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Wednesday, January 30, 2013

Fly-Carpin Fly Swap


Carp flies are headed out the door for Trevor Tanner's fly swap. I tied a variant of Barry's Carp Bitter. I received one of Barry's Carp Bitters in the 2012 fly swap and the pattern proved irresistible to hungry carp. Plus, Barry is a carp fishing legend so I'll imitate as best I can.


Here's a look at the condition of my carp box. The chicken scratch notes indicate the tier or the pattern author. In some cases the original fly from the 2012 fly swap is still in this box. I'm pretty sure I caught fish on all of the flies I received in the 2012 swap. Pats Shaggin' Dragon hooked the most carp lips for me in 2012. What I really like about fishing the fly swap flies is knowing some background about the fly and the tier. Catching fish on so-and-so's fly creates an association. For example, I caught this mean old catfish on Ty Goodwin's Mean Ol' Dirty Frisco (MF'er) and this carp on Pat's Shaggin' Dragon. Both of these guys blog about carp fishing. In this way the fly box starts to connect to other carp fishing  aficionados. And that's cool.


Thanks Trevor for hosting the 2013 carp fly swap!



13 comments:

  1. That was neat, letting us know what it did and meant for you. My fly boxes for carp are in a state of organized redo. That means I'm not happy with my sorting of the far too many I have. Doing boxes is an all mornibg effort for me, and I'm still not happy. Now, perhaps if I just use flies from the swap...

    Gregg

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  2. Your box looks like mine. A mess of hair. I love looking in peoples boxes!

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  3. Awesome post John! I hereby promise to not keep this years flies as little treasures but fish them. Or at least spend more time tying imitations and fishing those. I am inspired by you.

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    1. I didn't fish any of my own flies this year (for carp). I used the swap flies until I lost one and then tied up imitations once the fly was lost. I got a kick out of it. Your design for a worm that stands hook up is money.

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  4. Thats a well stocked box right there.

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  5. John
    Fantastic looking flies, what size are those? Thanks for sharing

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    1. Hey Bill – size 10 on the bitters.

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  6. Good stuff John. I've caught a lot of carp on the MF'er, but I reckon that's the first catfish ever caught on one.

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    1. I thought that cat was a grass carp when I hooked him. Fun fish to catch, had my 4wt screaming.

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  7. Great post!
    You guys are onto something...maybe you should sell stuff like this as "Carp Assortment 2012"...for those interested in trying flyrod carping, or for those that already do but didn't get in on the swap? I'd love to have a set to tie my own versions from! :)

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  8. Nice man! I hope I end up with one from the swap! Tying one up to test right now!
    Tight lines, Ben

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  9. John, thanks for the samples (and extras!). :) You tie really GREAT-looking flies!!!

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