Fly Punk - Issue 3

C
THE LURE
―Jamie Sandford ―
OF CARP
B
ased in the North-west of England I am very lucky to
have some superb fishing on my doorstep and only a
short drive from the house there is ample opportunity
for catching a variety of coarse and sea fish.
I've been an angler all my life and a big part of my fishing
has revolved around lure fishing – I've caught Pike, Perch
and I've even been lucky enough to catch Zander and
Catfish on lures abroad.
What's this got to do with Carp I here you ask? Well, What
if I told you that at the right time of year you can treat Carp
like a predator and strip lures for them? To watch a Carp
follow and turn on a Fly as it engulfs it before ripping the
backing off is a sight to behold, Intrigued!?
As a schoolboy some years ago I was fishing a local canal
for Pike, It was mid-summer and the canal was very clear.
The clarity enabled me to watch my Rapala Minnow bait
being twitched back at a healthy pace. To my surprise it
wasn’t a Pike that followed and attempted to take the Lure
that afternoon but a Common Carp of around 6lb's, and
with this image I bring you back to the present with my
findings and captures over the last couple of years.
As I have gotten older I have maintained my love of lure
fishing for Pike and many other species and in recent years
taken up Fly fishing.
The ponds local to me are stocked with a good head of Carp
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and once again whilst fishing small soft plastics mounted
on Jig Heads intended for Pike and Perch I received a
follow from a Carp, This wasn’t a one off as it became a
regular occurrence over the summer.
Slowly this started to make sense and my mind flashed
back to memories I had from the canal all those years ago.
With a bit of research from the likes of YouTube I suddenly
became aware of what anglers in other parts of the world
were doing to catch their Carp and what really grabbed my
attention was anglers from the U.S. and Europe and their
use of the Fly rod, This led me on to buying great Carp
books by the likes of Dan Frasier and Barry Reynolds.
Some of you may have witnessed Carp harassing fry in
summer and blasting through their shoals devouring
anything that happens to be sucked into that vacuum like
mouth?
Here in the U.K. when we think of Carp fishing with a Fly
rod, Pellet/Bread Flies, Nymphs and Buzzers are the usual
patterns associated, However if you open your mind to how
predatory Carp can be there is a vast array of patterns that
will catch Carp, and on the right day stripping a lure can be
just as effective.
My first lure caught Carp came on a warm summer's day
where I had taken the Fly rod with an array of floating
patterns like G&H sedges', Egg and Pellet Flies.
This particular day the Carp weren’t playing ball and I
spent the morning chasing fish that were reluctant to
take a bait off the top, insisting on sitting just under the
surface. 'Do I go home, persevere or try something else'!?
I asked myself.
I reached into my jacket and took out my Fly box, I tied
on a Sz 8 Pink Fritz Goldhead, A lure I had in my box from
a previous session fishing for Rainbow Trout, and so I
decided that if the Carp wouldn’t come to me I'd go to them
and give them something they couldn’t miss.
I made several casts in the vicinity of cruising Carp
stripping it back fast as to intercept the fish as they swam
past. An hour or so passed with no luck until I noticed
a Common Carp follow the lure in to the margin before
briskly turning away at the last minute.
This gave me the confidence I needed to carry on
and continued to cast out, stripping the lure fast and
aggressively. This was to be the cast that changed it all!
As the Lure came into my sight a Common Carp swam
straight for it, Head down, gills flaring. As I continued to
strip the last few feet of Fly line the Carp turned on the
lure, engulfed it and swam off at lightning speed. That
Carp nailed the lure like a Pike or Trout with intent and
aggression, Amazing!
All my captures have been in conjunction with using bright
pink lures with lots of flash and although I have used other
colours it's been pink that’s worked best for me!
Interestingly, Although I have caught both Mirror and
Common Carp stripping lures I have found the Commons
to show a more aggressive behaviour often willing to
follow more than once and naturally being more keen to
follow in the first place.
The Tackle I use is a Greys 8wt coupled with a matching
floating line and lots of backing on the reel. I find a leader
length of around 5ft to be ample and I often smear this in
Muscilin – I use a hook length smeared in Muscilin as I
feel it stops the fly from sinking too fast and away from the
strike zone when the lure is in front of a Carps face.
This style of fishing is something I am very passionate
about and I feel that there is a lot of scope for people
becoming more aware of the alternative methods out
there.
For me its about having no rules and experimenting using
different patterns and styles and ultimately, having fun.
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