I can't help but feeling like we are almost out of time here on the west coast. Carping is getting tougher daily, as the weather cools and the fish get more sluggish. This morning was cool, overcast, even a bit foggy. Elia and I headed out to the only spot that I KNEW we would see fish, and met my friend David out there. David walked up as I was fighting my first (and last) fish of the day, a little 5 lber that pounced on a maroon hairs ear dropped in amongst the rocks. I had spotted the fish working in and out of some good sized rocks, and got him to take on the first cast. Just a few minutes later David made a great presentation to another tailer, and the fish actually came up through the water column to take his black fly. His results are pictured here! Elia didn't want to be in the backpack today, so I quit fishing and just walked along with David. We did spot a few more great fish in really good spots, but they simply wouldn't eat. It was good to get out with David, I hadn't seen him in a while, and he has truly turned into a carp nut! I met David by chance on his first foray into carping, and we spent the day together talking fish and having a good time. Since then, he has become an expert on OR carp, and joins the limited ranks of the few of us crazy enough to chase these fish while others are out standing in a river swinging flies and waiting for a steelhead to hook itself! I say that now, but Coho season is here, and hopefully soon I'll have some nice salmon pictures to put up on the blog.

Thanks again David!

W. B. Yeats:

The Lake Isle of Innisfree

I will arise and go now, and go to Innisfree,
And a small cabin build there, of clay and wattles made:
Nine bean-rows will I have there, a hive for the honey-bee,
And live alone in the bee-loud glade.

And I shall have some peace there, for peace comes dropping slow,
Dropping from the veils of the morning to where the cricket sings;
There midnight's all a glimmer, and noon a purple glow,
And evening full of the linnet's wings.

I will arise and go now, for always night and day
I hear lake water lapping with low sounds by the shore;
While I stand on the roadway, or on the pavements grey,
I hear it in the deep heart's core.

I got an email from a friend of mine today who was reading the article I wrote for the American Carper. She mentioned how big many of the fish in those pictures were. Courtesy of roughfish.com, check this out Karen:

http://www.carpgate.de/content/images/record_common_clip.wmv

The world record common carp, over 76 lbs.

I did get out twice this weekend for some carp. Saturday afternoon Kelly, Elia, JJ and I hit a local spot and Elia got to "pet" a 5 lb carp. We mainly just walked and played with the geese, but I did manage one fish, and Elia enjoyed touching and "hugging" it! So for the record...JJ saw his first fish at 6 weeks old.

Got blanked today in 2 hours. Saw some nice fish, but no takers.

I recently wrote an article for The American Carper. Check out the september issue here:

http://www.americancarpsociety.com:8080/ACS/acs_e-magazine.jsp

The article starts on page 31.

There are some advantage when fishing with KB. One, he is an easy guy to fish with. He knows what he is doing, and is just a fun guy to be around. Two, he brings LOTS of water. Three, he happens to be a professional photographer...Every now and then that comes in handy!We had a spectacular day today chasing carp. The water was low, which made the fish ultra spooky, but making each fish more difficult just made it that much more rewarding when you did manage to hook up, and hook up with did. KB hooked 8 or 9 carp, landing 3 or 4, and I hooked about 15 carp, landing 9. The big fish of the day was a 22 lb beast that I took after creeping down the bank like a Ninja and dropping a big prince nymph on his head. The big boy was so intent on feeding, that I could barely see the fish, but I did see his tail push him forward and felt a tiny bit of weight on my line. I thought to myself, "weed." Than I strip set anyway and the fight was on! This fish had me wondering if I had enough backing as his first knuckle-breaking run had me staring in disbelief at my reel. After what seemed like an eternity I managed to bring him back to shore, and then KB performed one of the best net jobs I've ever seen. He sort of scooped the fish's head into the net, and then move the net from side to side to get each pectoral fin in there! It was quite the sight watching him squeeze this huge fish into my tiny net. One of these days I really will get a bigger net!Lots of great memories and moments from today for both of us. My best take was simple. I dropped my fly in on a fish feeding in some weeds, and saw the fly sink to the level of the fish. The fish didn't move an inch, and I thought to myself, "He either already ate it, or he's not going to, " and I quickly lifted the rod and it bent over as the fish blasted out of the shallows. We had the great fortune or running into Paul Huffman as well. I have been meaning to fish with Paul and it was a pleasure to spend some time with him and watch the inventor of the Carp Wooley at work!All in all a great day, with good company and good fishing. As Mr. P says, "the take is the premier moment," and today was all about that split second when it all comes together.

What a great day on the water! KB and I hit our favorite carp hole, and conditions were pretty good. Visibilty was tough at times, and the numbers of fish are down a bit as the nights get colder, but we still had plenty of targets for our flies, and as you can see from the picture, we even had some success. I'll get a detailed report up soon, but as for numbers, KB laned 3, hooked around 8 or so. I landed 9, and hooked about 15 or so. Most of the fish were in the 6-8 lb range, with at least one fish that reached 9 lbs, and one monster fish that scaled out at 22 lbs. We saw some backing and tested some knots today!

I got out this morning for a couple of hours with Elia in the backpack. She is getting awfully big to haul around in that thing, but she sure loves to go fishing!

We hit another local spot I had fished a while back, and revisted briefly with KB last weekend. KB nailed a great 11lb fish. I got blanked last time, but saw some nice fish.

Today the conditions were actually worse. The water was even murkier, but if you kept your eyes peeled you could see mud clouds, bubbles, and occasionally the body of a fish. This place has some big fish in it, and today I got a crack at what might be the biggest in the pond.

I was walking down the bank and noticed that the massive matt of lilly pads was being moved aside as a fish swam right through the middle of them. I follwed the movement down the bank and got a great look at the fish when the lilly pads thinned out. It was a BIG carp. I mean really big. I sped up and got ahead of him and continued to watch his progress by keeping an eye on the moving lily pads. He eventually got to the end of the pads and i saw his huge head kind of peek out into open water. He paused there for a minute, looked both ways like he was about to cross traffic, then slowly eased out into the open. there was maybe 10 feet before he would hit the next batch of lily pads, so I let him get about 2-3 feet out before I made the cast. I thought that if I actually hooked him he would run forward, and I would have a chance of stopping him.

My first cast with the mohair leech was a good one. about 3 feet beyond him and 2 feet ahead. I made one quick strip and then two slow strips and clearly saw his huge mouth open and close, so I made what was probably the best strip-set I've ever made (former trout guys tend to struggle with the strip set.) The big carp exploded immediately and water went everywhere! The lake here is pretty deep, at least 6 feet but he was high in the column. I bent the 7 wt over double and tried to turn him toward the shore, but he had none of it and turned with a fury toward the lily pads from which he had just appeared. I was only fishing 3x (DUMB!) and put as much pressure as I dared, but it wasn't enough and he got into the sparse pads on the outside. He kept digging in, looking for the really thick ones, so I increased the pressure and POP! He was gone.

I called KB to tell him that I just lost the biggest carp I have ever hooked, then changed to a 2x leader (biggest I had) and kept fishing. I did get another good shot at a fish and manged to hook him. He made a great run in some open water and then turned for more lilly pads. This fish was in the 10-12 lb class (he was 8 ft away when I hooked him, I got a great look at him) and I though the 2x would hold up but I put too much pressure on him and broke that guy off as well!

So this afternoon Elia and I hit the fly shop, picked up the biggest leader I've ever fish...a 15 lb cord that I'm hoping will hold up to the big strong fish in this spot. I want my flies back, and tomorrow morning Elia and I are going looking for them.

Good pic of the kids from tonight. Elia loves to hold JJ, she will be a great big sister. JJ is doing typical baby stuff right now, but his neck is really strong! He holds his head up and looks all around, he even tries to stand if you hold him in a sitting position. As usual, it has been challenging but Kelly is an all-star and things get easier daily.

Yes, that is underwear. She thinks itlooks good on her head.

Big news on the kid front. Elia has now peed in her little potty in the downstairs bathroom 7-8 times in the last 3 days. On most occasions, she told us she needed to use the potty! She is a long way from being potty trained, but some positive steps forward!

Still have a ways to go with JJ though!