbon leaders with 3x tippet
• Strike Indicators
• Flies (obviously)

Let's look at each piece and what's important for you.

Rod

This is I use a 7-weight Orvis Helios 2. The 7-weight is my go to rod size for most of my fishing in the area, but I think it's a great rod for carp specifically. In the end, you need to size your rod for the most common scenarios you'll find on the water. If you're mostly getting into small fish, then you will be fine with a 5-weight. But, it the majority of fish in your local water are 10-15 lbs or more, you'll need to throw a 7- or 8-weight. Consider water speed as well. Are you in still water or a river? A fish with access to fast current can quickly make a 5 lb fish fight like it's a 20 lb fish constrained to a pond.

Fishing the Potomac, you can run into some big fish (20 lbs plus) with quick access to fast water that will easily work out a 7-weight and could even leaving you wanting a little more. Some of those fish will make you wish you had a 9-weight, but the frequency of finding those are pretty limited and not worth overpowering the more common sized fish. 

In the C&O Canal, the majority of the fish are much smaller. You're typically finding 3-6 lb fish in that water, with a few bigger ones in some sections. With these, you can easily get away with a 5-weight, but I still like throwing the 7-weight because of the tree litter that's scattered throughout the canal. When one of these fish take a hard run towards a tree, you want a rod that has enough backbone to turn him around. You will find yourself having to be a little more delicate with a lower weight rod and might lose an extra fish or two.

I really like fishing my Helios. It casts great and has a great feel. It's a bit on the pricey side though, and frankly, the fish don't care how much you spent. For a lower cost alternative, try the Orvis Recon. I have fished this rod and it's incredible. It's probably even a step above the original Helios. The most important part of picking a rod for carp - or really any fish - is finding one that's comfortable in your hand that you can cast accurately and consistently.

Reels

Reels always blow my mind. They can get so expensive for something that simply holds line. For big, saltwater fish, I can see the need for the sealed drag and added expense. But I do have to laugh when people have $600 reels for brook trout. That being said, I go with an Orvis Mirage reel. Generally, carp will fight hard. You'll run into one on occasion that likes to think it's a roll of wet paper towels, but generally these guys pull know how to strip some line off. Getting something as high end as the Mirage isn't necessary if you're only carp fishing. If you're fishing in an area with bigger fish or faster current, you'll want something that has a good, stout drag, but still no need to go crazy. You aren't chasing Giant Trevally in Christmas Island with this rig. If the majority of your fish are smaller, you can scale down on the expense of the reel fairly safely since you'll be able to play those fish off the reel.

Line

This is probably the least important item. I've seen special carp tapers. In my opinion, that's completely unnecessary. Any floating line that you can cast well and shoot a few feet will be more than sufficient.

Leaders and Tippet

I use a different leader and/or tippet material based on the situation. At it's most basic, fluorocarbon sinks and nylon tends to float - or at least sink much slower. So, in situations like the C&O Canal where I need to keep the fly higher in the water column, I typically use nylon. Elsewhere, I'll use fluoro. I usually go with 3x tippet, but really only because it was what I had tied on the first time I went carp fishing. On occasion I'll use bigger tippet material if I grab that spool first. I haven't noticed the carp in the DC area to be leader shy, so I'm sure you can get away with bigger if you need to. I know that's not the case everywhere, so play around with leader diameter if you're getting a lot of refusals.

Strike Indicators

I rarely use strike indicators. The majority of my fishing is pure sight, but there are situations, particularly in the C&O Canal where I have no choice but to use them. I still hate them though. They're annoying to attach, are splashy, and often spook the fish. My solution to that is Skips Turn On Indicators. You can attach them and remove them from the line in seconds without having to cut off your fly. They're highly visible, and actually are relatively delicate landing on the water with a soft cast. If you must use them, I'd recommend using those.

Flies

I could write an entire post about carp flies alone. But, you'll want to imitate what the carp are eating in your local waters. There's no "magic" carp fly, but there might be one for your body of water. The standard/traditional carp flies or a San Juan Worm work well in most bodies of water, but it doesn't substitute matching the harch. If the carp are near a mulberry tree and the berries are dropping, you guess it! You should throw a mulberry fly. If there in a muddy bottom area, they're probably rooting up nymphs. Muddy water? Try something bright for high visibility. Rocky bottom? They'll happily take a crayfish imitation. Just explore your local waters, and experiment a little bit. 

Disclosure: The links in this article are affiliate links. If you click them and buy the item, I get paid a commission. That being said, I've only linked to items I personally use because I think they are the best. I don't link to anything that I wouldn't buy myself.

Spring Fish

Its been a few weeks since my last post. Great precedent for a new blog, right? Well I got married at the end of March and then went on my honeymoon for a couple weeks, so surprisingly enough, I had a couple other things to prioritize over fishing. For once. Side note: tried for the might Giant Trevally in Bali. Lots of work, no luck.

Anyway, I was surprised with a beautiful day yesterday and the Potomac is completely blown out, eliminating any possibility of shad, so I hit up the C&O Canal for a few hours. As usual, it was completely unpredictable fish. Lot of fish lounging around without the slightest interest in eating. There was also a nasty green algae film covering the bottom of the first couple hundred yards or more. I finally got into some fish, and what do you know? The colors they had been going crazy over last month hardly even got a second look. After switching back to the tried and true green, I started getting the action. I ended up nailing four in total, but lost what looked like the biggest one of the day after he made an immediate beeline into some brush and broke me off.

Fish selfies are hard enough. When you have your 55mm lens hooked up, it gets much harder. 

These fish just hang out and have absolutely no interest in eating anything.