One of the most exciting things I’ve caught on a fly rod has to be a carp. The build up to actually hooking the fish is very intense. Actually getting the fish to feed from the surface on what looks like an empty lake as they sulk on the bottom can be electrifying. Recently Terry and I stumbled across a small lake (which never gets fished) full of smallish carp up to around 6/7lb – And the owner was nice enough to let us have the last hour until dark with our fly rods.

Recently I’ve been trying out the New Airflo  Super-Stik fly rod. It features a deep red colour and is available in many lengths and weights – I’ve got the 9′ 6″ #6/7 and have been using for all my small-water stuff, and chose it have a crack at these carp  – and im glad I did! It’s not easy casting a lump of foam – well. Putting it exactly where you want can be tough, especially in this instance as a brisk sidewind made things a little tricky, but the Super-Stik performed well and the accuracy you can get with ‘the stik’ is unrivaled in my eyes for the money. Anyway, enough about the rod and more about the fish.

We managed to blag a couple of slices of bread from the fishery owner, brand unknown, and hurled them into the pool. We threw the bread in at regular intervals creating patches of food for the fish to feed on, our thinking was that wherever they were in the lake, we would find them quicker with multiple sections of feed – and it seemed to work as the far right hand side of the lake was the first to see any action.

Distinguishing three different fish feeding at once, all were just out of reach, this called for more bread, creating a trail out into the middle of the lake was all that was needed to tempt the fish closer. Before the fish could make their way any closer I pitched a cast just above the bread trail, hoping mine would float down with the wind and be one of many piece the fish would eat.

Within 20 seconds or so a fish had locked onto the trail and was making its way towards my offering, a foam bung which I had cut down in size. Those lips appeared and gently engulfed my fly… From past experience you MUST leave a carp eat it and not strike as soon as you get any indication of a so called ‘rise’. So giving the fish a couple of seconds I struck and hooked into this magnificent looking fish I estimated around 4lbs in weight?