A good rule of thumb is that you can't catch fish if you stay at home. While that is true, when your target is carp there are times when it might be best to stay at home. Today, I ventured out despite my instincts. Elia woke up from her nap, I got her dressed and asked "do you want to go fishing with dad?" If I needed proof that she is already smarter than me I now have it. She looked at the window as it was pelted with sideways rain and said "No, stay home with momma." Smart little girl.

Undaunted, I headed out hoping that the visibility would allow me to sneak right up on any fish foolish enough to be feeding on the bank in this nasty weather. As I headed up the freeway I snapped a shot of the conditions. Not exactly ideal carping weather.

The lake was covered in rain when I arrived, and visibility was indeed, terrible. I moved up the bank slowly, and my pace eventually paid off as I found a pod of fish working the bank. All I could see was mud and the occasional tail, but it was more than enough to get my blood going, which helped warm me up considerably. I crept along and dropped fly after fly into the fray. Finally, as I jigged one fly near a tail I saw a mouth swoop up after the fly and make one, two, three quick attempts at sucking it in as it rose in the water column. I clearly saw the fish trying to eat, but simply could not stop my arm from continuing to lift the fly! After three attempts the fish remembered that it was a carp, and with a non chalant attitude it dropped back to the bottom as if saying: "I'm not working that hard for my food."

Fortunately I did end up hooking two fish. Both fish were in the low to mid teens and made great runs. In the murky water the takes were merely a feeling of the line stopping, and I didn't end up landing either fish. The first fish ran about 80 ft into my backing and buried me in a massive matt of weeds on the other side of the lake. I reeled in about 25 lbs of weeds, and broke my fly off trying to haul the weeds onto shore so I could dig through them for my fly. The second fish made a great run as well, and I was able to capture some of it on video. It was fun to video tape the screaming reel, but I think it cost me the fish as it got off shortly after I got serious.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hwmn7WManLM

All in all a nice afternoon. WT once said you cannot underestimate the importance of direct sunlight when carp fishing. He is right on, but sometimes you just have to get out and make things come together.