I should have known better. You always pay for saying something stupid, and it was just a few post ago when I said words no self respecting carp flyfisherman should utter. "Carp fishing with a flyrod is easy." Yep, that came back and bit me right in the ass this weekend. Fortunately, the total butt whipping I received at the hands of the carp was tempered great by some outstanding company. I was lucky enough to fish not only with my dad, who is an excellent carp angler and companion, but the legendary Mr. P. Actually, he is more of a myth than a legend, as no real photos of Mr. P exist on the web...instead there is just word of mouth from people who say in a hushed whisper..."He's real...I've fished with him." This is as close as I came to actually getting a picture of the famous carp angler:



As I mentioned, the fishing was rough. My venerable "super" worm was rendered useless by no wind and ultra calm, clear water. The fish ran from it before the worm even reached the bottom. Thankfully Mr. P was there with his infamous Carp Carrot, which went a long way towards saving the weekend. So did this guy:



In fact, this turned out to be the weekend of Mirror Carp. That in itself added a special flare to the fishing. I know Mr. P landed at least one mirror, my dad got at least one, and I landed 3 that I remember. The fish above weighed in at 13.5 lbs, just a hare bigger than Mr. P's fish (also above) and took the honors as the big fish of the trip. I should say big fish landed. I was in big fish hell today, which is really a strange place to be. I couldn't seem to find any fish under 10 lbs, and had shots at some real monsters throughout the day. At one point I had a great fish right up to the net. As I lifted his head I could see the worm BARELY hooked in his lips. I thought to myself "you better take a shot with the net." Of course, the fish turned back down, made a short run and the hook pulled! At another stop, I found several large fish tailing on a gravel bar in between two massive weed beds. It was fun, but tough to close the deal. I hooked 4 fish, and tried to hold each one from the weed beds. In all 4 cases I had to put a new fly on the end of my tippet after the carp reminded me that BIG FISH > 1X TIPPET. Mr. P had a good look at a monster fish as well, but couldn't get a hook up and my dad had two casts at a tailer that I am positive was over 30lbs. The fish was about a rod length away, and I had 2-3 minutes to check him out. I think the reason my dad didn't hook was was that he was afraid to hook him.





Great fishing with Mr. P and my dad. They are both excellent anglers, and we had a great time fishing, eating, driving, and just hanging out. We never did manage to get a picture of a "triple" but there were plenty of laughs and a good time was had by all.

Till next time Mr. P and the Reel John Montana!