Hey everyone. My name may sound familiar from the Mop Fly article, and I’m happy to say I’ll be joining Jo, Adam, and Troy as a writer on this blog. I’d like to thank them for giving me the chance to share some of the stuff I’ve learned about fly fishing over the years, including techniques, flies, opinions, and so on.

So I’d like to give a brief introduction, and what better way to start than with my favorite fish. Brown trout? Nope. Brookie? Nope. Bass? Nope.

It’s the carp.

Carp are my favorite fish to catch by far, and it comes down to two reasons. It’s all sight fishing and they are almost always the strongest fish available to me.

What’s the last time a trout has taken you into your backing? Maybe a few times a year of if you’re lucky. With carp, my backing always dirty, just the way I like it. And watching a carp slurp down a fly is on par with watching a trout eat a dry.

An angler’s favorite fish can tell you a lot about them I think. For me, I’m not in the sport of fly fishing for the beauty or relaxation. I’m a run-and-gun type of fly fisherman… when I have enough time to go out and fish, I am targeting the most of biggest fish I can as efficiently as possible. Obviously no judgement to those who go on the water to relieve stress (that’s most anglers, and sometimes me too), but I go out on the water to challenge myself – breaking PBs and catching a load of fish. That’s why I’ll fish Mop Flies for trout just as readily as dries and why I’ll fish for carp in a polluted city canal as readily as I’ll fish for trout in the mountains.

So I intend to write about carp more frequently, but don’t worry trout guys, I do plenty of trout, bass, and saltwater fishing as well. And the best part about fly fishing is that it all carries over from one type to another. Most of my sight fishing skills for trout I believe are a direct result of my time spent chasing carp, and learning to fish the bottom for trout was something else I derived from traditional carp fly fishing techniques.

Bottom line – I’ll try and post about a very broad variety of fishing styles, be it different techniques or species. And make an effort to get out of your comfort zone and try something new… I guarantee you’ll be a more effective angler when you’re done.