Tuesday, June 05, 2012

Land of Mirrors

It is no secret that I dig mirror carp. Those that have fished with me have seen me pass up reasonable shots at 20 lb fish to take a less than desirable shot at a mirror. Can't help it, they are cool looking.

With that in mind, I have caught more than my share of Columbia River mirror carp. While far from rare, mirrors are clearly the minority out here, much less available than my catch rates would indicate simply because I drop everything to cast at mirrors when given the chance. I have been lucky enough to catch some great mirrors.

But for years, a really big one has eluded me. I have caught them well into the teens, but the only 20 plus lb mirror I have ever touched belonged to Wendy Berrell. Look at this brute.

To the best of my knowledge, I have hooked two mirrors over 20, and lost them both. Without putting too much pressure on myself...the twenty lb mirror is my holy grail of carping. All these pictures, and all these words to say a very simple thing.

Tomorrow, I am off to ID, to the land of mirrors.

My sincere hope is that sometime on Friday, Saturday or Sunday I am forced to actually pass up a reasonable shot at a mirror carp in order to try for a really big mirror carp. I hope it happens, and I hope I don't screw it up! Thanks in advance to my family for letting me go chase this silly goal...I can't wait to wander water where only mirrors swim.

 

11 comments:

testflycarpin said...

Go get em John! They certainly seem to have them that size there. And my favorite is the third one down. That is such a cool looking fish.

Barry said...

They truly are fascinating creatures and you catch some dandy ones.

John Montana said...

Thanks guys...funny you should mention the third one down Trevor. I ignored a mid 20s fish to target that mirror. I remember that exact sequence and location. It was a cool fish.

n.taylor said...

Montana is on a carping tear. They must be sleeping in fear on west.

e.m.b. said...

Holy moley. That carp is insane!

Pile Cast said...

A mirror carp is definitely on my list of carp to catch on the fly. Well done, those are some beautiful fish.

Mr. P. said...

See you Thursday John. Really looking forward to it!

Gregg said...

John and Mr.P will out class those unique giants trust me. Have my fingers crossed for the weather.

Gregg

Ty said...

I like that third fish as well. What a beauty. Also, the fifth photo, the one with carp laying on its side, well that's just cool.

Unknown said...

Go get em! My guess is that if there are 20lbers there you will manage one.

BKill said...

Mirrors are exceedingly rare around here ... I've brought only one to hand in roughly 15 years of chasing carp on the fly. And of course, I was robbed - literally - the night I caught that fish, and the camera - on which the mirror's many photographs were stored - was stolen ... in many ways it's par for the course. Nice fish there ... all of them.