New Orvis Carp Line

Awhile back Orvis sent me a prototype Carp fly line.  I have used it a bunch of  times on two very different bodies of water.  I am very pleased with it!  I have fished it on the Columbia River and on some still water.  I like it a lot in both venues.  Given the settings and the different conditions, I had a chance to fish the line at different distances and with very different amounts of wind.  

Most of the Carp I target are 25-40 feet away.  I make some 50-60 foot casts but that is not the norm.  I know many of us would like to think we are casting 70 to 80 feet to tailing Carp but I don't really think it happens that much; it certainly doesn't for me.   I feel that this line performs the best in that primary target zone.  It may not perform as well as my other lines on the longer casts but that hardly matters to me.  For the vast majority of the casts I was making the Orvis line performs better.  It seems to load the rod better.  If this line goes into production, yes, I would definitely fish it and feel very good about it.

I would add that some of the time I am fishing in calm weather.  There is usually some wind when I fish for Carp and sometimes there is a lot of wind.  I felt the line performed better in the wind that my other lines.  I had lots of opportunity to test that.   Since I am usually fishing in the wind this is a plus for me.  

The prototype line has a gray head and white running line.  I don't care for the color of the head.  I visually detect virtually all takes from Carp.  Most of the time that is from movement of the fish.  Sometimes, in deeper water that has that has the surface seriously disturbed by the wind, I detect the take in part from line movement.  I felt the gray line was a little harder to see than a sage or olive colored head.  If this line goes into production I would also suggest something that may be minor "heresy".  It certainly isn't the norm for a fly line and I recognize that all gear has to catch fisherman before it catches fish.  I'm thinking they might add a small section of red at the end of the head?  Just 12 inches.  When it is windy and the fish are more difficult to see, line movement would be easier to detect with a bit of red in the line as opposed to just the gray.  I look at the fish after I have cast, not the line.  I have taken a lot of video of takes and it is interesting to me to watch my video and see the line move slightly when the fish takes the fly even though I don't feel the take.  In watching the video it seems that  a very short red section would help detect takes when it is difficult to see the fish move.