The warm weather of this summer has meant we have had to look for other species to fish when the streams or lakes just aren't fishing. Nick Thomas looks at carp and some patterns he has devised to catch them.

On hot still days in the summer fly fishing for carp offers an alternative pursuit when stillwater trout fishing becomes less productive. I would bet that more carp are caught on dog biscuit imitations than any other fly, and while I have got some of these in my carp fly box, I prefer to fish with something more imitative of natural food. Besides, tying biscuits gets pretty boring after you've done a few and I find experimenting with foam and other materials gives a more stimulating time at the vice.

So if you fly fish for carp and the fish get picky or bored with dog biscuits then ring the changes with an alternative imitative pattern. Foam caterpillars and beetles are generally a good bet, they float well and can be tied in a variety of colours to suit curious or jaded carp.

By the way, should you want to tie up some dog biscuit imitations then the complex process is as follows; spin a bunch of deer hair onto the hook, repeat until the hook is full, then cut away everything that doesn't look like a dog biscuit. Actually, if you do want to make a good biscuit imitation there's a little more to it. Use a heavy wire wide gape carp hook and trim the deer hair flat on the top and with a slight curve underneath, this ensures that the biscuit imitation sits low in the water like the real ones. Carp can tell the difference and your success rate will be much higher if you take the time to make an imitation that looks and behaves like the real thing.

Carp Caterpillar

Hook: Tiemco TMC 100SPBL size 10/12

Thread: UTC140 olive

Body: Rolled sticky back 1mm foam

Rib: White stripped organza ribbon

Cut a strip of self adhesive 1mm foam a bit longer than your hook shank. Peel back some of the backing and place a thin strip of 2mm foam along the end of the sticky foam. Fold the sticky foam around the foam strip and then roll the foam until you have a cylinder of the thickness you want. Trim the ends of the roll. Run thread along the hook shank and coat lightly with superglue. Catch in a length of stripped organza ribbon at the bend. Sit the foam on top of the shank and take a couple of loose wraps of thread followed by two tight wraps to cinch in the foam. Repeat working towards the eye advancing the thread under the foam to form a segmented body and then take some wraps behind the eye under the foam. Trim the front and rear of the body to length. Colour the body as you wish using permanent markers (don't forget the eyes; blind caterpillars don't catch fish). Wrap the organza rib forward following the groove between the body segments. Catch in at the eye, trim away the excess and whip finish. Turn the caterpillar over and trim away all the organza fibres on the bottom. Coat the thread wraps under the body and at the eye with superglue.

This is a really simple pattern to tie and fishes really well. You can use cylindrical foam or booby cord for the body, but using self adhesive foam from a craft store allows you to create more segments without the foam collapsing and gives a more resilient fly. Experiment with different colour combinations of foam and organza, I'm not sure that the carp will always appreciate it, but they'll look nice in your fly box. Apply a little floatant to the organza on the sides of the caterpillar before fishing and it will sit nicely in the surface film ready to be slurped.

Carp Beetle

Hook: Barbless carp hook 10/12

Thread: UTC140 black

Underbody: foam

Body: Black 2mm foam

Dubbing: Black ice dub

Wing case: Opal plastic film

Wing: Elk hair

Legs: rubber leg strips

Sight post: Orange Antron.

Cut a strip of foam the same width as the hook gape and about 4 inches long.

Pierce the foam in the centre at the mid point with the hook and sit at the bend.

Run the thread on at the eye and take down the shank and back.

Cut a thin piece of foam and tie in along the top of the shank wrapping back and forward. Park the thread at the bend on the far side of the hook.

Lift up one end of the foam strip under the hook shank and cut to length just behind the eye. Now fold over the other end on top of the body and check you have some foam overhanging the bend to form the rear body segment.

Coat the foam on the hook shank and the inner faces of the body strip with superglue, fold the foam forward on top and under the shank and squeeze together.

Take a couple of light turns followed by two tight turns to cinch in the foam at the bend.

Advance the thread over the top of the body and repeat the segmenting process towards the eye.

Trim away any excess foam from the lower strip of foam leaving the upper strip projecting over the eye. Taper the rear of the body behind the hook by cutting on either side.

Take the thread back down the body using cross wraps over the body between segments in the opposite direction to those used on the way up. Park the thread in the rear segment groove.

Take a length of rubber leg strip and separate out 3 linked strands. If you don't have this type of leg material take three individual strands of rubber or silicone legs. Tie overhand knots close to the ends of the leg bunches, apply a dab of superglue to the knots and pull tight. Cut away two of the strands beyond each knot, fold in half and cut to produce the leg sections ready for tying in.

Tie in one leg one each side of the body in the rear groove, lining up the knots behind the body. Advance the thread, again using cross wraps over the body and then catch in the front legs. Make sure the leg strands lie flush along the side of the body between the tying in points. Pull the back legs back and trim to the same length and do the same for the front legs. Cut away 1 or 2 of the strands from the front legs.

Cut a strip of opal plastic film the same length and width as the beetle body, fold in half length ways and cut one end to a rounded point. Unfold and tie in on top of the body as a wing case. Cut the end of the film to simulate an open wing case.

Stack a bunch of Elk hair, trim the butts and tie in over the split wing case. Apply a dab of superglue to the hair butts and thread wraps and the fold the upper projecting foam strip back and tie in to form the beetle head. Trim the rearward pointing foam to length and then cut a V into the foam so it does not squash down the wing.

Cut a length of orange Antron, double around the thread and tie in above the head.

Use a small amount of dubbing to hide the thread wraps at the head, apply superglue to the thread and whip finish.

This a more complex pattern to tie than the caterpillar, but all the steps are straightforward and as long as you end up with something that has the right outline and floats it will catch fish. As with the caterpillar you can try different colours of foam for the body, I usually carry green and purples variants as well as the black version shown here.

Organza Chernobyl Ant

Hook: Tiemco TMC 100SPBL size 8 or 10

Thread: UTC140 black

Body: foam

Rib: stripped organza ribbon

Legs: barred rubber

Cut two strips of 2mm or 3mm foam in contrasting colours with width equal to the hook gape.

Take the lighter coloured strip and pierce with the hook in the middle close to one end of the strip.

Vice the hook and run on the thread down to the bend.

Prepare a strip of organza ribbon by cutting off one edge, stripping out the long fibres and trimming away the short fibres at one end to make a tying in tag. Tie in the tag and return the thread to opposite the barb.

Lift up the pierced length of foam and catch in place with a thread wrap. Place the other length of foam on top of the hook and cinch both lengths of foam together with three tight thread turns.

Take a length of rubber leg, fold in half and tie in on top of the body at the mid point of the doubled length with three tight turns of thread.

Lift up the upper layer of foam, take the thread forward diagonally over the lower layer and then cinch in the lower foam with three tight turns of thread.

Repeat this process several times moving forwards segmenting the lower body as you go until the thread is just behind the eye. Trim away the remaining lower foam so that it just covers the hook eye.

Spiral the organza forward taking a turn in each body groove, tie in behind the eye and trim off the excess.

Bring forward the upper foam and while holding taut, tie in behind the eye. Trim away the excess foam just in front of the eye.

Take another length of rubber legs, fold in half and tie in on top of the body. Whip finish.

Put your scissors into the loops in the leg material, pull taught and cut. You should now have eight legs of equal length. Grasp the ends of each pair and pull the legs off the top of the body and round the side until the legs snap into place between the two foam layers.

Apply a small amount of superglue to the thread wraps on top of the body at head and tail.

This a variant of the classic American trout pattern, with an organza rib to enhance the bugginess of the fly from the fish's perspective. It's less imitative than the other two patterns but it's fairly easy to tie and does have the key elements to suggest a terrestrial insect struggling in the surface film.

Whatever fly you use I'd advise that you use a leader set up that gives good turnover and which gives you the choice to land your fly softly or with a plop. In my experience a floating polyleader or tapered furled leader tipped with a foot or so of 6-8lb supple fluorocarbon is the best approach. This allows me to land a fly gently in front of a visible cruising fish or to slap down the fly by pulling back on the fly line as the leader turns over, this can be very effective in attracting fish who are on the look out for food falling onto the surface.

My favourite tactic is to stalk fish basking or cruising in sunlit areas in shallows or along the margins. Then it's just a matter of figuring out where and how to pitch the fly to the selected fish.

As a back up plan I'll have a couple of handfuls of dog biscuits in my pockets and if I can't find any visible fish then I'll chuck a couple into likely spots in small bays or near cover from reeds, bushes or trees along the bank. If a fish comes up for the biscuits then a fly quickly dropped among them will often yield a fish.

Remember that the great thing about fly fishing for carp is mobility. In my experience it's rare to see a bait carp angler without a huge amount of gear, which may allow a variety of approaches, but doesn't encourage moving if there are no feeding fish assembled in front of the armoury of rods and rigs deployed. With a fly rod and a net and mat clipped to my back it's easy to move from swim to swim around a lake looking for fish. With a pocketful of dog biscuits I can stop and test the water with a few scattered offerings and move on quickly if nothing comes up to take a look.

Nick Thomas lives in South Wales. He started fly fishing on Scottish hill lochs many years ago and continues to design, tie and fish flies for trout, carp, bass and anything else that’s going.