Hey guys, I have fished for carp since long a go with flies and do pretty well, but I found this lake were I know there are lots of carp, but its too deep and I haven’t had any sucess, I was thinking maybe if I chummed a little I coul atract carp closer to the surface, question is what kind of chum should I use??
Tight Lines and big smiles!!!
Xavier
I have never chumed for carp, but a few years back, I remember watching a carp fishing segment on In Fisherman. They would throw out field corn that they had soaked in a 5 gallon bucket over night. The soaking was to soften it up. They would then throw out scoop fulls of the corn and wait for the carp. I think they were using night crawlers for bait, but I think you could do the same thing with a good carp fly pattern.
I have a friend in the office who uses old boiled corn to chum for carp on Lake Ontario. He got the idea from Lonnie King (also from the office). Lonnie is one of Canada’s top carpers so it must work? They would chum the night before going out. The only problem they had was the other carpers would try to get into the spots that they chummed (vultures, I tell ya!).
Not flyfishing of course.
Paul H.
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“A dry fly on the rise is the beauty mark of a lovely river.”
If your lake is steep sided they should feed near the surface anyway,espacially when the wind is blowing or has blown for some time.Plain white bread sometimes works well to get them on top.Try keeping a lookout for wind blown stuff collected in wind lanes the carp should be nearby.In my experience catching carp in deep water is difficult.They need to be fairly shallow to achieve consistent success.I’ve known guys who “trained” carp to rise to bread through constant feeding,the only limit I’d say, would be your own personal code of ethics.
hope this helps
Adam
European carpers call this “groundbaiting”. I guess it sounds a bit more classy than chumming. I have never done it and never will, but whether you choose to groundbait or not is up to you. Best of luck.
I have the exact same situation in the lake I live on. Plenty of carp that feed in deep water. I have never chumed before, but wouldn’t the catfish also be likely candidates for soaked corn? Would you just throw out the corn and wait to see who’s coming for dinner? Anyone ever had that experience?
Xavier,
The corn will work but the problem is that it sinks and you don’t know what’s down there. Also, don’t expect it to work immediately. You’ve got to condition them and that may take several days.
I agree with Adam on all counts. You can get them used to rising to torn up bread if you do it consistently for awhile. Also, I eat at a local restauraunt that has a patio overlooking a river here where I live and they will set a bowl of dog food pellets on your table if you ask to feed the carp with. They come in by the droves to feed on it once they hear it hit the water. Some really big ones. I’ve threatened to tie up a dog food pellet fly out of round foam colored brown with a marker and take my tube over there and chum them in before the restauraunt opened but as yet I’ve not done it. Like Adam said, even though the lake is deep, there should be a time that they will feed shallow like when the cottonwood or elm seeds are falling or during a mayfly hatch or like Adam said on a windy day in the scum line that forms.
It’s funny you say that Robert,we have a local fly(originaly tied to imitate a beetle)that looks alot like dog pellets in the larger sizes and the carp love it!It’s pretty simple,just spun deer hair clipped to shape with a ginger hackle up front.Does anyone here catch carp in deep water consistently?I’ve managed once or twice by casting at the rising bubbles they leave as they root around the bottom but it’s never a sure thing.
Adam,
I’ve caught a lot of carp fishing deeper water for other species but I wouldn’t say it’s been “consistent”. There are certain lakes I fish that I can plan on catching a carp or two every trip certain times of the year while blind casting but nothing I can depend on. It’s pretty hit and miss.
pharper,
What a coincidence! I fished against Lonnie King here:
[url=http://www.carpecarpio.com/canam2001-day2.html:e44af]http://www.carpecarpio.com/canam2001-day2.html[/url:e44af]
Carpcrazy,
Corn is excellent chum but, like Robert says, it sinks. Therefore, it would be difficult drawing them to the surface with it.
deathb4disco,
Small world. Lonnie recently moved to the Ottawa office… and he didn’t tell any of his secret fishing spots b4 he left. 
When chumming here it was along shallow riprap or shallow flats. Once they are in the shallows because of the scent, they should be willing to take a su surface fly?
pharper,
I agree, that should work.
You should try fishing the Little River. The section we fished is stuffed with carp.
Cheap cat or dog food works in my pond, floats too.
Thanks everybody for your answers, I have never used chum for any of my carp fishing, I htought as an unethical practice, but there are some really huge carp there and well you know how do we fishermen feel about big fish hehehe, but anyway I still feel a little dtruggle inside me to chum or not to chum that is the question, I don’t know but I feel as if it would take away that hunting and stalking of the fish, but maybe just once wouldn’t hurt… well I’ll let you know if I finally sucumbed to the temptation .
Tight lines
Xavier
Xavier,
If you can get the carp in your venue used eating corn, then you can use corn puffs cereal to bring them to the surface. I also recommend that you add some vanilla flavoring and some sweetner of some kind to the corn while it boils. They seem to get somewhat addicted to the sweetness of it and the corn puffs emit the same scent.
G. W. “Buggs” Buggsworth
When I first started carp fishing, I got frustrated and started chumming them with corn in the shallows. I still don’t feel guilty one bit about any of those fish I caught.
I don’t do it any longer 'cause I figured out the bread tossers for the local duck population take care of that detail for me. Either way you add it, it’s the same thing though.
If you feel it’s unethical, then start justifying. Shoot after a couple of carp in the double digits and enough time to fabricate excuses your bruised morality will come through just fine. You shouldn’t even be fishing for such a lowly creature as a carp to begin with. The act alone justifies any method 
.
Don’t be fooled into thinking just 'cause you got 'em on the chum, it’s a gimme. They’re still a hard fish to catch.
Cheap dog food is wonderful floating chum. I have to use corn as floating chum lasts a couple of seconds in my parts… Way too many ducks, geese and coot in the parks around here.
If really well conditioned to human intervention, then you can scratch the hard fish to catch part above. Watching the tourists feed the carp at any of Lake Mead’s marenas is a scary experience.
Later,
Jambalaya
I’ll add one to the mix - one of the foods we feed our koi (fancy carp) was recommended to me by a koi expert. It is Cherrios - he said it is ‘perfect’ food for them. They can and do smell it with seconds of it hitting the water and it floats really well. They swim along the surface like a vacumn cleaner, mouth open, just sucking it in. Looking for perfect chum?
LadyFisher, Publisher of
FAOL
Jambalaya, I don’t think of carp as low creatures, in fact I rather fish for carp than for trout, I think they are magnificent fish and boy they fight hard!!! and yes they are difficult to catch on flies sometimes.
Thanks everybody for the answers, I’ll be visiting that place next weekend, and I think I’ll try to locate the food lanes and will try to catch them with out chumming, lets see what happends hehehe and well if that doesn’t work I’ll try with chum, I really want one of those really big carp, once I saw one that some local fisherman caught on a net weighting 31.5 kg!!! It was a beautiful linear mirror carp.
Best regards, big smiles and tight lines!!
Xavier
I just latched onto one yesterday in the backyard pond. My first out there. I guess buggers, Madam X’s and poppers don’t tempt them much. It went for a P.T. nymph slowly, and I mean SLOWLY twist stripped back to me.
I’m hooked and ready for more!
Hmmm,
I was poking fun at the general attitude towards carp where I’m from. Thus the smiley face to let you know I was foolin’ around.
I don’t post often, but when I do about carp, I think the fondness and respect I give to these guys is more than evident.
Later,
Jambalaya