Finally. All winter I sat in class (oh I am in law school by the way) and drooled over pictures of big, drag melting fish. I knew that, being very landlocked, the only two that I might encounter were striper or... well carp. Because I do not have a boat, I thought- "I need to fish for carp." I have tried to catch carp several times. No go. So this was a challenge. I mean, I have a fishing blog- I must be good enough to catch a carp... ha. This season I did my homework, tied a bunch of stupid looking flies and scoped out some spots on Google Earth. From the beginning, it seemed like I was cursed. Trip after trip yielded nothing. Finally I scoped out a new spot. Basically, it is a large drainage ditch with a bunch of stinky, rubber-lipped carp cruising around in it. I figured I would get there early. So I rolled in at the crack of 9:30 AM (did I mention I am a student?). I saw the carp. The carp saw me. I studied the carp. The carp studied me. I tried my new carp flies. Nothing. I tried trout flies. Nothing. I probably tried 30 flies before I noticed that all the carp were eating was algae. They would swim up to a floating chunk of green stuff and suck it in like cotton candy. I looked through my boxes and landed on an olive marabou jig. I had no confidence in the wimpy hook, plus it was de-barbed. Anyway, by this time I had been out there about 4 hours. Sure I had caught some big bluegill and a few bass, but I was getting frustrated with the carp. I was tired, my phone and camera battery were low and I was hungry. I got several eats. Missed them all. Finally I swung this little wussy jig past the biggest carp I could see and he pounced on it like a crackhead on a twenty. He sucked that thing in, I set the hook hard and it was on. Fought that ugly son of a gun for at least five minutes before I made a grab for him. Too slippery. Another five minutes later I had him. I felt a little bad about laying him on the gravel but he seemed ok, no damage or anything. Finally got one... challenge completed- now maybe I can focus on studying for finals. Maybe.
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| Couldn't keep these guys away from my fly. |
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| Caught this dude right off the bat. |
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| A few pretty decent sunfish. |
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| Boom, finally heard that drag. |
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| Battle. |
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| He was pissed. |
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| Almost. |
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| Wishing I had brought a net at this point. |
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| Finally. |
Finally. All winter I sat in class (oh I am in law school by the way) and drooled over pictures of big, drag melting fish. I knew that, being very landlocked, the only two that I might encounter were striper or... well carp. Because I do not have a boat, I thought- "I need to fish for carp." I have tried to catch carp several times. No go. So this was a challenge. I mean, I have a fishing blog- I must be good enough to catch a carp... ha. This season I did my homework, tied a bunch of stupid looking flies and scoped out some spots on Google Earth. From the beginning, it seemed like I was cursed. Trip after trip yielded nothing. Finally I scoped out a new spot. Basically, it is a large drainage ditch with a bunch of stinky, rubber-lipped carp cruising around in it. I figured I would get there early. So I rolled in at the crack of 9:30 AM (did I mention I am a student?). I saw the carp. The carp saw me. I studied the carp. The carp studied me. I tried my new carp flies. Nothing. I tried trout flies. Nothing. I probably tried 30 flies before I noticed that all the carp were eating was algae. They would swim up to a floating chunk of green stuff and suck it in like cotton candy. I looked through my boxes and landed on an olive marabou jig. I had no confidence in the wimpy hook, plus it was de-barbed. Anyway, by this time I had been out there about 4 hours. Sure I had caught some big bluegill and a few bass, but I was getting frustrated with the carp. I was tired, my phone and camera battery were low and I was hungry. I got several eats. Missed them all. Finally I swung this little wussy jig past the biggest carp I could see and he pounced on it like a crackhead on a twenty. He sucked that thing in, I set the hook hard and it was on. Fought that ugly son of a gun for at least five minutes before I made a grab for him. Too slippery. Another five minutes later I had him. I felt a little bad about laying him on the gravel but he seemed ok, no damage or anything. Finally got one... challenge completed- now maybe I can focus on studying for finals. Maybe.
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