If you look closely, you'll often be able to see carp cruising just below the surface. If they are close enough to reach with your casting ability, cautiously cast ahead of the fish. Let the fly lie still until the carp is close enough to see it. Then lightly twitch the fly once or twice and then be ready to strike when it is sucked in. One error I made was striking too soon. When you see the fly disappear, wait a few seconds and then strike. Be ready for a surprise when the strongest fish you have ever hooked takes off.

Most trout fishermen think their favorite fish is the most elusive, but from my experience the carp is far more shy and elusive than any species of trout or any other species I have caught on a fly rod.

If you see a pod of carp feeding you must approach to within casting distance much more carefully than with trout. You cannot cast directly to the fish but if in a moving stream, cast so the fly gradually floats to the fish. In still or quiet water, observe the direction in which carp are feeding and then cast far enough ahead of them so they aren't alarmed. When the carp is within a foot of the fly, twitch it gently and allow the fly to lie motionless. If the carp doesn't eat it, twitch it again. Usually carp take the fly the first time it is twitched. Beware of giving the fly too much motion. You can't pop the fly as you do with bass.

George Harvey battling another carp fooled with a cicada pattern.

Bob Clouser of Middletown, Pennsylvania, has told me that he has taken many carp on his crayfish imitations. The key he says is to spot the fish before casting the lure. If he can see the fish working the bottom, he carefully casts ahead of it and as the lure gets close enough twitches the fly. Generally, the carp moves in and inhales the pattern.

It is important to see the carp before fishing for them because on large streams or rivers it would be futile to cast randomly for them.

If you live in an area that has streams that hold carp and the periodic cicadas emerge, you are missing one of the greatest thrills in fly fishing if you do not try for them.

You can call an entomologist in the Department of Agriculture for information on the location of the different broods in the states you wish to fish.

The following link takes you to the Penn State website that has information on cicadas and different emergence times. http://www.ento.psu.edu/extension/factsheets/periodical_cicada.htm

I predict that sometime in the near future carp will become important to American fly rod anglers. At the present time carp are found in most watersheds in the U.S. As fly fishermen begin to experiment with different artificials and learn how to present them to catch carp, the species will become more popular.