I headed down to the gorge early Friday morning to be on one of my favorite carp spots by 11. It didn't take long to catch a few nice ones, but then it got tough. The bite definitely slowed up.
I ventured all over the flat only to find some bluegill and pumpkinseeds doing their thing. This pretty dude hit my trolled Hybrid as I walked thru.
I finally found a couple happy fish, but promptly screwed up the eat. The visibility was starting to get tough with the warm east wind picking up a bit.
My next happy fish made a very obvious eat and I was onto the biggest fish of the trip. In fact, it would end up being my biggest fly caught (meaning not snagged, back when it was legal) carp! The BassPro scale said 21.13! Which means the fish was right at 20! Holy crap. Here's my face into the GoPro that I had on a stick that I stuck in the mud. With the background removed. No hot-spotting from me!
It was another hour before I hooked up on another happy hungry fish. And I could tell she was big. All 5 fish that day were big hungry prego mamas. The boys had something else on their mind.
And like most fish, but especially carp, you just don't realize how big they are until you get them back in range. Then I got nervous. It's been a while since I've been truly nervous to land a fish. Sure, we all like to actually land em and maybe even get a cool pic, but this was more than that. This was BIG.
She was big alright...scale said 31.66!! So easily over 30. The 20 didn't stand too long! Haha!
I haven't been that full of adrenaline from a fish in 30 years. The GoPro died right after I recorded weighing her. I have some decent shots with my phone of her in the net. No hero shots. Here's a still clip of the release video from my phone. Just for reference, my net is 18" in diameter. She was a tank!
I guess I can die now. Haha! Both the 20 and 30 pounders were on 10# fluoro on...you guessed it, a Hybrid. Little #6. I don't do it enough, but this specific one has been retired.
I was shaking and feeling a little weak in the knees from slogging around all day and too much adrenaline on an empty stomach so I figured I should probably get something to eat and then go try for some shad. Had a great bacon cheese burger and clam chowder at the Bulldog in Rufus. So good!
When I got to my usual shad spot below John Day I had a little competition from a boat. It's interesting...the boats have figured out it's a great spot so they come and anchor juuuust out of casting range. It's a bit annoying, but as a boat fisherman I get it. I went to my #2 spot and was fishing the old RS4 6wt with a 250gr OPST Commando head and a 10' S4 OPST tip with 6# fluoro to a chartreuse jig. I mean, what else do you need for shad?
About 10 minutes in I landed a decent shad that put a great bend in the 6wt. They really can pull. The only other fish I caught in the next 30 minutes was a 12" smallie. He also put a good bend in the rod. By this time my back was toast. Time to head for camp.
It was a great day.
Saturday was back on that same carp flat, but this time with @clarkman And Randy brought some mojo! We hit it fairly early for carpin so visibility was tough the first hour or so, but Randy went right to work. He caught 3 fish before I had even messed up an eat. And his 4th fish was a monster. 19 pounds!
Here he is with the 9wt glass rod corked and a bathtub of water she just kicked! Oh and @Evan B .. I successfully netted his fish.
The Clark show went on to catch like 5 or 6 more, including the 17 pounder in his post. I ended up scraping out 4, including this spunky 16 pounder that wanted to go back in a hurry. That prop wash is impressive. That's while she was still in the net!
We capped off a great day with burgers and beers at the Bulldog. Seriously, if you haven't eaten there, do it.
To preserve energy for Sunday I did not go shadding that night. Took a drive out to see my poor old Rock Creek. Not much water. I have no idea how steelhead survive in that thing. True desert hardiness.
It was a great day.
Sunday had me farther west at a spot that I love walking into even if I don't catch anything. The drive there is full of views. This one never gets old.
The good news is the catching was decent! I hooked up right away on a stripped black fly. Basically a black woolly bugger with bead chain eyes on a carp hook. I've caught more carp on a stripped fly here than anywhere else. I wish they did that more! Pretty fun.
I ended up going 5 for 8. All drag and drop or lead and drop, except for that first one on the strip. All in the 9-12# range and again, all females. I had 2 fish probably pushing 20# that took me into the weeds and just came off. My theory is even with a barbed hook they get so much vegetation stuffed into the bend of the hook it eventually pushes the hook out. It happens at this spot more than any other spot. And it's the reason I usually fish barbed there.
These were the last 2 I landed. First, this FAT 9 pounder.
I assume they get those sores from a dorsal jab. Most didn't have any yet. I would say next week they will have more.
And this one was an absolute unit at 11#. So fat, but barely 2' long. Crazy how wide and tall they get.
So only 1 shad....haha! Yeah, I can live with that.
It was a great day.
And a great trip!
I ventured all over the flat only to find some bluegill and pumpkinseeds doing their thing. This pretty dude hit my trolled Hybrid as I walked thru.
I finally found a couple happy fish, but promptly screwed up the eat. The visibility was starting to get tough with the warm east wind picking up a bit.
My next happy fish made a very obvious eat and I was onto the biggest fish of the trip. In fact, it would end up being my biggest fly caught (meaning not snagged, back when it was legal) carp! The BassPro scale said 21.13! Which means the fish was right at 20! Holy crap. Here's my face into the GoPro that I had on a stick that I stuck in the mud. With the background removed. No hot-spotting from me!
It was another hour before I hooked up on another happy hungry fish. And I could tell she was big. All 5 fish that day were big hungry prego mamas. The boys had something else on their mind.
And like most fish, but especially carp, you just don't realize how big they are until you get them back in range. Then I got nervous. It's been a while since I've been truly nervous to land a fish. Sure, we all like to actually land em and maybe even get a cool pic, but this was more than that. This was BIG.
She was big alright...scale said 31.66!! So easily over 30. The 20 didn't stand too long! Haha!
I haven't been that full of adrenaline from a fish in 30 years. The GoPro died right after I recorded weighing her. I have some decent shots with my phone of her in the net. No hero shots. Here's a still clip of the release video from my phone. Just for reference, my net is 18" in diameter. She was a tank!
I guess I can die now. Haha! Both the 20 and 30 pounders were on 10# fluoro on...you guessed it, a Hybrid. Little #6. I don't do it enough, but this specific one has been retired.
I was shaking and feeling a little weak in the knees from slogging around all day and too much adrenaline on an empty stomach so I figured I should probably get something to eat and then go try for some shad. Had a great bacon cheese burger and clam chowder at the Bulldog in Rufus. So good!
When I got to my usual shad spot below John Day I had a little competition from a boat. It's interesting...the boats have figured out it's a great spot so they come and anchor juuuust out of casting range. It's a bit annoying, but as a boat fisherman I get it. I went to my #2 spot and was fishing the old RS4 6wt with a 250gr OPST Commando head and a 10' S4 OPST tip with 6# fluoro to a chartreuse jig. I mean, what else do you need for shad?
About 10 minutes in I landed a decent shad that put a great bend in the 6wt. They really can pull. The only other fish I caught in the next 30 minutes was a 12" smallie. He also put a good bend in the rod. By this time my back was toast. Time to head for camp.
It was a great day.
Saturday was back on that same carp flat, but this time with @clarkman And Randy brought some mojo! We hit it fairly early for carpin so visibility was tough the first hour or so, but Randy went right to work. He caught 3 fish before I had even messed up an eat. And his 4th fish was a monster. 19 pounds!
Here he is with the 9wt glass rod corked and a bathtub of water she just kicked! Oh and @Evan B .. I successfully netted his fish.
The Clark show went on to catch like 5 or 6 more, including the 17 pounder in his post. I ended up scraping out 4, including this spunky 16 pounder that wanted to go back in a hurry. That prop wash is impressive. That's while she was still in the net!
We capped off a great day with burgers and beers at the Bulldog. Seriously, if you haven't eaten there, do it.
To preserve energy for Sunday I did not go shadding that night. Took a drive out to see my poor old Rock Creek. Not much water. I have no idea how steelhead survive in that thing. True desert hardiness.
It was a great day.
Sunday had me farther west at a spot that I love walking into even if I don't catch anything. The drive there is full of views. This one never gets old.
The good news is the catching was decent! I hooked up right away on a stripped black fly. Basically a black woolly bugger with bead chain eyes on a carp hook. I've caught more carp on a stripped fly here than anywhere else. I wish they did that more! Pretty fun.
I ended up going 5 for 8. All drag and drop or lead and drop, except for that first one on the strip. All in the 9-12# range and again, all females. I had 2 fish probably pushing 20# that took me into the weeds and just came off. My theory is even with a barbed hook they get so much vegetation stuffed into the bend of the hook it eventually pushes the hook out. It happens at this spot more than any other spot. And it's the reason I usually fish barbed there.
These were the last 2 I landed. First, this FAT 9 pounder.
I assume they get those sores from a dorsal jab. Most didn't have any yet. I would say next week they will have more.
And this one was an absolute unit at 11#. So fat, but barely 2' long. Crazy how wide and tall they get.
So only 1 shad....haha! Yeah, I can live with that.
It was a great day.
And a great trip!
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