Coleman, Columbia, carp and Dr. Cane

Coleman's first carp came much as I had envisioned it would. We stepped to the water and stood still for a few minutes scanning for fish. Twenty five feet out and slightly to our left a solitary tailer chowed down on the sand flat, likely enjoying a breakfast of clams and aquatic worms, maybe a nymph or two. Coleman had no trouble spotting the fish, but his first cast was too far from the business end of the carp. He lined up a second cast and I watched as the flies sank in perfect position, just a few inches away and slightly to the side. The flies touched down and the carp quickly closed the gap and ate. I yelled "set!" and Coleman hammered the hook home and fought his first carp to a standstill.






It was a good omen, and actually our second fish of the trip. An early start had led to both Dr. Cane and myself getting a couple of shots at tailers on the way to our primary locale and I managed to stick a nice fish.






The sun was high, the fish were active, and the company was great. We wandered down the river spotting fish and tossing flies. Not every carp took and not every take was spotted, but we found enough action to keep us busy. It didn't take Dr. Cane long to drop a laser like cast on an active fish and bring him to the net.






I spent most of the first day just meandering along, going back and forth between Coleman and dr. Cane with the net and enjoying their company and the general excitement that comes with tailing carp. I was standing next to Coleman a few hours into day one and watched him place a perfect 35 ft cast to a cruising carp. The cruiser paused for a split second and my right arm twitched a bit as I watched it unfold. Before I could think to say anything Coleman lifted the rod and we watched this beautiful mirror zip off the flats and listened to some sweet reel music.






The rest of the day played the same tune. We left the flats in the evening, tired, satisfied and already thinking about the next day.

We woke to a river that looked completely different than anything I had ever fished. The flats were dry piles of gravel and mud. The water was low and the wind was gone. Not a stitch of wind or a ripple to be seen. This combination proved tough and we spent the better part of the day spooking the few fish we found out of the tiny bit of remaining shallows. After quite a bit of exploring we found a large group of carp heavily feeding on the edge of a mud flat. With the water clouded up from the feeding we were able to walk right into the middle of the fish and Coleman put on a zen carp master show. Fishing only the sjw he dapped carp on his left, he dapped carp on his right, and he dapped carp from right under my feet. Dr. Cane and I could only laugh as Coleman put on a sjw clinic.


















Chris and I stuck some fish as well, and I finally put a hook in a real pig. This one scaled out at just over 20 lbs, the big fish of the trip






We did have a triple going but the fly on Dr. Cane's fish popped right at his feet. I will put up the double picture and some more pics of all of us after Dr. Cane emails them to me.

All in all it was a great trip. Both Dr. Cane and Coleman are great anglers and fishing with them was a pleasure. Coleman took right to the zen nature of carp fishing. On the ride home I asked him, "what were you keying on to figure out when to set the hook?".

Coleman kind of thought about it for a minute and said "I can't really say. I just figured they were eating the fly."

That is carp on the fly in the big C.