Mirror, Mirror

Am I alone in thinking that the mirror carp has a clear cut place at the table of beautiful fish?



Yes, I still understand that they are carp...lips and tails and according to many: slime. But there is just something about the mirrors. Each scale pattern unique and brilliant, made all the prettier in full sunshine.



This is the carp's version of a brilliantly colored rainbow, or the chrome brightness of a steelhead fresh from the ocean. Maybe beauty is in the eye of the beholder but I can't be alone in being enamored with mirror carp...can I?



I do get the lips thing. Sometimes they still freak me out.

Surprise, surprise

Returning home after what can only be described as a LONG week of work I was handed a package by my wife. No sane carper (if that rare species exists) could avoid letting out a whoop upon seeing the contents. Mine was loud enough to bring Elia running.



What an amazingly thoughtful gift from the legendary Mr. P! I am fortunate to fish with Jim every year...any two people nuts enough to be public about a love affair with carp in the steelhead crazy pacific northwest are bound to find each other. Thanks again Jim! You literally made my week...

Off to do some reading.

Jealousy

Eventually, I will hunger to hear the stories and see the pictures...but for now...I am jealous as hell.

Third Coast Fly Beaver Island Media Outing

I know I could find my 35 lber on beaver island. Should be a crazy time with that crew in that locale. Go get em boys!

Have you seen your backing lately?

I have.






Some of you may (or may not have) heard the tremendous sigh I voiced at approximately 1100 this morning. Not a whoop or a holler, but nevertheless a loud enough sigh to reverberate off the water and sky and send my tension and stress downriver faster than the current could possibly carry. Yeah, it felt pretty good, but despite a great day of catching carp I would say that the fish are ready but the rivers isn't.

I arrived at the river this morning and my optimism disappeared. The river was high, muddy and cold. No bank at all, just submerged trees. I rigged up and got into the water but after thirty fruitless minutes staring into the murk I was officially going through the motions. I told myself I would walk to a certain point, and I am ashamed to admit that after an hour I stopped a mere 50 yards from my self imposed target. With disgust, I turned around and began a hasty, moribund trudge back to the jeep. I plowed through the muddy river grumbling and scowling, but to my credit I continued to scan the water ahead. Suddenly, about 100 ft ahead I saw something that may or may not have been a swirl in the placid surface. I slowed up but stayed well short of full on stalk mode. Sixty feet out and I saw a dark shape in the dark river that may or may not have been a fish. I stopped. After a full minute of intense squinting the dark shape may or may not have moved. What the hell...I slipped into full on stalk mode and crept closer. At 20 ft I was certain it was a fish but in the murky water I couldn't even decipher head from tail. After a mental coin flip I made a cast and my two fly rig immediately vanished in the sludge. I counted to 6, the shape may or may not have moved and I set the hook. After that I really only remember two things. One...the worlds biggest sigh. And two, praying that I didn't drag back a scale from a foul hooked fish. A few minutes later I slipped this 17 lb beauty into the net.












Here is where it gets slightly amazing, at least considering the spring we have had. For the next several hours I found carp. Regularly. The numbers of fish weren't huge but they were there and ready to eat if you could decipher the fish and take through the mud filled river. I dumped the bad attitude and slipped into full on hunt mode, moving so slowly I could have snuck up on a heron. I got right on top of fish and stared through the muck with such intensity that I swear I was forcing the water to clear up...and I started to hook fish.












Early on the fly of choice was a black and orange bodied soft hackle, but as the day wore on the worm had it's moments and overall I think I landed more fish on the worm.






I landed a total of 18 carp. Not a typo and I kept track since this was the first day I have really found fish. I think the fish are as eager for warm water as me, now it is just a matter of waiting for the river to fall into shape a bit...and a few more degrees would help! Most of the fish were smaller, in the 9-11 lb range but I landed 5 over fifteen lbs. A 15, 16,16,17, and 17 in total. I had one huge mirror carp break me off right at the net (over eager on my part) and while I don't think that fish was in the Wendy Berrell class, it would have been my biggest mirror for sure. I did land one mirror, this 13 lber.






I apologize for the crappy photos...high water + my camera is AWOL...pretty tough taking photos of carp with an iPhone!

I feel better. No more angst filled posts and whining about the cold spring. Prime time is just around the corner!

Stalling

All spring I have felt like I was back in high school, playing in the state tourney against a Havre team that had us seriously out talented. They were big (6 ft 9 vs our tallest player at 6 ft 2) and fast (the guy I guarded was Jason Quick...one of the few times in my playing days when I didn't have a decided advantage in the speed department). Our game plan was simple, and the opposite of our normal fly up the court, press and shoot attack. We held the ball, ran patient offense and in general made the talented boys from Havre aggravated and annoyed. I remember trying to run around the wide bodied screen of the big (and wide...really wide) power forward named Lanning. I remember Andy Cripe and Mike Bauer keeping us in the game with spectacular plays after 50 seconds of passing and cutting. The worst part was that feeling of wanting to run downhill at full speed and having to hold yourself in check. As the point guard, I had to manage the tempo of that game and constantly slow myself and the team down when all I wanted to do was RUN!

The slow pace and start to this spring has felt the same. I look at the weather, the temps the water levels and the rain and all I want to do is run to the river on the off chance that the fish will be in and the sun will pop out of the dark clouds and drop one single ray to illuminate a 30 lb beast in the shallows. It hasn't happened...and we didn't beat Havre that night either. Sometimes you are forced to play slow and be patient...I have never been very good at it.

How lucky am I?

They land in a couple of hours.

San Diego

I flew all the way to San Diego for carp and all I caught was this stupid bass.



All I can say is thank god for google. I had done some searching for carp in San Diego and came up with a goofy man made lake not too far from where I was staying. With work keeping me busy I only had an hour or two in the evening so I couldn't hit the hot spots that a local fly shop told me about (http://www.socalflyfishing.net/Fly+Fishing). I have to say, what a beautiful shop and the owner Peter was a great guy. Had I more time he would have put me right on some great carping. As it was, he shared some bay fishing secrets (more on that in a second). If you are in San Diego, check out this shop.

Back to the man made lake...not exactly my cup of tea. I walked around looking for carp and got some funny looks as the only guy with a flyrod...some of the looks could have been because I stood in the parking lot and changed out of a suit to my fishing clothes. Should have just left the suit on. I didn't see a single carp but I saw about a dozen big bass in the shallows. I managed to catch two of them, with the one above being the biggest. It is a pretty nice bass, but...not a carp.

I also took a shot at the bay and thanks to some flies from So Cal Flyfishing and some incredibly detailed instruction I was able to stumble onto some fish. This isn't really streamer fishing, more of a tight line nymph with a twitch...in salt water over small weedbeds that you can't really see. interesting, and challenging. I got three takes...I think. And landed two fish. No clue what this sucker was



But it fought better than you would think. This fish (sand bass I think they call it) was awesome. Great pressure take and a better than expected fight. Plus...it looks cool.



Pretty fun deal. I will give it another shot in the morning before picking up the wife and kids at the airport for a few vacation days and some sea world action. I miss my family.

Worst spring ever

We need some sun!



I have every picture I have ever taken memorized, and I have read every fly fishing blog on the net twice. I need to catch a carp badly.

Thank You Del Monte

This:



Plus this:



Equals this:



And this:



Yeah, yeah...it ain't on a fly but the kids are smiling.

The long, cold winter

Continues. Ugh. Not one to go down without a fight I have taken three trips to the river over the past few weeks. Given the conditions none of the trips began with high hopes but the ever present fisherman optimism always takes over while gearing up at the car. So what if you have to put your rain jacket on to stay dry...bad conditions often lead to big fish. So what if the sky is so dark you can actually see better without your polarized glasses...all you need is a tail breaking the surface and you are golden. So what if the water is in the trees and the color of your morning coffee...high water just pushes the fish close to shore. Unfortunately, more often than not bad conditions = crappy fishing, and that has held true this year. I saw one carp, 60 ft from shore floating on the surface of a tiny pond. I chucked a fly out there and somehow managed to snag the poor bugger and scored my first scale of the year. Other than that, I haven't even seen any signs of carp. While expected (it is only the beginning of April) I have to admit I am pretty disappointed. Most flyfishermen will tell you that catching fish is an extra; that the sum of the experience is more important than any one individual piece (pretty sure I have made that comment a time or two) but it sure as hell is easier to say that when one is catching some fish.




On the bright side, at this point I will be taking more pictures like the one above sooner rather than later.