Hobby Sports

After being skunked on my last two outings, the local carp waters are back!This afternoon I managed to go carping and normally when you catch a fish over 9lbs on a five weight, it generally is a time for celebration. But Im pissed. Im pissed because I did not get it on film. I thought I did but apparently I did not have my Contour on at the time. I could have sworn I did. At least I did take some pictures of it but nonetheless Im still peeved about it. I did managed to get my first fish on film, a 5lber and lost two others.

The 9lber was lazy, he barely fought. It just sat there and only moved slightly when I pulled on my 5 weight. The 5lber on the other hand had no quit in him. Im so disappointed that I did not capture it.

I started fishing at around 2:30. The wind had already picked up but not as bad as when Chul and I fished it a couple weeks ago. One of the first things I noticed when
I reached the water is that the river has receded. This makes a huge difference in spotting fish. Firstly you can see them in the shallows now. Secondly you can actually reach them so you can make a decent cast at them. Even with the breeze chopping up the water these two factors made it so much easier.

It took several casts and at least an hour before I was able to hook up with any carp. The fish kept refusing my Prince Aggravator, which in the past has always been my go-to fly. I switched to what I call the Prince Harry Aggravator which in essence is the exact fly except it has a black tail and beadhead. (I named it after Prince Harry because hes the black sheep in the Royal family). For whatever reason this fly generally works well when the original version seems to fail. Today I used size 10.

I managed my first fish only a couple feet from shore. He took the fly hard and ran like mad. After I landed him a few feet upstream I managed to hook up a real fighter that ended up spitting the hook. I have no ideal how big he was but he was a feisty Mo-Fo. I was pissed I didnt quite get a good hook set on him; he hit the fly so hard and ran so fast I figured he set the hook himself. I was wrong.

After some cursing, I made my way to a pod of carp. Seeing a tailer in front of me I made several casts to him. Eventually it took and I set the hook and it made a poor attempt at a run. The more I pulled the less the fish would react. I thought I might have foul hooked it since it barely reacted to my pressure. It gave a few weak attempts to escape but in realty it just sat there. I basically pulled him in after a few short runs. I just beached him and he sat there. When I could see him I was shocked at his size. He weight in at over 9lbs just under the 9.5 mark on my boga. I took a picture of it against my leg and it reached just below my inseam. After releasing him I finished the day missing my last fish.

My five pounder just before release.

Big shoulder 6 pounder

Waking up this morning I had no intention to go out carping but with the morning air still I decided to head out.  When I made it to the water I noticed that the water is back up.  Who the hell is releasing water?  I thought we were in a drought.  With my bootfoot waders on I waded in at almost instantly I noticed feeding carp.  In only a few minutes I was on.  This fish was the hardest fighting carp to date this year.  It ran right then left then right again.  It must have taken at least 15 minutes to land him on my Sage XP 5 weight.  I bogaed him at 6 pounds although he seemed bigger due to its girth.

The infamous lab with a retard owner.

Moving on I noticed several more carp feeding up ahead.  That was instantly ruined when from a distance I saw a lab frolicking in the water drinking along the way.  The very same lab, just a few months ago, jumped on me when I was fishing.  Once the dog spotted me he ran toward me and before it could jump on me I yelled at him and he didnt dare.  For the next 30 or more minutes this dog would not leave my side.  He had just ruined every good hole that was holding feeding fish.  I went through the weeds to find his dumb ass owner.  Eventually I found him and asked him if he knew what kind of toxins are in that water.  He said he did not.  I told him in a scolding, lecturing tone that that water comes from spill off from industrial plant, farm run off, sewage among others.  Its likely to have arsenic in it among other cancer causing pathogens, keep your dog on the leash and dont let him drink it.  He leashed his dog and left.  I thought of really getting pissed, especially from the last incident but I think he got the message. 


More juvenile bass.

I returned to the water, now with the wind blowing and conditions poor for sight casting.  I saw no more carp so I started to fish for bass.  I managed only one and other juvenile before calling it quits.  I received a call from Ed on the way out to see if I wanted on his boat tomorrow.  He knew the answer.