The Carp Crusades - Carp Blind

Earlier this week I scheduled a day of vacation for today. As it is at my place of employment, once a day is scheduled it's pretty well set in stone. The only problem for me was that I planned to go a-carpin' on the fly today but late yesterday afternoon it came a small cloud burst for about an hour. Rock Creek was just beginning to clear and I was certain that this morning she would once again be dingy.

I decided to go anyhow and was on the creek by 7 a.m. Indeed, the creek had clouded somewhat and to make matters worse, I left the camera at home, a camera I was going to need within the next few minutes.

I saw a lone shadow of a carp and cast a crawdad pattern his direction. Getting lucky, I made a good cast, but once the fly hit the water it was all blind fishing. Focusing on the line leader connection, I saw a sudden downstream movement. Being downstream in the movement, I employed a hard side sweep hook-set and the fish was on.

This carp was the only carp, the only fish in my life actually, that has ever taken me to the backing. At one point, there was at least 125 feet of fly line upstream. To compound things, the reel started free spooling again so I had to hand strip all that line in while trying to fight the fish, and spool up what line I could. Finally landed the beast and it was another one of those footballs... really thick. So, I would not get a picture of the only fish that has taken me to the backing.

I left the water and went home and fetched the camera. Sure enough, I would end up needing it again.

Charlie's Pasture was the next stop and it was even dingier than the first stop I made. But, as the sun continued to climb, things started getting somewhat better. Seeing another shadow, I cast a new fly that I tied last night - the Carp Carrot. Again, it was blind-fishing, but there was movement in the line and with a straight up hook-set the battle begin. Ended up walking this beast about fifty feet upstream to the island where he could be landed.




I left the Carp Carrot on and walked back down to where the first pasture carp was hooked. It was then I realized by getting in the water to walk the fish, the rest of the fish would be down for awhile. Thirty minutes later I was still standing on the bank and looking. Sometimes I think that you can stare at dirty water so long that you actually become carp blind. Everything in the water begins to look like a carp.

Deciding to go upstream I arrived at some shallows with a lot of rock structure. Here the water was nice and clear and here... there was one big carp. I put the Carrot about eight inches in front of him and the current swept it to his right. He turned and was on it. I saw the suck and set straight up.



Just six more and I'll have my goal of fifty. I wanted to be done by June 1st but I'm not going to make it. Somehow, I think the last six may be hard to come by. The carp seem fewer and they are resting more with the full sun being on them most of the day.