Wildlife Expo 2010 Just Ahead

In less than three weeks, there will be a great gathering of the outdoor enthusiast, wildlife department personnel, vendors, instructors, and more at the Lazy E arena in Guthrie, Oklahoma. The event is the Oklahoma Wildlife Expo 2010.

This event has continually grown since it's inception, and has hosted as many as 40,000 people over the three day run of the event.

The menu of things to do, see, or get hands-on is way too long to list, but some examples include riding a mountain bike, cooking in a Dutch oven, learning to fly-fish, learn to call a turkey, shoot a bow, or kayak.

Perhaps the most amazing part of this celebration of the outdoors in Oklahoma is that it's free. Free entrance, free parking, just simply free.

The folk at the Oklahoma Department of Wildlife put a lot of hard work into this event, but I wager it's a labor of love for each of them.

Support the Oklahoma Wildlife Expo with your attendance. You won't regret it.

For dates and a complete list of events, visit Oklahoma Wildlife Expo.

Lights, Camera, Carp

Videographers for Outdoor Oklahoma, Blake and Darrin, arrived in Sulphur shortly after 7 a.m. today and we were soon on Rock Creek fly fishing for carp. At the end of the day, I would come away with a greater appreciation for what these guys do. Although it was tremendous fun, at times it was almost like work. There are certain things that have to be done from several angles or directions to make film work, so Charlie and I went through the routine.

We knew that rain was headed for the Prairie Ocean, but we didn't expect it until Wednesday. We knew for sure we'd have sunshine today which is vital in sight fishing for carp. We didn't have sunshine... not a drop. We fished all morning under an overcast sky which made fishing tough.

We started out at the big hole at the place we call the Courtyard, but neither Charlie or myself had any luck. The carp would come have a look at our flies then simply turn away.

We then started the rather long journey upstream while Darrin was carrying that forty pound camera with him. This guy had to work today. Upstream, I finally found a carp with the Carpola Charlie and the guys got that on film. Then Charlie hooked into something and I knew for sure it was a carp, but it turned out to be a dandy little catfish who fancied Charlie's San Juan Worm. I had another opportunity for a carp and saw the carp come to my fly, his mouth open to suck it up, and as I set the hook...somehow...someway... a perch picked that fly like a linebacker intercepting a football. My hookset... the one I knew was on that carp, caught the perch. What a thief!

On the way back downstream we fished the big hole again with the same results - refusals. We then decided to fish a new stretch of water, but found few carp. I went further downstream and hooked up with another carp and I thought the video guys were far behind me. But, when I looked around Blake was there filming.

The most exciting part of the day came at the end. Darrin and Blake were getting ready to wrap things up and Charlie started blind fishing with the San Juan. All of a sudden I heard the water explode and Charlie had a nice carp on that worm. Blind fishing!!!

That experience right there was a day-maker.

Darrin and Blake said they work a year out but promised us an earlier DVD. They also commented it was some of the best footage they've ever shot. Can't wait to see it.

Here are a few pictures I managed today.

Osmosis

Fly fishing for carp has become an osmosis for Charlie and I - we've taken it all in, soaked up as much as we can. We can't seem to stop.

I lied like a dog this morning. I told Miss Carol I wouldn't fish today... most likely. However, since my workplace morning was short and she was stuck at work, I didn't see any harm in sneaking to the creek for an hour.

The Carpola Charlie fly continues to amaze me. Of the last fifteen carp I've captured, all but one have been on the Carpola Charlie. This morning's color was the yellow and brown Carpola.

Here are the carp of my morning outing.

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.

Dividing Line

That Charlie... I don't know what to do with him. It seems as the weather grew hotter, the more Charlie went carping on the fly. And... as the weather grew hotter, and the more Charlie went carping... the more carp he has captured - almost at will.

At times his reports can be excruciating. Twenty-two, twenty-four, twenty-six inch quality carp, that fight like there is no tomorrow. It's more than any inactive fly-fisher should have to bear.

I was doing perfectly fine sitting in the air-conditioned confines of the fly tying studio, if you will, tying up creations that I hope will serve the fly fisher for Blue River trout quite well. But... Charlie's dispatches kept coming. The dispatches, in form of modern day telegram's (email), were quite more than enough to whet my appetite for carp action on the fly. So, slowly I have found myself migrating away from the tying station to the banks of Rock Creek and those ever-so-addicting carp.

Now, my migration has, or is, coming at a cost. I certainly notice the glare-stares, along with the hands-on-hips, slow motion "you're so fired" head shakes from the boss at work, upon returning from a quickie to Rock Creek. Of course, I always have an excuse why I left work... but me think these excuses are running rather thin these days.

Then, there is Miss Carol. It's funny how love and fly-fishing can often times create a friction. Now, Miss Carol seems to have this dividing line between love and fishing with the fur and feather. I'm not so insensitive that I don't understand her position, but, for me, the two are synonymous. I love Miss Carol, but I also love fly-fishing. Quite often she finishes our conversations with "You fish too much", as she waltzes out of the conversation arena. Fish too much? If I've ever heard a more oxymoronic phrase, I don't know what it would be. There is no such thing as fish too much.

Perhaps I shouldn't cross any lines right now, particularly that line in the sand of Rock Creek that Miss Carol has drawn... as the metaphor she intended to be, and hope for some kind of just living life oil, that will calm all the friction.

As far as work... that's a different story. Today, sometime near what should have been considered a "lunch hour", I snuck away from the employment pool to dedicate thirty minutes to the creek hoping to catch a carp. However, all I would end up realizing is a feisty drum that would get in the way. Drum fight differently from carp. They'll actually hit the fly and then take off like a bat out of hell.

And when I returned to work... there was the boss with those hands on hips.

Here's a picture of my lowly drum and some of Charlie's recent carp.

Rush Hour

I was hoping to have much more time this morning at Charlie's Pasture, but Miss Carol required a breakfast out, and therefore I made short order of the fly-fishing.

Arriving at Charlie's Pasture just as morning was breaking, I went to the upstream shallows. As the sun was beginning to kiss the tree tops; casting a sheen on the smooth-as-glass water; I watched a thousand insects dance and hop in the reflective light.. where they looked like prancing crystals on the surface. However, the carp were not in the shallows, so I ventured back downstream to the big pool.

At the big pool there was also an absence of carp. I found the lack of activity as strange, but figured the community was hiding on the far bank, thirty-five feet across, laying in their den, waiting for a call. So, with a roll cast I knocked on their door and they answered.

Using the olive and orange Carpola Charlie I immediately hooked-up with one of the Leviathan carp of Rock Creek. Our meeting would be short and sweet though, and in less than a minute the carp would bid farewell to this fisherman. The short, but frantic, fight aroused the rest of the community as they come to the middle of the pool to investigate.

I spotted a lone carp that looked of significant size and cast him the Carpola offering. He sucked it up right away and from thirty feet away I went for a hook-set. The hook-set was successful and the fight begin. These carp know their territory well, and with this fellow he kept going for the far bank, the root balls along that bank, and any structure he could find that would play to his advantage.

The fight came to an end ten minutes later as I immortalized the carp by picture that will go in my archives. He was a hearty fighter and very nice fish.

The New Carpola Charlie Kicks!

Tied up a new version of the Carpola Charlie fly this afternoon - olive and orange. Took it to Rock Creek and gave it a test drive. Started off with the original Carpola in olive and white and landed one, but the rest of the action came on the new version. I did learn one thing however. I left the legs on the olive and orange and little long and three carp came to the fly and felt the legs with their barbules and just stared at it. After cutting the legs the same length of the marabou, the action heated up.

Those Wonderful Soft Hackles

I truly believe that a fly angler can take a soft hackle pattern such as the Partridge and Orange, and catch as many or more fish than using any other pattern in the arsenal. Now... I can already hear the grumbling from those that are steadfast and true to the Woolly Bugger, and I can't deny the bugger is a great fly. However, maybe it's a great fly because we've become so darn dependent on using it, and that includes yours truly. I mean... if I have the Woolly Bugger tied on sixty-five percent of the time I fish, then sure... I'm going to catch more fish with that pattern.

I like soft hackles because I like fishing wet patterns. There's just something kind of special about the whole experience. Partridge and Orange, Partridge and Yellow, and the Hare's Ear Partridge... all wonderful flies. Cast one of these in the film and stay focused on your line/leader connection or the end of your leader/tippet and get ready for a quick strike. If you wait too long in responding then fish will be gone. It's a challenge for sure.