One more thing: A thank you shout out to Maxcatch for replacing the butt end of thier Extreme 10’ #7 rod, which broke a couple weeks back when I was trying to check ...more a run by a carp I’m gonna say was HUGE (why not? my rod *did* break). Getting even, is what I’d call it for my newly fitted back together rod landing this fella.
12 lb. 4 oz. 28 in. Common Carp with a Pistol Pete Black Stripper #10
One hour and 7 minutes. I know that’s how long it took to land this guy, ‘cause my wife rung me on my cell at the exact moment I had the fish on (ain’t that the ...more way it always goes? didn’t answer of course) & I checked my watch when I had him safely hauled ashore. That’s the longest it has ever taken me to land a fish, & that includes some big saltwater fish. ‘Course, saltwater, I used heavy gear. I had 6 lb. mono as a tippit, on a 10’ fly rod, with a Pistol Pete Black Stripper #10 at the business end, to catch this guy. I was determined to wear him down enough to safely land. He made repeated runs and simply refused to tire. I wasn’t going to lose him, trying to horse him in. So, it took a little over an hour. Wow. I was shaking. How, How, am I ever going to go back to catching the 10”-12” Rainbow fingerlings they stock the “real”, neighborhood ponds with?
12 lb. 4 oz. 28 in. Common Carp with a Pistol Pete Black Stripper #10
I checked the initial run of what I’d guess was a 9+ lb. carp; then, in the normal give & take of line, my new Maxcatch 10’ #7 fly rod cracked at the first joint ...more & the female piece of rod went into the drink and was moving out w/the line when, fish off. A few casts w/the spinning gear I had w/me, & I snagged the floating part & got it in. Hope it gets replaced.
Common Carp with a PP Black Stripper
One for five today. Several pods came by & no takers on the P.P. Black Stripper nor a hand tied. Then, on the Maribou, a pod came by and I got an interest, but ...more the fly was spit. I put it back out, & right away, had it mouthed, taken out 10’ or so, then spit again. Put fly back out; again, a hit! Three back-to-back hits is highly unusual! Same result though... spit fly. Then nothing for an hour, until I hooked and landed this 4 pounder, who bent that #12 hook pretty good. I put on a hand-tied, got ahold of one I estimate @ 10 lbs. Lost him trying to drag him ashore after a 15 minute tussle, when the 4x tippit snapped. Lesson: no more 1x #12 hooks & nothing less than 6 lb. leader.
4 lb. 1 oz. Common Carp
“Pod” describes the gang of 4-7 carp that travel & feed together, & they have each other’s backs. They have sharp senses of smell, vision, touch, and are ...more wary in wild waters. If one spooks the message instantly goes out, and they all split. Another hinderance to catching them on a fly is the so tentative & soft way they take it. They will mouth, then spit it many a time, &, even when well hooked, often find a way of ridding themselves of #12, #10 hooks in the fight. I had four such disappointments today, before getting lucky w/this small 4 pounder.
4 lb. 1 oz. 21 in. Common Carp with a Pistol Pete Black Stripped #12
Armed w/an industrial strength magnet and gummy bears, I slogged to my carp ground this morning (water’s up). I dropped a P.P. Olive Maribou 4’ from shore & ...more jigged it a couple of times & got ahold of one. The backing was peeking through when he spit the #12 hook and returned it to me, bent. So the gummy bears, an intended try and see bait, never got put out on a hair rig. Instead I put flys of several variety out for a long time, w/an amazing lack of interest; till I got this guy on a P.P. Ginger #10. Their eyes always seem to be gazing in amazement and incredulity at the hook in their mouth. And the magnet... drug it all over the ground where I lost my first ever I tied fly... where’d could it have gotten to??
6 lb. 13 oz. 22 in. Common Carp
I hit the carp ground & as I’ve been doing, got a hair rig out and a homemade boilie soaking, then turned my hand to trying to get a taker on a fly. No action, ...more boilie or fly (Pistol Pete Ginger #10), for 1.5 hrs.; & then, I hook the Goodby Carp. Timed it... we wrestled for 23 minutes before I thought him pooped enough to try to backpedal him up on shore. He was tired enough, but the 4x tippet wasn’t strong enough for a straight line pull of that size fish, & so... Goodby. I almost left. Then I thought, what ghe heck, I’d at least see what this raggedy dog hair, yarn, bird feather Frankenstein, first fly I have ever tied, fly looked like in the water. It was tied on a #8 hook, & I put 6lb. mono on as tippet, & the one that *didn’t* get away is the result. Bad news is, in the thrashing after I hauled him ashore, he snapped the line & spit my *first* hand tied fly. Which, I then could not find. Going back, w/an industrial sized magnet tomorrow
9 lb. 6 oz. 27 in. Goodby And Hello Carp with a Frankenstien fly
You’ve had those days. Can’t seem to get it going & all the portents cry stay home. A front’s blown through & it’s overcast, windy and nippy. But you coffee-up, ...more pull it together & go anyway. Hiking in there’s nary a sign of carp. You put a hair-rig out though, & just for laughs, also cast a fly, fingers crossed. And then it happens... nothing. For hours, nothing. Finally you go home. What? What’d you think??
Absent Carp
Bluegill & Green Sunfish replaced carp today. Thank ya, Taylor Glover, for pointing out some differences. Simplified- -Bluegill: rounded body, small mouth, solid ...more “ear” flap. Green Sunfish: oblong body, big mouth, “ear” flap lined w/gold. The carp are on waters made sterile by their numbers; as it cools, bass and trout should be biting soon, elsewhere. But it seems not yet. The only interest I could generate today was these little guys. I caught ‘em using a spincast ultralight and as to lure(s), a small plastic worm/w/propeller spinner, a small goldish spoon, and the Pistol Pete Olive Marabou #12.
Bluegill with a Green Sunfish & Bluegill
