Opener

The word "opener" as it refers to the first day of the general fishing season, has about as much impact on me as does the phrase "got my limit".
In the past ten years I have looked at the opener as the day when my beloved trout streams get a little less crowded.  I've certainly haven't stayed awake at night dreaming of walleyes.

This year it was somewhat meaningful in that now, as I was poling for carp, I could (legally) take shots at the pike and largemouth bass I have seen swimming under my hull.

Opening morning dawned bright and still and I was thinking about the visibility on my favorite carp flats.  I wasn't thinking of the other boats that I'd meet at the ramp.  Oh well...

The cool thing about fishing the skinny water the way I do is that none of the other anglers want to fish where I'm fishing.  The joys of sight fishing are so automatic to me now that I find it difficult (on certain waters) to comprehend casting into space and hoping.  Why not go see the fish before you cast to them?

I fired up the motor and blasted downstream fully aware that there was not going to be anyone near where I was heading. 

About halfway to the flat, he ripples and wavelets of surface feeding fish prompted me to cut the motor and get up on the platform for a better look.  I couldn't tell what was eating, I just knew that there were plenty of eaters.  I was thinking crap but considering highfin carp suckers.

My daughter's Reddington Minnow 5 wt rod with a size 14 elk hair caddis was in the boat along with my 6 and 8 weights that I intended to fish.  With the other rods rigged with non topwater flies, I grabbed the 5wt and put a few casts in the feedzone.

A smallish bluegill, clamped on and I would have thought that all of these fish were gills except that I was now close enough to start seeing lips and shoulders.

Carp.

I stepped down from the platform, dropped both the bow and stern anchors into place and started taking shots into the throngs of slurpers.  It wasn't long before the fly went down.

I honestly don't know how to guess a carp's weight, but I'm thinking 8 lbs.  It nearly had me into backing and the tops rings of cork on the handle we're taking on a decided bend.

With the fish boated, photographed and released, I realized that the skirmish had sent the other 30 fish packing.  I moved down to the flat and found another pod of fish slurping on top.  Repeating an experience with similar results is part of the scientific process and despie spending an hour with this pod, they promptly blew up and quit feeding.  Spooked.  Still work to be done, more to figure out.

I moved into a side channel and found bass and bluegills and the occasional pike.
The gills ate willingly but they were all small.  The pike completely ignored my fly and the bass were in cruising mode.  I kept firing my fly to lead the bass and more often than not they'd swim right by.  A few broke from their travels and inhaled it. 

An interesting side note:  While poling up the main river channel under the bright sun and low wind, the water clarity made it easy to see bottom at 6'+.  As I was poling and watching, a huge fish 4-5'long swam by and I got just enough of a look to see that it was heavily scaled and very, very long.
If it was a carp I'm guessing it would have gone 50+ pounds.  If it wasn't a carp, I haven't a clue what it could be.