Eventful Evening, Carp-tacular!

[Didgeridoo]

This was the first time I had carp actively taking flies. I had approx 12 solid takes, 8 fish get off after a good fight, and landed 5. I had one monster spool me, taking my backing and fly line. I lost one other monster at shore. I was trying to beach it and the hook popped out.

I also got a couple decent walleye, a quillback sucker, 12 small channel catfish, and 1 36" catfish.

All in all it was a great evening! Was into my backing at least 8 times. I was using a 10'6" 9-weight for the majority of the fish. I got spooled on my 10' 7-weight. Lesson learned...don't use a 7-wt for carp in flowing water!

Full Story
http://weedbed.blog.com/2012/06/eventful-evening/

 

[pab1]

Wow! Sounds/looks like a great day. Very impressive variety of fish. I wish there were carp near here.

 

[Didgeridoo]

Thanks! Was a fun afternoon.

Carp are one of the most frustrating fish...at times there's pods of 20 cruising around, and NONE of them will bite. Just when you lose all hope, you hook up one and you get to see your backing in a blink of an eye. lol. Although they look slow, they sure have a lot of power behind em!

Nick

 

[theboz]

Nice bunch of fish Nick! Sooner or later you'll get one of those monsters that spooled you. Can't wait to see the pic of that one!

 

[bucktail]

holy heck man! you got spooled that must have been a flippen sunmarine!! As stated before keep em coming and I look forward to seeing one of thoes giants!:thumbsupu

 

[Didgeridoo]

Thanks guys!

I landed a personal best last week but it didn't fight nearly as hard! This one measured 35" and was SO THICK! Caught it on a size 14 light cahill nymph!

 

[jpbfly]

:bowdown:congrats Nick!great outing:thumbsupu:secret:some arm cramps in the evening?

 

[Didgeridoo]

Haha. No arm cramps or sore arms. I've done so much fishing this spring that my arms are used to it. lol. :weight_li

 

[stl_geoff]

THAT is the most interesting looking scale pattern I have ever seen on a common carp. Thats really neat.

Its weird how those fish fight. You hook into some beasts who would seem to run you dry, but they just turn into dead weight you have to slowly drag in. Then you catch small ones which you would assume you can just skate across the water to you and they run almost all your fly line out and refuse to come in.

 

[Didgeridoo]

Ya kinda neat pattern on it eh?

The fish outta this waterway are constantly fighting against a raging current. I was fishing a small back eddy and almost every fish would go straight into the white water and take me instantly into my backing. You can't turn em when they get into that!

When I've caught them in stillwater or slow current I've found it totally depends on the fish. Some will run ya straight into your backing on the first run, and others just do short bursts and just seem to go on forever, not tiring out.

I did notice that the fish outta the waterbody yesterday were much more slender, than the ones I've been catching in the slower currents in the Red River. Guess it makes sense since they're burning off a lot more energy in the fast current.

Nick

 

[lancer09]

I dislike you, very much. Based solely on the fact that the fish you catch are much more numerous, and much larger than the ones I catch.

OK, maybe i don't mind you. OK, I flat out love this. You need to fish more so you can post more! I'm just jealous.

 

[Didgeridoo]

Lol. Thanks. We're pretty lucky to have some world-class fisheries within a couple hour drive in any direction.

"You need to fish more so you can post more!"

I've been out more than I ever have this year! It's been nutty and it's going to be a nice break when I head up north to guide in 3 weeks! lol.

It's blazing hot out here this week so I'm holed up indoors mostly. I can't handle the heat...it's been 30ºC almost everyday (85-90ºF)!

Nick