The Carp Crusades - A Mixed Weekend

Saturday

Charlie and I both fished for the carpes on Saturday and I guess you could say it was a banner day for the both of us.

For me the satisfaction came in the success of the white colored aquatic worm named The Great White Hope. This fly captured four carp with ease. One note worth mentioning is that all four carp were taken in shallow water and three of the four were taken with an upstream cast.

Charlie was down in his pasture on Saturday and he battled carp using crawdad, San Juan Wormballs, and the Clouser.

He showed me some pictures today of the fish he battled yesterday and they were some very nice, and I do mean... very nice fish. Hopefully he can get the pictures uploaded soon and we can share them.

Here are some of Saturday's catches.

Sunday

What a difference twenty-four hours can make sometimes.

On Sunday, Charlie and I met at the Pasture parking area and begin our carp adventure for the day. A park ranger noticed our fly rods so he stopped and started a conversation about fly angling. Seems like the young man is from Arkansas and quite familiar with fly fishing and the White River system. He told us he never dreamed of fly fishing at Rock Creek and had never heard of Blue River. Think Charlie and I probably hooked him to picking up the fly rod while he's here on the Prairie Ocean.

Charlie has just got lined up when a lady came screeching into the parking area, jumped out of her car and said, "I want to talk to that man (pointing at Charlie). The lady had a request from her grandson in the back seat of the car and it seems he wanted to talk with Santa Claus before Santa went a fly-fishing. So Charlie put on his best Santa Claus imitation (which he does regularly I found out) and entertained the youngster.





Guess the young fellar wasn't all that sure about seeing Santa up so close and personal after all.

On the water today things seemed much different from yesterday Charlie told me. There seemed to be few carp to really target and of the few we seen they were mainly cruisers. I would hook up with one in quick order but quick-released that fish. Then Charlie hooked up with one and oh boy this is what I've been waiting for because I have my camera with me. I get one picture of Charlie battling the beast but then... his fly pulls out.

Shortly thereafter, Charlie hollers again and I grab my camera and rush upstream. Sure enough he has another dandy on and as I raise my camera... the tippet tie gives.

This would prove to be pretty much the extent of our hooking success on Sunday. Larry Compton joined us and Larry, like us, was finding the same... which was few carp to target.

Matters got worse for me however. Charlie had lost his Great White Hope that attracted one of the two carps so I said, "Hey, I've got another right here in this fly...ba, ba, ba, box?" The fly box dedicated with flies for carp... all fifty or so flies... was no longer on my person. The only place I could've lost that fly box was right where I was standing because I had just tied on a fly from this box a few minutes earlier. We looked, and looked again, but no cigar.

Oh well... more vise time I guess.

So, on Sunday the catching wasn't all that good but the friendship was. Larry and I stopped by Charlie's Inn and had a good cold beer and some delightful conversation.

The crusades will continue shortly.