One for the road.

Got out for a short Carp session before I head up to AK. It's been so damn hot here they have backed off the flats a little. I had 4 shots in two hours and stuck one. Decent fish of about 8lbs. So, in a few hours i'm out of here and leaving mid 90s and entering mid 40s and rain. Frankly i'm ok with that! This will be a budget trip with a mix of DIY, guided floats, hike in and a Fly out or two if weather permits. Gonna just go fishin, have some fun and see what happens.

Niblett on the fly

I have have never seen a Carp this small. Well, atleast not in the wild. I know they are there, but they seem to absent as apposed to other spiecies of fish where the dinks are everywhere. This little gold Nugget actually ate a fly. I cast on a pretty good fish that was mudding, felt a grab, and launched the little dude about 6 feet in the air. Must of been picking left overs in the wake. Anyway, it was a first.

So ends my summer fishing season. Fall is officially going to be on us soon. One would not know it, with the mid 90 summer like temps, lazy warm water Carp and hangin by the pool, but it's coming. Infact, the best fishing in these parts is the next 4 months. I more than likely wont get out much around here until the first week of October as I leave for Alaska Friday night and return on the 1st for a few days, then leave again to North Eastern part of the state for another week of fishing. Sucks, but sombody's got to do it.

Finished up my summer Striper fishing yesterday and didn't really go out with a bang. It's been a fantastic Summer as far as fishing goes, but a wierd year in general. Weve been a month behind all year climate wise. August fished like June/July and Sept has been like August. Fishing was tough yesterday and it was more like mid August fishing, with the fish deep and not really wanting to chase much. Enough fish were caught but not much quality and it was ridiculously hot on the water. No wind, high 90s and who knows what the index on the water was. Needless to say I was ready for basting by the end of the day. The good news is the River Stripers are starting push up stream from the beaches of the Pacific right now and will be around until April. The fun never stops!

Same stuff, different day

In ran the same routine today. Stripers in the am and Carp on the way home. Wind was in the high 20s so I decided to leave the boat at hame and hoof it to an area I know is holding Stripers. Warm, light rain and humid when I started off the hike. And ofcourse, the wind wasn't bad at all and would have been perfectly fine to launch. It was 10-15kts max. Oh well, the excersize was good and I really enjoy having vast areas to my self like I had today.

Things started a little slow as I walked and covered water. I caught one, then another. I stopped and covered the area really well and for about two hours it was pretty consistant with a mix of fish on the fly and a small plastic minnow bait. Some nice fish in the 6-8lb range. I cast and caught a bunch of fish on new rod. An RS4 Redington 7wt. Nice fast stick and throws sinking lines well. Also has good back bone against hard pulling fish. I''ll be bringing it to Alaska in a couple of weeks. Things got quiet after the small front moved through so I head out and hit a different lake for Carp on the way home. Really shallow muddy flats, as opposed to the sand/gravel/clam shell stuff Ive been fishing. Not nearly as many fish but I was able to trick a couple in a short time. These Carp were really shallow and tailing hard. Good afternoon sun at this place too. I'll be fishing here more in the coming weeks as the quality was pretty nice.

Carp'n

Our fish are still holding in a summer pattern. Weather here is hot, in the 90s and dry as hell. Started out early for Sripers and was off the water with boat on the trailer by noon. That went pretty well with several nice fish early. Harrasing Stripers in the afternoon heat will lead to dead fish so I flew home and re grouped for an afternoon of Carp. Spooky fish made for some challenging sight fishing.  Not sure why they were so jumpy since I havn't messed with them here for about a week. Only my old tracks so I know they arent getting hammered. Thats Carp I guess. I ended up with 5 eats in 4 hours.

One broke me off then the next fish came unbuttoned after one of those rapido head shakes and tossed the fly, followed by a couple of ridiculous blown shots. Fishless at this point, I took a breather and sat for about 10 min to clear my head. Watched from there as a fish settled into a strong tail coming at me and got back at it. Over the next hour I was able sneak up on three to close it out.  I can not believe how a fun this carp fishing is. I really like the days where you have to earn it. Size was from 18" to about 6lbs on all the fish I put the fly infront of. We STILL have way higher water than normal and it will be late October before I can get on my regular flats. Right now i'm forced to fish isolated flats with lots of smaller fish.

baby!

different pace

I bought an old hand me down bamboo 3pc rod a few years ago at a garage sale. I didn't have a vintage reel for it so I just put it away. A couple of years passed by and I seen an old 1930s no name fly reel from the same circa, so I picked it up for a whopping 15 bucks. I pulled both off the shelf and spooled up with a 3wt line and it casts nice on this 7'6" set up. Not sure what wt the rod is. It isn't signed other than some initials and looks to be home made from about the 20s or 30s. Anyway, ive been doing some small creek fishing with it and having a blast throwing my not so pretty dries of my own.

This creek I fished yesterday was said to have a carbonated water spring in the late 1800s that came up when a mine shaft had punctured the main stem and forced the spring to the surface.  Sure enough, there was about 20ft section of the creek with what looked like aquarium stones flowing. Didn't seem to bother the little bows at all.  A little tricky to navigate but lots of little hide outs for the little 6-8" rainbows. Good way to beat the heat.

mouth full

Stripers

You would never know it was a holiday weekend. I had vast areas to myself.  Infact, It felt like weekday. Stripers were chewing from the time I put the trolling motor down until  2 ish.. Beautiful day in the high 80s-low 90s. Once back at the ramp I jumped off the end of the dock to cool off and put er back on the trailer. By this time is was really to warm to messing with Stripers anyway.

 This is a huge body of water with upwellings of cooler water from the deep, if you know where to look. It can be the difference between struggeling and catching a butt load of fish. The fish and bait really hug those spots in the summer and so did I. Good concentrations of fish and consistant fishing all day with a 4-6lb average. Fall is going to be really good.

Still holding up after 2 or 3 trips!

Skinny Water Carp

Fish were really shallow and skittish today. And, I got my ass handed to me.. It wasn't for the lack of shots. I had ample shots on many good fish and made the vast majority of my chances count. They they just flat wouldn't eat what I was feeding them. I can be stubborn to change flies if I have confidence in in one sometimes a to a fault.

 I started the morning on a local river, and had a total four good shots on nice fish. I got a little caffine jumpy on the first and blew that, but the next three I put it on em.  No looks at all. They had to be keyed in on some micro feast. They were tailing really fast. It didn't leave a lot of time to set up a shot. I actually prefere that., I feel like those fish are more apte to make a mistake.

 Before I bailed on to something more productive, I hole sat one area that will normally have two or three brutes come through. Only one 4lb scrub tailed in and I didn't cast on it after 45min burned but I did get chance to talk to an elderly lbirder. She was really knowledgable and has been at it since the 60s. Enjoyed that.

I Left the River and moved to some lake flats and i'll be dammed if they were a little off too. Not as many fish around asusual. But, the ones that were up were decent quality. Tried force feeding a few for nothing. Switched to a bug with more presence and stuck 7-8lb fish. Good hard fighting youngster!! Shortly, I had one more eat that came unbuttoned when that bitch came at me full bore. Had one more turn and take a stab but wouldn't commit and eventually busted me. That was it, my window was closed. Everything went dead on these flats so I made another move about a mile away. These fish were so damn spooky from what looked like a late night bait fishing camp or bow hunters I just threw in the towel and hiked back to the truck as it was now after 4:00 and my good light was gone. Had planned to hit some small creeks for Bows but I wes pretty fried from 7 hours of walking and stalking I head for the barn. Days like today are what Carp fishing is all about to me. Frustrating but so damn fun. I think i'll go hit some Stripers in the morning and give em rest for a day or two.





Carp on the fly today..

Fishing continues to be really good for numbers of 4-7lb Carp. Size is slowly starting to improve with a little better quality fish moving up into skinny water. As the lake levels drop, prime fall flats will become available to sight fish. Right now they are under 6 feet of water. Striper fishing isn't to shabby either with some really good grabs right now including one in the high teens pictured below. Since i'm talking Stripers,  I made a mistake the other day and unintentionally killed a nice Striper. The surface temps are just to danm warm to pull those fish out of the water and I sure as hell know better.  Right now,  It pays to step up the tackle and have the ability to horse em in a little. I tried hard to get that fish down and it was just to exhausted after a long battle in 70+ deg water and 100 deg air temps.  It's not written in stone that every fish we release is going to make it but we have to make good decisions on the fishes behalf wether it's trout, stripers or even carp.  Once in a while we need to be reminded what we already know I guess. The one below was never removed from the water and charged off strong. Handle those warm water catches with care!