Martyn White | Saturday, 27 April 2019
Almost every time I see other people's carp flies, either at tying sessions or when I was guiding, I'm always slightly surprised by how drab ALL of the flies are.
I think most people fly fishing for carp are far too conservative in their colour choices. Looking through my fishing diaries from over the years, or even just taking a quick peek in my box you'll find a lot of bright colours .
Over the last 10 or so years, I've made a lot of notes and have put together a list of flies that I depend on for different carp in different types water that I am confident I can take anywhere and catch fish. When ranked by catches according to my notes, 8 of the top 10 and numbers 11 and 12 contain at least a hot spot of fluorescence. One of my favourite is a fluorescent magenta and chartruese Glo-bug.
If you want to start catching carp on fly or catch more, try being less conservative in your color choices and break away from the rust and olive that seems to dominate most of the carp boxes I see.
Cheers,
Martyn