Still Carpin' And Television Show

I have slowly migrated back to the carp on the fly thing. My goodness, it is terribly addictive, and I really don't know what to do in breaking the spell, and perhaps... I don't know if I want to know.

This morning I was met with weather there was reminding of trout season at Blue. The temperature at 7 a.m. was in the low fifties - crisp and quite refreshing. My goal today was to find some new carp water. Little did I know of the great failure that would soon become mine to own.

I put in at the low water bridge near Rock Creek campground. The first fifty feet of wading is like trying to maneuver a submerged mine field of boulders - boulders that trip you, make you stumble like you're terribly clumsy or perhaps... terribly hungover. Hungover I was not... clumsy as a buffoon I am.

Shortly I would find a deer trail on the bank and was able to make the next two-hundred or so feet following the trail. At the end of the trail, the creek widens and the bottom of the creek here is smooth and sand-filled.

At the end of this wide pool is a series of stair-stepped riffles and they are beautiful, but you're shortly back to more mine fields. This run, which is about one hundred and fifty yards long is no wider than six feet at any given point. You'll pass some large boulders on your right and this place is known as "Cat's Eye". Cat's Eye was a favored fishing place of mine when I was a kid and many a big bass and catfish came out of this hole. But today... I didn't see a single fish.

At the end of this narrow run was my target - a large oval shaped pool with shallows all the way around. I just knew there would be carp in this pool, but after fifteen or twenty minutes of searching, I hadn't seen a single carp. The wade was at least a half mile, and it was now time to return the same way I came.

I would end up salvaging my morning by going to known carp water and capturing one magnificent carp. I say magnificent in the sense of the fight in this fish - had me in the backing before I knew it. Later in the day I would return to Rock Creek again and capture one more carp.

It seems the carp are fewer and much more difficult to capture these days. Charlie noted just the other day how strange these beasts are acting and after more observation we are convinced that certain communities are trying to spawn.

The television show Outdoor Oklahoma is coming Tuesday to go carping with Charlie and I, so wish us luck in catching some carp. It should be a fun trip regardless.

Here are some of my recent carp catches.