Open the Door

McSteel and I talked about it after our last mission of Carp'n the Door.  We went late last year and we figured earlier this year.  We suggested to our wives that camping might be fun and they bought into our pitch.  Back when we started this discussion I was sure to remind my lovely wife that it was a fishing trip but that camping would be fun and the kids would have a blast...
When I reminded her of the mission objective just days after a week in the Bahamas....I got the look.

And you know, she was right in giving me the look.  Selfish bastard.

Despite the ill timed trip and the "look", McSteel and I made it out and did our best.  We saw a grand total of 6 or 7 carp, two of them were pigs tailing in the marina of one of DC's quaint little towns on a day when we took the families to town to mill around and buy ice cream cones and didn't even consider bringing rods.  Our Bad.

I pushed McSteel around for day one and he has an eye for spotting smallies.  He managed to bring a couple to hand and it would have been a bad fishing trip if they were 13 inchers.  But they weren't.

The second day I started the afternoon by motoring and rowing but before long McSteel offered his services on the sticks and I figure I might as well soak a fly.  The outcome was a nice SMB and I was thrilled to be in clear fresh water and feeling the tug.

The next fish came ( I swear this is true) when I was standing on the deck talking to McSteel about the slooooow long strip that the bonefish guides prescribe when they see a fish eat.  I was actually demonstrating the move, finishing with a short quick snap of the wrist to signify the hooks set when you can feel a bonefish has eaten.  At that precise moment, in 12 feet of water, a smallie decided that it liked the way I was moving the fly through the demonstation...and ate my fly.

We marked that fish on the rod and I put a tape up against it when I got home...20 inches.

Not too bad for a demonstration fish...

Part of the trade off of going out in the battleship chasing Carp and whatever (the whatever in this case being monster smallmouth) was that I needed to take the dog.  The wives and kids wanted to go for a bike ride and the pooch isn't formally trained in bicycle etiquette.  So this weekend I introduced Thor to boats.  What I learned is that my dog can drink Green Bay water and live, he likes to see fish being caught and that he will certainly be invited out for the next boat fishing trip.  Good dog!