Colordo Carp

[Jordan]

Howdy, folks.

I live in Boulder, CO, and was hoping some locals could give me some information on public carp lakes and ponds in the Boulder/Ft. Collins area. After a long summer of intense trout fishing, I'm hoping to catch a few carp before winter sets in. Anyone know of any good spots open to the public?

JBW

[texnfly]

Cmon ya'll. The guy wants to catch a carp. Any help out there?
Well, anyway, good luck. If you're ever in Central Texas there's a couple of spots I can direct you to. Love them carp!

[Jordan]

Aww... c'mon, you don't have to be ashamed! Just like you guys I wear a funny hat, carry a bamboo rod way up in the mountains and catch trout, I am just looking for a change.

Swallow your pride, fellow Coloradans, and cough up the carp advice! I know you carpers are out there! You can't hide forever!

JBW

P.S. If you guys can't help me, I'm going to have to turn to a spin-fish website! I have no doubt that those guys know all the awesome carp spots and the tricks to catch them! I want to catch the colorado golden bonefish before everything freezes up!

[billboytx]

Hey texnfly, where are you talking about in Central Texas? I live in Houston and have caught one carp on a fly - it took me two years to do it.

thanks

[rrhyne56]

Jordan

If no one responds then let me suggest researching the tactics for carp and then go looking for them in the area. If its anything at all like around here then most bodies of water are going to be replete with carp.

From what I have gathered, the thing to do is to find where they are feeding in the shallows, stalk them and drop a nymph closeby so that they'll swim upon it, then give 'er a wiggle and hold on.

Also, if there are areas where they eat berries then one could "match the hatch" with a berry fly (or whatever they are eating).

I have never heard of any consistent success with blind casting for carp, I've certainly never had any.

Oh, one more thing; those carp that are frolicking and splashing, don't even waste your time - whatever they are doing it won't involve eating, at least not any flies tossed at them. Or so goes the consensus and my limited experience.

best

Robin

[john montana]

i can't help with any local info, but in general, look for feeding fish and put a fly on their nose. it sounds much simpler than it is, but if you can find some fish just keep casting until one eats. carp are pretty much all i fish for anymore, but i'm here in OR and can't help much with CO locations. i wrote an article that might help with some basics for the American Carper, september issue. if interested you can find it here:

http://www.americancarpsociety.com:8080 ... azine.html

sorry! don't know much locations in CO! good luck with carp, my favorite gamefish!

[Eich]

I know of John from another site and believe me he knows what he is talking about. I would also like to add thatI have had success here in Pennsylvania using crayfish patterns and Ian Colin James' "Puke Fly". Carp are fairly easy to find, but at times can be tough to catch. Good Luck!

Ray

[jsalkas]

I landed another river carp recently, and once again did not get as good a fight as the lake fish I caught a while ago (was still fun, but no long, drag burning runs). Is this consistent with everyone else's experience, that still water carp fight better than carp in moving water?

[pyurgal]

Jordan,
I really do not know of any places near Boulder or Fort Collins. I know of a couple places in Denver along the South Platte River though.

Give Front Range Anglers (http://www.frontrangeanglers.com/index.htm) a call. They might be able to point you to some carp water.

Good luck

Paul

[john montana]

i fish for carp in some local lakes and ponds, but they don't fight nearly as well as the fish i catch in the columbia river. columbia river carp don't weight as much...they are really lean and my local spots have some short, fat carp, but the columbia fish tear you up.

eich is right on with the crayfish pattern tip. i use crayfish type of flies a lot.

here is a nice columbia river carp: