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.

The Carp Crusades - Natural Instincts

Yesterday Charlie and I discovered something wonderful to watch on Rock Creek within the community of carp. On Rock Creek there is a spillway system that owes it's beginning to the lake at the local golf course. Three years ago we had tremendous rains that caused the golf course lake to overflow and as it did legions of common carp flooded the spillway on their way to Rock Creek. At the spillway yesterday, there was a huge pod of carp trying their best to overcome an insurmountable obstacle at the spillway entrance in an attempt to get back to their home-place. Knowing the landscape and impediments of this spillway system, I knew that even if they'd cleared the obstacle in front of them... they would have perished trying to push upstream.

In talking last night, both Charlie and I agreed what we saw was a pre-spawn event rather than a true spawn and therefore we would fish these carp just like an angler fishes pre-spawn bass. However, if our conclusion was wrong then we'd be fishing true spawn carp when it's best to leave them be as they try to fulfill a natural instinct.

At the noon hour today the wind was brisk but didn't seem all that much so I'd already made up my mind to hit Rock Creek in a couple of hours. Upon arriving at the creek I discovered there wasn't a single carp at the spillway entrance which reinforced by belief that this truly was a pre-spawn happening.

Within the first five minutes of fishing I turned the head of a carp. As I set the hook and the line grew tight, this carp did a series of somersaults and snap my leader and tippet connection. I was using the same leader I had to rebuild last week using 4X tippet and it simply didn't hold today. The carp also claimed two new flies that I tied two nights ago - a crawdad with a San Juan worm-ball as a trailer.

I rebuilt a make-shift leader and tied on a counter-weighted San Juan worm-ball but today the carp seemed indifferent to this present. Next came a size 8 crawdad pattern tied mainly out of pheasant tail fibers.



Hook-up number two would come shortly and this chap would come to hand. I'd left my camera tripod downstream and had to snap this photo on the cheesy. He was quite the fighter for a twenty inch fish.

Another warrior carp would follow shortly and he too was a good fighter almost identical in size to the first one.

With each passing minute the wind seemed to increase and conditions deteriorate. Within thirty minutes the surface of the creek was covered with blossoms and tender young leaves. I was having to clear my fly of debris with every third or so cast. Facing the sun that was sinking lower in the west created more and more glare. Seeing the takes was becoming most difficult. I guess I could use all these factors as excuses but kept reminding myself that there's no such thing as a bad day of fishing and this is one of the truest things I've ever heard or read.

If there was a frustrating part of today's crusade it is the fact that I turned the head of at least a dozen carp. However, with the conditions being riffled, ever-glaring water, and a flotilla of debris on the creek... I simply couldn't see when the carp was at or on the fly... and I missed a lot of opportunities.

Hopefully the wind will lay low in the next several days and a return to this home away from home for the carp can be made.

The Carp Crusades - More Of Charlie's Notes

Charlie has captured three nice carp in his last two outings and as I am writing this he is currently on Rock Creek searching a new stretch of water we discovered today.

The thing I like about what Charlie does is he makes observations and mental notes not only to use in his future outings, but also to share with others.

Here are Charlie's most recent observations.

1. The big ones lead and alert. The followers are less alert and often feeding. So go for the back of pack.

2. If they are cruising at a pace don't waste time.

3. If they are stationary they are looking for suspended food, so throw them your favorite worm pattern.

4. If their nose is down, sucking and moving slowly throw your crawdad or something found in sand/gravel.

5. The really big ones are almost untouchable, they know your presence early and move to far side out of sight and reach.

Charlie Wright

The Carp Crusades - "Another One Bites The...

...no, not dust but black Backstabber.

I went to the same place at the same time and fished the same fly as yesterday. The only thing different about today is that I planted the fly directly in front of a duo of carp and both took notice. Yesterday, I had to plant the fly several feet upstream and let it bounce down.




I still don't know what triggers a take. There are so many refusals and then all of a sudden one carp decides he's hungry and sucks the fly in. Interesting.

Both days I started fishing at 3 o'clock and the sun is behind me at this time which causes me to cast a shadow and that's not helping. Also, at this time of day the glare on the water is a lot to deal with even with polarized glasses. Think I'll try a mid-morning adventure and see what happens.

The smaller fish wanted to play also and this cause some competition for the fly. I could see bass swimming here and there and a good number of panfish also.




I ended up loosing the black Backstabber to a rock so I better get on the vice tonight. There was another fly I had picked to try today but guess it fell off my dry patch. I'm pretty sure Chris Adams tied this fly and it had a tail of super hair or something, body was flash-a-bou, and it had beadchain eyes painted green. Don't know the name of it but it reminds me of an olive damsel imitation. Think that fly would've worked today if I hadn't lost it.