Tuesday, August 07, 2012

"A" water

Today, for the first time in 2012 I got to fish my "A" water. It isn't that my "B", "C", "D", or "E" water is that big of a drop off, but I love my "A" spot. I know it well, and know where to expect to see a tailer in the gravel, or a slow cruiser working a bank. The fish are tough, but when you bring your "A" game to your "A" water...good things happen.

That fish tipped the scales at 23 lbs, and came shortly after I landed a 21 lber. I had my "A" game today. Incidentally, I had decided to call Wendy Berrell while walking a dead stretch, and hooked, fought, and landed the 21 lber with Wendy on the phone. That was a first.

The fish were active. I saw tons of tailing fish, most working the gravel bars and edges of mud flats, and they responded well to a soft hackle with a worm tail (thanks Travis!). This was carping at its best. With good visibility I was spotting fish a long way off, and got to make long casts and key on body turns and tail twitches...heady stuff! I put the stalk on a few fish and got in close to see them reach up and suck in the soft hackle as it sank near their mouth. Some fantastic takes today. All told, I must have landed around 25 carp...two over twenty, one 18 lber and a bunch of 15s.

I lost two or three fish because I didn't set the hook hard enough. Little known carp on the fly rule #1: when you know a carp has eaten your fly, set the hook! Hard! Don't be a wussy and half set or gently lift the rod...hammer the fish when you know he has eaten the fly!

Which brings me to Little known carp on the fly rule #2: if you don't know the carp has taken your fly...go fish for trout. Seriously, they are way easier.

 

11 comments:

testflycarpin said...

Man, what a day, glad you finally got the A-Game on the A-water. 25! Unbelievable.

Hixem Barbero said...

wooowwww
Good job!!!!

trashfisher said...

Awesome! Master class carping for sure. I'm glad you're on my team for the carp-ocalypse.

Unknown said...

John great fish, nice piece.

Would love to know how you know when to set the hook at distance? They don't take as hard as trout do they?

John Montana said...

Richard...that is the toughest question in carping! On the columbia, the fish are NOT aggressive, so you simply can't rely on stripping and strip setting. They won't really follow a flow (not often anyway) and rarely charge a fly like i've seen them do on lake MI. The fish out here are really subtle in the take, but the plus side is they eat flies really well. Basically, i key on the body. i always put the fly slightly to the side of the fish, and when the body turns, or the tail moves like a rudder, i wait a beat, then set the hook hard. might not be a great solution, but it works ok for me. Good luck man!

Brian J. said...

NICE-- I explored some new water on the C last weekend and ended up getting a shot at one of the biggest carp I've seen there to date. Missed it of course.

Great to see you back on the C, bringing your A game!

cheers

Wendy Berrell said...

Hearing a 20 caught via phone. That is some shit right there. It was all very casual. Which is notable.

JM said...

trout: way easier

Ha, love it.

JM said...

trout: way easier

Ha, love it.

Ty said...

Man, do you even have any fish out there under 15 lbs? Friggin' awesome. As per usual.

John Montana said...

Hah...lots Ty...I am just choosy about my targets!