Kelly and Elia spent a "girl's day out" today, which left JJ and I to fend for ourselves! We headed out scouting for carp, but the recent rains made all of the ponds and slough really muddy. Visibility was terrible everywhere we stopped. Finally on our last stop we were able to spot some fish. I had been at this pond a week ago and caught one fish, but nearly every fish I had seen was in spawning mode. Today was different. I could barely see them, but the fish I could pick out were actively tailing. My first cast landed just inches from where I supposed the head of a tailing fish was. His tail sped up, I set the hook and fish on! The first fish was the biggest, and just under 6 lbs. I spotted two more fish quickly, and in both cases I'm positive that the fish each took the fly (a size 10 carp wooley) but I didn't hook either fish. I was waiting for the tail to speed up for both fish, and instead they just kept rooting around, and then suddenly bolted out of there. I'm sure they each ate the fly, spit it out and spooked. The second fish of the day was in really shallow water, about a foot deep. I snuck up behind some bushes and dropped the fly a few inches in front of him and he just mosied up and sucked it in! It was a small carp, maybe 14 inches long! The third fish was the one pictured above. I was actually disappointed when I first hooked this fish. I was fishing to a tailer that was in the 5-7 lb range and as the fly sank I saw the flash of a fish moving on the sinking fly. I set the hook and had this little 3 lb fish on the line. As soon as I realized it was a mirror, I was pretty happy. I've only caught about 10 mirror carp, so I'm always excited to get one!

All in all a good day of carping. JJ was a trooper. He loves to ride in the backpack and didn't utter a peep during our outing, except the occasional excited grunt when a fish was splashing nearby. I can't wait to get him out with a flyrod!