Dozens of Carp at a lake near Spokane

Glad to see you are contemplating a bigger rod. A 5wt won't cut it man. Get an 8wt.
Then you'll have a carp rod as well as a rod for bass, bull trout, steelhead & salmon along with a plethora of saltwater species like bonefish, snook and baby tarpon.

Your carp sound like they'll give an 8wt all it can handle!

Good luck!
 
I have never fly fished with anything bigger that a 5 wt. fly rod (newbie). I planned on getting "spooled" before obtaining higher weight tackle,, but I am now convinced that it will be possible to hook these large fish that I have seen,, and find it prudent to gear up for the behemoths that I plan to target. Thank you for your input skyriver!
 
Good stuff. Carp are fun. You need an 8 weight. Great advice here, and experience will teach you the other stuff.
 
I'll scrounge up an 8 wt with a reel..but my next question would be, what would be the appropriate tackle? Let's assume "knee deep water". Floating line (matched to the rod, obviously) with a sinking fly on a leader? Or my beloved sinking lines with the same fly and leader. I am visualizing dropping an offering to the (sighted) fish as quietly and stealthily, and as acurately as possible. Also I am visualizing situations where a kayak fisherman could get out of the kayak (tied off) and wade fish.....Thanks again for all the input folks!
 
I only ever use floaters for carp. 9-12' leaders typically too.
 
This guy is the master. He has lots of awesome videos, but this might be a good one to start with.
Carp on the Fly

And yes, you'll want a floating line. 10' leader and then some flies that sink pretty quick, some that sink a bit slower and then some unweighted ones.

Kayak while sitting will be tough. If there are areas you can wade, you'll be able to see fish a lot sooner and less likely to spook. Walk SLOW. Good luck!
 
So much wisdom! Thanks folks. Regrettably, I did not test the "wade-ability" of these "carp flats". I should have at least pushed the kayak paddle into the bottom or gotten my shoes wet testing the bottom for how far down in the mucky sand they would go. . If this "carp flats area" could be accessed with a kayak and sight fished successfully while wading ...well that would be way cool.
 
The best is when they’re feeding, head down, without a care in the world. Walk up within a rod length, drop the fly next to it, and hang on.
 
PhilR said:
The best is when they’re feeding, head down, without a care in the world. Walk up within a rod length, drop the fly next to it, and hang on.
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Bill Marts used to use a spey rod to dap for carp; an extra 5-feet of rod length keeps one's shadow/silhouette a bit further away from carp. A word of caution about dapping for carp in reeds. If a carp eats, get that rod tip up and out of the reeds QUICKLY or carry a spare tip.

Jim - I don't like a leader much longer than 9-feet as sometimes it really is a short roll cast to place a fly in front of a carp that has suddenly materialized.
 
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