Just flipping through some old pictures and spotted this one. It makes me miss trout fishing and the Metolius, though I was actually sight fishing big copper johns to a few bull trout. My serious carping is probably done until spring, though I might chase a few local carp on nice days. Next up for me (this week probably) will be coho salmon. Nothing wrong with that!

Been a busy week since the Bartlett family reunion on the coast. Darby and I are both sick, and month end at the office is always crazy! Kelly and I just bought a new computer today too, an Imac...I like it so far, but it will take some getting used to. Here are a few pics Kelly took of me attempting to catch some surf perch. I had no clue what I was doing, but it was fun just standing out there. We had big surf every day, so the conditions were bad but anytime with a flyrod in hand is okay by me.

We all had a great time at the Bartlett family reunion last week. Pics and stories to come, but for now here is one of JJ flying his first kite. He got a kick out of the kite.

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One of the great things about carp fishing is that it just doesn't take much to turn a rough day, into a successful day. Halfway through my outing today I was convinced that the last few successful trips had eaten up all of my good karma. I just couldn't get anything going. It took me until noon to even find fish, and once I found them, I had no chance of getting them to eat anything! I blew casts by putting the fly too far away, then blew casts by hitting the fish on the head. Once I finally started placing the fly where I needed it, I couldn't stop pulling the fly away from the fish! I do have to admit that carp are pretty funny when they just lost a meal. The second you set the hook to soon the carp goes into a little mini frenzy, swimming in circles, darting from side to side. You can just about hear them yelling "I was going to eat that!" After taking the fly from a few fish, and then leaving it much too long (and seeing that cursed eat/spook moment) I began to put it together. I think it started when I went to the San Juan, but not one of the new ones I tied last night. I should have figured that new flies tied intentionally for a trip NEVER work. The second I put on an old beat up worm loaded with good mojo, things flowed much better. I ended up hooking about 10 fish, but I lost most of them to the big weedbed about 80 feet off of the flat. Most guys would think 80 feet is plenty of room to stop a fish...most guys don't fish for carp. I brought 5 to hand, on a variety of flies, but the worm was center stage (and it looks even more disheveled...might have to retire that one to my hat.) The biggest fish was about 13 lbs, smallest was 6 lbs...I'll take that spread any day, though I did hook one much bigger fish (my first lesson in the location of that weedbed.) All in all a good day, and I made it home in time to put the kids to bed. Nice.

Two more things to note. First, the water was LOADED with these freshwater clams:

If anyone out there has a pattern, let me know. I'm betting all of the crushed shells were pretty a pretty good indicator of what the carp were chowing. Also, I found this stringer full of 10 dead sturgeon (and one salmon). What a waste. One of the sturgeon was at least 5 feet long. I called it in, but I'm not sure what good that will do.

I snuck out this afternoon for a little exploring. I've been meaning to check a few flats near Portland, so rather than hit a spot I knew I'd see fish, I took a gamble. It didn't pay off today. I did find some nice looking flats, but the water is so low right now, that the shallows were high and dry. The fish were pushed out deep, and I didn't see a single fish. My expectations were low, but I would have liked to have found some fish. Still, it was fun to get out and see some new spots, and I really did feel like an urban carper today.

I got back to my carping roots today. I had an hour to fish with JJ along for the ride in the backpack. We hit our go to local pond and managed four carp. A pretty good outing, though the biggest fish was only 7 lbs. This is distinctly different carp fishing that what I have been doing the last few weeks. These small ponds don't require long casts and tons of backing, but they do up the need for stealth. I put the sneak on all 4 fish, hooking three of them with no fly line out my guides, just 5 or 6 feet of leader. My normal technique on tiny water is to sneak within a rod length of the fish dangle about 3-4 ft of leader out the top of the rod and literally set the fly next to a feeding fish. If you can get on top of them without spooking them, it is deadly. The best part about today? Every time I hooked a carp JJ would just bust out laughing. Good stuff...