Welcome to the wonderful world of fresh water sight fishing. My first suggestion would be to make a hard copy of all these posts and study them like a text book, because they represent a sound body of knowledge based on past experiences of some pretty savvy carp flyfishers. I would also add another book for you to read that has been very helpful to me "Carp Are Gamefish" by George von Schrader. Okie and Robert have given you all you really need to be successful. I would just add that stealth is probably the most important thing to catching these guys. They can't be aware of your presence. I've spooked them just by bumping into a submerged stick with my boot ten feet from where they are or by false casting too close or making a cast that is too hard with a bead head pattern. Most of my carping recently has been done by walking on my knees for good distances and dapping the fly in front them. Like Robert, I have purchased some knee pads just for this type of fishing. I like to experiment with different patterns for stubborn fish and will keeping casting to an active feeder until he either hits or spooks. Last October I must have made at least 50-75 casts to this one tailer with 4-5 five different patterns until he finally took my fly. I figured the way he was stirring up mud and muck, he had to be looking for something, and I finally found it in my fly box. So if you have the time, stay with him, that's part of the fun and the challenge. Cruisers are a different story and I still haven't figured them out completely but there's nothing more fun than to watch one turn its head and suck up your fly. I hate muddy water because you can't see the take, but don't rule out these carp either. When you encounter a situation where all you can see is an occasional tail above the surface, I would cast to where you think the head should be and then just keep lifting the rod very very slowly having the fly bump the bottom in his vicinity. Many times he will hit it just as you raise the rod. It's just like fishing for bass where all of sudden, without seeing anything, you feel a fish on! Good luck and keep us posted on your pursuit of these wonderful game fish. We're all still learning and need these posts to continue our education.