Thanks to John Montana!!!!!

This week turned out to be awesome fishing for me. I finished work early on Thursday and since I was close to the river(The Columbia) I decided to head over to check out a tip I got about some big carp. I stopped at the fly shop to pick up some San Juan worms and headed down. I spent about twenty minutes looking for fish with no luck. I then returned to the truck and started back on the dirt road I came in on. At the very begining of the road there was an access point to the water so I stopped to check it out. There they were!!! About 20-30 carp. Some just cruising and a few tailing in the mud. I took my time putting on a new leader and tying on my fly, then crept down within casting range. I dropped a fly off to the side of a tailing carp and let it sink to the bottom. The carp started to go in the opposite direction but then turned his head and inhaled the fly! I set the hook and was rewarded with a run of about 60 feet!! It took me about 10 minutes to horse this brute close to shore. They really do fight and the sheer mass of them make it next to impossible to turn them against their will.
I ended up hooking one more but lost him after about 10 minutes of hard fighting. I have no idea how he got off. I couldn't get any other takes so I headed home excited about my first carp on the fly.

I returned the next morning before work to try again but the water was down about fifteen feet and where the carp had been ther was only mud. I looked for them in other areas but to no avail. I started just blind casting and stripping an olive wolly bugger and got had a vicious hit. It turned out to be one of 4 small mouth bass I caught that morning.After work I headed to a different pond to check and see if there were any carp visible. Before I even got down to the water I could hear a bunch of splashing. I thought somebody had there dog in the water but to my suprise it turned out to be carp doing the mating dance in the weeds next to shore. I wasn't sure if they would be feeding during this time so I picked out some of the single fish and cast to them. I took a while put I started getting hook ups. They were all killer fights and beautiful big fish, except one that I assume is a youngster. If not it is a record white perch!!! I ended the day with seven carp landed, and one lost. The one I lost had a weird mottled pattern to his scales and took off like a bat out of hell after I set the hook. It wasn't the biggest fish, but definitely the fastest running.
So I want to thank John from Carp on the fly for posting such a good blog and inspiring me do go carp fishing.

Opening Day

Well, I ventured out to a favorite lake on opening day only to find it covered in snow and ice.
There was about fifteen feet of water open on one side of the lake so I hiked over just to wet my line, but to no avail. What to do next? It was still pretty early, and I didn't need to be home to take care of my daughter Akasha until around three, so I ventured down to a pair of sloughs near the river to try my hand at carp on the fly.
I have been reading from John Montana's Carp on the Fly blog and got fired up to give it a try.
After about five minutes of scouting I spied a few big carp tailing in the mud. I made some casts and spooked them. Damn! Then I found another pod and was able to lead the fish a little more and sure enough, one dove to take the San Juan. I set the hook and the carp didn't even budge. I thought I might have foul hooked him but then he turned his body and started to take off. It was really cool to be able to watch him the whole time. It wasn't so cool to hear my drag going and then my line pop. He broke my 3x leader right in the middle! I was bummed, and I hiked back to the car and pulled a 0x from my Steelhead box and returned to try again. I then lost my only other San Juan worm on a power pole along the rim of the slough. I tied on a olive leach pattern and kept casting to cruising fish with no luck.
I decided to try and make it around the other side of the slough, and after a lot of slipping and sliding on the pit run size basalt I made it around. I spotted a hovering fish about ten feet from shore and dropped the leech right in front of him. He took it, no questions asked. I set the hook again and this fish turned and ran right away. 15, 20, 30 feet of line and then pow!! Off again. I couldn't believe he could have broke off. Then as I was stripping line back in I noticed that I still had the fly on. I thought for sure I had made a good set. When I got the fly in my hand I was to find out that the brute had actually broke the hook bend off. These fish are strong.
I wasn't able to tempt any other fish, but I was clearly excited about my first carp on the fly outing. I will return with a better tackle set up and maybe go lighter on the drag.