Low water, little oxygen and high temperatures in the creeks. In August, even the trout don't want to be there.

When the dog days of summer howl, Pittsburgh fly anglers in search of a challenge can pitch big bugs to bass, drive for hours to a central Pennsylvania limestone stream or cough up thousands for a vacation bonefish trip.

Lee Terkel of Carnegie suggests another option for the seasonally hindered fly fisherman:

Carp.

Don't smirk. An ancient, bottom-feeding omnivore with a high tolerance for low water quality, the common carp is perhaps unfairly considered in America a trash fish, often equated with polluted rivers and murky lakes. Native to Asian waters, it was spread through Europe by the Romans. The carp was introduced to the United States in the late 1800s by wildlife agencies intending that carp would be caught as food. When fishing in America shifted from food gathering to recreation, the carp fell out of favor.

While it's able to survive in unsavory backwashes, the adaptable Cyprinus carpio also feels very much at home in high-quality waters, including the shady pools of Class A trout streams. Technically a member of the minnow family, it can grow to monstrous proportions -- the Pennsylvania state record is 52 pounds, and 20 pounders are common.

In Europe and Asia, the carp is still regarded a challenging game fish targeted by fly anglers. At a July workshop at International Angler in Robinson, Terkel explained carping in a way fly anglers could understand.

"It's a wily fish with extraordinary sensory perception and can be as finicky and difficult to catch as trout," he said. "And they have some serious shoulders on them and can really run, especially carp that live in current."

Terkel writes about fly fishing on his blog, www.mrbrownliner.wordpress.com. A self-described "opportunistic angler" with a busy schedule, Terkel said he turned to the opportunistic carp because both were available at the same time.

"I had a demanding job, two children, and didn't have time to drive an hour and a half, fish, then drive an hour and half back," he said. "Carp are everywhere, they're close to home, even during the worst time of the year for fly fishing. If I had only a couple of hours to work with, I could be on the water and back home on time with a reasonable chance of hooking into a fish. I guess I like fishing more than I like driving."

Terkel found, however, that hooking into a carp was no guarantee that he'd land it.

"Once a carp gets out into the moving water, you're into your backing," he said. "It's a broad fish, tough to turn, with tremendous fight. Other than steelhead and striper, you'd be hard pressed to find a fish that is that available that will take you into the backing so regularly."

Fly gear designed for trout -- particularly steelhead -- is suitable for carping. Terkel uses a 9-foot, 6-weight saltwater model with a fighting butt.

"When you get a 10- or 12-pound carp, it helps a lot," he said, but a 5-weight fly rod with 5- to 7-weight line and 3X tippet works fine.

The best patterns for carp are already in the fly boxes of many Pennsylvania trout anglers.

"The Blood Dot is wonderful carp food," said Terkel. "So is a Wooly Bugger and a Backstabber. The one mistake people make with carp flies is they go too big. I'd go no bigger than a No. 8, down to 12 or 14."

Unlike predacious trout and bass, carp are less likely to aggressively pursue their prey. Despite their bottom-feeder reputation, carp can feed at various stations in still and moving water, said Terkel.

"Some carp are cruisers. They're swimming around," he said. "If they're not actively feeding, they're unlikely to stop and hit a fly. Some are mudding -- they're nose down, rooting for food."

Then there are "clooping" carp.

"When their big lips hit the surface they make a 'cloop' sound," he said. "It's like trout hitting dry flies."

While most carp fishing is done on the bottom, carp can be caught on the surface, said Terkel, under three general conditions: when fluffy white cottonwood seeds fall to the water, during mulberry hatches when the bushes drop their berries, and during a spinner fall.

"Sometimes there are thousands of mayflies laying spent on the water," he said, "especially as it's getting dark, and the carp will be just vacuuming them off the surface."

Nevertheless, fly fishing for carp is almost exclusively sight fishing and mostly on the bottom.

"It's like a nymph rig. You have to get the fly down and almost come to a slow drift right in the path of where the carp is coming. Carp move around and root. The idea is to guess where it will be next. You intercept the carp, you don't throw at it."

Fly fishing purists can debate the ethics of scenting flies. With their extraordinary smell and taste perception, scents are particularly effective on carp. Vanilla works well.

And while some may question whether using baits with a fly rod is fly fishing, there's no doubt that catching a nearly 4-foot monster carp on a fly rod baited with a kernel of corn was the thrill of a lifetime for Keith Abercrombie of the North Side. On July 23, he hauled a 43-incher out of the Allegheny River on the North Shore.