After a full day on Saturday, I was hopeful to get out carpin. Or caprin? Well, the stars aligned and I was out the door...the 2nd time, by 8:45. I got about 1/2 mile from home and remembered I'd forgotten the paddle for the Carp Commander. Very glad I remembered...that I had forgot then. That would've sucked.
I was at my 1st spot by 10:45. Unfortunately, plenty of carp had dirty'd up the water so bad it was impossible to fish even from the Carp Commander. And the slough behind it didn't look much better. So onto spot #2.
Spot #2 is a decent sized flat that is a bit skinny, but pretty nice when there's fish on it. Here's when I knew it was going to be a long day. I had covered about 60% of the flat when I finally saw 2 carp. No monsters, but happy carp that were slowly meandering away. As I waited for them to hopefully turn back towards me I noticed the water coming off the flat into the main river (yeah, that big one) with increasing speed. I also was fully aware of the giant loaded cargo ship making its way downriver. It was also getting close to low tide. Anyway, the next 2-3 minutes had me wading against a outgoing rip and then barely beating the incoming wall. It was literally like a small tsunami wave. I fully expected the eventual wave from the cargo ship, but the water spilling off the flat had me checking Twitter for tsunamis. There was no tsunami warning. I figured I was safe, but my flat was BLOWN. I tried briefly up the slough that dumps into the flat, but no carp. Anyone know if this is normal?
So onto spot #3, which is a spot I've always wanted to try. Launched the Carp Commander and paddled upwind across a channel to an island. I walked about a mile the lee side that was mostly clear and not too windy. No carp. I crossed back, but upriver. Paddling wasn't terrible, but not great since I forgot the skeg.
I hit the windy side, a back bay, a side slough. Often just pulling the Commander with a rope while wading. I covered some ground. I only saw one carp and that was one that drifted right over too fast to fish for.
So....back to spot 1! I fished the back slough that was hard to see earlier, but with higher tide and different lighting I walked right up and saw a carp meandering. And could tell about how deep it was by him stopping to munch something.
So went with a black carp maul on the Fly Project 8wt with the freebie @Evan B WF9F AirFlo Super Dri Xceed. It only took about 3 candidates to get one to stop and munch the carp maul. Not a clear view, but could tell he was "probably?" eating it. If you capr you know what I mean.
Nice healthy fish of 8#. Netting was quite the production since I was on a high bank.
The next fish was about the same.
3rd fish was a tad bigger, 10 or 11# and decided he liked trees. Got most of the fight, but he came off in said tree.
Can you say corked?? This was the 1st time trying to keep him out of the trees.
About as hard as I've worked for 2 caprs, but a great day. The wind was whipping up the big river pretty good and the Carp Commander 2.0 was very stable. Huge improvement from 1.0. Excited to try it some more places and actually get it slimy!
I was at my 1st spot by 10:45. Unfortunately, plenty of carp had dirty'd up the water so bad it was impossible to fish even from the Carp Commander. And the slough behind it didn't look much better. So onto spot #2.
Spot #2 is a decent sized flat that is a bit skinny, but pretty nice when there's fish on it. Here's when I knew it was going to be a long day. I had covered about 60% of the flat when I finally saw 2 carp. No monsters, but happy carp that were slowly meandering away. As I waited for them to hopefully turn back towards me I noticed the water coming off the flat into the main river (yeah, that big one) with increasing speed. I also was fully aware of the giant loaded cargo ship making its way downriver. It was also getting close to low tide. Anyway, the next 2-3 minutes had me wading against a outgoing rip and then barely beating the incoming wall. It was literally like a small tsunami wave. I fully expected the eventual wave from the cargo ship, but the water spilling off the flat had me checking Twitter for tsunamis. There was no tsunami warning. I figured I was safe, but my flat was BLOWN. I tried briefly up the slough that dumps into the flat, but no carp. Anyone know if this is normal?
So onto spot #3, which is a spot I've always wanted to try. Launched the Carp Commander and paddled upwind across a channel to an island. I walked about a mile the lee side that was mostly clear and not too windy. No carp. I crossed back, but upriver. Paddling wasn't terrible, but not great since I forgot the skeg.
I hit the windy side, a back bay, a side slough. Often just pulling the Commander with a rope while wading. I covered some ground. I only saw one carp and that was one that drifted right over too fast to fish for.
So....back to spot 1! I fished the back slough that was hard to see earlier, but with higher tide and different lighting I walked right up and saw a carp meandering. And could tell about how deep it was by him stopping to munch something.
So went with a black carp maul on the Fly Project 8wt with the freebie @Evan B WF9F AirFlo Super Dri Xceed. It only took about 3 candidates to get one to stop and munch the carp maul. Not a clear view, but could tell he was "probably?" eating it. If you capr you know what I mean.
Nice healthy fish of 8#. Netting was quite the production since I was on a high bank.
The next fish was about the same.
3rd fish was a tad bigger, 10 or 11# and decided he liked trees. Got most of the fight, but he came off in said tree.
Can you say corked?? This was the 1st time trying to keep him out of the trees.
About as hard as I've worked for 2 caprs, but a great day. The wind was whipping up the big river pretty good and the Carp Commander 2.0 was very stable. Huge improvement from 1.0. Excited to try it some more places and actually get it slimy!
