Carp Redux 2011

Today, during the lunch hour, I stood high on the bank overlooking the pasture Charlie and I call Well Springs.  To both my delight and amazement there were twenty-five to thirty carp sipping the surface.  Most of the carp I saw were absolutely huge. 

The problem in fishing for these creatures during lunch was not having any gear with me.  Earlier in the morning I had traded the fair lass Miss Carol the schooner for her little brown pony, and therefore my gear was nowhere near.

However, two hours later I traded back and went directly to Well Springs.  Upon arriving most of the sipping carp had left, but, there were still six to eight gently sipping the fallen spring time blossoms.  Twenty feet from the edge of the creek I started duck walking.  Ten feet from the edge of the creek I was on all fours, and at five feet I stayed on my knees taking a half rising casting posture.

I chose a non-weighted white San Juan Worm as a offering to the slurping carp.  The wind was brutal at gusts of twenty and thirty miles per hour and it sent my offering everywhere except where I intended.  On about the eighth or ninth attempt I had adjusted enough to get the fly into the sight of the carp and a youngster of about sixteen inches slurped the fly and took off like a bat out of hell. 

It was fun, but, the fishing was over.  The excitement of the moment sent the rest of the pack a-packing.  

The Carp Crusades - A Little Closer

Upon leaving the bunkhouse this morning it actually felt more like trout season than the month of May. A cold front blew through late yesterday afternoon and the temperature this morning was around fifty degrees. I threw an over-shirt on and headed for the Well Springs at Rock Creek.



It didn't take long at Well Springs to find a couple of carp willing to do battle. Using the white cactus chenille bugger I spotted carp number one fairly close to the bank and planted the fly in front of his nose. He wasted little time in picking up the offering.



Carp number two was about twenty-five feet away feeding in the shallows. My first cast landed behind him and my second cast kind of sucked also. But the third cast was indeed a charm, landing about six inches above and slightly to his side. From twenty-five feet I couldn't see the fly so I watched the carp's pectoral fins and tail. Usually when they suck the fly in the pectoral fins will wing and the tail will wave. It was a good hook-set and ended up bringing the carp to a sandbar in the middle of the creek.

From the Well Springs I went to Charlie's Pasture. To get an idea of what this pasture looks like, just think of fishing some saltwater flats somewhere for bonefish. The first two hundred yards or so is just like flats. I noticed a tremendous number of pot-marks on the wade up, and Charlie also has made note of these marks, which tells us the carp are feeding in this area at some time. Charlie has suggested some night fishing using black colored flies, so I figure we're going to get around to it sooner or later.

Of the two of us, Charlie is the studious one. He is constantly making observations and notes, and he passes all this information on to me. I've kept a record of our exchanges, and they now total seventy-six.

I didn't fare well at the pasture today. Foul-hooked one and fair hooked another, but didn't get him to hand. The sun had the south side completely shady at the island, and most of the carp were hugging the north bank where the deeper water is.

I've certainly learned one thing about fly-fishing for carp - patience is certainly a virtue. It is so tempting to cast at a cruising carp, but if we do... we simply alert the other carp of our presence.

I left Charlie's Pasture when the wind really picked up and stopped at the beach to see if sight-fishing was possible. It wasn't, and besides that, there was a lot of competition from the panfish community, plus a couple of bass come my way.



The two carp taken today took me to needing just thirteen more to reach my goal of fifty. Hopefully, a little rain will come and clear the creek up again - it's quite thick currently.