Ross and I shared the bow of the boat, each with a flyrod in hand while Travis ran the motor. I spotted the mud cloud about 35 feet away...a nice tailing fish, busy. Ross dropped a hybrid just inches away but the fish soft spooked at the plop and started moving along the shoreline towards the boat. Ross fired off a second cast, but the hybrid didn't sink fast enough and the fish slowly cruised by. I timed it...looked at the fish, knew my rigs sink rate and made a leading cast perpendicular to the bank. I watched the intersect path, and saw my flies touch down inches in front of the slow moving carp. The carp approached, and slowed ever so slightly...I set the hook.
The carp blasted down the bank and then took a hard left, burying deep into the weeds, and the team jumps into action. Travis put the trolling motor on full and we shot off after the carp, while Ross dropped to his belly on the front deck and began ripping weeds out of the way with both hands. As he freed more and more fly line I reeled like mad to keep up, and Ross continued digging a trench through the weeds. The leader appeared and I dropped to a knee and hand lined the fish, pulling gently, trying to force the head towards the surface. As soon as Travis got a look at the body he made a stab with the net and scooped up a 19 lb carp and about 15 lbs of weeds. It was the fist fish of the day, carping is more than a spectator sport.