A Question From the Hillbilly

Eric, AKA the Hillbilly from West Virginia, or should I say Eric, THE hillbilly , put a question to me. Here is what he said. "As always Mr P, Great Read! I just got into tying my own flies a month or so ago and So far I am Hooked! I just leaned how to tie the San Juan Worm As I posted on my Blog ( http://hillbillybonez.com/home/?p=445 ). My Question is, is it the shape of the worm that catches the carps eye or is it the color or is it a mix of the Presentation and so forth?"

I'm sorry that it took me awhile to get back to you Eric. Thanks for the positive feedback here and in the past. Presentation is most important when it comes to sight fishing for Carp with a fly. There is just no getting around that. You have a better chance of catching a tailing Carp with a poor fly if your presentation is good than you do of catching a Carp with a good fly if your presentation is bad. In the past I have mentioned the dinner plate or spaghetti platter in my blog and in my print articles. Think of the space in front of and around a tailing Carp as a dinner plate or spaghetti platter. For the most part the fly needs to be on his platter for him to pick it up. They will often ignore something farther out even if they can see it. The fly needs to be cast on to the fishes platter or cast beyond it and stripped to the platter. Sometimes the fly will be sitting still and the fish will move. His platter moves with him. He won't even be moving to the platter but because he did move sometimes the fly ends up on his platter and he will pick it up. It is a real dilemna to try and cast the fly on the Carp's platter without spooking the darn fish. Again, presentation is absolutely critical.

What's next on the list? Hmmm... You asked about color and shape. I would add size to the question. I have tried a lot of different flies for Carp that don't work AT ALL. These are flies that work for other fish. I will make a generalization here based on my experience chasing Carp on the fly in three states. I think dark colors work better than bright flashy colors. (Subliminal message submitted here: Presentation is CRITICAL.) So yes, I believe color is important. I think shape is important and I do believe they respond to it but I'm not sure exactly how important it is compared to color. Size also comes into play. If the water is particularly shallow and clear and the wind is down then smaller flies work better. Sometimes you have no alternative but to use a larger, heavily weighted fly to get it down on the fish's dinner plate.

I have caught a few Carp on The Wild Thing but not enough to say it is truly better than the traditional San Juan Worm. I think it will be but I will have a better idea in September or October when I have field tested this pattern for a full season.