Fly-Carpin

Head Hunting and the CAG Big Four

2012-05-26T20:26:00.000-07:00

Some folks take a negative view on fly fishing tournaments. I guess the idea is that there is something impure about competition that sullies the sport. As long as people don't take things too seriously I view it in a positive light. For me competition is a good way to add a fun wrinkle to a fun activity. It enriches the experience, socializes what is frequently a loner activity and provides a different context for learning.

At the beginning of May I entered the Carp Anglers Group Big 4 competition. The competition adds up the participants four biggest carp by weight in the month of May and is really for euro-style carpers. My only goals were to not come in last and generate motivation to focus on targeting big fish. Looking back on May, the competition had an interesting effect on my fishing habits.

I am usually a shot slut. I take any and every shot I get in the order I see them. If there are multiple shots I don't expend a sliver of thought on which fish is the biggest but rather go for certainty. This past month I put allot of effort into trying to pick my shots. I was weak at times but if I saw a small fish tailing I would try to check out the immediate area for bigger fish before taking the shot and even occasionally skip the shot altogether. If I saw a group of positive fish I would take the time to try and target the largest of the bunch.

The end result is not what I expected. I adhere to the John Montana 15 pound criteria and by that measure I did not catch any big carp this May while I caught several last year. I guess I probably got a few more shots at big fish that just didn't work out, but mostly I found that I became more observant. Although I caught the exact same number of carp this May as last, I somehow feel that the quality of my shots increased significantly. I really think I generally got more exciting shots than usual. I also caught two mirror carp that I may have otherwise missed.

So here we are at the end of May, at least for McTage's fly-carpin adventures. How did I do in the Big Four? I think I will take the fifth on principle. I wouldn't want to sully the sport with any impurities. You know, stuff like "shit" and "shitty". Nope, wouldn't want that at all. At least I have some pride left though. I am not going to log this awful picture of a very small carp. Unless I move out of second to last place by 7lb 1ounce of course!

Is it my imagination or does lack of focus add a couple of pounds?

Carp-Stew, Now in Technicolor

2012-05-19T20:42:00.000-07:00

A good friend recently asked for a favor. Seems he fancied a bunch of carp-stews but thought the color options could use some sprucing up. Tis true, I started boring with my color selections and have pretty much stuck with comfortable. I suppose orange, rust and olive does not a full arsenal make.

I wish I had a better color for the legs / belly on the otherwise very cool looking grey combo but am pretty pleased with what I worked up.

Of course now that I look back at it I didn't really stretch myself much there. These color combos came out really great looking but hardly outrageous. Except for maybe that yellow one. Yeah, that one is feeling pretty bold, even with Nate's Mello Yellow making waves. Big outing tomorrow, better get some of those tied up for myself.

Thunder, Thunder, ThunderNet Hoeeeee!

2012-05-16T20:14:00.000-07:00

Some kids wanted to be a fireman or Superman. I wanted to be a ThunderCat. Two weeks ago I went out and bought a new mongo over-sized triangle folding net (35 bucks at Bass Pro Shops) and rigged a back-sling for it. It feels like I have a huge double-handed broadsword ready and waiting. Living the dream baby.

Thunder, Thunder, ThunderNet Hoeeeee

How big is ThunderNet? Freaking huge compared to my old one that is for sure.

So far this setup is a little awkward when I have to bushwhack. When ducking under branches the net bunched up behind my head likes to get caught. Branches no bigger around than your little finger have almost dropped me like a damaged prize-fighter several times now. I will get used to it.

My old net was pretty cramped. Carp 17lb and over like this one from last month would barely fit.

This fish that I caught today were all at least 5lb lighter than that one but ThunderNet is like the lap of luxury for any carp unlucky enough to book a room.

If you were thinking to yourself that this whole entire post was just an excuse to post a picture of my latest Mirror carp I deny everything. Here is another picture though.

Seriously though, at least when it comes to the fish-handling angle, this net is the bomb. I can't wait to try it out for something a little bigger. And another picture. Just in case.

They Call Him Mello Yellow

2012-05-13T19:34:00.000-07:00

Fishing time has been a tad scarce lately and the weather this weekend did not help. I did manage to get out long enough to land one small carp locally but for the most part I am living vicariously through others.

I was very excited to read about John Montana and his first 30 pounder of the year this weekend. First of many hopefully! It also got a nice rush from the following email from Will Rice about one of the fly-swap flies he received:

Who tied this fly? And why are fish chasing it down and crushing it? Please tell the tier in question: "Will Rice owes you a brewski..."

Will Rice

PS: feel free to use any of these pics.

Well, that there is the Mello Yellow tied by the DSP's own Nate Taylor (visit Nates carp fly page with a Mello Yellow Tying Video). And since I certainly don't have any pictures as sweet as this lately, don't mind if I do!

Nate Taylor's Mello Yellow - Photo by Will Rice

Fish and Photo By Will Rice

Thanks Will. The fly swap may end up being the coolest thing I ever have done or will do with this blog. Keep the truth alive brother.

Photo without a fish but about Will Rice

Medina You Lucky Bleep

2012-05-08T20:31:00.001-07:00

I seem to be better at finding exotics than catching them lately. My carpin buddy Mike doesn't seem to have a problem.

Me "I had half an hour to scout that lake you told me about and had a good shot at a totally awesome pure white KOI"
Mike "You mean the white and grey one?"
Me "Uhhhh, I thought it was all white but how did you know?"
Mike "Southwest Corner?"
Me "Uhhh yeah...how did ya..."
Mike "Gotta go" Click.

Less than 24 hours later -

Mike "Yeah they were both back in that corner."
Me "Uhhhh....BOTH?"
Mike "The all white one you missed and the white and grey one I stuck."

He didn't mention it was a white and grey MIRROR Koi until he sent me the pictures. How freaking cool is that! Just one small line of scales down the back. Which would officially promote him from lucky to lucky bleep.

If something seems odd about that picture, well Mike is what I call "spin-curious" and he caught this fish on a black leach fly on a spinning rod. Mike is a life-long fly fisherman, teaches fly-fishing and even makes the occasional fly fishing video, but when nobody is looking he carries around a long noodly spinning rod which he over-hand fly-casts freakish distances with. How does that work? More importantly WHY? Beats me man, but the first time I met him I opened the conversation with something like "that would work a whole lot better with a fly-rod" At which point he cooly and casually dropped his fly within inches of a carp a good 30 feet away.

Bath-Tub Testing The Carp-Stew

2012-05-06T00:44:00.000-07:00

I can vaguely remember a really cool toy whale I had for the bathtub when I was a kid. You would wind it up and then the fins would wiggle and off would swim Mr. Whale. Cool.

I still like to play in the tub, but now I play with carp flies. Sit back and enjoy the latest installment of fly-carpin bath-tub testing, it has been a while.

I need to make more time for these videos. I really took notice of that little explosion that the carp-stew does when it hits bottom and now that I think back I have had several carp this spring ignore the fly until it hit bottom and then show sudden interest. I think I will put a little more effort into letting the drop fully terminate before deciding that a carp is not interested and imparting some action.

Breaking In Matt Pike's Carper's Crab

2012-04-29T21:16:00.001-07:00

The weather took a left-turn for the worse on Friday but there comes a point every spring where minor cold-fronts no longer turn the flats into lifeless deserts. This time may have arrived. I had a very brief window (20 minutes) on Saturday morning to check out a local lake and as I approached I could see carp in singles and small groups cycling from the depths onto a super-shallow sand flat. There was no mistaking the posture of these fish. Have you ever seen videos of small reef-sharks on the prowl? Their pace is fast but determined and deliberate. Their course is random and their posture has a certain menace that is unmistakable. Believe it or not Carp sometimes act the same way! I call this feeding mode "seek and destroy" (que the Metallica). I live for these moments, and although seek and destroy is rare in Colorado I too am on the prowl and occasionally find what I hunger for.

I immediately dropped to my knees and reached for the fly-swap box. Instead of forcing the issue I have been letting the fly-swap flies come to me. I figure that each and every one will have it's moment and that moment will come to me. For some reason this moment spoke to me loud and clear and what it said was "Carper's Crab".

Matt Pike's Carper's Crab

Despite the relatively light weight of Matt Pike's Carper's Crab the first couple of fish to enter the flat spooked on the fly entry. I set early on the third who startled me with the ferocious nature of it's attack. Then from the corner of my eye I saw it. Ten fish in a loose V formation cruising the edge of the flat and they were all in obvious seek and destroy mode. Like an armada of world war II planes these guys were invading in force. No mercy, take no prisoners. I know this happens but perhaps I don't know when and where to look because I rarely see it.

I dropped the fly 1 foot inside and 4 feet ahead of the formation and started a slow strip immediately. Just about when the lead fish should have seen the fly she veered away and left the flat with the formation in tow. Something about the situation had me suspicious though and I continued to slowly strip. Its a good thing because she led her squadron on a big loop that ended right on the tail of my fly! I guess you don't lead the pack if it is your first rodeo because the maneuver had thrown the other smaller fish off and while it was close she was the first to the fly. It is not often you get to see 3 or 4 wide open carp mouths from straight on competing for you fly. Actually I am pretty sure I have never seen that.

Que The Metallica

That would do it. The flat was dead for the additional 5 minutes I had in this window of opportunity. Given more time perhaps it would have recovered but I came away with my favorite take of the year to date and broke in one of the swap flies.

Angelina Jolie - Stillwater or River Carp?

2012-04-28T19:18:00.000-07:00

OK, now that we have established the truth about my carp-lip-callus theory (peer reviewed and everything) I think I have stumbled upon a corollary. After further review (horribly trying Internet research) I now believe that Angelina Jolie's lips are real! Therefore, given the callus theory, Angelina Jolie is most definitely a still-water carp and not a river carp. Ain't the scientific method great? Now, before I get letters from her publicist or a knock at the door by the scarier half of fight-club just keep in mind this is fly-carpin and at fly-carpin carp lips are revered. Around here being compared to a still-water carp is just a heart-felt compliment!

Not bad. Nothing to be ashamed of there.

But them there are some sweet sweet stillwater lips baby!

My Callus Theory

2012-04-27T19:37:00.001-07:00

I like big juicy carp lips and I cannot lie.

Not all carp lips are created equally though. Or are they? I have this crack-pot theory. I think that carp lips are like calluses. The more often and harder a carp grubs on the bottom the bigger the lips get. If that is true then you can gauge some of the feeding habits of a body of water by the lips. In our local river you will catch many carp with small lips. Stillwater fish almost always have big juicy Angelina Joline (post silicone) lips. I think this relates to how they feed.

Both of the carp I caught today were lip challenged. The first one had lips so small it's mouth looked more like a bonefish than a carp (based on pictures not personal experience). It was actually harder than usual to get the fly out because it was embedded in cartilage deep in the corner rather than rubbery lip.

This fish lives in a spot where he/she probably spends significant time feeding in light to moderate current. In case you haven't fished light to moderate current for carp the tailing just is not the same. You will rarely find a fish sitting in one spot with it's butt in the air grinding his or her face into the bottom. The hydrodynamics just doesn't work out. You are more likely to see carp hanging just off the bottom hanging in the current and waiting for food to come to them or moving ever so slowly up-river and briefly dipping their heads for a juicy morsel drifting along. That is what the next carp I caught today was doing. Once again minimal lippage. It's my theory, I am sticking with it.

And that brings us to another difference between stillwater and river fish. A stillwater fish of this length would probably go 14 to 15 pounds if it was lucky but these river fish are shaped like footballs. This fish scaled in at 17lb and was massively strong. All that current builds girth!

My Old Friend Kahn

2012-04-22T22:00:00.000-07:00

I ran into an old friend today. I will be spending enough time chasing this particular fish that a name will make things easier. Lets call this fish Kahn. Genghis Kahn that is. I know that seems like a pretty vicious name for a "vegetarian" but I know first hand that this particular grass carp craves protein. Why not? When you are at least 4 or 5 times bigger than the other fish in the pond and you are hungry you eat what you want when you want it.

Today Kahn was busy defoliating this poor innocent fallen tree. Vicious beast. I had no credible shot but it was nice to run into an old friend.

Fishing from Reservoir Dams

2012-04-21T20:35:00.000-07:00

Reservoirs. Can't live with em, nowhere to fish around here without em. Here on the front range nearly every piece of standing water bigger than a puddle is man-made. In many ways that sucks because these man-made structures fish to their nature. Un-naturally that is.

The problem with many of our smaller front-range reservoirs is that they are just shallow clay/mud bowls with very erratic water levels and little or no vegetation. While they work fine for the spawn and produce plenty of baby carp, the ecosystem isn't capable of turning those baby carp into big bad mammer jammers. In the end you get lots of little carp.

That is where dams come in. Most of these reservoirs are impounded with rip-rap dams and frequently the key to finding the biggest of these smallish carp is to head straight for the Dam.

Smith Reservoir Dam; Surgeon Generals warning, Back-casting is hazardous to your health

Case in point is Smith Reservoir. That would be the first (and perhaps last) time I have ever mentioned a lake by name. I am not too worried about it for two reasons. First of all I have never seen anybody else fly fishing for carp there so no worries about ruining somebodies prized spot. Second of all Smith is nothing to write home about, the carp are tiny. I would say that in general the the carp I have found in Smith Reservoir probably only average 3 to 4 pounds!

Here is a birds-eye view of Smith. I have highlighted the long rip-rap dam in blue and added the approximate average size of carp that I have found in different sections. The carp off the dam are several pounds heavier on average, but not all sections of this long dam are created equal. While I occasionally spot one or two fish getting close to double digits on the long section of the dam on the West side, as far as I can tell these fish are difficult if not impossible to catch.

Smith Reservoir birds-eye view

So what specifically are you looking for on these rip-rap dams? To understand that you need to understand some of the difficulties.

\On most if not all reservoirs the deepest part of the lake is somewhere behind the dam. If the water drops off too quickly (lets draw the line somewhere around 3 feet with typical clarity) it is nearly worthless for a fly-fisherman targeting carp. Carp rarely feed in the actual rip-rap. They prefer to feed just outside of or in between boulders and rocks in the mud and sand where it meets the bottom of the dam. The deeper flats behind these dams often hold the biggest carp by a large margin, but the only time you will see them is when they are on top sunning and relaxing. Those are not the carp you are looking for.

Another problem is the height of the dam. Your elevation from the top of the dam is both a blessing and a curse. While you can see the fish much better than usual presenting the fly and getting a hook-set is a pain because of the downward bow in your line created by the elevation.  At about 10 feet above the surface the effect starts to get painful.

The final problem is profile. When you are standing on top of the dam you stand out like a sore thumb and the carp tend to be extremely aware of your presence. This is mitigated somewhat because most of these reservoirs have a jogging path across the top. You stick out like a sore thumb but there are about 100 sore thumbs an hour which helps.  Oddly enough you may start to notice that carp are more apt to spook when you stop walking! For this reason I will sometimes keep walking by an acquired target and then come back crouched low.

So what are you looking for in a productive rip-rap dam section?  Look for sections where;

The lake bottom meets the dam at a depth of 1 to 3 feet deep with a shallow drop-off.
The height of the dam is less than 10 feet (roughly) above the surface.
Foot traffic might actually help. Just don't hook the foot traffic.

So if you are exploring a new small reservoir don't forget the dam. This is not to say catching carp off a dam is easy because it actually a royal pain in the ass but this is where you will frequently find the bigguns. Or at least the less small ones.

Fighting a 5.5lb Smith Reservoir Carp. Beast!

There Can't Possibly be Two Ways To Thingamabobber?

2012-04-21T17:08:00.001-07:00

I plan a longer post later about fishing rip-rap dams but first I have a quick question to anybody listening who does any indicator fishing to big fish. Is there more than one way to rig a thingamabober?

The reason I ask is because I exerimented a little more with indicator fishing again today. I hooked a nice hot fish but had to apply maximum pressure because of heavy current and the line broke at the thingamabobber! What the heck??!!! I work too hard for these fish, I can't afford an inferior rig. Is there a right way and a wrong way to rig a thingamabobber so that it doesn't stress the line?

EDIT - Steelheaders from facebook are telling me never to use thingamabobbers for big fish. Evidently that little grommet in there is metal and screws up your line on big fish. Who knew?

Carp Slam 6 Early Registration

2012-04-14T13:39:00.001-07:00

Early registration for Carp Slam 6 is open! They are giving an early bird discount and I am predicting it will sell out in a blink of an eye this year. My check went in the mail today.

The Carp Slam is an amazing event. It has turned into a significant cultural event for the fly fishing for carp sub-culture in Denver and is starting to draw carpers from all across the country. This year the word on the streets is that the carperati could be nearly 100% represented in the pro category. Of course the Slam is about more than an excuse for a bunch of stanky carpers to gather and much more than a competition. The Slam also raises substantial funds being used to improve the DSP.

So off your jocks and onto your socks, there are only 15 amateur spots and they will go fast. I hear the reigning amateur champ is hot stuff, it could take all 14 of you chumps to take him down.

Carp Pond C meets Gregg's Eggs

2012-04-08T20:30:00.000-07:00

Ponds are a good finger to scratch that still-water itch this time of year. Larger still-waters can produce occasionally but are extremely hit-or-miss. While pond carp are usually (but not always) small the fishing can be really interesting.

My favorite ponds are a series of three that impound a small stream nose-to tail with a 30 foot walk from one pond to the next. Those 30 feet may as well be miles because each pond fishes completely differently. This weekend I had a couple of hours here and there to give it a go. Only one of the three (call it Pond C) had anything going on. Pond C nearly always has something going on, for all the good it has done me. Nearly half of this pond is a shallow mud flat. The fish are numerous, very small and have no fear of man. For 8 months out of the year you find fish tailing there in 3" to 6" of water and you often get close enough to touch them with your rod tip.

Sounds easy right? Well, while fish in Pond A and B are butter, these fish are TOUGH. It is by far and away the most difficult of the three because these fish are doing something I think of as sleep-feeding. They just go about their business grazing through the muck with virtually no interest in whatever flies you might put in their way. It doesn't matter what fly and what presentation. Your fly may as well not exist. I have been fishing this pond for four years and everything in the arsenal has accounted for something on the order of 10 fish!

Well, the arsenal didn't have eggs in it. It isn't very glorious but they went nutso for the egg I recieved from Gregg in the fly-swap on a lob-drag and dead drop. I had more takes in 4 hours of fishing this weekend than I had all last year there. The takes were very very slow followed by an instant ejection and I couldn't figure out the timing until I got to see one suck it and eject it head on but after that it was absolute mayhem by Pond C standards.

I think I need a smaller egg for these fish but I have at least one solution for Pond C.

This unusually stout and healthy fellow took line. That is a first in this pond and earned him another first. An itty bitty hero-shot. Trout-palm style.

NOTE: Just realized today was Easter and I broke out the Eggs. Just a freaky coincidence, no truth to the rumor that the Easter Bunny took the photo.

Nothing to Say Here, Nothing To See Here

2012-03-31T20:12:00.000-07:00

About this time last year I ran into Jay Zimmerman doing a fly tying presentation at Charlie's Flybox. I consider Jay one of my carpin heroes so I introduced myself and we talked a little about carpin and blogging. I mentioned that Fly-Carpin was turning out to be allot more work than I had pictured when I naively pushed that innocent looking "start a blog" button. His outright laughed with (at?) me and then said something along the lines of "Let me guess, you figured heck, it's just like having your fishing journal on-line right?"

Well it turns out that in many ways a blog is an absolutely terrible fishing journal. First off your typical fishing journal is BORING. Boring to write and even worse to read so you end up leaving out allot of important stuff that might help you in future years. Second of all eventually you don't want to share everything. Some days the fishing is so bad that you really have nothing to say. Some days you fish poorly or make a rookie mistake and are a little embarrassed. Occasionally something about the day is so absolutely perfect that it just turns personal.

Today was all of the above. The fishing kinda sucked, I kinda sucked. I spent 98.9% of the day looking for feeding fish or screwing up the few I found. I spent 1% of the day catching what will undoubtedly be one of the coolest carp I will ever catch on the perfect fly on the perfect presentation on the perfect take and the perfect hook set with a great extended battle to boot. I spent the final 0.2% of the day making a rookie mistake, screwing up the photo-op and coming away with nothing but fond memories. That's fly-fishing for carp, if I wasn't so damn stubborn I would quit while I was way ahead. Or way behind. Hard to tell which, but I sure feel great.

Primordial Crust Carp Fly Now Available From MFC

2012-03-30T18:24:00.000-07:00

As you may know last year I won the MFC / OBN fly designer contest. Well, it looks official, my Primordial Crust Carp Fly (and yes that was the very first Fly-Carpin post) is now available from Montana Fly Company. If you would like to try it out you can either order some from an online shop such as Dreamdrift Flies or ask your local shop to pretty please order some. Check out the sweet rotating 360 degree picture from MFC.

Primordial Crust

I myself have some waiting for me at Colorado Skies fly shop. This is actually my second order, the first one got put on the floor on accident and sold out, which is pretty cool!

Its getting to be the time of year when a meaty fly like the Crust can really shine for big fish. Two of my biggest fish last year came in the spring on a Crust.

20lb Carp on The Primordial Crust

18lb Carp on the Primordial Crust (Photo by The CarpDawg formerly known as TroutDawg)

Not an expert, but the Crust seems to work for Trout too. In an ironic twist the only two Trout I have caught on the DSP were both around 18", caught in the fall and fell to a Crust "carp fly" on a blind swing through shadowed runs.

Big Rainbow On the Primordial Crust

In case you haven't noticed I am pretty carp-centric these days so I have not actually tried it for Bass. I have no doubt that the Crust is a worthy bucket-mouth fly as well though.

A Clew Of Trouser Worm Flies

2012-03-28T20:04:00.000-07:00

Living hand-to-mouth on my carp flies is getting to me. Enough is enough, time to try and get ahead for once. In that spirit I sat down and threw together a "clew" of Trouser Worms. A "clew" you ask? Evidently that is the term for a bunch of worms. Like school, herd, flock etc. When I was looking it up I was afraid it would be "bunch" and well, that is pretty boring so I was going to make up my own. A "massacre" of worms sounds about right given how much carp dig these babies but clew will work.

Worms are tolerant sorts, I imagine that odd looking fella out front can be in their clew. Unless it doesn't work, in which case I am hanging it in a tree under the first murder of Crows I find. And unless you are curious Mr and Mrs Justices of the supreme court THAT is coercion.

Kindness and Consideration

2012-03-23T20:11:00.000-07:00

While roughly 2/3 of the country has been having a miraculously warm March John Montana has been getting hosed up in Oregon. A cruel man would take the rare opportunity of John not having some of the best carpin in to country to have some fun at his expense. Well, out of kindness and consideration I will forebear from mentioning that it will be in the mid to high 70's tomorrow in CO. I will forget to mention that I have a pass. I will absolutely not gloat that one of my carpin' buddies has a new spot lined up where the carp are large and in charge and totally into this March weather. That would be cruel.

Well that was fun, I figure there is a pretty short window before things go back to reality. Just remember fellow carpers and carp bloggers, eventually things will turn and John will be dropping the hammer and while his carp will be likely to look like this (frequently much bigger actually):

"Average"

Some of us (me) are just as likely to catch stuff like this:

My record smallest carp.

So when the time comes and he is burning up the net with stunning stories of huge fish we all owe John several (2 or 3 apiece at least) heart-felt statements along the lines of "I am so freaking jealous right now".

RIP Lake Mead Trip

2012-03-20T20:43:00.000-07:00

Well stuff happens. I was supposed to go to Las Vegas with my wife in a couple of weeks. She is in a WPT amateur poker league tournament she won her way into.  While she was in the tournament during the day I was going to be looking for carp on Lake Mead. At night we were going to do whatever it is you do in Vegas that stays in Vegas up to and including "investing" Zack's college fund.  Well, a couple hundred bucks at any rate.

Unfortunate and un-avoidable family circumstances have resulted in a change of plans and she will have to tough it out without me.  I was really looking forward to the rare, exotic and nearly extinct experience of a sans-kid husband and wife vacation. I was also looking forward to breaking in another possible carp destination. By all accounts the average size of the carp in Mead is nothing to write home about but the scenery, ecology and nearby debauchery of the fishery seems very intriguing.

Rest easy Mead carp you are free from my evil scourge.  For now.

CAPRPRORIOUS: March BowChikiBowBow

2012-03-16T22:55:00.002-07:00

The unseasonably warm weather has had a dramatic effect on the local fly fishing for carp scene For one thing the river has turned into quite the sausage fest. You know, there is a whole lotta swinging er um...fly lines on the water. Over this off-season I have probably bumped into a grand total of 3 other anglers. On Friday I ran into 6!

I also saw quite a few scenes from "Carp Behaving Badly". We get random mini (false?) spawns virtually all year on my home river due to the massive water temperature fluctuations and this is not the first time I have seen a female carp or two shake her booty in March. I witnessed quite a bit of risque behavior today though. For shame ladies, it is March after all!

The carp ladies aren't the only ones feeling frisky with the heat. The biking path was lined up as far as the eyes could see with joggers in bikinis. OK, in order to not increase the previously lamented sausage fest I will admit it was one pair of joggers in sports bras way off in the distance. Either way it was a sure-fire sign of the begging of the end for this prison we carpers call winter. I even got pictures.

Hot-Lips

Mirror Mirror On the Wall - Who's The Fairest Of Them All?

You expected bikinis? This is Fly-Carpin and that would be creepy.

CARPTORIOUS: Comically Pathetic Takes

2012-03-06T21:48:00.000-08:00

66F, check.

Good sun, check.

Leaker waders in trunk, check.

15 to 20mph winds, gulp.

It was a bit of a stretch with the wind and all but I traded a couple of hours of vacation for a couple of hours on the river today. I was hoping to find all the carp in a winter warm-snap induced feeding frenzy like last weekend. Whoops. I refuse to recognize the truth because the fantasy is so much more fun, but on really nice days in the winter things can go one way or the other. Sometimes the carp go on the feed and life is good. Sometimes they just go on the chill. Like New-York vacationers in Florida in January. Picture a pool some sun, a cheap vinyl folding chair and a drink with a funny little umbrella.

On and Odd Day, Perhaps the Oddest Piece of Random River Junk Yet

Fortunately I too was relaxed. I took my time, kept working it and eventually slipped tripped and dropped my fly into something interesting. I had found a large pod of carp in a section of slow current behind some post-apocalyptic looking man-dumped shoals. These carp looked like serious trouble. Dead still at the top of the water column. A hundred times out of a hundred they are dead-money. Any and all time casting to carp in that mood is wasted time. Well, to heck with it, I worked my way slowly in tight and dabbled a heavily weighted trouser worm in front of the biggest of the bunch. I will be damned if that carp didn't go ape-crazy in a comically pathetic kind of way. That carp wouldn't move an inch but for the entire drop she was frantically pulsing her lips and gills over and over in a desperate attempt to suck in some long distance protein. With a 3.25mm tungsten bead and bead-chain eyes that Trouser worm was absolutely bombing for the bottom so it was hopeless of course. Well, I may be an old dog but I know road kill when I see it and seconds later I had a lightly weighted Trouser worm on and was into some serious action. These were one and all some of the oddest takes I have ever had and they were almost impossible to time but for a good half hour every single fish I put that fly in front of TRIED to take it.

It is hard to say how much of it was their ineptitude and how much was my own but I only ended up hooking three and landing two of those 15 or so takes before blowing up the pod and losing my only lightly weighted Trouser Worm. That single fly had caught at least 5 or 6 carp in various odd circumstances since August. I was sad to see it go.

Some Questions on the Carp-Roll

2012-02-27T19:10:00.001-08:00

I am pretty sure that at least some people use the CarpRoll as their destination for finding carp content. I have a sneaking suspicion that it is the most used feature on Fly-Carpin. I love it because it helps me get straight to what I am interested in reading about which is carp carp and more carp.

For those that are new to the site and don't understand what I am talking about that box on the side-bar called the CarpRoll is a filtered blog-roll of many if not most of the fly fishing blogs on the internet that regularly have carp content. The filter is simple. If a post or title contains the word "carp" it gets through. If it doesn't Fly-Carpin aint interested and it gets thrown out. That other stuff just doesn't jive with the intentionally obsessively compulsively focused nature of Fly-Carpin.

So I have a few questions for those who may be fan's of the CarpRoll:

I have been meaning to try and include"It Aint Pretty" from the Drake and "Fly-Talk" from Field&Stream because I know and like Will Rice and Tim Romano. They both write extremely well and are total carpers. Done and Done (we get all the posts from the Drake, not just Will's). The question is do people like these additions?
Any other big commercial websites that people would like to see on the CarpRoll? It seems I can add pretty much anything with a feed.
I was stunned to figure out that I had totally missed ThirdCoastFly a while back. Are there any other blogs that I should take a look at for the CarpRoll? Self promotion OK.
Am I all wet or do lots of people use the CarpRoll as their carp content destination?

CARPTORIOUS: Quick And Dirty Carp

2012-02-25T22:46:00.000-08:00

The wife kicked me out on my bum this afternoon for a couple hours of quick and dirty carpin. Poor girl, it's like pulling teeth to get me to go fishing.

The water was even more off-color than the other day because of snow melt and I only ended up with an hour and a half window before the wind and fading sun drove me from the water. Things worked out just fine though and I was able to find a couple feeding fish, hook three and land one.

The first hook-up was almost embarrassing. I had found what I thought was probably a neutral fish holding in a slight current on the far side of a deep slough. I made a couple of half-hearted drifts and as the fly passed him the last time I started to lift the fly out to move on to greener pastures. As I was lifting I tangled the line in some brush at the water's edge. While I was working the mess my fly dropped down into the deep slough and as I once again started to pull out I found that I was now snagged on the bottom. In irritation I lifted hard on the rod and the snag started to come up. Well, you probably realize where I am going with this. As the snag started to surface instead of a tree branch I found myself staring right down the throat of a very large and very lethargic carp just as my fly pulled free from it's lips. I am almost certain that was the biggest carp I have hooked since last July and it was not only short lived, but totally on accident!

Oh well, 15 minutes later this much much smaller (but still respectable) carp was kind enough to make me feel a little better. Once again on an olive carp stew and this one was very much on purpose with a nice tight presentation and a good (if slow and deliberate) visual take. Very satisfying.

CARPTORIOUS: The Day

2012-02-22T21:15:00.000-08:00

Today was the day. Well, if you could work through the overcast skies and off-color water to find the fish it was the day. If you could muscle a fly through the high winds and into the zone it was the day. If you could then time the sluggish take it was the day.

With an overnight low of 45 and a daytime high of 53 I was expecting to find some happy fish. To my surprise I only found 10 fish all day, but each and every single one of those fish was tailing!

Given that every single fish I found in the river was feeding (a first for me) and that every holding spot I checked was completely empty this is my theory; Every fish in the river was out on knee deep flats feeding today. EVERY SINGLE ONE. Actually it is more than a theory. I am positive. Given some sunlight and clear water to work with I think it would have been slay-hem may-hem.

Getting back to the point, remember those 10 wonderfully happy fish? Well sometimes fly fishing for carp is a matter of odds. Two scattered to blown shots. Three more inexplicably ignored the fly. Four cleary took or tried to take the fly but I mis-timed the cold induced slow-mo takes and set early.

But that only adds to 9 right? Well, I managed slow down enough to stick an olive carp-stew into number 10 and that saved the day. Man I feel Carptorious, 2012 is finally looking up.

Sand Creek Petroleum Not Going Away Anytime Soon

2012-02-21T21:07:00.000-08:00

While out fishing Sunday February 19th I visited the South Platte below the Sand Creek confluence for a look-see and it was not good. The low flows had created a shallow still pool under the 270 bridge. This is what I found in that pool:

Still Signs of Petroleum In The South Platte!

I also saw several fist to football sized pieces of sheen floating in the main current a couple hundred feet downriver. I have been back several times now and this is the most easily seen visual indicators of petroleum I have seen since Day 1 almost three months ago. I have no idea if there has been difficulty with containment or if this is residual benzyne working it's way up from the stream-bed.

I know that it is going to take a long time for everything to be OK, but it was still disappointing.