Carp reels require backing, and in most carping situations 100 yards of 20-pound Dacron is ample. On big rivers like the Missouri, or on the Great Lakes, you need 200 to 250 yards, especially if you are wading. If possible, use a large-arbor fly reel on a rod with a fighting butt.

Higher Plateau
Fly fishing for carp may not appeal to every fly fisher, but I encourage all to at least try it because there are many positive rewards. Carp are incredible and plentiful sport-fishing treasures, usually within a short drive and a 40-foot cast of most freshwater fly fishers in America. The more success I have with them, the more beautiful and valuable they become to me.

I feel that because they are so smart, spooky, and strong, catching carp requires our best skills and elevates us to a high plateau of sport angling. It’s a celebration each time we hook one.

Every opportunity I have to fish for carp, write about them, illustrate and photograph them, and teach someone to enjoy them, I thank my carpin’ mentor George Von Schrader. George appreciated and shared his love and carp expertise more than any person I know. His book Carp are Game Fish is my bible for carp fishing, especially in the greatest carpery of North America--the Great Lakes. I know George is looking down from Carp Paradise and smiling as he sees that his beloved carp are finally being recognized as a superb fish to catch on flies.

The Origins of Common Carp
Carp are native to Asia. Introduced to Greece and Italy during the Roman Empire, carp eventually spread throughout Europe during the Middle Ages. Carp were introduced to England in 1496 and to Ireland around 1625. During this time, carp were considered a gift and feast for kings and aristocrats. They soon became a cultural food and valued sportfish. In most of Europe today, carp are valued more as sport and food fish than trout.

Carp were brought to America in the 1800s to provide an additional food source. They were so valued that during election campaigns, politicians promised to stock carp in rural areas to get votes.

Gradually their food value was overshadowed as other native fish became popular and the new commercial saltwater fish market exploded. The carp’s ability to live in polluted water--where other fish could not--gave many people the impression that carp were “trash” fish. Actually, carp were displaying their superiority by being adaptable to water temperatures, chemical concentrations, low oxygen levels, and turbidity.

Because of these misconceptions, carp fishing pressure dwindled and their numbers steadily grew, aided by the decreasing populations of predators such as bass, pike, sunfish, catfish, walleye, trout, and salmon due to overharvest and loss of habitat. Without sufficient predation, carp overpopulated some fisheries, damaging habitat by excessive grazing of aquatic plants and invertebrates. Their feeding and schooling activities in shallow water often turned clear waters into muddy, turbid eyesores.

From the 1940s through the 1960s, many states implemented eradication methods including netting, rotenone poisoning, commercial fishing, and pond and lake draining to reduce carp populations. Carp recipes were even published to encourage more consumption. These tactics, in part, were and are successful.

However, because carp minnows are such important prey for most predatory freshwater fish, restoring gamefish populations through state and federal regulations is the most important factor in bringing carp in North America under control and in balance with nature.