Emerald Water Anglers

Fly Fishing Seattle and Worldwide

Seattle Fly Shop, Guide Service

& Global Travel Outfitter

•A Carbon Neutral Company•

fly fishing climate alliance

Visit our Seattle store

Shop our online store

Sign up for our Newsletter

one percent for the planet
  • Seattle Fly Fishing
    • Puget Sound
    • Yakima River
      • Cle Elum River
    • Mountain Creeks
    • Snoqualmie River
      • Middle and South Forks of Snoqualmie River
    • Cedar River
    • Warm Water Fly Fishing
    • Olympic Peninsula Steelhead Rivers
      • Bogachiel River
      • Hoh River Steelhead Fly Fishing Guides
      • Queets River
      • Sol Duc River Steelhead Fly Fishing Guides
    • Puget Sound Steelhead Rivers
      • Sauk River
      • Skagit River
      • Skykomish River
      • Snoqualmie River
      • Stillaguamish River
    • Columbia Basin Steelhead Rivers
      • Cowlitz River
      • Grande Ronde River
      • Kalama River, WA
      • Klickitat River
      • Methow River, WA
      • Wenatchee River, WA
    • Albacore Tuna
    • Our Seattle Fly Fishing Guide Staff
  • Women’s Fly Fishing
  • Classes & Schools
    • Private Fly Fishing Instruction
  • Travel
    • Fly Fishing Destinations
      • Alaska
        • Intricate Bay Lodge
        • Wild River Guides
      • Colorado
        • Black Canyon of the Gunnison
        • Roaring Fork River
      • Hawaii
      • Oregon
        • Deschutes River
        • John Day River
        • Oregon Coast Steelhead
        • North Umpqua River
      • Africa – Tiger Fish
      • Argentina
        • Salta – Golden Dorado
        • Tierra del Fuego – Sea Run Browns
      • Bahamas – Bonefish
        • Abaco Lodge
        • Bair’s Lodge – South Andros
        • H20 Bonefishing – Grand Bahama
      • Belize
      • Bolivia – Golden Dorado
      • Brazil – Peacock Bass
      • Canada
        • Skeena River Meadows, B.C.
      • Christmas Island
      • Cuba
      • Greenland – Arctic Char
      • Honduras – Fly Fish Guanaja
      • Iceland – Atlantic Salmon
      • India – Golden Mahseer
      • Mexico
        • Tarpon Caye Lodge
        • Zihuatanejo
      • Mongolia – Taimen
      • New Zealand
      • Russia
        • Kamchatka – Rainbow Trout
        • Kola – Atlantic Salmon
      • Scotland
      • Seychelles – Giant Trevally
      • South Pacific
      • Spain – Pyrenees Mountains
      • Venezuela – Los Roques
    • Hosted Fly Fishing Travel
  • Reports
    • Blog
    • Puget Sound Tides, Wind and Food Forms
    • Yakima River Hatch Chart
    • CFS – Washington River Flows
    • CFS – Oregon River Flows
  • Shop
  • About Us
    • Our Seattle Store
    • EWA – Environment and Sustainability
    • Upcoming Events
    • Contact Us
    • In the Media

Carping in WA – The Fish – by Bill Marts

March 27, 2019 by adminewa Leave a Comment

The Fish

Common Carp – Cyprinus carpio (no, not Di Caprio) was introduced to the USA in the early to mid-19th century through the early 20th century by Europeans for commercial harvest as a food fish.  From private fish farms and intentional transporting, carp were introduced into our public and open waters.  They fed on Chironomidae, aquatic insects, terrestrial insects, crawfish, small fish, vegetation and detritus.  That just about covers everything in our waters.  They went forth and multiplied and thrived.  They eventually fell out of gastronomic favor and were mostly regarded as “trash” fish.

It wasn’t until late 20th century that carp eventually revealed their savvy feeding habits, strength and sporting qualities to a few fly fishers.  I am sure there were fly fishers on the water before the 1990’s who actually targeted carp on a fly, but they hid in the closet (closet carpers), ashamed to admit that they wanted to catch a carp on a fly.  I couldn’t find anything written before the mid-1990’s, but I and my friend Darc Knobel started aiming for carp with a fly.  It actually took several months to finally figure out the code to hooking them.  We eventually succeeded and it has been an adventure ever since.  We are constantly looking for better patterns, fishing techniques and new waters.

Since I live in Washington State, I can only attest to what we have discovered here since those early days over 20 years ago.  I will tell you, in future posts, about the methods, gear and flies that have worked well for us, but I have a feeling it will pertain to waters everywhere.  I also fished numerous Northern California waters for Carp with varying successes.

There are three types of carp we are concerned with in Washington: Common, Mirror and Grass.  It is illegal to target Grass Carp in Washington.  So, I don’t fish for them, and won’t mess with writing about them.  The other two are fair game.  See photos for Common and Mirror Carp.  The first time I landed a Mirror Carp, I thought it was sick, so I didn’t touch it until I looked it up later.  While they are not rare, they are uncommon.

  • Common Carp
  • Mirror Carp

Here in Washington, Carp become fishable in the spring when the ice is off the waters and the sun starts warming the shallow bays.  Warming skinny waters next to rivers and around lakes invite early Carp.

I once started exploring waters of Banks Lake in early April for Carp and found them in a shallow bay.  The water temp was 53 degrees F.  They were feeding. They were not spawning yet.  I was shocked to find them but had a blast taking advantage of the situation.

Here in the Northwest, the spawn starts taking place when the waters hit 60 – 65 degrees F.  Depending upon water temps in different waters, carp will start sometime between mid-April/early May to full on in June and maybe into early July.  The early spawning antics of carp include their gang-banging, female-chasing riots (6 – 8 males after a single female), they’ll usually take a rest sometime during the day, breathing heavy (having a smoke) and start all over again maybe two or three times during a day.  After this episode of orgy behavior, that may last several days to a few weeks or more on big bodies of water, they are hungry and ready to eat.  They are not impossible to catch during the spawn, but it takes patience and determination

Filed Under: Emerald Water Anglers, Events, Reports Tagged With: Bill Marts, carp, carp tournament, Emerald Water Anglers, fly fishing carp, Seattle Fly Fishing, Washington

Contact Us

  • Reservations/Contact
  • Newsletter Sign Up
  • Speaking Engagements
  • In the Media

Emerald Water Anglers

4502 42nd Ave. SW
Seattle, WA 98116
10-7 Mon-Fri, 10-6 Sat, 11-5 Sun
206-708-7250

Contact Us!

Reports and Blog

  • Scales : Our Blog
  • Events
  • Fishing Reports
  • Dave McCoy Photography

2021 Copyright © Emerald Water Anglers. Global Fly Fishing Specialists

4502 42nd Ave, SW Seattle, Washington 98116

Copyright © 2021 · EWA Genesis on Genesis Framework · WordPress · Log in