I was still licking my wounds and swallowing my pride from the courtside beatdown as I hitched up the boat, grabbed the 6wt and my camera and drove to JP's.
He was ready. Two-point-something miles later we backed the trailer down the launch. (You know what is a highly under-rated sound? Crunching gravel.) It's quick when it's simple and we were idling down the river in just about no time.
We anchored off some downed timber hoping that the crappies or gills might be there, waiting for a fly to drop on their heads. If they were there, they gave us no indication.
I felt a little bad suggesting carp next...for two reasons. First, JP had elected to string up his 4wt instead of his 8wt and second, JP has not been as eager (historically speaking) to chase carp as I have.
But we went after carp anyway. That's a fringe benefit of having the tiller in your hand.
We started blowing up fish muds as soon as the channel widened and the water got shallow. I cut the motor and we drifted into a glassy stretch with a small creek flowing in. I took the stripping bucket up on the stern seat and JP prepped his gear from the casting deck.
Visibility had improved nicely since my last trip on the river and we saw a good number of carp cruising along the sand flats as well as entering and exiting the creek. Cruising fish are usually tough to feed and these were no exception. The wind kicked up a little and we decided to row back upstream and stake out over a light patch of sand that would give us a decent view. We repeated the performance of not getting any fish to pay attention to our flies.
I figured we might as well shoot down to the mud flats and stake out as this would give us 360 degrees of fishing opportunity. So we did. We eased into my normal anchoring spot, adjacent a powerline and near a bowl on the flat that I know fish like to hang out in. An osprey flew by with it's fish dinner clutched in its talons and turned head first into the wind...as they will do to reduce flight drag.
It didn't take long to notice light swirls and bubbles just off the powerline rock pile. It also didn't take long to realize that the wind and current were channeling floating midges right about where the carps lips were showing themselves. With lateral lines like the best sonar and radar combo never devised by mankind, I knew that stealth was needed if we were going to get a shot. I asked JP to lift the bow anchor off the bottom manually and not run it through the pulley as I rowed us into position. We crept into casting range and I saw another fish tip up and slurp a bug off the top. JP slid the anchor onto the bottom. Took up his position and started casting.
I snapped a few pics and then rummaged in my box for a small midgelike dry fly. I was happy that I had left the trout boxes in my gear bag and opted for a size 16 elk hair caddis similar to the one JP was floating over the noses. I was on the 3rd or 4th turn in my improved clinch knot when JP said something that sounded like a combination laugh/profanity, laced with a side helping of surprise and victory.
When I looked up his 4wt was bent deep.
It took a while. We pulled the anchors and drifted the fish off the rock pile, I reset the stern anchor as JP laughed and took in line, giggled and feathered the drag beautifully. 10 or 15 minutes of bulldogging later I reached in and pulled JP's carp out of the water and parked it on the deck.
Size 16 elk hair caddis, 4wt, surface feeding carp.
I asked JP how he felt about carp now and he said, "Yeah".
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1 comment:
Victory!!
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