I am trying to figure out a pattern that I can tie for some carp. I have never fished for them exclusively, just what I catch when i'm cat fishing. But they fight like maniacs and there's a ton of them every where. The ones i'm wanting to go after, or the ones I will be fly fishing for, are in clear and some swift moving water. I have never seen them tailing on the river like they do at the lake. And most of the time they travel together in groups of 3-6. Any thoughts would be appreciated.

Thanks,
Scott

Hi Scott
If you look on youtube you will find a lot of patterns , also worth looking in the. Fly tying forum its a great tying forum
Mike

youtube is a very good place to start...roughfisher.com and missouriflies.com have a lot to offer as well.

i fish mostly stillwater and that affects my fly choice a lot.
in moving water i've taken carp on just about every kind of fly i've carried...from grhe's to clouser minnows.

however if i was prompted to recommend one goto fly it would be the clouser swimming nymph (you'll have figure out which color works best where you fish, locally it's something orange). next would be olive buggers tied with just a bit of flash.

in skinny water i use skinny flies based on bonefish patterns. conversely bulkier flies for bigger (and moving) water.

something i experimented with this season was using fruit-flavored chapstik as a floatant on some patterns...i don't think it worked so much as an attractant as it kept the fish from spitting the fly out as quickly as they do (youtube videos of carp feeding can answer a lot of the questions you may have about your carpfishing success).

good luck.

Try Zimmerman's backstabber, that's my goto fly

nice; good lookin pattern; what size for carp?(I've never caught a carp on a fly; hung two; carp 2-pearow-o)I try every year to catch one; get discouraged and go back to brim and bass-p-

Also take a look at the winter issue of Fly Tyer magazine it has some good patterns for carp
Mike

I tie my carp flies in sz 6 on sl45 bonefish hooks

Thanks for all the input guys!