The first three blogs (
part 1,
part 2,
part 3) focused on online articles, websites, and podcasts respectively about fly fishing for
carp. This one is about books and videos.
Books. An old medium. You may remember these "devices" from your school days. They're very easy to use and usually don't glare to bad in the sun. These four
#carponthefly books are the best, i.e. these are the ones I've read. There are few others, but haven't found them or heard them praised as much as these four.
by Barry Reynolds, Brad Befus, and John Berryman
If you only buy one carp book, buy this one. Barry is sometimes called the "Carpfather" and the guy who started it all. He's got a couple of write-ups in our Articles section. And Brad and John and him did an amazing describing why you should target carp, their history and traits, finding carp, their diets, flies, presentation, and tackle. It doesn't have a lot of quality color pictures, but the info in here is crazy good. My copy is well worn, I read it a couple times a year. It's out of print, but you can buy used copies on Amazon for about $25.
by Kirk Deeter
This is like an updated version of Barry, Brad, and John's book. It's beautiful. Tons of great color images of fish, gear, flies, and fishing diagrams. This was the first carp book I got and it really fueled the fire.
by Jay Zimmerman
This is the book I open the most now. Another beautiful book. Jay knocked this one of out the park. It includes over 20 amazing carp flies, how to fish them, and ridiculously meticulous step-by-step, photo-by-photo instructions for how to tie them up. The second chapter on tying carp flies is a clinic in how to tie flies the right way. It's incredible, he's water testing and weighing hard materials to the hundredth of the gram. If you want to tie carp flies or understand how they fish, get this book.
by Dan Frasier
I'll be honest. I asked for this book as a gift just to complete my #carponthefly book collection. I read and use the above three the most by far. But this book has a ton of flies (101) and can provide a lot of inspiration for flies and materials for whipping up your own flies for some specific applications in your local waters. My favorite chapter is the one titled "Super Meat" which discusses big 4-6 inch goby and sculpin flies for carp in places like the Great Lakes where they munch big critters like this. I'm from Michigan and hope to make a Beaver Island trip some day.
Finally, I just want to share some fun carp on the fly videos you can find online if you need to scratch the itch or get sense of what it's about.
Local fish, local water. A short fun video showing you what it's all about.
Carpology by Todd Moen
You can catch carp on the fly on rivers, these videos glorify it. Again, fun and short.
This is a full half-hour episode showing flats fishing for carp very similar to how it can be done here in Colorado. I wish I could find more videos like this.
That's it. I hope these resources help you get the bug for targeting carp. They're a ton of fun. I know it's snowing on the front range right now, but it'll be in the mid-sixties again in a couple days and you can bet you'll see these guys in the shallows and warm water chowing down. Try to catch one.
