10/05 - "Skunked...Last Carp Outing of 2012??"

The signs are everywhere...weekend football , the flocks of ducks sitting on the small ponds I pass as I head to work , farmers pulling crops , hell I even saw some guy putting up Christmas lights last week. You don't have to look too hard to see that summers gone and fall is officially here to stay. The local weather prognosticators were even predicting a heavy frost or freeze tonight with lows in the thirtys , seems like I just turned the AC off last week and now it's time for heat!
The last time I went in search of carp , a couple weeks ago , I was able to find very few feeding fish in my normal spots. I got lucky and still managed to hook up with one small fish but definitely nothing to write home about. With the day off work and not really feeling like working around the house again I decided to grab a rod and the carp flybox and give it another shot. If nothing else it was a good excuse to get out and spend some quality time with my best friend.
We didn't start out until after lunch , figuring the cold morning temps might keep the fish from being up shallow anyway. I've got three different lakes within 15 miles of the house that have all produced good fishing for me at one time or another so we just picked a starting point and headed out to see what kind of trouble we could get into.
The first stop was a small city lake just down the road , not my favorite spot but it's had it's days. After walking two different sections of shoreline and not seeing a single fish the doubts were already starting to creep in.

Stop number two was another city lake with a little more size and a decent creek running into it that I've had some luck with before. Joe and I walked around the path that circles the lake , dodging housewives out for their afternoon exercise and keeping our eyes open for feeding fish. While I didn't even make a cast at the first stop I couldn't help myself when I got back to the creek area of this lake. I tied on an olive bugger and made a few blind casts hoping to get lucky and entice a small bass or bluegill. As good as it looked I couldn't come up with so much as a bite on this day.

By this time my mind was pretty much relegated to the fact that it just wasn't going to happen today. We drove on out to the local reservoir where the majority of my carp fishing takes place during the summer months , but it was more of an excuse to stay away from the chores waiting for me at home than really expecting to accomplish anything fishing related. We walked along one of my favorite shorelines for several hundred yards and again didn't see a single fish up shallow feeding. Strike three and you're out!!

I love everything about the fall season...except for the fact that my local waters start cooling off more every night on their way to that solid state they'll be in before I know it. For me that means fewer and fewer outings close to home to chase my warmwater friends and more time spent driving South in search of salmonids. Time to put the ugly no-name concoctions of fur and feather that I so often interest my trashy friends with away for the season and break out the trout weanie gear in earnest.
The signs are everywhere...it's that time of year!!