Shallow Carp

My plans to head over the Sierras changed a bit and that won't happen unitl the morning..With nothin else to do but fish,  I went scouting some more areas..First place had dozens upon dozens of fish up in the flooded weeds..Some spawners, some chasing fry and crayfish. Floating grass made things a little tough but if you could get a bug infront of one it was an instant grab. They would come out of the water and pounce. Infact, most would actually jump clear of the water when hooked. That was pretty friggin cool! All were in the 5-7lb range and again, I didn't see anything to write home about but I had about 5 acres of fish to myself except for one lone bait guy putting a serious harvest on them. If there is a place that needs some harvesting this is one of them.

Remeber I told you I was holding off on some good water since I had a friend I wanted to put on some quality fish? Well, it's kind of like leaving dope with a crackhead and thats always a bad idea.. As I was driving home I thought I'll just swing by and check it out. First scan saw four or five tailers in the 8-10lb class working a small tail out. I threw on one and quickly decided to walk further and leave it alone as hooked fish in that spot bolt down stream and will own you with a 5wt with all the broken concrete and rebar..Up the trail I had another vantage point and saw a pretty nice solo fish working hard about 10 feet from the bank. Looked to be in the 10-12lb range and I just couldn't help it. Infact I never thought twice about it Ha! Carfully snuck down, roll cast up stream a little and she went directly in line with the bug about the time it settled..Two pops and I saw her jerk and mouth open and close quickly so I ripped into her..With tight qtrs, wood and others hazards I really didn't think I had a chance on the 5wt so I really put some heat on that fish and it worked out in the end. Ive lost so many fish in this place due to submerged junk it's ridiculous. About 5 min later I had a nice fat fish and an epic battle on a light stick and 6lb flouro.  I scouted some more water further down stream and didn't see to much. Just a fish here and there with most out of range.

Nevada in the morning!

Carpin

Fishing for sheer numbers of fish is outstanding and I didn't even get to what I consider my best water which is in another location all together..Kinda saving it for a an out of town friend who is coming in. Lots of smaller pre and post males in schools of 2-10 fish daisy chaining on and off the flats from about 10am-3pm today. It's a continuous conveyer of Carp for the most part. A flooded field had some spawners up in the grass splashing around today pretty heavy...

My one complaint is the size. They are running on the small side at the place this year and i'm not even seeing bigger fish at this particular place. Couple of glimpses at 10-12lb fish out of range and today was better than yesterday with average up a pound or two. Ive dropped down to 5wts which handle these 3-6lb fish just fine. It also helps with good soft drops if the wind isn't blowing to hard. The fishing is challenging and by no means a gimme despite the lack size and I'll be back. I'll leave these alone for a week or two and move onto other places so I dont ruin a good thing. Hammering the hell out of them day after day will destroy what could be months of fun. The area is wide open and my legs are screaming from two days of kneeling up and down trying to stay low..By mid summer they'll be back in shape.

Clear water Carp

Sight fishing for Carp never gets old. By far the the most satisfying way to target them for me is on clear skinny water. Usually more challenging but being able to see the eat with such clarity is awesome. I'm always surprised and stoked when a well placed fly is inhaled. The flip side is blowing a good shot and the frustratingly edgy fish. It's a game, and it's lots of fun. A little wind helped me out today by breaking up the surface a tad and also masking a few bad casts as they were pretty spooky and not tolerating a shitty presentation. Being able to get lots of shots on new fish helps too.

 Fishing has been steady for smaller Carp like today and it's shaping up to be a decent year. Not a tremendous amount of spawing, just pre spawn males moving around in large schools. Stripers are still chewing pretty good and Shad are right around the corner. Really looking forward to getting out on the salt, perhaps next weekend if the ocean is good. Leaving Monday for my anuall few days in Nevada to chase fish and looking forward to getting back out to the desert. It's awesome out there..

On the way to the house I stopped off on couple of creeks to see whats crackin since today was the state trout opener. Possibly the smallest fish on a dry Ive ever caught! Lots of dinks to about 8" in every hole and I took a good whipper and damn near destroyed a camera and my ankle. Saw nothing of any size but it was good to do some creek hoping.

Fishing recap

I havn't been posting as often as I should and frankly the fishing hasn't been all that consistant with one front after another. It's been kind of a slow spring for me. I did get out the last couple of weeks and was able to get a couple of Carp to grab, Stripers and Bass are moving around too. Local ponds are all in great shape as are the lakes. Moving water doesn't open till the last weekend in April and I know those will be great for Carpin. Can't wait for that to get going.

Ive been eye balling a small shallow lake from google earth that I finally located. Really strange place. It does a have a good poplulation of carp but it looks like the poachers and bank fisherman have found it too. Random shit floating around and spooky fish so I didn't stay long. Maybe once we get some hot weather I'll give it another go. Here is what I found on my first visit...

This falls into the random shit catagory

Striper on the fly is good for numbers of small fish as of late so I spent most of the time looking for shallow carp on some clear hard bottom flats. I was able to get three shots on three individule monsters. All three were in the 35-40lb range. It was very excited to be casting to this kind of quality. I'll be more excited when I stick one though!  I'll be back with a different angle. I may hike in or take my small skiff, beach it and come in on foot. Clear water reservior Carp are tough as hell from a boat and best approached on foot in my opinion. Stay tuned and we'll see what happens. One of those beasts came off a shallow flat and showed up before I could put a fly on her..I was able to get a quick photo of that fish. So broad and heavy! A Beautiful fish.  They were moving in two's and three's around small off shore islands, points and any other west facing hard bottom areas.

Looking directly into about 10" of water