Sunday, March 17, 2013

3/14-3/15 Chasing Tail...Hitting the Locals in Search of Mr Cyprinus

I had a coldwater trip go South on me this past weekend due to uncontrollable circumstances ,with those plans shelved it left me with a couple days of nice weather and nowhere to go. I'd been wanting to do a little exploring and revisit some carp spots I hadn't seen for several months anyway so that's what I spent Thursday and Friday doing.
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Joe and I headed out Thursday after lunch to check out a small creek that I've always thought looked like excellent water , but that hasn't proven itself yet on a handful of visits. While I've seen a couple of fish , they havn't shown themselves on any consistent basis and I still havn't caught a fish out of this spot yet. The day couldn't have been any nicer and we enjoyed walking along the creek , always keeping alert for fish while dodging the ever present "city detritus" and thorn bushes.
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We hiked a couple miles of stream and although I saw numerous spots that looked perfect I never saw a fish or even a sign of fish. I know they're in there but I wanted to find some active fish so I didn't even bother to try any blind casting. We spent the rest of the afternoon driving to a couple of other accesses on this same small creek, taking short walks at each stop to survey the opportunities.
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I might have seen one fish , but even then didn't have a positive identification to be sure it was what we were looking for.
Carp 1...Jeff 0
Friday was the perfect day , by late morning it was already feeling more like late June than the middle of March. Joe and I decided to head South to do a little re-con on some shallow creek flats at the back of a local reservoir I like to fish. This is another spot where there's no doubt the fish are around , but the dismal visibility at the back of the lake makes finding them a hit or miss venture.
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We hit some backwaters and some main creek channels , all with limited visibility , but did manage to see several fish. Unfortunately they all saw us first ,I think Joe still needs a little work on his stalking skills. After hiking around and working up a good sweat in the by now 80 degree heat wave , I left carrying a flyrod that had still yet to be cast.
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Maybe it was still too early?? After all there were still small piles of snow that had yet to succumb to the heat lying around as a reminder of the exiting season. On second thought , Bullshit , the only thing keeping me from catching my first carp of 2013 was effort...and maybe a little luck.
Our next stop was at a small county lake that I'd been wanting to hit for some time. The back of it contains large expanses of shallow mudflats bordered by grassy shorelines that just scream CARP. After a short walk to the area it became obvious that the fishing gods were finally going to smile on us. I had no idea whether I'd catch one or not , but the scattered tails and porpoising fish put a smile on my face anyway.
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After rigging up and then locating a fish that looked within casting range I proceeded to make a couple of practice casts (meaning I didn't hit my intended target) and then on the third cast I saw the tail disappear and felt a slight twitch while crawling my fly in this guys face.
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Finally a little payoff!
My first carp of 2013 and I couldn't have been any happier. A decent sized fish , he engulfed my size six fly and left no doubt about his intentions.
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One down and looking for number two , this was going to be easy...and then I remembered that I was carp fishing. After a couple hours and numerous fly changes with no other eats I was thinking one fish might just be it for the day. I had on an egg , a fly pattern that I had never caught a carp on before , and decided to walk another 100 yards of shore before calling it a day. About ten steps into my hike I saw a boil not fifteen yards off the shore in front of me. Figuring I had somehow spooked the fish I stood around watching the area hoping to get lucky. And then I saw that big tail waving at me above the muddy waters ,not unlike the mermaids of old that lured sailors to their graves. Somehow I managed to place the fly right in front of his face on my first attempt. As if it was just supposed to happen that way , the fish moved over and sucked in the egg before it even hit the bottom.
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To say I was stoked would have been putting it mildly. This fish was a little bigger than the first and put up a hell of a fight considering the cold water.
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I had finally accomplished what I set out to do , albeit a little later in the game than I would have liked. The rest of the afternoon was unfruitful but I had already chalked this one up as a successful early season carp outing. Todays fish would go a long way toward stoking the fires to get me out exploring more often. Once again the lowly carp proves that persistence does actually pay , or that even a blind squirrel can find a nut. However you choose to look at it!

21 comments:

  1. Jeff - cool stuff! Nice 1st carp of the year. Lynn

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    1. Thanks! I'm still learning this whole carp thing , but I'm having a lot of fun with it for sure.

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  2. I've yet to try carp fishing but I've got the location picked out and just waiting for the right conditions. Nice day out on the water Jeff.

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    1. Thanks Howard...I'll be watching your weather forecast as well , but for entirely different reasons!!

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  3. I haven't caught a carp since I was 10. But I can still remember that it was like wrestling with a bull. I can only guess what they're like on the fly.

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    1. They'll give you a run for your money on a light flyrod , that's for sure. The longer I chase these fish the more respect I have for them , anyone that says carp are easy hasn't fished for them in my neck of the woods!

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  4. I really like the looks of that water. I haven't tried to target carp this year yet. I'm waiting for the weather to warm up. What's kind of weird is I actually had a dream last night I was fishing for carp. I made a perfect cast the carp came over and refused my fly. Carp are hard to catch even in my dreams.

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    1. A little stable weather would sure be nice to really get them going. My favorable days have been few and far between recently!
      There's definitely nothing easy about chasing carp around my locals , they can be some tough customers to figure out at times. You really need to get out when you start dreaming about carp!!

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  5. I would not have done anything different, nice story, great pictures, pesistence pays and you proved that. Eggs are always striking in that golden mouth.

    Gregg

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    1. Thanks Gregg , you always wonder what you could have done differently to catch a few more fish. I agree , with carp especially , persistence pays off more often than not.
      That was my first carp on an egg , but it won't be my last. I've seen the light!

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  6. Oh, yeah! Blame it on Joe. He's got hunting in his DNA. Another great post. You've convinced me to try carp hunting around Columbia here this spring.
    Dave

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  7. Thanks Dave...If you havn't tried it yet you gotta give it a shot this spring and summer. You can find them just about everywhere there's water and they're definitely not afraid to chase a fly.
    Can't blame me for trying to throw the blame somewhere besides my poor fishing ability!!

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  8. Great pictures, and read. Congrats, on breaking the ice of your first carp of the year. I'm on the hunt for my first with my fly rod. I'm still waiting on the ice melt, and ponds/lakes to be fishable.

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  9. Thanks Justin...Unfortunately that was last week and this week we've got a foot of snow back on the ground and the ponds and lakes are skimmed over with ice. No carp chasing for me until it warms back up again!!
    Good luck with your carp chasing , you'll love the challenge.

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  11. Hey great post. Is it possible I've seen you at Westover Farms before? I think you may have helped me and my dad find the pattern that day.

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    1. Thanks Matt...That wouldn't have been me at Westover Farms , I know about the place but have never been there myself. Thanks for stopping by.

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  12. You've got some talent! And i brag about fat panfish, lol.

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    1. No talent here man. Every once in a while I get lucky like everyone else. I can usually hold my own on a trout stream but these damn carp kick my ass all the time!
      And I love me some fat bluegills!!!

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  13. Acid! I desperately want to find carp but don't know where to look with 50 degree days and frigid water....

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    1. Hey Anthony...Those fish are still surprisingly active even in this colder weather. If you get a good sunny , warm day try checking out a small creek or lake where the shallow mud-bottom warms up quickly in the afternoon sun. They will start moving towards these areas as soon as they start to become even a few degrees warmer than the surrounding water. Once you find them , that's when the FUN begins!

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