Some days it doesn't go as planned

I have managed to sneak out for a couple of carp outings of late, neither of which was a rousing success. I met up with Mr. P for a short trip, best described here. We caught some fish, but nothing like what we were looking for, and Jim broke his rod. Try fishing for carp with one fly rod sometime...it only works because Jim is a pleasure to fish with.



The second outing was a bigger success in terms of fish, but again, it just wasn't what we were looking for. But this time...we had a boat!



Travis was kind enough to take my dad and I exploring, and in a boat it is certainly a lot easier to look at new water. The experience was stellar, the company superb, but the catching only so so. Check out the sky in this picture and you will know why.



Carp fishing is tough under any conditions, but combine dead calm surface water and no sun and you basically spend the day saying "there goes one". I did manage to land 8 fish, the largest at 16 lbs, and my dad and Travis each caught one, but it was tough. The highlight for me (other than meeting Travis and fishing with my dad) was a blind cast and hook up to a tailer. I stalked the fish on a huge flat, spooking multiple fish while enroute to the only one I could see (it's tail was completely out of the water). After a long cast, I kept the line tight and slowly pulled my flies into the zone until the tail disappeared and the line came tight...very cool.



Fishing with Travis was great...very laid back guy that clearly knows his carping! He stuck a nice fish with the same blind method...we were reduced to this method most of the day. Not the most productive way to catch carp out here.






All in all both days were different than planned, but both had a lot to offer. Jim and I got to fish literally side by side and swap high water spring stories...great fun. Travis, dad and I got to explore stunning new water and lost track of how many times we said "I need to come back here". Carp fishing is tough, and things don't always come together as planned, but as I walked down a long gravel bar, birds wheeling overhead talking to Travis and looking for tails breaking the surface I realized that sometimes...you really don't have to catch fish. Sometimes the experience is enough.