There exists a land, inside all our minds, where carp and sanity meet…

For those who have ever been carp-curious, woken up with dreams of tailing carp, or haunted by visions of flashing gold just close enough to touch, yet too far away to catch. The journey of a carp fly angler is a road full of pain, rejection, oppressive heat and blood sweat and tears. Carpsplained is a place where the technical aspects meet the philosophical aspect of the carp fly angling world. The brainchild of nutty carp addict Dagur Guðmundsson, carp fly fishing guide located on the Central Coast of California, Carpsplained is how he expresses the things he’s learned throughout his time chasing these golden fish, and the rabbit holes they take you down.

About Dagur:

Dagur Árni Guðmundsson was born and raised on the icy, windswept island of Iceland, where his earliest memories are of fishing for cod and pollock off the piers, and pulling apart shoelaces and finding feathers to “tie” flies onto worm hooks. Once he discovered fly fishing at the age of six, he decided that it looked like the coolest thing in the world, and started down the path that led to him becoming a full time guide and fly tier. At ten, he moved to the Central Coast of California, and has since split his time between Iceland in the summers, and California the rest of the year. Immediately following getting his drivers license, Dagur got his foot in the door at one of Iceland’s top salmon rivers doing whatever was asked of him until he started filling in guiding at the river when the opportunity presented itself. That was the beginning of a life as a fly fishing guide, and after spending a lot of time learning the fisheries on the Central Coast, he is now a full time fly fishing guide in California and Iceland. In California, he focuses on carp, bass, and surf perch, with carp being his main obsession. He spends 300-320 days a year fishing or guiding, and loves the endless learning a life on the water has to offer. Dagur has been a regular contributor to the California Fly Fisher magazine since 2020, is the director of fly education for the American Carp Society, and is a full time fly fishing guide and fly tier.