Once dismissed as trash fish, carp have earned real respect, and a growing following, as one of the most challenging and hardest-fighting freshwater fish there is. They are big, they are spooky, and they pull like a fish twice their size, which is why fly anglers have taken to calling them the golden bonefish.
How to identify them
Carp are big, thick-bodied and brassy-gold, covered in large scales, with a pair of barbels at the corners of a rubbery, downturned mouth built for rooting the bottom. There is no mistaking a good carp, they are the biggest fish in most of the water they live in.
Where and when
Carp are everywhere, thriving in rivers, lakes and even urban ponds, the Charles and Connecticut rivers among them. They feed best in warm water, and on calm days you can spot them cruising and tailing in the shallows, which is where the fun really starts.
Tip Sight-fish them like bonefish. On warm, calm days carp cruise and root in the shallows, and spotting a feeding fish and placing a bait or fly quietly ahead of it, then watching it eat, is as exciting as any freshwater fishing there is.
How to catch them
The traditional approach is bait on the bottom, corn, bread, dough baits and boilies fished still and patient. The modern thrill is sight-fishing on the fly with slow-sinking nymph, worm and crustacean patterns dropped in front of a feeding fish. Either way, hold on, a big carp will test your gear.