The Apex Athlete

Once upon a time, I was a decent basketball player. I could shoot the three, get to the rim and I played defense as only one taught by Julio Delgado can play defense. I loved the game, and went as far as my effort and will took me for my athleticism flat out wouldn't have taken me anywhere. In college and over in England I came to realize just what a difference real athletic ability meant. I remember one game in particular, ten seconds left in the half. I was out top, guarding the conference player of the year, a 6 ft 2 inch stud from Louisiana. I was a freshman...5 ft 10 and about 170 lbs soaking wet but in this situation my job was pretty simple. Stop this guy. I got right up in his face and sunk into a defensive stance. He went right and I stayed with him...he spun back left and I stayed with him. With the clock about to expire he rose up for a jumper and I exploded into the air, my left hand mere inches from his nose...I was all over this guy!

Then I landed...and he kept rising...right over the top of my hard working but un-athletic ass and he nailed a 19 ft jumper to end the half...right in my face. Thus I was introduced to the concept of an Apex Athlete.

Yes, everything relates to carp fishing, and there are clear Apex Athletes in the carp world. A 15-17 lb fish is the ultimate...they will whip your ass and make you like it. If you catch a few in a day your arms will be sore, your fingers will be smacked by the reel, and your belly will have a bruise from the fighting butt. They will take your backing for a run, not once, but often two, sometime three times and they will find the weedbeds, boulder fields or any other obstructions available to them. The Apex Athlete will rise up to end the half, and maybe even glance down to give a nod to the feeble freshman defender before zeroing back in on the rim and knocking down the shot. You might win a possession or two against these guys, but in the end, the better athletes usually win. These are the fish that give carp on the fly their reputation...all hail the Apex Athletes!

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Upcoming items

2013 is officially the year of the carp...lots of things going on with upcoming tournaments, events, and some big news coming soon from Orvis. It is going to be a fantastic spring and summer. Two things coming up on my end worth mentioning.

First, on April 27 I will be at the Orvis store in Bridgeport Village (Portland) to talk water, technique, flies and carp. The presentation starts at 1100 and I hope to see a good turnout, these things are a lot more fun when there are tons of questions.

Second, on May 14th the Fly Fishers Club of Oregon is holding their 2013 dinner and auction. Proceeds go to the Native Fish Society, a great cause. One of the items up for auction is a day of carp fishing with me on June 1st. I don't claim to be a guide, a decent teacher, or even very good company...so with that ringing endorsement I hope you attend and bid away for the Native Fish Society! I can promise to do my best to put the winner on some nice carp.

Spring is here!

 

 

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The Orvis Guide to Fly Fishing for Carp

Pre-order your copy today! Just head on over to Carp-pro and follow the link in the upper right hand corner to get your name on one. I can't wait to see what Kirk Deeter, Orvis, and the Stonefly Press have come up with in this book. I know I am always looking for some new tricks to fool these fantastic gamefish.

 

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Simple Math

I graduated from college with a degree in English Lit, so naturally I make my living as a freight salesman. Even so, there are some calculations that even I can figure out.

Orvis Helios 2 + box full of Hybrids + mid week vacation day = SORE ARMS

I smashed the carp today. Flat out smashed them. This really has been an unbelievable early season, with active (though small) fish all over the place. I was lucky enough to have good sun early, but I lost the light quickly and had to deal with high, white cloud cover, the absolute worst when carp fishing. It didn't matter. The fish were so active, and so shallow, that I could see them regardless of the light.

I caught literally countless fish. This was the best day in terms of numbers that I have had since my run in with General Sherman years ago...a day that I still recall fondly. Eclipsed. At one point I stood in the same spot for close to two hours. Never moved my feet. I would cast at a tailer, hook him, fight him, net him, release him...and then cast at another tailer and do it again. I stopped clipping my net to my pack and just dropped it in the water...easier and faster to just pick it up and net the next fish. The only thing missing were big fish. I spotted four or five that were over 15 lbs...hooked three of them, lost two to the same weedbeds, and broke one off with an over zealous net attempt. So it goes, I am not going to complain.

And the best part? It is APRIL...much more to come.

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Almost time

Quick weekend report...fish were caught.

The hybrid was king.

The river was cold.

But the fish are starting to come in. Mostly little guys (that first fish was 17...nothing else came close). I whined a little bit as we broke down our rods and David looked at me funny and pointed that a) it is march, and b) it was 75 degrees out, and c) we caught about 13-14 fish between us. Always good to have a fishing partner that can fish, is a bad ass with a camera, and keeps shit in perspective. Thanks for a good day David.

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Carp Flies

I am a mediocre tier at best. This isn't a case of false modesty, more a matter of knowing my skills, and having the pleasure of knowing and fishing with some serious vice artists. I state this just to avoid my own embarrassment at the pictures to follow...McTage from Fly-carpin I am not! I do like to tie, and love to tie while watching a little college basketball.

This first fly is one that I haven't fished much the past year or two. It is basically my version of Mr. P's well known "Carp Carrot". For a long time, this was my go to fly, but a couple of seasons ago I made a concerted attempt to simplify my fly selection (and winter tying process). I went almost exclusively to basic soft hackles in a variety of colors. My personal belief is that presentation trumps pattern, so the simplified arsenal was no less effective. I am bringing this one back this season...why? Because variety is fun, and too much simplicity is a bit boring.

Hybrid flies have been the rage since the tail end of last season. My buddy Travis (aka Trashfisher) came up with the idea of adding the worm tail onto my basic soft hackles, and it flat out works. If for any reason I am on the water and decide I am better off with a straight softie, I just clip off the tail.

Another Hybrid...this one I first saw on the Carp Pro forum tied by Nolan Macher. Nolan tied up a similar fly for the 2013 fly swap this year, I don't do it much justice but I like both the concept, and the fly. Inspired by our friend Gregg, McTage and I stuck a few big C fish this year on egg patterns. Once I saw Nolan's hybrid, I immediately put some in my box and late this year I had some fantastic visuals fishing this egg/worm combo. It is really easy to see, so detecting the take is easy.

The San Juan Worm. Put simply, if you don't have a bunch of these in your carp box then get to a vice. Even with the recent success of the hybrids, I still believe this is the go to fly when fishing a soft bottom area.

This would spook every fish on the Columbia, but it has been our go to fly on our annual Lake MI pilgrimage. I like this gold/brown color, and LOVE the small size sculpin helmet Flymen just released. This fly is on a size 4 scorpion gaper, so much smaller hook than I usually have to use. I can't wait to get this smaller version on the flats of lake MI.

Good day of tying. Mostly blowouts today for the tourny, so I got a nice batch of flies done, with solid variety. Get those boxes full people! The season is nearly upon us!

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Panfish

 

I have been looking for a good panfish location for the kids for years. It is just tough to find really good panfish in my neck of the woods. A few years ago I found a great pond, but it was private and despite my best charm, I got denied permission to fish it. Today, on a whim I stopped back by and this time got the green light to let my kids flail away and try to catch a few panfish.

Despite the cold, it worked out pretty well! We managed 3 crappie and 3 bluegill in just about an hour of fishing. Big thanks to the owners for putting some smiles on my kids faces, we will be back for certain. When the ware warms a bit. This was the first outing with their new flyrods, and the kids did great.

They struggled a bit with their casting, which is to be expected, but both got enough line out there to catch a few fish...and they loved the experience! Note the purple rod? Yeah, Elia digs that.

All in all a nice outing, and a great find. Now we need a little sun!

 

 

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Contest time!

 

The awesome crew at Cheeky are giving away some swag to us carp lovers! Head on over to my Facebook page to win a hat and t shirt. 2013 is the year of the carp!

 

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Suck it Winter!

Granted, you have whipped my ass, causing borderline depression and forcing me to watch hours of Vimeo fishing videos, but today the sun broke through and the carp lit up the shallows. Lots and lots of carp.

Armed with the new Cheeky Mojo 425 I waylaid the fish. They ate the worm, they ate the hybrid, they ate the carp crust...they ate a lot.

The sun was high, so the fish were easy to spot and I got to make long casts and see nice head turns and white mouth takes. One fish in particular I stuck on a 70 foot cast from an elevated position. I love that Helios 2, and made a perfect cast at that distance and could clearly see the white mouth flare to set the hook. Just a great take on a fish I didn't think I had a chance of catching.

But it wasn't like I lacked for targets. There were fish all over the place, almost all tailing and feeding. All told, I landed 29 carp...crazy day for march around here. Thank you Mr. sun!

Today was a good day.

 

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Orvis Helios 2 Review

The snarky part of me wants to write a seven word review and be done with it. I am not a pro angler, just a weekend hack so I can't speak to swing weight with any degree of accuracy, and I didn't mark off distances to test the rod at different line lengths. I did, however, take this rod fishing. I cast to and caught some winter carp on a shallow flat, including one 18 lber. With that in mind, I can sum up the H2 nicely in 7 words.

The best flyrod I have ever cast.

Full disclosure here, Orvis sent me this rod for free. I didn't solicit it for a review, nor did they ask me to write one. My guess...Orvis knows they have a winner here and figured I would end up singing the praises of the Helios 2. They were correct. Over the years and miles I have logged on various rivers I have accumulated a lot of gear, in particular fly rods. My primary carp rod has been a G Loomis Native Run GLX, backed up by a recently purchased Sage One. Those are both fantastic rods in their own rights, so I don't say this lightly:

They will gather some dust this season.

Why? In a word...accuracy. My type of fishing puts a premium on accuracy, and I am not talking about getting the fly in a general area. Most carp guys talk about the dinner plate; on the Big C we talk about hitting a coffee cup. Our fish just don't move far, so you need to feed them. I don't know why, or what Orvis did to make it happen, but that Helios 2 is a laser pointer. You adjust the length of line, point at your target and the fly lands there. Honestly...it was a little freaky.

So I have had one day on the carp flats and many afternoons on the lawn with this rod. As a non professional angler, I feel obliged to ignore the buzz words and lay it out there as simply as I can...so here goes. This rod is fun to cast. You can easily throw a long line (I tried, and it was fun, but I rarely fish more than 30-40 ft of fly line), and you can easily throw short 15 foot casts to the tailers I was spotting through the cloud cover. Most importantly...the Helios 2 is the most accurate rod I have ever cast.

I am going to lay the smack down on carp with this rod this spring.

 

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