Travel day...no carp in the shallows. What do you do? Roll the dice, find carp anyway. Landed 9 and a couple of bad ass drum (though this big monster here was hooked outside the mouth).
Full recap to come...another great trip with Wendy Berrell.
Sunday, June 22, 2014
Posted with Blogsy
Saturday, June 21, 2014
Friday, June 20, 2014
Thursday, June 19, 2014
Wednesday, June 18, 2014
Friday, June 13, 2014
The deep edge
The glory and grandeur of carp on the fly usually happens in shallow water. We love finding crawlers and tailers...hunting for carp in knee deep water gives you the best chance of actually catching a carp. That said, this year has reminded me to keep an eye on that deep edge. On several occasions this year, a glance to the deep side has turned up a feeding fish. On a solo day recently, I made it a point to fish the area by zigging and zagging my way up the river. I wandered in and out of the knee deep water, making sure to get out waist deep and check the edges. It is more work than a straight line designed to spot fish in the shallows, but work pays off. Granted, you might not see as many fish in the deep stuff, but the ones you do see are usually bigger than the ones hanging out shallow.
Wednesday, June 04, 2014
Day 4
Day four dawned and we drug our beat up bodies out of bed. Truthfully, we were whipped. We had spent four days destroying the river, the carp, our gear and our bodies. We had lost one net, walked the soles off of 2 pairs of boots, poked countless holes in our waders, burned our fingers, cracked our knuckles and broke one rod (my beloved Helios 2). We slept like dead men every night, exhausted and exhilarated, but on day four we had one thing on our minds. Get a 4th 20 lber for Wendy. As we rigged up at the jeep, we knew that goal was going to be super tough. Full cloud cover and 30 mph winds are not a good combination on the big C.
We dodged the wind a bit and found some shelter, but the clouds made seeing carp tough. I picked out the ghost of a carp, and got a sweet head turn take for our first fish. Shortly after I spotted a nice fish tailing in the little pocket pictured above. It was feeding heavily, unaware of our approach. I knew this fish was pushing 20 lbs...we were sticking this fish. Wendy's first cast was too far away, so he cleared it and laid another cast out...too short, so he pulled that out too. Third cast landed true and we both uttered something along the lines of "that's it" at the same time. The big carp dipped its head, Wendy set the hook and I got ready to get the scale out. When the fish hit the net we looked at each other and said "19". The scale confirmed it, and Wendy ended one lb shy of a 20 lber each day...so close!
From there though, the carp gods smiled on us. Out of nowhere the sun came out, and while the wind kept up we found an area that had some ledges to break up the waves. The carp were thick inside these reefs, and with full sun...the ass whooping was back on! Our tough morning gave way to another huge numbers day, with Wendy sticking at least 20 fish and me ending somewhere north of 30. What a day!
Wendy and I know how lucky we are. Not everyone gets to extend the friendships they develop in college into their 30s, and now for us, nearly 40s. We are fortunate to have amazing wives, and amazing kids who let us do this every year. These trips are always a success, just by virtue of being, but the big C 2014 will go down as one of our top trips.
Thanks again to my buddy Wendy, and big thanks to our families. It won't be long now and Elia, JJ, Danny and James will be coming along with us!
Sunday, June 01, 2014
Numbers
Quick interlude from the Wendy Berell reports...I got out for a solo day today, and it was a doozy. I texted Dan and Jutin early am and said "a 17 and some small males". Then I got serious. I landed two fish over 20 lbs, and because I didn't want to forget the weights I started making notes after I would weigh the fish. I only weighed fish that I thought were close to or over 20 lbs. These are my notes.
23
21
25
19
24
19
18
20
22
19
21
Add in the 17 I weighed first, and that is 12 fish, total weight of 248 lbs, an average per fish of 20.6 lbs! I have caught 4 fish over 20 on the big C before, but 7 is a monster number...honestly I still can't believe it. I took a few crappy photos, but I was pretty focussed on fishing. I caught a ton of other fish as well, but as the day went on I was only interested in putting another big one on the board, I even broke off a few fish when I was losing control of them and they were running down the bank into more carp. It was just an incredible day of carp on the fly. Most of the fish ate the hybrid, but I got fish on the trouser worm as well. Those are the only two flies I fished all day.
Pretty sure that fish was the 25, but I only took a few photos and my brain was a little scrambled!
I got two 20 lbers out of that group of fish. Pulled the first one off the edge, and somehow snaked a fly in amongst the remaining fish to the biggest one I could see after I released the first fish.
Just a crazy day. The single best day of carp on the fly I have ever had on the Columbia river.
Saturday, May 31, 2014
Day three
Day three...where we basically destroy all carp in our vicinity. We showed up at the river and as I led the way through some brush to the flats...I spooked three carp. Moments later we all had carp on the line, and that pretty much sums up the day.
Three guys...all fishing basically the same water but we had so many targets it didn't matter. On the day both Travis and Justin were over 20 fish to hand, and I landed a minimum of 30. Just incredible fishing. Everywhere we looked we found fish. Most were cruising or tailing, no fish truly spawning but they all had it on their mind.
At one point Wendy and Travis took a break to drink a beer. I caught a carp. Not to be outdone they both stepped back into the water with a beer in one hand. They both hooked up in minutes. Just sick fishing. I was pounding on tailing carp with a trouser worm, but the hybrid got more than its share as well.
This mirror was a highlight. In full cloud cover Wendy spotted the fish seeking food in the rocks near the bank. I flashed the video camera just as he cast to, and stuck the fish with a perfect presentation. We also recorded a triple, pictured above. With the high water the real challenge was taking the photo. We ended up ducking into a pile of sticks, scrambling into position. I had to one hand my fish, crash around and fire off the timer...it was a big mess of grinning carp fisherman!
Oh yeah...and this big monster ate. We were actually walking back to take another look at an area we had worked through quickly and she just sort of appeared in the deep water. I was in position and flipped out a fly...minutes later (yes...minutes) and there was more backing in the water than I have ever seen. It was nuts. Eventually this 23 lb lumpy bigger came to hand.
And that wasn't the end of the highlights! We hit another flat, and walking three abreast we stuck fish after fish as the light fell. We just couldn't stop. As we spread a little farther apart I spotted a big, dark fish up tight. I crept into position and laid a hybrid next to her...immediate set and run. As I battled the fish I heard Wendy tell Travis "This is a big one!" I knew my fish was nice, but this was Wendy's trip, so I clamped down on my line (fish was in the backing) and walked backwards to Wendy and Travis, a couple hundred feet away. I was literally towing this carp with all 90 feet and probably 100 feet of backing in the water. I got the the boys, and watched Travis net a clear 20 plus for Wendy (23 once weighed). At this point, I resumed fighting my fish and when she got close we all realized this was another 20 plus lb fish...a double 20! The tricky part was that due to a gaping hole in my net, we only had one and it currently was occupied with a 23 lb fish. I got her close and reached down and belly scooped her in one shot. The photos show some pretty big smiles.
We fished on in the fading light, three swashbucklers, content. Day three was epic.
Wednesday, May 28, 2014
Day two
Let it be said that my buddy Wendy has some pretty serious carp skills. I have caught carp in 9 states (just whiffed on #10) and I flat out know that the big C carp are as tough as they come. Like everything, it is a matter of forage. Clams don't run, and these carp don't move. You are essentially faced with the task of placing a fly within 4-8 inches of a feeding carp and then determining the exact second that the fish feeds on your artificial rather than whatever the hell it was feeding on before you made the cast. It can be quite a challenge.
Wendy handles it with the ease of a veteran big C carper. He fishes this river about as well as a guy can. So on day two he did his thing. The first stop had some tough stuff...high cloud cover and tricky fish poking in and out of boulders and ledges, but we eased along and got the jump on a few. I stick a bunch of super shallow fish by luck of the draw. We took turns moving up a bank line and I had some good targets. The first stop was just ok, but the second stop was pay dirt.
Conditions did us no favors here either, and we walked right into the teeth of a 30 mph wind. It was brutal. I could barely see as my eyes watered from the wind, but the wind didn't seem to bother Wendy. Halfway down the flat he ignored a tailer, walked right by a prime target and promptly stuck that 20 lber pictured above. The fish blew up in the shallow water, shooting by me and trying to get off of the flat. We took some photos, caught a few more fish and then did something I NEVER do on the big C. We recycled the flat...we walked it again, and still stuck fish. Not something I expect to happen often on my home waters.
We killed the day...fished until there really was no way to keep fishing, but that is just what we do. Two days to go, and we were feeling pretty good. Turned out that the next two days were the best fishing of the entire trip.
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