Just a week ago (actually Saturday, November 4th) Elia and I headed to the mall to do some shopping for Kelly. With her help I picked out a nice sweater for Kelly and a camisole to go underneath (Kelly looks really good in it too!) On the way home I decided to swing by a go to carp spot and just take a peek at the water. It had been raining hard for days, and I knew water levels were up beyond belief everywhere. This is a man made and contained pond, but with all that water, it had to be up. We pulled up to the pond and the water was indeed flooding the sidewalk in some spots, and the rain was still coming down hard. Sitting in the car Elia spotted some geese and wanted to go look at them, so we put on coats and hats and stepped out into the deluge. I hadn't walked 10 ft down the bank (with Elia happily splashing along at my side) when I spotted a nice carp feeding right up against the edge. The water was solid mud, but the fish was in so shallow he was easy to spot. I grabbed Elia and ran back to the car to rig up the 4 wt. We carefully walked back into position and I dropped a hares ear to the rooting carp from a rod length away. The hungry fish pounced on the fly and the reel began to sing! Since Elia wasn't in the backpack I quickly knelt down and handed her the flyrod. Her eyes lit up and she nearly dropped the rod as the fish made a strong run. I had to rest the rod on my finger about 6 inches up from the grip to keep it upright, but other than that she held on with both hands and did really well! When the carp quit running I reeled with one hand and Elia kept pulling on the rod, laughing and smiling each time the carp would make another shake or short run. After a few minutes of smiles from Elia we got the carp close to the bank. I looked at Elia and asked if I could have the rod to land the fish. "No, No..." she cried and quickly pulled the rod to her shoulder and started running down the bank! With a nice carp still attached she couldn't get far and I manage to grab the rod and land the fish. She smiled and touched the nice 7 lb carp and said "Elia caught fish!"

When we got home she ran into Kelly to tell her all about it. Hopefully the first of many for Elia, and certainly one of my best ever days of fishing.