Carp Flats

Sunday afternoon with the boat in tow I got to the lake only to realize in my haste that I forgot my PFD. 
Damn. 
It.

The wind was clipping along at a solid 17-20 and the lake didn't look like much fun.  After the short but painful trip back home for floatation, I opted to launch at the river and do some scouting.  I was originally planning to stake out on a sandy patch of bottom in a wide portion of the river upstream from the landing, but I took a left instead and headed down stream.

I flushed carp everywhere.  The visibility was good despite the wind and the river was showing bottom at 4 feet.  I drifted with the wind as I stood on the casting deck and watched hundred of carp leave mud puffs in their haste to depart.

Taking a look around I settled on a spot on the upwind side of a shallow weed bed.  The sonar read 2.1 feet deep but I'm sure my elbows would've gotten wet if I stepped in and sunk through the muck.

Originally I dropped the bow anchor into the wind and the stern anchor on the down wind side, but this posed two problems.  1. bow slap 2. light.  I turned the boat around and enjoyed a nice sunny view of the bottom with the wind at my back and the quiet of a well staked boat.

And then they came.

Singles and doubles.  I was happy to see a distinct lack of spawning clusters.  I had a few fish follow before peeling off and then I was promptly bit off by a juvie musky.  I figured I'd try to get my fly back and bag a small musky in the process so I unsheathed my spare rod, loaded it with wire and a big hairy.  I looked up after rigging to see a giant mother of a black cloud darkening the horizon and coming fast.

I got exactly 10 casts in before the visibility was zero and the prestorm wind made a mess of things.

Back to the landing.

I was home in 15 or 20 minutes, thoroughly drenched and griping to my wife about how I'd just discovered a delicious carp flat when my 9 year old handed me the Ipad with the local radar showing that the storm was just a small cell and would pass quickly.  20 minutes and a turkey sandwich later I was back in my rig ready for the second half.

The sun was too low for great visibility once I got back on the water so I anchored off some sunken timber and jacked crappies and gills until the gills started sipping on top and I could fish them with a size 12 elk hair caddis.  Which I did and they confirmed it was a good choice. 

I was bummed that the flat got blown by weather, but at least I learned something new and I figured panfish on a dry was still better than mowing the lawn.