Carp 2 - Murdock 0 & Quote of the week
From an article in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette and speaking of the common carp:
"From a fly-fishing standpoint, of all the species I've caught -- and it's considerable -- they're by far the most challenging," said Loughner. "They're the only fish that, whether they're nine pounds or 20 pounds, I'm guaranteed to see my [line] backing."
Saturday morning I hit the road early and drove the five or so miles from my home to the carp hole / bar and grill. I arrived at the location just as the sun was rising and the parking lot was once again deserted. A brief encounter with some active lawn sprinklers was all that stood between me and water that normally holds a large pod of big carp.
The usual holding spots were empty so I began walking the boardwalk all the while scanning the water looking for shadows on the shallow mud flat. Just as I reached the no trespassing sign the limits my range, I saw what had to be a 30 inch fish cruising a break in the flat. He was moving fast and I didn't even get a cast out before he was gone. It was disappointing and promising at the same time.
My next encounter came as I was walking back along the dock. I saw a good sized sunfish scooting out from under the walkway in a big hurry. It was followed shortly by a good sized large mouth bass. I quickly got a lesson in how spooky these fish can be when I saw the big bass visibly flinch the momentI raised my arm to shoot a cast in his direction. A sidearm cast wouldn't have worked in this situation as I had to worry about my backcast clearing the volleyball net behind me. This was going to be harder than I thought.
I got two more shots at carp before I had to head back home. Both times I got the fly in close and the fish moved towards it only to touch the fly with its lips and turn tail and run before I could muster a hook set. I had thought that "deodorizing" my fly by rolling it around in the mud would solve this problem, but I am guessing I still have a lot to learn about this sort of fishing.
I still haven't resorted to the french fry fly but I am getting closer with every unsuccessful trip.
"From a fly-fishing standpoint, of all the species I've caught -- and it's considerable -- they're by far the most challenging," said Loughner. "They're the only fish that, whether they're nine pounds or 20 pounds, I'm guaranteed to see my [line] backing."
Saturday morning I hit the road early and drove the five or so miles from my home to the carp hole / bar and grill. I arrived at the location just as the sun was rising and the parking lot was once again deserted. A brief encounter with some active lawn sprinklers was all that stood between me and water that normally holds a large pod of big carp.
The usual holding spots were empty so I began walking the boardwalk all the while scanning the water looking for shadows on the shallow mud flat. Just as I reached the no trespassing sign the limits my range, I saw what had to be a 30 inch fish cruising a break in the flat. He was moving fast and I didn't even get a cast out before he was gone. It was disappointing and promising at the same time.
My next encounter came as I was walking back along the dock. I saw a good sized sunfish scooting out from under the walkway in a big hurry. It was followed shortly by a good sized large mouth bass. I quickly got a lesson in how spooky these fish can be when I saw the big bass visibly flinch the momentI raised my arm to shoot a cast in his direction. A sidearm cast wouldn't have worked in this situation as I had to worry about my backcast clearing the volleyball net behind me. This was going to be harder than I thought.
I got two more shots at carp before I had to head back home. Both times I got the fly in close and the fish moved towards it only to touch the fly with its lips and turn tail and run before I could muster a hook set. I had thought that "deodorizing" my fly by rolling it around in the mud would solve this problem, but I am guessing I still have a lot to learn about this sort of fishing.
I still haven't resorted to the french fry fly but I am getting closer with every unsuccessful trip.
Labels: carp, fly fishing, the skunk is on
posted by Murdock at 7:43 AM
2 Comments:
I still have yet to connect with one this season. Maybe when I'm down there we can hit your carp hot spot...
Looking forward to it Pete. If all else fails we can stop by and fish until the bar opens.
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