Fly-Carpin

CARPTORIOUS: The Day

2012-02-22T21:15:00.000-08:00

Today was the day. Well, if you could work through the overcast skies and off-color water to find the fish it was the day. If you could muscle a fly through the high winds and into the zone it was the day. If you could then time the sluggish take it was the day.

With an overnight low of 45 and a daytime high of 53 I was expecting to find some happy fish. To my surprise I only found 10 fish all day, but each and every single one of those fish was tailing!

Given that every single fish I found in the river was feeding (a first for me) and that every holding spot I checked was completely empty this is my theory; Every fish in the river was out on knee deep flats feeding today. EVERY SINGLE ONE. Actually it is more than a theory. I am positive. Given some sunlight and clear water to work with I think it would have been slay-hem may-hem.

Getting back to the point, remember those 10 wonderfully happy fish? Well sometimes fly fishing for carp is a matter of odds. Two scattered to blown shots. Three more inexplicably ignored the fly. Four cleary took or tried to take the fly but I mis-timed the cold induced slow-mo takes and set early.

But that only adds to 9 right? Well, I managed slow down enough to stick an olive carp-stew into number 10 and that saved the day. Man I feel Carptorious, 2012 is finally looking up.

Sand Creek Petroleum Not Going Away Anytime Soon

2012-02-21T21:07:00.000-08:00

While out fishing Sunday February 19th I visited the South Platte below the Sand Creek confluence for a look-see and it was not good. The low flows had created a shallow still pool under the 270 bridge. This is what I found in that pool:

Still Signs of Petroleum In The South Platte!

I also saw several fist to football sized pieces of sheen floating in the main current a couple hundred feet downriver. I have been back several times now and this is the most easily seen visual indicators of petroleum I have seen since Day 1 almost three months ago. I have no idea if there has been difficulty with containment or if this is residual benzyne working it's way up from the stream-bed.

I know that it is going to take a long time for everything to be OK, but it was still disappointing.

I am Taking Back My Carp Mojo Mojo JoJo

2012-02-18T20:32:00.000-08:00

Ever since Sand Creek disgorged it's noxious brew I have been in a state of discord with my favorite river. Nothing has felt right, nothing has felt well.

It have gone months without truly reaching the correct frame of mind. The state of mind where predatory instinct supplants mind. Where silence dominates the mental, spiritual and physical worlds. Until it doesn't. Until reality suddenly warps into the moment and the fog-horn sounds in your head and you set the hook and magically feel life at the other end.

As an extremely rational man I find it difficult to admit, but my love for fly fishing for carp seems nearly spiritual in nature. My passion originates in the moment and that that comes before.

Tomorrow I plan a preposterous lie. I will stop on the bank, make a sacrifice to the carp spirits and tell myself that the weather outlook is just fine. That the flows are perfect. That there is nothing unreasonable about catching carp in February. Maybe myself will believe it and maybe it will even be true. Either way I envision that the conversation stops there. Nothing follows. Until there is something.

Legion of Dooooooooooooommmm!

2012-02-13T21:00:00.000-08:00

Hide the women, children and adorable pets, the Legion of Doom is in the house! No thanks to the USPS Wendy Berrell's submission to the fly swap has finally arrived. I love the flattened wide profile of this fly and in case you haven't noticed I am a big fan of soft fur on carp flies.

Packages are on the way, the first nine went out today first class parcel with tracking thanks to my beautiful wife. I made the executive decision to hold the rest off in order to give the LOD a fair shake and if you aren't in the first wave it probably means you get one or provided them. Those packages will trickle out over the next week or so.

Just remember I didn't promise fancy packaging. As a matter of Zack made the foam circles I am using to keep the flies from tangling for a quarter a piece. Don't tell his Union Rep I told you, but the little money grubber got the best of Daddy and pumped those things out at a 20 buck an hour velocity. That's me boy! And yes, I am cheap enough and was amused enough to sit down and calculate it.

Fly Swap Progress

2012-02-06T23:04:00.000-08:00

Alright, alright, alright. Things are getting ready to get messy with the carp fly swap. The Roughfisher's flies arrived today and I think we are ready to start sorting return packages. If I thought I could (or would have a clue how to) snort carp crack I might because I am going to need some serious go-juice.

Roll the music, Carp Crack is in the house and we are ready to rock!

All the fly pictures are done and the summary page is too barring minor details. I have to tell you, the summary page was a load. I think there are over 80 pictures? It was a ton of work but I am really pleased with the end results and I think it does a good job of showing off and documenting all the great hard work the participants put into making these flies. Anybody who wants me to tweak the text or links drop me a line but the pictures are what they are!

Just an awesome selection of carp flies.

In the end the most painful part of making that page may have been deciding on the order. All these flies are worth taking a look at but can you picture putting Barry Reynolds or John Montana at the bottom of the page? Me neither and they got top billing and I tried to mix it up a little from there.

Anybody curious about the black market value of 300 plus carp flies? Yeah, me too. We better not even play that game though, Zack's got a college fund and Daddy needs a new pair of wading boots.

Bidding will open at.....

Carp Fly Swap - Deadline!

2012-02-01T21:21:00.000-08:00

All you slackers without flies in my grubby little mitts are now OUT! Just kidding of course. Being a bit of a slacker myself I asked the magic 8 ball if all the flies would get here on time. It said hell no, so I put in a little wiggle room on the schedule for slackers.

We are actually in really good shape and have 17 out of 22 packages in and the rest are en-route. Today we got in Austin Anderson, Chris Galvin and Barry Reynolds.

All us Reynolds fans will be happy to know that he sent two sets of 10 and everybody will get one of his flies! Really, if you think about it, he should have written books about rock and roll. I mean, stinky smelly fly fishing for carp groupies from the 35 to 45 male demographic can't be what he pictured!

Tailchaser and Barry's Carp Bitter. And yes, that is foam. Very interesting.

I haven't really been able to keep up with everything lately except making summaries, but in some other vaguely carp fly-swap related news:

Sean Hudson learned that the more people like your fly the more they seem to want to change it. Just a funny thing.
Hide the women and children, the Legion of Doom is on it's way. I am almost glad they are a smidge late, because I am truly terrified. Actually I really like the looks of this one and can't wait to get my hands on it...and change it. Just a funny thing.
The swap has triggered a flood of creativity and artistry for Lonny Garris.
I can't be late with John Montana's package. If he doesn't get something carp related in his hands soon he might not make it.
Speaking of not making it, I am pretty borderline myself. Ty Goodwin had to go show off how good his submission is by breaking in January. Show-off.
ThirdCoastFly made a fun post about the swap. Massive (for me) traffic ensued. Guess I am blind deaf and stupid because somehow three weeks ago I didn't even know about what is apparently one of the big-boy blogs with lots of fly fishing for carp content.
The Roughfisher's will likely be the last package in. That's cool because, well, he is sending in a full set and basicly offering to get us all hooked on carp-crack. Come to think of it, is that a good thing or a bad thing?

Carp Are From Venus, Carp Are From Mars

2012-01-28T13:53:00.000-08:00

I am working on a more comprehensive update for the carp fly swap but wanted to share something fun real quick.

As far as I can tell Alonzo is a likely no show (I can't figure out how to contact him) so I let in the first alternate Kevin Morlock from Indigo Guide Service and Third Coast Fly. Kevin already delivered his flies and let me tell you, If Lake MI carp are from Mars, my carp are from Venus! I have allot of experience with SE Michigan carp and can tell you that they might as well be a different species, but the beasts in Lake MI must be from a different epoch!

Kevin Morlock's Submission Next To A Carp Stew!

I know several of the swappers (4 or 5 at least?) are planning a carpin pilgrimage to Lake MI this year, I will probably try and rig it so that they get one of his flies. Let me know if you are visiting the holy land and I will try and work it out!

Who are the Real Heroes Of The Denver South Platte?

2012-01-25T20:42:00.000-08:00

Last night at the Denver Trout Unlimited meeting they gave me an award for "Hero Of The Denver South Platte" for finding and reporting the Sand-Creek oil-spill. It was an odd feeling. On one hand I feel weird for getting an award relating to something that I consider a terrible event. I also feel like Gregg Martin is in large part the hero for making the call that triggered a call that finally triggered the response. When I first got word of the possibility of getting an award it made me a little uneasy. Time has passed however, and I now find that I really am proud to have made a difference and extremely pleased that all the hard work I have put into giving this blog a voice contributed.

They gave me a really nice plaque to hang on my wall and show my son. Feels good to be able to show your son something with "Hero" printed on it.

In all honesty though, the real award should go to the hard-working guys at Denver Trout Unlimited. It was only through my relationships with DTU and it's board that I had any idea of what to do. As a matter of fact it was in a DTU newsletter last spring where I first learned that there are people to call!

Trout Unlimited plays a critical role across the country on big issues but the local chapters do much more that goes unnoticed. The chapter boards and members are constantly working on local projects that raise awareness, and Sand Creek shows that this awareness can add up to make a big big difference.

Here is a prime example. When I was on the bank of Sand Creek it was difficult to figure out what to do and who to call. I had a vague notion that maybe DTU could make some emergency wallet cards, and they took off with the idea. Introducing the DTU Spill-Or-Kill reporting card, which they distributed at the meeting and will be available at various fly shops and chapter meetings on the front range.

You might not get one unless you live on the front-range but I am asking you to please put the number to the NRC (800-424-8802) in your phone RIGHT NOW! The NRC number works for reporting environmental issues across the entire USA. Additionally, if you find yourself in an emergency please do not hesitate to call 911.

Goings On

2012-01-22T16:58:00.000-08:00

First off the fly swap is progressing nicely. I received several more shipments including a full 21 fly set from Pat Cohen. Just about everybody involved has indicated that the check (flies) is in the mail or will be soon and out of shame I put in a valiant effort to mess up my tying desk something good.

Where The Magic Happens

A batch of Carp-Stew resulted. We will see if I have the time and energy to man-up and take the count to 21. Seems unlikely since I will be getting allot of flies in the mail over the next week and a half.

Bowl of Carp-Stew Anyone?

I also spent a considerable amount of time getting caught up for the summary page. My super-duper professional fly-studio looks like this:

Professional Fly Studio, Don't Try This At Home

Betcha didn't know you were dealing with such a pro eh? So far it seems to works pretty great though.

I did do a little fishing on Friday. Once again I pounded my head against the fly fishing for carp in the Winter wall. Once again I came away with a headache. Man, it was not nearly this hard last Winter, I am not sure if the fishing is worse or I am. Regardless the day started on a depressing note as I found a 200 foot (at least) length of 20 or 30lb Mono hanging down the current seam.

I can't even imagine how or why.

OK, so that is depressing but hardly earth-shattering. Unfortunately what was tangled on the end of the mess hanging in the current was a little shocking. I am sure this was a simple case of inexperience by somebody because no experienced carp angler (bait or fly) would get spooled like this but it highlights the importance of using appropriate leaders and not just leaving long lengths of mono in the water. What a terrible way to go, and very creepy. As I struggled to pull whatever it was up-river I was expecting a tree branch.

What a terrible way to go.

Fly Swap Summary Page Preview

2012-01-19T18:46:00.000-08:00

Alright fellow swappers, here is a free preview of the summary page for the fly swap in progress.

There it is, my shortest post ever. I have been too busy tying flies and learning how to massacre HTML! A little fishing might go down tommorow, it might not. We will have to see.

NOTE: This page will be in constant update as I receive flies. If the URL does not work it is because I am in the process of tinkering with it or adding participants.

Carp Fly Swap Status

2012-01-13T23:30:00.000-08:00

We have 22 people signed up. If you think you are on the list but have not received an email from me either I missed you or I dug up a bad address. The due date for the flies is February 1st so contact me for the shipping address!

Some updates:

We already have three shipments in. For being the first to deliver Lonny Garris wins....well nothing I guess. I will say that my wife wants to de-barb a set of his flies and wear them as ear-rings. If somebody ends up shorted I cannot be held responsible for the next big fashion craze to disrupt the fly tying market.

Earstabber (AKA Zimmerman Backstabber) by Lonny. Patent pending??

David Smith from USCARPPRO is excited about the swap and sent a bunch of stickers to include in the packages to show his support. If you haven't checked out USCARPRO magazine it is free and there is at least on fly fishing for carp article in every issue.
At least two swappers are taking a swing at pumping out more than 10 flies. Warriors! UPDATE - this might mean that each and every one of us gets a copy of a new fly from one of the most exciting tiers on the web. I wont mention his name because I dont want to put him on the spot (yet!) but his latest creation for carp looks on-par. Which means awesome. UPDATE2 - Gregg Martin and Pat Cohen are both in with enough flies for all participants. Awesome.
The swap has made for an exciting week. It was my birthday on Wednesday and practically every day this week I recieved a little birthday present of flies in the mail. I know I will have to send them off to good homes but it is still fun. Of course, some packages are for me and me alone. Thanks Ty, my new finewater carp t-shirt came in recently. It will go to good use. I wore the last one into submission.

The current participant list is:

Kevin Morlock, Third Coast Fly (FLIES RECIEVED!!)
~~Alonzo~~
Austin Anderson, PondBass (FLIES RECIEVED!!)
Barry Reynolds , BT2 Productions (FLIES RECIEVED!!)

Bill De Brooklyn, The Great Lakes of NYC (FLIES RECIEVED!!)

Chris Galvin, Colorado Trout Hunters (FLIES RECIEVED!!)

Eric Ridenour, Big EZ World (FLIES RECIEVED!!)

Gregg Martin (FLIES RECIEVED!!)

The Roughfisher, roughfisher.com (FLIES RECIEVED!!)

John Montana, Carp on the Fly (FLIES RECIEVED!!)

John Jensen, Currents (FLIES RECIEVED!!)

John Ridderbos (FLIES RECIEVED!!)

Justin Watkins, Fishing and Thinking In MN (FLIES PENDING)

Lonny Garris, Caddis Fly and Pixie Poo (FLIES RECIEVED!!)
McTage, Fly-Carpin (FLIES RECIEVED!!)
Mike Medina (FLIES RECIEVED!!)

Matt Pike (FLIES RECIEVED!!)

Nate Taylor, Dirtbag Fly-Fishing (FLIES RECIEVED!!)

Pat Cohen, Super Fly (FLIES RECIEVED!!)

Sean Hudson, Unquenchable Curiosity (FLIES RECIEVED!!)

Ty Clifton (FLIES RECIEVED!!)

Ty Goodwin, finewater (FLIES RECIEVED!!)

Will Rice, The Drake (FLIES RECIEVED!!)

Fishin Mojo Is Running LOW

2012-01-06T22:11:00.000-08:00

The carpin has been tough lately. I know it is winter and all that but I have been runnin on skunkty for the last month. My difficulties stem partially from not lining up fishing time with good weather but I haven't been on my game either. Since I decided to start fishing through the off-season I have fly fished for carp the last 20 months in a row, I may need a break. Unless I get a shot at some really sweet weather I think I am going to take the rest of January off.

Today was rough. The temperature dropped roughly 20 degrees between yesterday and today, and for reasons mysterious to me the river has turned several shades of felch. I didn't really expect to stand a chance and I was right so I quit after three hours and headed to the International Sportsman's Expo to check in with some friends and enter the casting accuracy competition. I entered mainly for giggles and because I have been thinking allot about improving my casting this year.

Believe me, it was freaking hilarious because I sucked! I did notice one funny thing though. As I cast to every single target except the one that was a mile (65 feet) away I actually felt like I totally nailed it. The casts were on-line and they FELT the perfect distance. I was surprised each and every time when the guy called out that I was just a smidge long. As far as I can tell I was between 21 and 25 inches long of the bulls eye just about every time. Habit I guess!

At any rate for the first time in my life I think I am actually going to spend some time actually practicing and maybe even get some lessons like I have been threatening to for the last year or so.

Fly-Carpin Carp Fly Swap Details

2012-01-04T21:16:00.000-08:00

CURRENT PARTICIPANT LIST

We have a great mix signed up with a wide range of carp fly fishing and fly tying skills. Everything from grand-masters and pro-guides to self proclaimed git-er-done hacks and beginners. We call all regions of the US home but share a passion for fly fishing for carp and I can't wait to see these flies!

Alonzo, The Long Line Collective

Austin Anderson, PondBass

Barry Reynolds , BT2 Productions

Bill De Brooklyn, The Great Lakes of NYC

Chris Galvin, Colorado Trout Hunters

Eric Ridenour, Big EZ World

Gregg Martin

The Roughfisher, roughfisher.com

John Montana, Carp on the Fly

John Jensen, Currents

John Ridderbos

Justin Watkins, Fishing and Thinking In MN

Lonny Garris, Caddis Fly and Pixie Poo

McTage, Fly-Carpin

Mike Medina

Mike Pike

Nate Taylor, Dirtbag Fly-Fishing
Pat Cohen, Super Fly
Sean Hudson, Unquenchable Curiosity

Ty Clifton

Ty Goodwin, finewater

Will Rice, The Drake

WHAT YOU DO

Mail me 10 copies of your carp fly. Due Feb 1st!!! I will send out my address in an email.
Fooey on rules, restrictions and handcuffs. Feel free to send more copies or more sets of ten if you feel like it. You will get some duplicates and a few less flies than you sent though.
Include your return address!!!!
At your discretion include materials lists, instructions, how to fish it, about you, website links, credit due etc. On one hand I want this to be fun so skip all or part of this step if you don't like it! On the other hand your fly will live on in the summary on Fly-Carpin. The more information you include the more I add (within reason).
If you earn or supplement your income in some way related to fly fishing for carp feel free to include promotional literature or cards (within reason) and I will include it in the return packages.
If you do NOT want me to post any pictures or other information about your fly for any reason just let me know via a note in the package or email.
There is no requirement that these are unique flies. What is and is not a unique fly is a murky subject but I will be highlighting your flies on my website, so try and give credit where due if applicable so that I don’t get nasty-grams or lose possible carpin buddies. If you are not sure if your fly is a dead ringer, a variant or truly unique just ask and we can decide together. I will communicate with you directly and negotiate if I feel we need to apply some discretion.

WHAT I WILL DO

I will take pictures of each pattern and compile a summary page on Fly-Carpin.
I will do my best to capture any and all supplemental information included with the flies. This will be the absolute hardest part of this process so have patience with me.
The summary page will include links or plugs to participant’s fly fishing for carp related websites and businesses where applicable.
I will sort the flies into sets of 10 and mail back packages by Feb 29^th!!!
The packages will vary randomly. I will work hard to ~~kype all the good stuff~~ be fair.
In order to make this as easy and fun as possible I will (Gulp!) cover shipping costs back first class.
I will poke around a little and see if somebody will sweeten the pot. No guarantees.

Carp Fly Swap - Be There or Be Square

2012-01-02T13:20:00.000-08:00

I would like to propose the first annual Fly-Carpin carp fly swap. Details are admittedly vague as of now, but the gist of it would be that participants would mail 10 copies of their favorite carp fly to me with a small shipping fee and a materials list and maybe even tying directions and description on how they fish it. I would sort the flies, compile materials lists / directions and then each participant would get an assortment of 10 flies back in the mail.

If it looks like I have a chance of getting at decent turn-out I will refine the details and publicize it a little further. Anybody in?

CARPTORIOUS: Running the Gauntlet and Reviewing The Year

2011-12-30T12:21:00.000-08:00

It has been a heck of a year. I caught a ton of carp on flies and made some good friends in the process. For a while now I had a silly personal goal for 2011. I had hoped to run the gauntlet and catch at least one carp in every month. With this 11lb carp on a proto-headstand this morning I caught my first carp of December and my last carp of 2011. Mission accomplished, I can cast off 2011 and welcome 2012 fully satisfied.

This blog and I have accomplished many things in 2011. Some are only personally satisfying while others were surprisingly important even in the big picture.

In April I won the MFC / OBN Fly Designer Contest with the Primordial Crust. That was really cool because at some point this year people will be able to buy one of my flies and catch some carp on it.

In June I went to Oregon to visit John Montana from Carp On The Fly. We had a blast in some unique conditions and caught many carp including my personal best at 23 pounds and his biggest carp of the year at 33lbs.

In July I happened upon what I call the carp bubble of 2011 and had my best day ever for carp where I hooked 24 fish in 6 hours. There were so many fish tailing close to shore on that day that I took an hour break to lay out on the bank, take some video and see if I could reach out and touch a tail. It was awesome.

In August Clint Packo and I won the 2011 Denver South Platte Carp Slam. We had incredible luck on the beats and hooked a ridiculous number of fish while supporting a good cause. That good cause is starting to come to fruition. We also lost a ridiculous number of fish but landed enough to bring home the victory. It was really fun to win (who doesn't like to win something every once in a while) but as much as anything I have to admit that it was fun to be a big deal at the after-party. Five minutes of fame for a wall flower such as myself is always fun.

In November I found the Sand Creek Oil Spill. I and the Denver South Platte got a little bit lucky on this. Without the voice that this blog gives me and the help of Gregg the spill may have gone un-contained for days or weeks longer than it did.

Which brings us to the end of 2011. It has been a great year, I am looking forward to the next. Here is to a happy new year and many fish landed for Fly-Carpin and all it's supporters.

Zack's Fly-Guy Fly

2011-12-29T21:58:00.000-08:00

I have had a hard time with the blog since the oil spill.  The best part about blogging about something trivial like being obsessed about fly fishing for carp is exactly that. In the grand scheme of things it is meaningless. Lets face it, the only real profound thing about fly-fishing for carp is that in this country we have the time and freedom to obsess about ridiculous pursuits of passion.

Then this pleasantly trivial blog had to actually go and accomplished something profound.  It has nearly ruined it for me. I am about over it, truly profound is not what I signed up for. I sat down to write a post about the disturbing amount of residual contaminant that Will Rice and I found scouting around the South Platte on Tuesday but I simply can't.

Instead here is what my son and I did today. We sat down and tied a fly together for no good reason beyond a sudden curiosity on his part. He wanted an orange and red tail with a blue body and eyes.  He also wanted fins and even made me a diagram. I was actually stumped on how to help him add fins. I havent tried to add fins to a fly pattern in years.

He is old enough now that with a little help he was able to do most of the work with some help from Dad. Pleasant big-picture triviality with a hint of personal import.

Zack's Fly-Guy

Next summer we should be able to coax a trout or two from the kids pond at Tin-Cup with Zack's Fly-Guy. For no good reason except that we can.

2011 Fly-Carpin Year In Review - By The Numbers

2011-12-23T20:53:00.000-08:00

There is a thought process out there that fishing should not be about the numbers. I guess the theory states that there is something immature about tracking the quantity and size of fish that you catch. Guilty as charged.

As we near the end of the year I though that people might like to see some of my numbers. In order to maintain a pretense of maturity I made these charts in percentage of carp landed in order to gloss over the total number. I will say that the total was somewhere between 100 and 200.

First off lets look at percentage of fish I landed this year by type of water. I almost would rather not! It almost hurts that I caught 20% of my carp in 2011 in 4 days on the Columbia River which is several thousand miles away. What a fishery, I cant wait to get back!!!!

Next lets look at some flies. Tracking numbers on flies can be misleading. As you can see I caught most of my carp on four patterns. These are good patterns but I have confidence in these flies and fish them allot so you are really dealing with a chicken and the egg scenario. That being said, I really do believe that these are stellar patterns. Right now I am really excited about the column named "Proto HeadStands". This is a new series of fly I have been working on and they were pretty hot for me in October / November.

And finally lets look at the percentage of carp caught by month. Anybody who looks at this chart should really ask one question. Why on earth does this idiot bother fly fishing for carp anytime but June and July? First off, May was really stellar, particularly for big fish. I just had bad luck with weather in May this year and didn't get allot of time on the water. August really went better than it looks as well. I just had my worst month in terms of landing percentage ever. Otherwise I worked hard for the carp for the rest of the year but it was worth it.

You may notice that I am ofer in December. Geesh, less than 10 days to go to catch a fish in every month of 2011. It aint looking goodn for our hero.

Mr P's First Fly Fishing For Carp How-To Video

2011-12-22T11:02:00.000-08:00

Mr P has posted his first fly fishing for carp how-to video from his "Lessons From The Carp Lodge" series. Really cool and he has worked hard on this. What I particularly like is that it highlights some tight-quarters methods.

Too much stuff on the Internet about fly fishing for carp focuses on glory crap. You know, young and tanned dude-brahs dressed like they just slipped tripped and fell of a Bahamian island somewhere bombing 60 foot casts semi-blind to uber aggressive tailing carp that find and hammer the fly as it is stripped back in. Don't get me wrong, I fish at range with an active fly whenever I can and aspire to dude-brahedness but at least in these parts, most of the time it just doesn't go down like that.

As a total bonus Mr P is hilarious. When I get the chance I am gonna tell my wife I am excited to spawn. Not sure if she will get the joke though.

The Upper Denver South Platte To Get a Face-lift

2011-12-11T10:15:00.000-08:00

With the recent desecration of the Denver South Platte it is good to get some good news about unrelated pro-active positive action. It is official, the section of the DSP below Chatfield is to get a big face- lift that will significantly improve the ecosystem. Congratulations to the Greenway Foundation, Denver Trout Unlimited and the various local and state agencies involved.

One interesting aspect of this is that the original feasibility study was paid for by Denver Trout Unlimited using funds from the Carp Slam. About six years ago DTU formed an unholy alliance with the carp and fly-carpers in their backyard and good things have happened ever since. For those that adhere to the carp spirits this is no coincidence.

This presentation detailing the enhancement plan is fascinating and informative. Amazing really.

Sand Creek Petroleum Spill: Boots On The Ground

2011-12-07T21:47:00.000-08:00

On Monday I couldn't stand not knowing if we are getting the sunshine pump on the Sand Creek spill any longer. I took a half day to put my boots on the ground and take a look for myself. It was freezing cold (17F) but I spent a good amount of time giving the area the once-over and I am very glad I went.

No matter how hard you look you cannot count parts per billion benzene on your fingers. Nevertheless I have to admit that from what I can see, smell and feel there does appear to be major progress in containing the spill. I wouldn't go drinking the water until tests indicate otherwise but I could find nothing to dispute the assertion that the contamination is contained.

Here is what I found:
Looking down the deadly barrel of Sand-Creek from the DSP you can see a giant vacuum crane in the distance. That is at the spill site. The fog coming off the water made for a surreal atmosphere.

Looking right up the deadly barrel of Sand Creek, the crane vacuum in the background is at the spill site.

This bird of prey showed up and gave me the evil eye while I was giving the river my own evil eye. I also spotted a large Eagle less than a half mile away. This is not really pertinent beyond highlighting the unusual amount of nature hidden in the industrial armpit of Denver.

He digs fish, I dig fish, so I hope we are cool.

Hundreds of critter tracks ran through the snow down to the river. I would like to call that a good sign, but I suspect they have to drink daily regardless of the water quality.

Rabbit?

The birds carpers love to hate were swimming in significant numbers below the 270 bridge. I refuse to credit these carp-spooking terrors with too much intelligence but Ducks can easily move on if they do not like the conditions. I take that as a good sign.

Yup, I was actually happy to see ducks for once.

Unfortunately all was not well on the critter front though. While closely inspecting the water in the DSP for sheen I saw at least 20 dead bugs of about 4 or 5 varieties float by in under 5 minutes. Some had wings while others looked to be stillbirths. I guess I may have witnessed some kind of crazy natural hatch, but since it was 15deg out I find that unlikely. I hope it was, because otherwise I worry that the carp will survive the contamination only to starve through the winter.

Dont mind the foam, that is from the warmwater treatment plant.

Midge

I brought this one home in a water bottle for a better picture. It almost worked.

At the spill site itself the activity was fast, furious and completely indecipherable from a safe distance. They do have some serious equipment in play, you can see a sense of urgency and the now famous "trench" would appear to be a little more complicated than a simple hole in the sand.

At the confluence the work at the source appears to be paying off. Sand Creek still sports five booms but the full time guy vacuuming up gunk behind them has been replaced with somebody keeping an eye out for escapements. I could see one small (less area than a bathtub?) clump of contamination trapped behind one of the booms but that was it. I hope that they periodically hook the vacuum back up to get the remnants, but from what I have heard about the early mitigation this appears to be a huge improvement.

Residual Crud

I spent much of my time getting my nose and eyes up close to the water down in the South Platte. There are no petroleum odors emanating from the water. I could not see the main current because of the waste-water treatment suds and fog coming from the water, but saw absolutely no evidence of sheen.

No sheen or smell from the margins

I took home some of the water in a water bottle. I wanted to see if anything separated out over time and if any smell accumulated. I opened it today and there is no visual or olfactory indication of contamination. It smells like normal slightly urbanized DSP water. In other words it does not smell like flowers and butterflies but at least it doesn't smell like a gas station.

So seperation or odor 2 days later. Very encourang.

All good news so far, expect for the possible bug kill. Unfortunately I was not done. After so carefully inspecting the surface of the water I decided to dig a little deeper and reached in and pulled up some vegetation trapped against a rock. There was a definite petroleum odor in this muck. Once again I captured a sample in a water bottle. Several days later I see no sign of anything separating out, but there is no doubt that it smells strongly like gasoline. It would seem that at least on the margins the muck, gunk and vegetation has trapped some of the contamination. Although the spill may be contained this is a strong indication that there are significant residual condemnations in the river itself.

Two days later and this vegetation smells like a gas-station

Overall I am encouraged. The evidence I found of residual issues is disturbing but not surprising. The fact that I can find no indications of significant contamination flowing into the Platte makes me feel much better and at least in my opinion it would appear that as of Monday we are not getting the sunshine pump about containment.

More Thoughts on The Sand Creek Oil Spill

2011-12-02T22:54:00.000-08:00

The Suncor Sand Creek petroleum disaster has profound implications on many levels.

On a purely personal and emotional level I have found the whole experience extremely distressing. The DSP is my river, my shrine, my temple and being the one to find it being desecrated was crushing.  I love this river and am far from alone.

Will Rice from the Drake has a talent for capturing the odd emotional connection so many of us have with this river. I really enjoy his work which often manages to combine a series of quirky thoughts and images which seem oddly or even trivially connected into a profound package that speaks to me. He touched a nerve in this slide show video that I highlighted just less than a month ago. I refuse to watch it right now because this time I really will cry.  Will published an article today titled S. Platte Bitten by Benzene Attack. This article perfectly captures the knot of emotional confusion and distress juxtaposed with a unlikely sense of hope that I am feeling in a way that I probably can't communicate.

I am also concerned with what this says about the capability of our government to enforce and regulate the environmental laws that protect our precious natural resources.  I fear that this and other trends are indicators that we as a nation are on the path to in some small way repeat history. In previous generations the Denver South Platte could not support higher life forms, the Cleveland River burned and environmental disasters were buried wherever somebody could find a convenient rug to sweep them under.  This is a grave thought. When considering such thoughts our emotional fears have validity but there is a time and place to set them aside.

I could be biased because Bruce Finley was a key player in getting the ball rolling on verifying the spill. Nevertheless in the area of fair, balanced, detailed and accurate coverage I have yet to find anything even remotely approaching his Denver Post article Cleanup orders at Colorado's Suncor refinery spill into Sand Creek officially issued.  When Bruce interviewed me he continuously made a point to steer the interview away from conjecture and emotion towards the facts and it shows in his article.  He has provided the most accurate and complete coverage I have found.

This article contains a significant amount of information that is disturbing or even frightening but I see something else right now. I may just want to see it. It may be that despite my best intentions I simply cannot discard emotion.  Nevertheless I see some hope.  Some indication that at least once the shit hits the fan our environmental agencies still have teeth.

I see other reasons for hope.

Denver Trout Unlimited (of which I am a member) was already working hard to protect the DSP.  Without their influence I would have not have known that I could, and perhaps no even that I should call somebody. That knowledge should provide a level of gratification that can only galvanize and energize the effort.

The Greenway foundation is still here and they are truly a force to be reckoned with.

Finally the fishing and other recreational usage of this wonderful resource will continue to increase. As more and more people discover and grow to love this unique urban oasis polluters will find it harder and harder to accidentally or even maliciously desecrate the DSP. We are the front line.

Sand Creek Oil Spill CBS story

2011-11-30T21:21:00.000-08:00

I am sure I am not making it on the CDPHE Christmas card list after this story played on the CBS news.

Fairly or not, the interview came out harsh. I do stand by my statement that the initial response was a failure. It needed to be clearly and succinctly stated and I would do so again. It is my opinion, I knew while I was saying it that it would come out harshly and I do not think it is even a remotely unreasonable one. I want to be perfectly clear that that is not a personal attack on the actual people involved though. I am sure that it feels like it but in these kinds of situations I do not believe that it is people that fail but systems and processes.

A long time ago I had a job as a quality/process control engineer in a manufacturing plant. At one point I had to blow the whistle on aspects of the production process to the highest levels of the corporation. I expected the workers involved to hate me. On the contrary they thanked me. The truth was that everybody involved truly wanted to make the best product possible but the process and culture was systematically forcing them to do otherwise. In an enlightened response the leadership of the corporation came down hard on responsible management and the negative cultural forces instead of the workers. I and others were given the full authority to fix the process and the pressure on the workers to do the wrong thing disappeared. Quality went through the roof and I developed a gratifying relationship of mutual respect with the workers involved. I learned a valuable lesson that I will never forget. The overwhelming percentage of people do the best possible job that they can given the processes, resources, systems and cultural pressures that they are working with.

I honestly hope that somebody takes my opinion to heart and thinks about improving the system. I have no doubt however that the people involved at all levels including CDPHE, Suncor and the Tri-County Health Department are good people. Fathers, mothers, daughters and sons just doing a job the best they can with what they are given.

Excellent Denver Post Sand Creek Oil Spill Article

2011-11-30T06:23:00.000-08:00

Bruce Finley at the Denver Post posted an excellent article with some very thought provoking information and background.

http://www.denverpost.com/news/ci_19437478

Well done Bruce!

Sand Creek Petroleum Discharge Time Line

2011-11-29T22:11:00.000-08:00

I have seen several news reports that have the time-line totally muddled on the Sand Creek petroleum discharge. They indicate that the seep, spill, slick or whatever term you would prefer started Monday morning which is wrong.  As a matter of fact the issue was first identified and communicated to authorities by me Sunday morning and could have been going on for weeks before that.

Here is what I know of the time-line. This is in more detail than any of my readers would care about but I feel like I need to preserve and publish this information. I can look some times up precisely on my cell phone. Others I have to estimate.

SUNDAY November 27th 2010
1) Approximately 9:00 AM - I arrived at the Sand Creek / Denver South Platte confluence and started fishing. I got a hint of a petroleum smell almost immediately but brushed it off. I was in the worst smelling square mile of Metro Denver after all.
2) Approximately 9:30 AM - I waded across the South Platte below the 270 bridge and got hit by a really strong odor about half way across and then noticed a sheen on the top. As I started to investigate I noticed more and more signs of an issue and finally isolated it to Sand Creek.
3) Precisely 10:03 AM: I made my first call to information in search of the CDPHE hotline.
4) Precisely 10:16 AM:  I placed the call to the duty officer with the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment hotline. He asked if he could call me back in 20 minutes. I got offended and rudely said no. He sincerely apologized and took the information. I apologized for being rude about it. I then moved to a different section of the South Platte to continue fishing.
5) Precisely 11:03 AM:  I received a call indicating that somebody was on their way.
6)  Somewhere between then and 2:14:  I received a call from somebody at the 74th avenue bridge (well down-river) indicating that they did not see anything and wanting to know where to go from there. My cellphone tracked this as a duplicate received call and won't give me the precise time.
7) Precisely at 2:14 AM: I received a call from somebody standing on the pedestrian bridge spanning the bridge below the confluence indicating that he did not see any sheen in the water. I told him that he needed to get down and walk up Sand-Creek.
5) Precisely 3:08PM: I used "received calls" to call back and ask if he has walked Sand Creek and seen anything. He indicated that he did walk up the creek and did not see any sheen. I asked if I called the correct people. He assured me that I did. I foolishly assumed that the discharge had concluded and dissipated. It clearly had not. Either he did not know what to look for or the discharge had only temporarily stopped.
6) Sunday evening I made a blog post about the incident.

MONDAY November 28th 2011:
I don't know all the mechanisms that may have helped get the ball rolling but I do know the following:
1) At some point Gregg (Hero #1, a friend of Fly-Carpin) from Idaho contacted Bruce Finley at the Denver Post about my blog post.
2)  Bruce Finley (Hero #2) contacted the EPA. Here is Bruce's latest article on the spill.
3)  Mitigation started sometime Monday evening.

Nobody has a clue how long it was going on prior to Sunday but from the first call it was just under a 4 hour on-the-scene first-response time and something on the order of a day and a half delay before mitigation started. Furthermore if Gregg and Bruce Finley hadn't heroically stepped in it would probably still be flowing because the first response failed to confirm the issue.

Clearly the delay in response and verification of the issue is not my fault. This is not my job and people who should be trained professionals and who's job it is were put in a position to perform that job. Nevertheless, while I hope to never find myself in this position again with hindsight this is what I will do next time to more pro-actively force the issue:

1) Pushed for an estimated time of arrival.
2) Gotten clear of the fumes but stayed in the general area.
3) Met up with the first responder to show him exactly what to look for.
4) I am presuming that I would have been able to convince him of the issue if I was present. If not, start calling the press and the EPA immediately.

Sand-Creek Petroleum Discharge

2011-11-27T15:13:00.000-08:00

This morning was awful. I am looking for the words to describe it and can't. To put it shortly I am absolutely 100% positive I witnessed a petroleum discharge or dump of some kind in Sand-Creek flowing into the South Platte. Furthermore I am quite certain that whoever is responsible got off scott-free.

This morning at 9:00AM it smelled like a gas station at the Sand-Creek / South Platte confluence. There was also an oily sheen across the entire Sand-Creek side of the South Platte current. Every carp in the area (something on the order of 60?) was tightly grouped (alive but not very active) in a 20 foot section as far from Sand-Creek as they could get. And yes, I am very aware that it always smells nasty in the area. This was definitely very different.

I walked several hundred feet up Sand-Creek and there was an oil sheen the whole way and there was even a weird milky chocolaty sludge trapped in the small back-eddy below the confluence. My fly smelled like gasoline. My fingers smelled like gasoline. I could see micro-currents and upwells in the water column that you usually just can't see. Something was terribly wrong.

It took me a while but I found the correct Colorado Department of such and such spills / illegal discharges "Hotline" number (877-518-5608). For some foolish reason I pictured environmental cops showing up with sirens blazing. Three to four hours later I got the call that they were there and didn't smell anything or see any sheen on the water. They are just men like you or me doing a job and seemed to legitimately care and if it isn't still happening when they show up there is nothing they can do but I can't help being a little disappointed by the response time.

On the one hand I guess that is good. Whatever happened is over and was relatively short-lived (assuming it wasn't going on all weekend). On the other hand if it was one of the multiple refineries upstream of that location they got away with it and will probably get away with it again in the future. I feel like vomiting.

I wish I knew more to do in that situation. Somehow the hotline did not seem to be the trick although that is all I know to do. This is one of those rare occasions that I wish I was a real investigative journalist instead of just a shmuck with a shmucky blog. I can't help wondering what the history is with those refineries but would have no clue how to find out.

Since I really didn't know anything else I could do I did the obsessive and selfish thing and got on with fishing. Maybe I should have sat there and waited until they showed up. At any rate I met up with Chris Galvin and we spent the rest of the day swapping favorite spots up-river and talking carp. None of those spots was hot today and we got skunked but at least I spent the rest of the day fishing with a friend instead of worrying. I am worrying pretty hard right now though. I can't get that sheen and smell out of my mind. Not to mention 60 of my favorite carp huddled together in what I hope was not desperation. Carp are tough so lets hope they and the several other nice carp pods down-stream are OK.

Native Cable Sunglasses Review

2011-11-23T20:50:00.000-08:00

If you have been fly fishing for Carp for a while then you will probably agree that your shades are your most critical gear. How appropriate that Outdoor Blogger Network recently randomly selected me to participate in a free gear give-away review of a set of Native "Cable" Sunglasses.

SUMMARY:

After two fishing outings and a good month of using these as my kickin-around glasses I rate these very highly. They have excellent clarity, are for the most part extremely comfortable, come with nice accessories, have the capability to switch out lenses and even look good! I do have a couple of minor complaints with the ear-pieces and the instructions for switching out the lenses but Native clearly manufactures very nice sunglasses.

Native "Cable" Sunglasses

JUST THE FACTS MAM:

Manufacturer: Native Sunglasses

Style: Cable

Frame Color: Maple Tort

Lenses: Polarized Brown (12% visual light transmission per the manufacturer)

MSRP: $129.00

Accessories Included In The Package:

SportFlex non-polarized low-light replacement lenses.

Case with a spiffy integral replacement lens wallet.

Micro-Fibre bag.

VISION:
I spent several days on the water switching back and forth with my Costa's (amber glass lenses with green mirror finish) and could detect no difference in clarity or the water-piercing power of the polarization. In short the lenses seem to be superb. In the end helping to see fish is the most critical feature of sunglasses for those that fly fish for carp and they performed well in this area.

PRICE:
The $129 MSRP seems to be a fair-market value when I compare it to other manufacturers.

STYLE:

We all know that carp and other fish are keen observers of style. You show up on the water without some Fonzarelli and they won't give you the time of day right? All sarcasm aside though, the first thing my wife said was "Wow, those look much better on you than your other glasses". Based on a scientific poll of one I would have to say the chicks dig them. The only one that matters at any rate!

Get Your Fonzy On

COMFORT:

I wear a 7-1/8" hat which seems near optimum for these frames and they fit very naturally.

I have deep-set eyes with a jutting brow. Those cave-man eye-brows usually manage to put a big nasty smear on the inside of my shades. The stand-off above the lenses on the Cable keeps them just far enough from my greazy self that the lenses stay cheese free and this is by far and away my favorite feature on these sunglasses. The nose-piece is perfectly shaped to get back in and grab the nose in the right location and is very comfortable.

Love the facial stand-off at the brow.

I do have one minor comfort complaint however. The ear pieces do not curve down much behind the ears and as a result they interfere with my hat-band. In order to sit perfectly on my face the ear-pieces must go under my hat-band behind my ears. I find that a little annoying and this is my least favorite feature.

I would like a little more down-ward curve to the ear pieces

LENS INTERCHANGEABILITY:
One of the interesting features of Native Sunglasses is the ability to change out the lenses. This feature is interesting in that it provides the ability to tune the lens tint to conditions and to replace your lenses if they get scratched. I would love to be able to switch to a different lens tint which could help with the wimpy winter sun. I like this feature and when I have the time and money I am plan on ordering a set of the copper lenses (18% VLT per the manufacturer, $40.00 MSRP) in order to see if they perform better in low-light.

I am just a little disappointed in the process for switching lenses. The directions for the Cable style would seem to imply that it is just a matter of lightly gripping the lenses and pushing them in the appropriate direction. I spent a while trying to get them out per the directions, but eventually had to resort to putting an uncomfortable amount of twisting and bending of the lenses and frames to make the switch. Afterwards the lenses were grimed to the max with finger grease and I had to clean them with a solution. I would say that on these particular frames the lens interchangeability may not be an on-the-water feature. If you feel this is a critical feature I would recommend taking a look at a partial-frame design or trialing the process at a physical retailer before purchasing.

ACCESSORIES:
The case is very nice and has a nice integral lens wallet and enough extra room to carry some small extras. The micro-fibre bag comes in handy for protecting and cleaning the lenses on the go. The Sport-Flex lenses that come in the package are very clear and look cool but since they are not polarized I am not sure what I would use them for.

The Goodies

DISCLAIMER:
I was not financially compensated by the manufacturer and am not associated with Native, but this product was provided free of charge in exchange for testing the product and writing a review.

Bringin Home The Digital Bacon

2011-11-13T15:44:00.000-08:00

How much of our passion for fishing stems from primordial instincts to bring home some food? For the bulk of man-kinds existence grubbing up some grub took most of our daily energy. Nowadays we bring home digital bacon. Ones and zeros that equal spending power in the form of dollars. Ones and zeroes that capture moments in the form of pictures. Friday was a great day for bringing home memories in the form of digital bacon. It was a beautifully warm November day in the 60s and the carp were feeding.

Low light and a slight tannin stain in the section where I started made sight fishing difficult. At best I could fish to shadows and impressions of fish. At the worst I had to resort to blind casting with down and across actively swimming presentations. Seeing the take is great, but the sudden and unexpected feeling of a good sized carp jerking the rod out of your hands has it's own appeal.

Some serious digital bacon

By 11:00 I had hooked three fish in the mid to high teens and all three rate among the hardest, most thunderous takes I have had all year. They also rate as some of the hardest fighting fish I have faced in months and I was only able to land the 16 pounder above. In November. It is amazing how quickly carp can spunk up with some nice weather in the winter.

Backing. In November?!

Eventually clouds rolled in and stole the remainder of the weak winter sun. I moved several miles upriver to find some clearer water and started working a section from ambush on the outside of a bend. I could easily see the carp react to the fly as I plunked it within inches of their head and after a while they made it perfectly clear that neither a dropping nor a swimming presentation was going to draw interest. As an experiment I switched to a dead-drifting foam trouser worm under an indicator. Watching an indicator suddenly plunge under the thrust of a 12lb carp also brings a certain thrill. I have gone 8 years without watching a carp pull down an indicator. Why?

Thingamabobber? Whatever works right?

Two? Have you no pride man? No, not really.

So, this would all seem to indicate that catching carp in the winter is easy. I guess sometimes it even is. On the other hand I went back out for a couple of hours today. I did not fish well, I did not smell a take, I certainly didn't bring home the digital bacon. I guess it is a good thing that our dinner is brought to us through money and the bounty that is King Soopers because a thousand years ago I would be sleeping on the other side of the lean-to tonight.

Almost Made Me Cry

2011-11-09T21:47:00.000-08:00

Friday is looking like a go weather and no-work wise for chasing some carp around with a big flimsy stick. I was going through and watching some YouTube videos to get pumped up when I ran into one of my favorites from this summer. It literally almost made me cry. Why they gotta do that to a grown man? Aint right.

Welcome To The Revolution Part III: Revolt in the Land of Plenty

2011-11-06T16:41:00.000-08:00

When I lived and fished in Michigan I tried to keep a written fishing journal. The earliest recording I have appears below.

Thursday 8/10/00: Little Muscamoot. Water Temp = 58deg. Hoping for Pike. Missed one fish with a large white Deceiver. Fish hit as I was picking up. Scared the snot out of me.

And so it began. This outing, or a similar one around the same time, marked my first conscious and deliberate steps down the road to revolution. In the fall of 2000 I finally abandoned the idea that Trout (or even Salmon and Steelhead) are anything more than just another option on the fly rod.

The next year turned into the most exciting year of my life from a fishing perspective. It couldn't have happened in a better place. The options in Michigan are endless. I caught carp, LMB, SMB, silver bass, pike, musky, striper, perch, bluegill, and steelhead. I also bought a 17' Carolina Skiff, took my first saltwater trip and built a 13' spey rod by hand.

I found the idea that I could set out to intentionally target and catch so many species of fish intoxicating. I will probably never fish that often or that hard again.

Although carp slowly asserted themselves as my favorite I continued to target many different species on the fly until I moved my family to Colorado in 2007. Michigan has too much quality and variety to ever focus completely on one species. As I read through that old journal though, I noticed that my current state of obsession was written in the cards. Those believe in the carp spirits and read prophesy will know I was doomed from the start:

Monday 5/7/2001: Bay south of Clinton. Caught one 30+" carp. He hit in dirty water on a size 8 olive mmf. Fought like a mad-man. Love this. Took me 100 feet into the backing. What do people dislike about carp? Short 2-6" strips the key again.

Doomed

Matt's Bucket, The "Double" Davy knot and Synergy

2011-10-30T17:23:00.000-07:00

A couple of weeks ago I posted a little bit about the 16-20 terminal knot.  I was hoping to generate a discussion and create some synergy with that post to the point where I was a little more argumentative in the comments than I would normally be comfortable with.  Based on those discussions it would seem that most people are in the same boat I have been in. They have tied the improved clinch since dirt was invented and are reluctant to bust a move, particularly since most options seem to have serious draw-backs beyond strength.

A gentleman named Matt has started a new blog. So far he is focusing heavily on gear reviews and how-to type content. Good stuff if you are looking for a more technically bent blog. He has brought my attention to a couple of recent posts that really have me excited; Tying the "Double" Davy Knot and Knot Testing.  Matt worked hard on these posts and they significantly expand upon my own puny attempt at knot testing. I am sure he started his testing campaign before my post, but nevertheless, this is the kind of synergy I was hoping for.

I have actually been using the 16-20 off-and-on in live action. So far it has held up OK but I did lose one really nice carp where I felt like the knot did not hold up well. Frankly it seems to be a good knot when tied correctly, but a difficult knot to tie and a very difficult knot to tie consistently. And the Davy Knot?  Super fast, super easy, uses minimal tippet and would appear in my own preliminary testing to beat the improved clinch AND the 16-20. I will have to work with it some more, but I think there is a new favorite to take over the business end of my rig. Thanks Matt!

CARPTORIOUS: Wet-Wading In October

2011-10-28T16:05:00.000-07:00

Between 6 to 8 inches of snow this week and a wee little bit of cold-induced laziness, getting out for some fly-carpin seems unlikely this weekend. I will just have to share a couple of fun pictures from last Sunday.

After my sTankara experiment went right but also oh-so-wrong it was time to get serious. Goofing off and being silly is fun and all that but I fish to catch fish. Call it a lack of maturity if you will, but after burning the best part of the day I packed up the sTankara stuff, pulled out the normal fly-fishing gear and headed to a fresh stretch of river famous for holding numbers of relatively willing carp.

I also ditched the waders. It was in the high 70's and I was wet-wading in late October! You would expect the carp to be pretty active in these conditions but they were extremely passive. Nevertheless I was able to coax (and I mean coax) a couple of carp to the fly.

On the first fish every single carp in the area came running to see what was going on. Almost every one of those dark shapes is a carp! You frequently see other carp move towards or even rub up on a hooked fish during the spawn but in October? Maybe this carp is popular, or maybe these carp were just gawking.

"OMG! Did you hear? Josh is hooked!" "No way, lets go see!"

For the second fish I decided to try something new with my camera. I used the rapid-shoot option to capture the release and them put the pictures together in a video Flip-O-Rama style. If you don't have kids you probably don't know about Captain Underpants and Flip-O-Rama. Your loss.

For those that might be curious about catching carp in the late fall both of these fish came on the drop from ambush with a super-soft under-hand pendulum cast dropped within 4" of the business end. I need to get around to describing this method soon, it is deadly from an elevated ambush position.

As the fall lighting fades to the dull haze of winter, fishing from an elevated ambush position becomes very important. It does not always reek of glory but since you are very close you get a great view of the take. On both these fish I got to see the carp surge forward 3", open their beautiful mouths and suck in the fly the rest of the way mid-drop. Awesome!

Do you sTankara?

2011-10-24T05:53:00.000-07:00

"I felt like destroying something beautiful" - Fight Club

I started Sunday morning trying out an idea that has been rolling around in my brain for a couple of months. I call it "sTankara". sTankara combines some of the trendiest things going in fly fishing into one ridiculous package. Tenkara, minimalism, fly fishing for carp and two-handed spey casting. It starts with a 12' "Uncle Bucks" graphite collapsible crappie pole (12 bucks at Bass Pro) rigged Tenkara style and fished two-handed. It ends with a carp. Hell if I know what goes down in between.

Hooking two carp on my sTankara pole today brought some crushing clarity though. First of all this may not be the best idea I ever had. Second of all, attaching the line to the pole with a couple of over-hand knots will not and I repeat NOT get the job done. Finally, I am gonna need a bigger stick or some smaller carp. You didn't actually think I would give up just because it is a stupid idea did you?

The action starts at 0:38. Going to a section of river with bigger than average fish to try this out was as inexplicable as trying it out in the first place.

Want A Filtered Blogroll?

2011-10-21T05:47:00.000-07:00

Would any of my fellow bloggers like a filtered blogroll that highlights suckers, Tenkara, pink elephants or whatever? The Outdoor Blogging Network has recently added a section for guest-post blogging tips. They were kind enough to accept a guest post on how to make a filtered blogroll using my yahoo pipe. Its a good thing too because this place stinks enough without adding geek-juice.

Scratch And Sniff Carpin

2011-10-15T11:36:00.000-07:00

I frequently run into assertions that carp are ugly and stink. Do they stink? Do they smell worse than trout? Dunno. Honestly I never tried sniffing them. Until Friday that is, when I decided to pay attention to some of the smells while out fly-carpin. As a lucky bonus I caught a couple of carp and a nice 17" rainbow. Time for a scratch and sniff comparison.

A bonus 17" Rainbow Trout:

Even in the middle of the city trout smells of familiarity and comfort, the kids pond in Tin-Cup CO and family tradition. It also smells like Grandpa, the best high-country fly fisherman ever. He was THE trout ninja. I am crying right now, which is unexpected.

Catching said trout on a fly you designed:

Since the Primordial Crust is scheduled to be commercially available from Montana Fly Company next year as a "Carp Fly" this just reeks of irony.

A fly-caught Carp:

The sweet perfume of the fly-caught carp speaks of discovery, adventure, resiliency and un-tapped beauty and grace. Actually, minus the romantic BS it just smells like slightly urbanized river water. Just like the trout. What the heck did you expect?

Catching said carp on a carp fly you designed:

Pure satisfaction!

Emergency potty break...

With no toilet paper to be found.

Ignore the faint aroma of urban neglect and it mostly just smells like shit. Obviously.

Carp Kit Update

2011-10-11T22:33:00.000-07:00

My getup for fly fishing for carp has evolved a little bit since I first posted about it earlier this summer and here is an update with a little more detail. This is actually pretty embarrassing when I list it out. Somehow in the past 5 years or so I have evolved from a guy who openly scorned techno-weenies to a total poser.

Rods/Reels:

Rig 1:

9' 8-weight St. Croix Avid.
Billy-Pate Bone-Fish Anti-Reverse Reel. Once you have gone AR it is hard to go back.
8 weight Scientific Anglers Expert Distance line. Which probably means I can cast 71feet instead of 70. Pathetic. My lame excuse is that I like the taper for carp. Allot.

Rig 2:

9' 7weight Sage One rod. (Carp Slam Loot!)
Lamson Lightspeed Hard Allox Reel. (Carp Slam Loot!)
7 Weight Rio Gold fly-line.

Accesories:

Micro-fibre lens cleaning cloth for cleaning glasses and camera lense
Flybox 1 - Standards
Flybox 2 - Oddballs
Flybox 3 - Prototypes and flies on the list to try
Flourflex plus tippet spools from 0 to 5x
Knot-Sense UV glue.
Various Flouroflex tapered leaders
Hook Sharpener
Cuticle scissors
Hemo's
Various indicators. Rarely used.
Some small BB lead weights. Rarely used.
Electronic scale. 50lb capacity, I am either an optimist or a fool.
Promar Collapsible Trophy triangular series net.
Olympus Tough Underwater point and shoot camera.
William Joseph fanny pack with magnetic latches and no zippers! I hate zippers.

Outer-Wear:

My lucky greasy and smelly Carpe Carpio hat.
Costa Del Mar "Wave Killer" sunglasses. Glass lenses, amber tint, blue mirror finish.
Simms wading socks. (Summer)
Columbia wading shoes. (Summer)
Columbia fishing shirts. Definite poser gear but are nice in the heat. (Summer)
NorthFace pants. (Summer)
Simms waders. (Off-season)
Korkers wading boots. (Off-season)

CARPTORIOUS: Hello Off-Season, Where you Been all My Life?

2011-10-09T21:14:00.000-07:00

The weeks on end of predictable weather, wet wading and aggressive carp are gone. They have been for at least a month now but I have been in denial. Well it snowed and drizzled all day yesterday. This morning I had to scrape the frost from my windows prior to going fishing and my state of denial can no longer sustain itself.

I DECLARE THE END OF THE FRONT RANGE FLY FISHING FOR CARP SEASON. (Thank god there is an off-season.)

I have failed to admit the inevitable, but I have also been looking forward to it in a sadistic way. Last year I put in allot bit of time and effort and worked out how to catch carp in the river through the off-season. It took some time (several months) to get the feel for how things work but in the end last off-season was probably the most rewarding fishing I have ever done. Every fish landed felt like a triumph of epic proportions. On multiple fish days I felt like I had climbed Everest, and in the end I came into the spring a much improved carper.

Given all that what do you think I did on a brisk fall morning after the first snow of the year?

Me thinking: Nice lead-in, now cut to dramatic pictures of me holding huge carp....Oh yeah I screwed up all the pictures....badly....

Despite a blown river, the end of the season and disturbingly awful photography it was a good morning. A very good morning!

Vegas in April??

2011-10-08T18:57:00.000-07:00

Last night my wife got second in a quarterly poker tournament at our WPTL amateur poker league and won a seat in the 3 day yearly tournament in Vegas in April. My first thought was that I need to work extra hard to win a seat too. My second thought was that I needed to work extra hard to NOT win a seat. I have heard bad things about fly fishing for carp around Vegas, but I have also heard some intriguing things. Lake Mead?????.....

FLY-CARPIN WINTER RESOLUTION #2: Dig up the dirt on Vegas area Carp Fly Fishing. Any and all help welcome!

The 16-20 Knot? Never Heard of It.

2011-10-05T18:46:00.000-07:00

For some reason fly fishermen put significantly less time and focus into their knots than our saltwater brethren. Even those that play in both fresh and saltwater will tend to use more sophisticated rigging when fishing the salt.

Obviously freshwater fish are usually smaller and weaker than saltwater fish. Most of the time it just doesn't make much sense to put to much time and effort into rigging for freshwater. Those of us that fly fish for carp, salmon, steelhead and a couple of others need to make a better effort. As a matter of fact I need to make a better effort.

I am pretty happy with my tippet knot. I use a Bimini twist to a double surgeons and basically never lose fish at that connection. Where I need work and help is at the fly. I have been using the good old improved clinch since I was about 9 years old. It is not the best option, but I am comfortable with it and can tie it quickly and very very consistently.

It is time for a change and has been for quite some time. Unfortunately I have had a hard time making a switch. The main problem stems from my unholy and probably irrational addiction to flourocarbon in the 2x to 4x range for carp.

You can find lots of great data (and I mean data not conjecture) on the Internet for flouro in heavy saltwater gauges. The answer seems simple and that is the San Diego Jam Knot. Unfortunately I have worked and worked with that knot but either can't get it tied correctly or it just doesn't work in smaller sizes.

You can also find a ton of information on the internet comparing knot strengths in mono. This article by Art Sheck is simply amazing. If you use mono read this (pay special attention to what he says about tippet knots) and stop there. The problem is that flouro and mono just do not and I repeat absolutely positively do not perform at all the same when it comes to knot strength. I spent several hours the other night running similar trials with 3x Flouroflex plus. Either I am not tying most of the fancy knots in his article correctly or they just dont work as well in flouro because the good old clinch smoked them all....except the 16-20! With the 16-20 it killed the clinch on the first trial and every trial after that where I got the knot to pop when I sinched it. Sweet.

Anybody else use this knot? I am pretty pumped about it.

WINTER FLY-CARPIN RESOLUTION #1: MASTER THE 16-20

September is Saved!

2011-10-01T18:54:00.000-07:00

2011 has been a great year for me and so far I have caught around 4 times as many carp as 2010.   The learning curve has started to get friendlier. Until September that is. All delusions of fly fishing for carp grandeur came crashing down in September. As of September 29th I had caught one carp. As in one more than zero, a whole bunch less than lots!

This is however, not a story of self pity and loathing. There were 30 days in September, and that 30th day provided vindication and relief. On Friday I arrived at the river at 8:30AM. It was too early to easily spot fish so I went straight to a classic ambush location. Feeding fish are readily available here tight to a bank of boulders but they get heavy pressure and the cover is inadequate. If you want to sneak up on the fish you have to crawl down to the bank as slowly as possible taking advantage of the light brush when available. After taking a good 10 minutes to slither down I was in position. So far so good, there were about a dozen fish holding tight to the boulders roughly 10 feet away.  Most of them were still in an early morning snooze, but three or four where in a slight nose down attitude and one fish was tailing hard so tight to the boulders that his head was actually under an over-hang.

I was nearly on my belly using a clump of 10" tall grass to hide most of my profile. I couldn't get off a cast though and had to partially raise my torso just to make an attempt.  Raising my head a couple of feet blew my cover and all the fish slowly but emphatically ghosted away.

But wait. Remember that one fish tailing with his head under a boulder? He could not see me and was intent enough on something delicious that he failed to notice all his buddies making for parts unknown. I lobbed a lightly weighted Trouser Worm 3 feet past the stone over-hang dragged it back and let it drop slowly through the gap in the boulders at the bottom of the picture above. The drop was about 6" to the left of where I imagined it's head to be. With just a slight flick of it's tail the carp changed directions and after a brief pause I set the hook into resistance.

What a relief. I have caught many carp on flies this year, but even though this is a cookie cutter DSP carp (just under 9lb) this may be one of my favorites. After all, it busted my September slump! After that I was able to relax a little bit and get into a better flow and by the end of the day I had caught 2 more in the river. I may talk a little more about one of them in another post because I would like some thoughts from others on how to deal with one particular scenario.

On the way home I stopped off at a local pond and nailed a couple of smaller fish on a prototype carp fly I am working on. Progress has been slow. Although the various iterations have hooked some fish here and there (including one in Oregon by John Montana) they haven't landed a fish yet. I am not certain they are getting the response I am looking for and it was nice to get a couple of really savage takes with a happy ending. This latest iteration is a combination of prototype 1 and 3.

Getting Motivated to Write More How-To

2011-09-24T23:08:00.000-07:00

Last weekend I ran into another carper named Paul on the river and something he said really made me feel good.

I had met him earlier in the season at a local lake. On that occasion I stopped to talk and learned that this was his first season. He was struggling while he had seen me catching several carp and he asked what I was doing differently. I felt like it would be easier to show him than explain so we took a walk around the lake trading shots and I showed him how I was presenting the fly differently.

When we met up last weekend one of the first things Paul said was that the advice I had given him and the different methods for presenting the fly I had shown him had made a huge difference in his efforts. That was awesome and really made me feel great!

One of the main reasons I started blogging was to add a different perspective on how-to advice for catching carp on flies. It has been easy to lose sight of those intentions. Honestly it is incredibly hard to write how-to information. Much harder than I expected. Meeting Paul and his kind words reminded me of that so I buckled down and finished a how-to fly fish for carp page I have been thinking about for a while that provides a little bit of information and links up a bunch more. I am still learning myself. Hopefully the page and I can improve together. In the meanwhile, any differing opinions or additional information anybody has to add are welcome in the comments section of that page!

Getting The Sage One and Lamson Lightspeed Stankified!

2011-09-17T22:28:00.000-07:00

One of the cool things about Clint and I winning the Carp Slam V is that the amatuer champion gets showered with cool prizes. Among those prizes was a Sage One 4 peice 7 weight rod which was delivered to Trout's Fly shop this week. When combined with the Lamson Lightspeed reel and Scientific Angler SharkSkin line I also won it is undoubtedly the most state-of-the-art combo I have fished in years. The rods and reels I currently favor date to before father-hood and even before the turn of the century! I couldn't wait to break this rig in on some carp and stankify it! Mission accomplished! Big thanks to Sage, Lamson and Scientific Anglers for supporting the slam and in the process bringing my rig into the 21st century.

My New Sage One Rod and Lampson Lightspeed Reel Get Stankified!

I didn't just break in a new fly rod and reel, I also learned a couple of lessons. These would not necessarily all be new lessons but are important ones.

Trout's doesn't open until 11:00AM so I had a little bit of time to hit the river prior to picking up the rod. I arrived at the river at 9:00AM anxious and in a hurry. In my rush I immediately walked right in and right through a small pod carp feeding in 8" of water.  I did manage to hook and land a decent carp an hour later so all was not lost but those would have been the easiest shots of the day by a large margin.

LESSON 1:  Fly fishing for carp and being in a hurry just don't mix!

Upon arriving at Trouts I received my new rod and also had them switch the Lamson reel to right hand retrieve. They seem to be good guys there and I could have probably gotten them to put on the Scientic Anglers Shark-Skin line and adjust the amount of backing but once again I was in a hurry. I made a bee-line to the river and threw on the super-cheap (15 dollar cheap!) shortened 7 weight line I had on my cheapo backup rod.  I guess they didn't spend much time developing the 800 plus dollar Sage One to cast 15 dollar lines and the line and rod really did not work well together.

LESSON 2: Your new super spiffy and super expensive (well, free for me) rod deserves at least a decent line to go with it. Skip this step and you risk disappointment. Footnote: I rigged and tried out the Scientific Anglers Sharkskin today.  That's more like it!

Upon arriving my favorite section of river gifted me with the most amazing sight of five large (all high teen!) carp tailing in plain view. Based on the lack of cover and some very complicated currents they were actually very difficult shots but based on their body language I fully expected to hook up. Until I started casting.  These fish were amazingly tolerant and I had shot after shot after shot.  I was a frazzled mess and blew shot after shot after shot.  Bottom line, I needed at least a little bit of practice with the new rod before facing such a high pressure situation.

LESSON 3:  Upon receipt of your super spiffy and super expensive rod the very first cast you make with it should NOT be to a 15+lb carp!

After flailing that pod of fish into hiding things got tough. The day was getting late, the sun was getting high and the carp were getting sulky.  I kept at it though and eventually got just one more shot.  No worrying about the cast. No stressing about the presentation. My mind finally shut the heck up and let my body do what it has done hundreds of times this year. I threw a perfect lob-drag-drop and had the fishes attention. One small strip and it charged. I threw the 4" strip set too early but it was OK because the fish really wanted that Trouser Worm and charged again.  A slight pause on the second strip-set and minutes later the rod and reel were broken in on a nice strong carp.

LESSON 4:  All it takes is one truly incredibly awesome visual take and all else is forgiven.

Carp Ninja and The Crouching Tiger Stalking Heron

2011-09-12T21:26:00.000-07:00

I didn't make up the "carp ninja" term. I am not sure who did but I absolutely love it and will continue to shamelessly steal it. Carp Ninja perfectly describes what is among the most critical skills for regularly catching carp on flies. Carp aren't quite as spooky as people make out but they certainly posses more awareness than the average fish. It takes a while but with some pretty simple skills and changes in behavior you should have the capability to regularly get much closer to feeding carp.

Walk Like This

Walk Like This?

More than anything else carp sense the vibrations that we make as we walk on the bank or in the water.  We must compromise between maintaining silence and covering water but in general an experienced carper will make every step slow, controlled and in a deliberate fashion.  Remember back to childhood when you would heel-toe into the kitchen for a late night snack after bed-time with every step full of suspense and tension. Go back to that time. Recapture that feeling and you are on your way.

Some surfaces will defeat the most experienced carp ninja and it may be a good idea to actually plan your approach around them as much as possible. Heavily entangled undergrowth can be frustrating as every step seems to snap twigs no matter what you do. Gravel and Cobble is even worse. As you become aware of the your vibrations walking on cobble becomes almost physically painful. If you cannot avoid these kind of surfaces take your time and tread lightly.

Wading introduces additional problems and many experienced carpers avoid it whenever possible. When you push through the water you make pressure waves that travel through the water. These pressure waves can frighten carp from a significant distance.  Additionally you cannot directly hear the noise and vibrations that your feet are making on the bottom. Learn to feel the noise you are making on the bottom as it transfers up into your feet. Your feet give you constant feedback and every vibration that you feel is like a klaxon warning to carp.

I have an old ratty pair of shoes with the soles worn almost all the way through. I absolutely love fishing in these shoes because I feel everything. Unfortunately they have betrayed me twice this year leading to wet, dangerous and embarrassing encounters with the bottom. These shoes are now relegated.

That dang turtles beats the rabbit every time
All creatures sense motion. Notice sometime that it is easier to see a carp in motion.  Carp also see you better when you are in motion. The slower the motion the less observable.

When working to very close carp it can be helpful to avoid over-hand casts as much as possible.  At close range I will hold the line to load the rod and perform flip casts, under-hand pendulum casts or slow overhand lob casts. At medium range I will often roll cast even when there is nothing behind.  I posses more accuracy with a roll cast or single handed spey cast but the casting stroke is also less sudden and visible.

When walking the bank and making your approach it is a good idea to concentrate on keeping your motions controlled and slow. Walking slowly reduces your vibrations, makes it harder for the carp to detect you and reduces the occurrences of stumbling right up to a tailing carp.

Cover your arse
There are several forms of cover that make it harder for a carp to get wise to your presence. Dirty water provides the absolute best (or worst depending on your perspective) cover. Best because the dirtier the water the closer you can get to carp. The worst because the dirtier the water the harder it is to find carp and detect takes. It can be hard to feed carp in dirty water, but you can get much closer and must take advantage of the opportunity! This video was filmed in water with about 1" of visibility.  I laid out dead still on the bank with just my hand sticking out patiently for a good half hour trying to touch tailing carp. I managed to touch two which goes to show that you can get very close in the right conditions!

Foreground provides another valuable source of cover.  Hiding behind a bush, tree, shopping cart or whatever you have available works great. Fishing from behind a bush will drive you crazy at times but take advantage of anything that breaks up or hides your profile. I caught my biggest fish last year completely blind while hiding behind a 6 foot bush fishing in crystal clear water to super-spooky cruising carp.  When I saw a carp cruise under the bush I lobbed my fly up and over the bush, counted one thousand one and set the hook. Seeing the take rocks but the mystery of blindly setting a hook into 31" of resistance brings it's own satisfaction.

Background cover may be the most critical and commonly missed for of cover. Next time you are fishing with a buddy pay attention to how easily you can resolve a human figure highlighted against the sky or a distance backdrop. Objects in the foreground stand out like a sore thumb in these conditions. Then have your friend move right up against some brush. Regardless of how he/she is dressed they become much less obvious when the background is close. Pay close attention to what is behind you. Open sky is bad. A cliff, tangled mess of brambles or even cement works nicely and the closer the better.

Shadow gives even more cover. Direct sunlight makes you easier to spot. Much like the ninjas of yore try and work from the shadows whenever possible.

Maintaining a low profile
Sometimes no cover can be had.  Perhaps the fish are in the middle of a crystal clear flat. Perhaps they are tight against a barren shoreline. Your odds of getting really close to a fish go way down but as much as possible you still need to put the stalk on. Beyond moving slowly and quietly the you can add reducing your profile to your toolbox. Moving in a crouch or even on your knees helps as long as you can still see the fish.  Anybody who spends much time fishing high country trout streams spends a significant amount of time fishing from their knees. Why not do the same for carp who are at least as skittish? My biggest carp to date took the fly while I was on my knees.  I hooked and landed my second carp in this years carp slam after I crawled 50 feet on my knees to get into position on a large open sand flat.

Blending In
Camo hasn't made it into my wardrobe. Yet.  Whatever it takes right? At this point I focus on wearing drab natural colors like tan or a light olive in cover.  Some carpers switch to a light blue shirt to better blend in with the sky if they expect to be in the open. I have followed suit but I cannot say if it makes a difference. I did accidentally wear a bright red jacket to the water once this winter. I will never make that mistake again!

Crouching Tiger Stalking Heron
During this summers Oregon carping trip with John Montana I often stopped just to watch John fish. On one occasion he suddenly switched from casual stalk to full on crouching tiger stalking heron.  The difference was startling. I broke out the camera and managed to catch this sequence. That my friends is a carp ninja in action.

Every move was slow and deliberate with a low-profile posture. Money.

Like I said, Money!

Fly-Carpin is ditching the .blogspot

2011-09-06T21:03:00.000-07:00

On a whim this weekend I switched from www.flycarpin.blogspot to the custom domain www.flycarpin. Fly-Carpin is no longer under the thumb of blogspot. Picture a kilted man on a hill holding his sword on high. Freeeeeeeeeeeeeeeedoommmmmmmmmm.

When mom would ask "If your friends jumped off a cliff would you?" I never knew quite what to say. Too little data. How high is the cliff? Why did they jump off the cliff? What is so cool down there? I will let you know.

Of course it actually means very little. Neither you the readers nor I the faux-wannabe-journalist should notice any appreciable difference. Hopefully.

If you feel like it you can change your bookmarks or any links although I am not sure that is even necessary since all traffic to the old .blogspot subdomain gets re-routed.

The Carp Spririts Are Angry

2011-09-04T19:34:00.000-07:00

It has been a heck of a month and an incredible season fly fishing for carp. As a result I have been feeling pretty full of myself. I think this has displeased the carp spirits.  Call me pagan, but sometimes I think the carp spirits are speaking to me. The conversation Friday morning would have gone something like this:

CS: "Feeling like hot stuff lately aren't you?"
McTage: "Yeah, pretty pleased. Heading out to target some big fish."
CS: "Repent! You are just a man! How would you like a 15deg cold front?"
McTage: "Well, OK. I can adjust to that."
CS: "Hundreds if not thousands of carp in relatively shallow and clear water."
McTage: "Now your talking!"
CS: "Except these will be ultra spooky carp that detect you to 30 feet."
McTage: "I can be pretty sneaky"
CS:  "On an overcast day where you can only detect the carp to 4 feet."
McTage: "Torture!"
CS:  "While we are at it lets throw in a thunderstorm that rains and lightnings over you and only you. At about a half mile in diameter you will be able to see dry people on the far side of the lake. When you give up the storm will immediately dissipate."
McTage: "Plan B?"
CS: "Yeah, we better algae bloom plan B while we are at it."
McTage: "I repent!"

I better wash my lucky hat or something. It worked in March on a day where I felt similarly eaten by the bear.

Carp-Slam V Recap - The Big Picture

2011-08-31T23:31:00.000-07:00

As I posted Sunday my partner Clint Packo and I went out this weekend and won CarpSlamV. I promised a full recap. We hooked allot of fish and that was a ton of fun. We eventually landed enough fish that it became pretty clear that we were coming out on top. That was exhilarating. We got to be big deals at the after-party and that was exiting and good for the old ego.

Off The Shnide? (Picture by Darrin Ochsner)

Yes, Off The Shnide! (Picture By Darrin Ochsner)

Fly Be Free! (Picture By Darrin Ochsner, Color Adjusted)

With a little time to digest the event I cannot really say catching fish or even winning was the most profound aspect of the event. Catching this first fish to get off the shnide was a great feeling and winning was even better but with some luck I will catch more fish. With a little more luck I may even win again. Therefore I am going to skip the blow-by-blow and let some pictures do the talking. Instead I want to talk about the big picture that really made this year’s event special.

Team Work! (Picture by Darrin Ochsner)

One of the best things about the day was fishing with Clint as a part of a team. Not as a pro and an amateur but really and truly as a team. No matter how obsessed or passionate, somebody who fishes as a hobby simply cannot have the same depth of knowledge and experience as a long time professional like Clint. These guys have lived a significant amount of their life completely immersed in fly fishing and it shows. Nevertheless, emotion does not always square with reality! Clint recognized that on an emotional level I wanted to fish as equal partners and he completely and totally embraced the idea. I am sure it helped that I really am a bit of a ringer but it still required that he swallow any ego he had coming into the event. That does not seem to be a difficult thing for Clint to do at all. What a great and humble guy. I am extremely grate-full and it would have been a great experience regardless of the outcome.

Clint's First Fish of The Day. Whys Everybody Gotta Be Disrespecting The Sucker?

Undoubtedly the most profound aspect of the competition this year was what it is starting to mean to the fly fishing for carp community. Everybody involved has worked hard to expand the social aspects of the Slam and as a result the event is really starting to become more than just a competition. There were seminars. There were pre-parties to the pre-party. There were after-parties to the after-party. There were carpers and photographers flown in from all across the country to participate in practice sessions and the competition. There were countless spontaneous BS sessions for months ahead of time wherever two carpers might bump into each other. I an sure that every fly-shop employee in the metro area is sick to death, and not just because of the stench.

Target Aquired! We Did Not Lack For Opportunity.

Finally the official after-party was so well done that there is no question that it was a perfect event to take your wife to. My wife had as much fun as I did. She is my best friend and having my best friend there to participate in the fun was priceless!

You Wanna Peice of This??? CarpSlamVI, Take It If You Can!

The revolution needs to stand up and take notice. For now at least, the epicenter of fly fishing for carp culture is at the Slam. Call it the Comicon or Burning-man for carpers. Call it whatever you want but get your butt on a plane, a car, a bicycle or a pink bus. Whatever it takes, get there. This years amateur champion will be there, take my title if you can!

2011 DTU Pro-Am Carp-Slam Champions!

2011-08-28T23:22:00.000-07:00

Yesterday Clint Packo and I won the DTU Pro-Am Carp-Slam championship with 5 carp totaling something around 110". What a rush!

After a long day fishing and quite a bit more alcohol than I have consumed in a long long time (years possibly) I am way too tired to give a full recap. I will get around to it sometime this week but wanted to at least get the news out. Here are some initial thoughts:

Clint caught 3 and I caught 2 which means it was a team effort and that made it all the sweeter!
The Trouser Worm was very productive with something on the order of 10 hook-ups and was clearly the MVF (most valuable fly). Saying it was the fly that won it would be silly because that is not how fly fishing for carp really works. Nevertheless it is a great fly and definitely helped. That felt good. Really good!
Clint can present a fly like nobody I have ever fished with. On one particular presentation he threw a 60 foot single handed spey cast to feed a tailing carp mid-river. The placement, the drift, the action he put on the fly and the take were all absolutely picture perfect. It was the most beautiful fishing moment I have ever witnessed. We didn't even land that fish but I don't care. It was art pure and simple.
Our controller Darrin Ochsner was awesome. We ran him absolutely ragged in 95F heat and the smile never once left his face.
DTU and the sponsors have taken this whole tournament to a new level. In case you are not aware, all of the proceeds go to benefit the South Platte. What a great deal for the river that so many of us love, I am proud to have participated!
Many thanks to my own supporters. Our extended team was relatively small compared to some others but evidently supperior in Karma!

Some Carp Fly Ramblings

2011-08-23T21:56:00.000-07:00

McTage's Trouser Worm

I wanted to mention that I have finally gotten around to deciding on a name for my head-stand worm carp fly. Typing out head-stand worm or just calling it "the worm" for short was getting old. If anybody cares, henceforth it will be dubbed "Trouser Worm". It is kinda crass but has been stuck in my head so long that nothing else would do. If you want to go calling it "McTage's Wee Little Trouser Worm" that is fine too, I am secure in my manhood.

Without Color Adjustment!

Secondly, being relatively new to things I had no idea that you could so easily improve the color of digital pictures. I just figured out that the software I use (IrfanView) has something called "auto adjust colors". It is like black magic. You push that button and on every single picture the color is more vibrant and real. I have no idea how the software knows, it just knows, but expect my pictures to improve!

Finally I put a new under-water fly video of a commercially tied Egan's Head-Stand on you-tube. The original head-stand has a much subtler action than the flies I have been working on recently and uses significantly less weight. The lack of weight combined with a decent amount of drag means that this fly has a pretty slow drop which is a little limiting when I am fishing current. I usually only break it out when I really need less splash-down and a milder action.

Kickin Babies (AKA Trout Fishing)

2011-08-21T18:36:00.000-07:00

Yes that's right. I actually caught a couple of 7-8" Trout in about an hour this weekend. Back to my roots and all that since this one was caught within 20 feet of where an eager 12 year old caught his first trout 24 years ago!

Sometimes it is clear why I like Carp fishing so much. There are so many parallels with the small high country stream fishing I grew up with. In both cases you have no chance of catching a fish until you can sneak up on a fish. In both cases it is frequently (but not always!) the case that the less fly line you have out the better. And there is no doubt that both kinds of fishing are very visual in nature. Of course the connection falls apart if you inspect it TOO closely since I have never even seen a 7" Carp. They exist only in rumor and legend.

Mostly this weekend wasn't about fishing though. Mostly it was about this:

The View Of Town From Our Family Cabin

The top of our big family walk. Of course there were fish. "Chinese Dad Torture"

Miners Were Tougher Than We Are!

The mine-shaft. Very old. Very intimidating.

In Search Of Butterflies.

The family lap dog would repeatedly collapse in some shade and wouldn't move until she received luvin.

Last Carp Slam Practice Day

2011-08-18T18:52:00.000-07:00

There have been some subtle examples of pre-slam intimidation and "rod rattling" (B. Reynolds turn of phrase not mine) going around. Well, I too can play that game.

Game On!

This was a pretty small fish and I didn't exactly slay them on my last practice day, and I don't bear much resemblance to a scary and hairy gangsta type but it is the best I can do.

Overall my practice sessions went great. I am going in with a fair amount of confidence and the new beats setup (awesome, great job DTU!) got me motivated to fish at least 5 miles of new water in July/August.

As a bonus I hooked a fish on the drop today on prototype #3 and it was an absolutely massive take!

The Moment

2011-08-15T18:31:00.000-07:00

A recurring vision of futility kept jumping in and echoing through my skull at random times all day yesterday and on into the night.

Part of the vision is painless or even pleasurable. I see my hastily attached olive ostrich-hearl fly plummeting for the bottom. The grass carp is casually tailing in some moss when the falling fly catches her eye. She goes oddly still until just before the fly hits bottom and then she explodes in a blurred shape across a foot and a half of mossy bottom.

For a take over such a distance you must pause. You must control the urge to set the hook immediately and endure the moment. The moment lasts a split second but it seems longer. The moment is full of suspense and slightly disjointed as a compartment of your mind steps back and coolly watches the action in slow motion while holding another more predatory and instinctual part frozen like a cat just before it pounces. Eventually an alarm goes off in your head, the predator part of your brain is freed into jolting motion and you set the hook.

This time my vision of the moment is haunting. As the scene progresses the part of my mind watching the action seems to go blurry and hazy. I can still see the carp in motion but there is no recognition or meaning to the scene. The moment flows over into eternity. No alarms, no bells and no transition. I feel repeatedly impotent and powerless as over and over again I watch my suppressed predator give nothing but a feeble and belated hook-set. With just the barest sensation of fly bumping mouth the fish reverses direction and thrusts for deeper water.

I have not yet caught a grass carp, or at least not one that counts. At 20+ pounds this particular grass carp is the only fish in my favorite pond that is over 8lb and I have only seen her 6 times. I have only had three shots. I have now botched two incredibly aggressive and visually stimulating takes from this supposedly vegetarian carp. Sometimes in life we only get a couple of chances at something special, here is hoping for another.

In case anybody is curious here are the two flies that this particular grass carp has attacked. They couldn't be more different.

When Something Getting Broken is Just Cool

2011-08-13T00:43:00.000-07:00

I just noticed that Will Rice has actually broken the dial on his Carp Slam competitor page donation meter! That is very impressive and a heck of a good deed by him and all his supporters to benefit the Denver South Platte!

I find this fascinating because the organizers essentially decided they were going to empower all the competitors to be little mini fund-raisers for the cause. I can't imagine they figured it would work out as well as it has but it is a great (and very creative) idea that similar organizations should take note of. Power to the people!

CARPTORIOUS: Dazed and Confused

2011-08-07T21:30:00.000-07:00

Towards the end of a very successful day stalking carp I decided to try an odd technique I was shown a couple of years ago. First you casually stalk out onto a bridge, lean over the edge and sight some carp. Pretty easy so far right? Now perch yourself on the edge of the bridge and try getting a fly into the zone 30 to 40 feet directly below you while fighting current, wind and gravity. Try detecting the take and setting the hook. Somehow figure out how to keep a peeved carp on your hook and out of the pilings while you scramble desperately for the end of the bridge and claw your way down to shore. All in all it is not the thing for me but it was kind of interesting!

This is far from routine but the oddest part was that while carefully orchestrating a picture of my first bridge carp I realized I had not removed my fly. Except I was somewhat sure I had removed my fly and absolutely sure that my fly was not huge and olive. I was momentarily dazed and confused. Anybody missing a NearNuff Crayfish? Partially used, but still in good condition!

Proto-Flies: Working on New Head-Stand(s)

2011-08-06T08:46:00.000-07:00

I have been thinking for some time that I need another version or two of my head-stand carp flies. My head-stand worm is very interesting in that I often get takes on the strip. That was the intention of the design - to have a worm pattern that was more flexible in the presentation. Still, I am a little surprised. After all, how often does a carp see a red worm swimming along in a rocking, bouncing motion? Obviously this is more of an attractor / strike trigger response and I attribute it to the action rather than the overall worminess of the fly. Perhaps I can get even more takes on the strip if I combine that action with a little more body and a crayfishy color scheme.

I will publish recipes if / when the design(s) get finalized and catch carp but at first glance what do people think? Any winners? Any ideas? I am thinking of some combination from #1 and #3.

Off-topic, I am really digging what I can do with my underwater camera now that I am getting the hang of it. Keep tuned, I am going to try and make under-water videos of the drop and strip behavior of a bunch of carp flies.

CARPTORIOUS: Back in Play

2011-08-02T19:12:00.000-07:00

The river is finally back in play and I have been itching to get after it. Really nutso crazy itching to get after it. Saturday afternoon I couldn't stand it any more, gave my wife the puppy-dog eyes and scored three hours on the river.

It seems that I have miles and miles of river to learn and no time to learn it so I hit a new section. The first hour I worked upstream as fast as possible. I took the occasional shot but was mostly moving and shaking.

On the way down it was a whole new me. On the hunt, focused and moving slow. If it looks like this carp has a sparrow attached to it's lip that's because the fly is large (size 4 Primordial Crust) and the fish is SMALL (4lb wet). It exciting though because I got this fish on a blind active swing through impenetrable shadow with just enough upstream mend to slow it down and small slow strips to give it some life. I have been working on that presentation and it has payed off several times over the past year.

Here is another picture of the same fish. I can't get over the size ratio of fly to fish. In size 4 the Primordial Crust is really almost obnoxiously large for a carp fly and I usually only hook larger fish on it.

On the way upriver I had intentionally passed on the fish ghosting in and out of the mess in the picture below because it seemed like too much work when scouting new water. And it was. On the way down=river I spent a good 10 minutes crawling on my butt, hands and knees down through the tangled flood-detritus until I could get into position and flick a Primordial Crust underhand to a carp tailing at the edge of the dead fall. If he had turned left I was out of luck but he turned right on the hook set and I was in business.

In business for landing it that is. A nicer fish but finding someway to get it out of the net and get a decent picture in this mess was a different matter.

After that I was out of time and out of likely water but on my way home a happy man. Two carp in three hours on a totally new section of river in the middle of summer. I will take it!

We Have A Winner

2011-08-01T06:30:00.000-07:00

The winner of the Carp Slam Donation Contest is John Montana from the blog Carp On the Fly. The loot (15 Carp flies in a Days Worth fly box) will be in the mail any day now. I even put myself on lock down and only threw in one unproven prototype.

The Loot

In the NBA he would have had no chance. Due to a generous donation he had a 1 in 3 chance and the numbers fell his way. Eat your heart out David Stearn. We at Fly-Carpin are neither subject to your lottery fixing shenanigans nor important enough that anybody would care otherwise.

This worked out pretty well and we earned $160 to benefit the South Platte. I will leave out the names in case anybody cares about privacy but both the river and I are extremely grateful to:

John Montana (From Carp On The Fly)
Ty (From Finewater)
My Uncle
A friend at DTU
My Wife
My Mother-In-Law

Look carefully and it looks allot like grandma buying a bunch of nasty cookies she cant even eat on her diet just because she loves her grandkids. Grandmas are the best and so are these people!

Denver Trout Unlimited Carp Panel

2011-07-29T14:03:00.000-07:00

As a lead in to the Carp Slam DTU had a panel of experts give a session on fly fishing for carp at their monthly meeting this Tuesday. Many fly-carpin experts have come by their knowledge slowly and painfully. It is not always easy to share and honestly it isn’t always fair to even expect them to. Given this natural reluctance the panelists did a great job and it was fun and I feel extremely lucky to live in an area with such a vibrant carpin community. The panel was:

Michael Gracie (Blogger at michaelgracie.com, part time at Trouts fly shop)
David Luna (2010 Carp Slam champ x 2, part time at Discount Fishing Tackle)
Barry Reynolds (Author of “Carp On The Fly”, ROSS rep, )
Tim Emery (From fishexplorer.com, radio and podcast personality)
Will Rice (Contributing editor at Drake Magazine.)

I was too busy listening to take notes and too shy to whip out my camera and record so I can’t quote directly. I can paraphrase some of the key themes from memory though. Some of my own thoughts on these subjects are also included in red:

Not wasting time on non-feeding carp:

Barry Reynolds indicated that as you learn to read the body language you should develop the skill to be able to tell if a fish is going to eat before you even cast to it.
Michael Gracie is pretty hard core about fishing to fish in a tailing mode. If he doesn’t find those kinds of fish he doesn’t always expect to catch fish and seems OK with that.
For David Luna one of the most important things he had to learn from Barry and others is to not be stubborn and move on when he is not having luck with a group of fish or a certain fly.
I didn’t start catching many carp in CO until I learned to quite wasting so much time drawing to an inside straight. It is hard though.
This is the toughest thing about the Carp Slam. Because you are stuck in a beat you have to draw to the hand you are dealt. They have made big improvements to the beats though, and that should help this year.

Stillwater versus moving water:

Michael Gracie prefers moving water because of the added complexity of dealing with the current and how that affects getting your fly into the zone. He also hinted at needing more weight in current.
I wish I hadn’t been too shy to ask him and others to elaborate because I suspect that many underestimate how much heavier the fly needs to be to fly fish for carp in current.

Grass carp versus commons:

David Luna stated that in some lakes / ponds in CO the grass carp act much like commons and that your tactics can be similar. In other lakes they act totally different.
Barry Reynolds indicated that although vegetation is their first preference they will switch from vegetation to protein when the vegetation is exhausted or there is an abundance of a specific and easy food source.
He also talked about them coming out of the water to strip grass from the bank and leaves from over-hanging tree limbs. His very profound take away from this last story is that one way to find grass carp is to look for ponds or lakes where all the overhanging limbs are stripped clean a couple of feet above the water line.
I just got my first real grass carp take last week and somehow botched it, not sure why. For what it is worth that take was extremely predatory and on a swimming orange soft-hackle that couldn’t possibly be mistaken for vegetation. Even by something with a brain the size of a pea.

Finding Fish on The South Platte:

The panelists were emphatic that in order to find fish on the South Platte all you need to do is get out there and start looking. The fish are everywhere!
Will Rice asserted that it is impossible to go a mile without finding carp and that a bike was very helpful for him when learning the river.
All the panelists got put on the spot about where they would go on the South Platte right now. Under heavy pressure Michael Gracie gave up spot XXXX. I am very fond of spot XXXX, good luck getting me to actually type it out. Everybody else awkwardly side-stepped the question.I would have sidestepped thid question as well. Probably even less gracefully.
My advice for anybody out there starting out is if/when you get the chance to talk with one of the experts (or journeymen like me for that matter) don’t even ask them where to find carp. Even generally. The answer is always pretty much the same and the willingness to talk fades. My favorite quote is from John Montana: “Put your boots on the ground.” Once people get to know you and believe you are putting your own effort into finding spots they will become more willing to talk location.

Approaching carp:

Michael Gracie talked about taking long, creative and sneaky paths from odd angles to get to the carp without spooking them.
David Luna told a story about watching a pod of heavily feeding carp spook when his friend kicked a rock over 100 feet away.
Barry Reynolds likes to stay on the bank as much as possible to avoid sending vibrations through the water.

Presenting the fly:

Barry Reynolds discussed not casting directly to fish but casting past them and stripping the fly on the top into the zone before letting it drop. He also indicated that this is easier said than done at range, particularly in dirty water where you have to get the fly very close. I got my first whiff of this concept from him at a past Carp Slam and it has helped me tremendously.
Somebody in the panel asked about dead drifting flies, probably as it relates to moving water. Nobody in the panel seemed particularly fond of the technique and David Luna indicated that he always wants to do something to make the fish think it has stumbled on food that could get away. He mentioned a drop, a strip followed by a pause while you gauge the response and slowly swinging the fly into the field of view as possibilities. In all fairness there is a sub-culture of carpers not represented on the panel that dead drift flies with good results. I can’t stand dead drifting personally but probably just because I don’t know how.

Feeding just subsurface:

There was considerable discussion about pods of stillwater carp feeding together erratically in a slight nose up attitude on something just subsurface. The panel agreed that they are probably sucking down midges.
Michael Gracie recommended chromonids in this situation.
Barry Reynolds indicated he fishes size 14 and 16 hare’s ears on a mono leader greased to within a foot or so of the fly. Evidently the fly cannot be stripped into position but must be cast or wind-drifted directly into their path or they will either spook or ignore it.
This behavior seems to be somewhat common in the deep summer in CO reservoirs and this was a really fun topic.

Flows on the South Platte:

The panel emphasized the importance of tracking the flows.
Michael Gracie talked at length about how much the flow can vary along the Platte because of tributaries and that you need to learn the different gauges and inflows.
Will Rice has the various gauges programmed into his cell phone and checks them while he is fishing in order to calibrate what flows are good where he is at. When asked he indicated he generally wont bother fishing over 500cfs. The rest of the panel seemed to concur.

Equipment:

David Luna uses a 6 weight (without a fighting butt even!) exclusively. For the most part he finds this adequate although he occasionally has trouble turning hot fish. He finds this slight difficulty worth the improvement in presentation with a lighter rod.
David also indicated that he has had to shift completely to 3X and 4X in the South Platte because of the increased pressure and that 2X no longer produces. Others in the panel were nodding and murmuring in agreement. He also uses a standard 9’ leader out of the box.

The Summer Grind

2011-07-24T22:39:00.000-07:00

Somebody mentioned a couple of weeks ago that I was getting spoiled. That between the superb carpin at the Columbia and the unusually extraordinary fishing in CO when I got back I would have a hard time adjusting to reality. The reality is that fly fishing for carp is rarely easy. It is getting easier every year as my experience grows but there are still times when I have to grind out the fish.

Full summer has arrived to the front range. I am still catching a fish or two every time out which is satisfying since last year July really handed it to me, but the numbers are way down and so is the average size.

My buddy Mike managed to grind out this one last weekend on a small black nymph. We only had about 5 or 6 shots in a couple of hours but managed one apiece.

On Friday morning I took the Mommasita out. Because I am clueless on how to set her up with a spinning rod she had no luck but she took some nice pictures of me landing a decent fish. This fish was extremely satisfying since I coaxed it with a olive / black backstabber at range (60 feet?) with small slow strips. Once again I only had about 4 or 5 good shots but managed to hook two.

Mike and I went back out for a couple of hours this morning to a small lake where he had found dozens of fish feeding tight and happy yesterday. Today they had switched into a bizarre feeding mode where pods of 5 to 15 fish were packed up and cruising 20 to 50 feet out sucking on some kind of emergers 2" under the surface. I am sure that is a awesome sight for somebody who knows what the heck to thrown, how to throw "it" and happens to have "it" on hand. For me it was a disaster. Mike missed a couple that sucked and ejected a caddis dry fly he happened to have on hand but I was staring down the barrel of my first skunk in months. In the last opening in the bushes and the last cast of the day I found this pasty white fella tailing with his back out of the water and his head under a bank. Thankfully I knew exactly what to do because this was one of two shots to tailing fish I had all morning.

It has been a bit of a grind lately!

My Ugly Mug

2011-07-13T16:23:00.000-07:00

John Montana from Carp On The Fly wrote an article about the crazy flood-level fly-carpin on the Columbia River this year in the recent USCARPRO on-line magazine. Great story with some wonderful pictures, go check it out. There are even a couple of images of yours truly (on pages 112-115). Got me from the good side and everything.

CARPTORIOUS: Chasing Carp Tails

2011-07-10T10:56:00.000-07:00

A couple of weeks ago something magical happened. In what I will think of as the "Great Carp Bubble of 2011" all the carp in a local lake went absolutely, completely and totally on the feed. Every second I was there in the last two weeks there were tailing fish wherever you cared to look. On Friday this bubble culminated in a day where there was literally a half mile of shoreline with a tailing fish every 5 feet or so.

Needless to say I did pretty good. So good that I just had to take a break from shattering any and all personal records to capture some carp tail. Enjoy.

I took my family to this lake on Saturday. Armed with some bait and bravado I claimed there was no way in hell they would not catch fish this time. As luck would have it the bubble seemed to have burst in the last 24 hours and the fishing was slow. As we where packing up to leave I heard my wife utter calmly "There goes my pole". This feisty little guy had yanked it in and was calmly swimming away. I had to get a little wet before handing her the pole, but here is my wife's first carp! She was thrilled.

Coaxing Carp On The Drop

2011-07-07T16:45:00.000-07:00

I have mentioned catching carp on the drop many times. I am not sure I have adequately explained what I mean.

Catching huge fish on the strip is hard-on quality cool but it requires a special kind of carp with a certain level of aggression. Carp with that level of aggression are really only common at certain times of year and in certain parts of the country. On the other hand there is something about food dropping from the heavens that frequently triggers a strong and visible reaction, even with extremely passive carp.

What is on the drop?

The idea is pretty simple really and is hardly worth a long post. You are aiming to get the fly above the dinner plate and let it drop straight to the bottom in the carp’s field of vision.

That may be all anybody needs to know, but there are some subtle complexities in the drop presentation.

Why does it work?:

Are carp really used to food dropping magically from the sky? The average Musky hunter probably doesn’t really care why the figure 8 triggers a strike. It just does, and that is pretty cool. On the same level I barely care why carp find food drifting down from the heavens to be appealing. What is important to me is that it works on passive carp. Here in CO we have an abundance of passive carp and something on the order of ¾ of my happiness seems to come on the drop.

What to look for:

If the fish is going to take the fly there will usually be some indication before the fly hits the bottom. You are looking for any changes in body posture or motion. A furiously tailing fish that stops suddenly might be spooked, but it could also be leveling off to make a move on the fly. Likewise when a slowly tailing fish starts tailing furiously it is very likely to be after your fly. When a still or slowly cruising fish surges forward, well you get the picture. In clear water you may see the mouth or gill-plates pulsate as the fish sucks in the fly. All of these changes and many more indicate a take.

If the fly reaches the bottom without any visible reaction from the carp either it did not see it or was simply not interested. You can try and ignite some passion with a twitch, strip or even by jigging the fly but often your best bet is to pull out and try another drop at a slightly different distance and/or orientation to the head.

Getting in the Zone:

How you get your fly into the drop varies based on the situation. If the fish are very close you can simply extend the rod and lower the fly into place. This is deadly even if it occasionally doesn’t feel like fly fishing. When they are a little further out you can try a “lob drag and drop” style presentation where you lob-cast the fly past the carp and maneuver the fly into the zone at or near the top of the water column before letting it drop. At extreme distances you may have to attempt to cast and strip the fly into the zone or even just aim for the magic distance where the fly landing does not scare the carp but they still see it drop.

Speaking of the Zone:

The size of the zone is a complicated subject of it’s own but there is no doubt that it often helps to have the fly drop a little to the side of the fishes head instead of directly in front. I loved this great article "You gotta make em move" from Carp On The Fly which explains it better than I ever could.

Action during the Drop:

I have the most success with a dead drop. By this I mean that I am not stripping or working the fly at all as the fly drops and the fly is dropping as vertical as possible. Another option that can be extremely effective is to let the fly drop partially through the column and then just when it seems to have gotten attention give it some slow action with a strip or by lifting the rod. Sometimes it spooks the carp. Sometimes you get unlucky and actually pull the fly out of what would otherwise have been a take. It is worth trying though, because occasionally a carp will react violently to the idea of a recently acquired target trying to escape. These rare takes can be thunderous.

On the rise:

A similar technique can result in a take I am thinking of as “on the rise”. Although I have only gotten it to work about 10 times now, I have a method that occasionally works and has me very excited. These few have started with a slowly cruising or mildly tailing fish coming directly at me. I land fly past the carp and slowly drag it forward and a couple of inches to the side of the fish. As the fly approaches the head I let the fly drop on a slow arc down and past the eye. Just when the fish seems to have noticed the fly you drag the fly slowly forward just fast enough so that it planes back upward. If you are really lucky the carp may rise up and grab the rising fly. Coolest dang thing I have ever seen! Maybe we will get lucky and Mr P will weigh in because he is reputed to have mastered this or something similar.

Fly Design:

The drop plays heavily into what I think about when tying carp flies.

1) Sink Rate. Your fly can either plummet for the bottom or sink slowly down. Different water conditions and fish behavior dictates different sink rates. A high sink rate sometimes triggers extremely aggressive takes from otherwise passive carp when they try and get the fly before it hits bottom. At other times it seems that a quickly sinking fly is too much work or does not give the carp enough time to acquire the target.

2) Splash-Down: Heavy and bulky flies hit the water harder.

3) Drop Attitude: Your fly can either go into a dive bomb or sink relatively flat. The placement of the weight is important but equally important is the placement of materials and how that affects the distribution of drag on the fly. For example adding a tail has a tendency to drag that end of the fly up and give a little more of a dive-bomb attitude.

4) Flutter: Some flies flutter and breathe as they drop (carp-stew, soft-hackles) while some (hairs ear nymph) are pretty action free.

5) Putting it all together: The balance between drag, weight, sink rate, flutter and splash down gets complicated and fascinating. More weight = faster sink but more splash. More material = slower sink with more splash but more flutter. Less material = faster sink with less splash but less action on the drop.

Win Some Carp Flies: Selling Out for The South Platte

2011-06-29T19:59:00.000-07:00

For the Carp-Slam this year DTU (Denver Trout Unlimited) has set up a system where individuals can "sponsor" a competitor through a donation to benefit improvements to the South Platte. That is something I am more than willing to sell myself out for, so lets have a contest!

THE PRIZE: The winner gets a fly-box filled with 15 of my favorite carp flies.

THE CONTEST:

Go to my competitors page and make a donation.
Optionally leave a comment here or on my facebook page indicating you are in with a donation.
Contest ends August 1st.
DTU will help me tally up the totals. I will work some super geeky excel magic and randomly select a winner. Your odds of winning will be proportional to your percentage of the total donations. In other words, the higher the donation the better your chances.

If we get to $750 total dollars (250 entry + 750 in donations), DTU will offer to refund my $250 entry fee. I am way too lazy to re-balance my checkbook and will refuse the refund.

OTHER WAYS TO CONTRIBUTE:

Enter or volunteer for the Slam.
Put your money on a dead horse and donate through other competitors pages.
For an additional donation you can also attend the after-party Evening On The South Platte.

CARPTORIOUS: Feeding The Addiction

2011-06-26T21:01:00.000-07:00

I met up with the CarpDawg otherwise known as TroutDawg from Fly Fishing Addiction for some fly-carpin this weekend. He is a great guy and is very experienced chasing many species on the fly in both fresh and salt water. Of those species carp are among his favorites and it was a great chance to hit up some local waters with a fellow hard core carper.

TroutDawg??? Is a name-change in order?

Things started a little slow. The lake we picked had gone from carp stacked on the flats to small numbers of isolated and paranoid cruisers in less than 24 hours. We had a couple of shots, but only one that you could really sink your teeth into. Naturally I blew that one up with a slightly errant cast.

This is going to be a risk we take on many Denver Metro lakes over the next couple of weeks. In some of my favorite lakes with clear water it seems that there is a 2 to 3 week post-spawn period where the fishing is unbelievably good. Then in late June / early July the shallows become suddenly and inexplicably deserted for the rest of the season. The word from those more knowledgeable is that the carp don't really come back. At least not in fly fishing range and fly fishing moods with any regularity. That makes me sad.

Fortunately TD had a good backup plan with a little honey hole he likes to call home. I was a little pessimistic since it involved bucking up and facing a recently blown river but it proved to be a good idea. We walked right in on tailers and he hooked a really hot mid to high teener almost immediately. It is that time of year and the carp are getting spunky, but I was a little surprised by the strength of that fish. Things seemed somewhat under control until the fish simply decided to put the wood to him and run directly downriver. Right when TroutDawg made to call that he was getting in to give chase the hook pulled out under heavy pressure.

Ten minutes later I hooked into a bruiser that was tailing hard within a foot of the bank with a Primordial Crust. One of those stop, pop and gently lower the fly 4" in front and 4" to the right kinda shots. Casting not required, crushing take easily identified.

Thank goodness the Dawg had given me a free preview because by the time I was gleefully screaming "backing" I was already on my way in to give chase. I was just barely able to get far enough across and down-river in time. By the time I had gained a little angle on the fish it was just in time to pull it out of a dead-fall about 150 feet downriver. It was a great battle, and at a couple of ounces over 18 pounds this is my second largest carp from the river and by far and away the hottest!

Thanks TroutDawg!

Thanks to TroutDawg for the company, showing me a thing or two and sticking to your guns about the backup plan. Looking forward to the next outing! Not looking forward to July which can be a pain in the ass in CO.

Soft-Hackle Flies For Carp - 2011 Big C Trip MFV (Most Valuable Fly)

2011-06-20T22:57:00.000-07:00

MVF! MVF! MVF!

What is now my biggest fish of any species (23lb) on a soft hackle!

John setting the hook on one of many (60ish?) he seduced with the soft-hackle

John from Carp on the Fly is a big fan of soft-hackles for carp and this was by far and away the most valuable fly last week on the Columbia.  The Primordial Carp-Stew caught me a couple. The Leather Worm, Backstabber and Rubber-Legged Hairs-Ear coaxed a few more. In comparison John caught dozens on various soft-hackle color/bead combinations. Heck, I caught twelve carp on one single soft-hackle fly that John showed me how to tie up in the hotel room after day 1. That fly was a mess by the end of the trip!

I have been a little confused for quite some time about the soft-hackles the Columbia River carpers (I.E. Mr P's Carp Carrot, John Montana's Green Fly) espouse.  I was confused about what feathers from a pheasant to use and what the point was. I have tied and fished a couple of what I thought were carp carrot-ish flies with hen-back or kneck and had success, but they did not bring anything new to the table in terms of presentation or action when compared to a Backstabber. With the proper hackle in place these flies are very sparse yet have an incredibly subtle and seductive action in the water that is totally unique. And deadly.

In terms of presentation, given the conditions we were mostly using it to coax passive cruising or sleeping carp by dropping it into or very slowly sweeping it through the field of vision mid-column. John uses it for tailing fish too when conditions permit, but because of the ever-present heavy flooded vegetation you really needed a fly that would work above bottom and this one sure did the trick. Several even rose up, followed and then gently sipped the fly as I slowly planed it upward past their head. "On the rise" represents a totally new presentation for me. I think John was probably surprised and slightly embarrassed when I started screaming like a pre-teen girl at a Justin Beiber concert the first time it happened.

This fly kicked so much butt on this trip that the first impulse was for it to go straight onto the favorites flies page, but I wanted to at least get one tight line in CO before I did. Mission accomplished. On Sunday morning I had three clear takes and hooked one - on the rise! I lost it, but who cares, it was on the stinkin rise!

Materials:  Bear with me, but John varies the bead-size, body material and hackle color to match different situations.

Hook: Gamakatsu Size 6 Octapus
Weight: Varies. 5/32 to 3/16" brass or tungsten in black, silver or copper colors.
Body:  Cactus Chenille or dubbed body in all the typical colors (olive, black, orange, rust etc).  In the pictures I show a dubbing loop body with orange-ish dubbing to make it interesting, to mess with John who loves simplicity, and because that is what the one fly I caught 12 on had.
Hackle: Pheasant rump in all the typical colors (black, olive, yellow, rust, natural etc.). This can be hard to find, at least in CO fly shops. I had to order some and will just use natural (which seemed to work Sunday) until it gets in.

Directions:

1) You want these feathers. Just one!

2) Feathers Prior To Prep.

3) Prepped Feathers.

4) Add bead, wrap hook.

5) Fill a dubbing loop.

I have over-filled this one to

make it easier to see

6) Spin dubbing loop.

7) Wind dubbing loop forward.

8) Brush dubbing out and back.

This fly came out a little bulkier than I wanted.

9) Add pheasant hackle.

10) Fold hackle.

11) Wind hackle and finish fly.

The Big C 2011: Invasion Of The Carp

2011-06-14T13:48:00.000-07:00

I spent the past four days fly fishing the Columbia river for carp with John Montana. It is difficult, if not impossible for me to give a full blow-by-blow of my visit. There is too much. To many visions of fish ghosting into view through waving flooded grass, brambles, tree trunks and even barbed wire fences.

Only fair to release it to it's side of the fence. Looks awkward? You should have seen us land it.

Dreamy slow motion images of fish gently sucking in the fly amidst total chaos run non-stop through my weary head.

At times it was kind of creepy, but it was also beautiful

There were at least 20 carp in front of me. What, can't you see them?

The most remarkable aspect of the trip was the situation we faced due to the high water in the Columbia River. If, like me, you have never been there things looked fairly normal from the road. A really big river looks like a really big river. Evidently for those that know it the river defied recognition with the main river flooded to the point where scuba fishing with a spear was more realistic than fly fishing.

The grass carp are soooooo jealous

Once you got down to the level of the river the extremity of the situation became more clear. Any and all low-lying planes of vegetation near the river were hiding a dirty little secret. Two dirty little secrets. First, they were all flooded. In many areas the flood plane ran at least a quarter mile from the river. Second, carp had marshaled the stinking hordes and performed a massive invasion of this low lying flooded vegetation.

John Deep Deep In The Shit - And Yes, He Hooked Up!

For now and the foresee-able future any nearby parks, grass fields, shrub-land and farm pastures are no longer the purveyance of man. This is now carp country folks.

The carp were totally game for a picnic

Turtle grass in Oregon? Nah, just good old park lawn

I remember as a child having dreams of how bizarre and interesting it would be to live through a flood. I am sure that most kids have had these visions at some point. Pictures of floating a canoe down main-street and fishing from your front porch. The reality is no dream of course. Floods ruin many lives and livelihoods every year. Nevertheless, I could feel that childlike fascination creeping in many times over the trip and it truly was amazing to not only fish, but have significant success in these conditions. Thank you so much John, I will never forget this experience!

How significant was the success? We will get to that eventually, but if you just can't stand cliff-hangers take a jaunt over to Carp on the fly for the skinny.

Obligatory one-hander. Eat your heart out WFF, I found a 6lber!

Welcome to the jungle

2011-06-10T22:47:00.000-07:00

We fished way back in the shit today on the Big C. John Montana really put us on amazing numbers of fish. It was total dinkin and dunkin as we worked our way through hundreds if not thousands of carp piled up in crazy conditions. Piled up in grass, over roads, under barbed wire and even in flooded picnic areas. John caught fish nearly at will through it all. I had to adjust a little and overcome the most serious case of buck fever I can remember but eventually chilled out and started hookin up at a decent pace.

If next you see me I have full face paint and wearing a gilly suit don't worry. Its just jungle fever, it should pass.

The Big C

2011-06-05T21:13:00.000-07:00

T-Minus 4 days and counting to the Big C!

Last summer I made a decision. I was going to start to participate in the vibrant and sometimes bizarre fly-carpin community on-line and on-the-ground.  I was done lurking in the shadows like a thief eager to absorb others thoughts and knowledge without contributing any of my own.

In December this sometimes awkward but enthusiastic participation payed off when an unbelievably generous offer came my way. John Montana at Carp On The Fly contacted me out of the clear blue and asked if I would like to come on out to Portland and taste a little Columbia Carpin.

I accepted immediately.  Why? Because the fish are enormous and plentiful? Because I feel like John shares many of my philosophies about fly fishing for carp? Because John is clearly a great guy and a master of the art?  Yes, yes and definitely yes, but just as importantly this was an opportunity to participate. To gain a friendship with a fellow enthusiast. To gain new experiences and expand my fly-carpin horizons.

At some point perhaps I will get a chance to take a lesson from John and pay back or pay forward this generosity.

Algae-Scum-Green With Jealousy

2011-06-03T18:18:00.000-07:00

My carpin buddy Miles from MI sent me this today -

"Finally off the schnide with a good fish...Rust colored crazy carper...I wish I would have had the 8 wt as he got very near the backing a couple of times on the 5 and took me into some sparse lily pads in about 7 or 8 feet of water where I thought it would be over...my unworthy knot held!"

Odds are low of me getting out for some carp this weekend, I am algae-scum-green with jealousy.

This is an awesome lake he got this fish out of. Miles is a really nice guy, he would probably give up the spot to anybody in MI who asks. Just email him at closetsnagger@yeah-right.com

Apathy of The One-dimensional One-species Specialist

2011-05-29T19:24:00.000-07:00

For many years I have had a passion for catching anything and everything on a fly rod. Words such as trashfish and bottom feeder have held no meaning for me. Being told "you can't catch that on a fly" felt like a challenge even when it was just plain good advice.  In those years I caught 43 species on the fly and felt intense pleasure with every one of them.

Yesterday I was out fishing with a friend and was stunned to discover just how far I have moved towards a one-dimensional one-species specialist.  Late in a fruitless outing we arrived at the same lake were there have been grassies tailing lately. Either the carp gods were not with us or the low pressure front had put them down but there was nothing to be found.

No big deal. This lake is an excellent LMB fishery. Tie on any number of carp flies and work it blind and I almost guarantee a decent bass or two. Unfortunately I found I had absolutely no interest.   Zero, zilch, nada. When Mike caught a decent 14" LMB blind casting I could barely muster a twitch of the eyebrow and a smile. I made a couple of half-hearted blind casts but for the most part the hook never left the keeper.

It has been 7 months since I have caught anything but a carp. It has been 10 months since I could even muster up the energy to try.  It may be time to shake it up a little.

CARPTORIOUS: Working Hard For the Carp

2011-05-27T21:37:00.000-07:00

As May rolls towards an end I am surprised to look back and find I caught about the same numbers of carp on the fly in March and nearly as many in February. Fortunately what May has lacked in numbers has been more than offset by size. Today was a prime example. I worked hard for most of the day with nothing to show for it, but after several changes in venue I finally found happy feeding fish late in the outing. The action opened with a spunky 23" specimen which took the Leather Headstand Carp Worm fly on a blind strip. The action closed with this 20lb-3ounce (29") piggy which grabbed a Primordial Crust fly on a dead drop with an awesome visual take. By piggy I mean full on pre-spawn river-carp obese. Pretty sure no 29" lake carp would ever top 20lb!

I have been my own worst enemy this spring due to a stubborn insistence that the front range still-waters are going to get totally awesome any day now. Unfortunately it seems that every lake I focus on for a week or two shows promise of getting going and then disappoints.

The first lake I visited this morning certainly dissapointed. Yesterday afternoon I had an opportunity to scout it for two hours. In that time 5 very large carp charged the fly but I missed them all because I was fishing from the top of a cliff with tons of slack in my line. This morning I returned full of hope and energy to find that the carp were not.

The second lake I visited looked like it was going to kick into high gear several weeks ago when I made this post. Since then the water has gone from off-color to chocolate felch. I gave it a serious go, and there were fish tailing, but I just couldn't get them to eat my carp flies and had to move on.

With less than 2 hours left in the outing I arrived at the river. To my surprise I found perfectly clear water, optimal flows and feeding fish. Within 10 minutes I had already missed 3 sweet takes. Within 20 minutes I had the first fish to the bank. Within 45 minutes I had landed what may very well be my heaviest carp to date on a fly. Why had I wasted the rest of the day pounding my head against the still-water? I don't know. What is sad is that I am pretty sure I will do it again next time!

The Grassie that Didnt Count

2011-05-22T22:07:00.000-07:00

The Good: I had much to be grateful for on this day. Getting a day pass from the Mommasita was wonderful. I love my lady, she treats me so good. It was hard to find feeding fish today, but any day were you catch some carp on a fly is a good one. Even if it is just one 23" common. Late in the outing my friend Mike called me up with a line on some grass carp. It was a generous move for him to take me to this spot and for this I am extremely grateful. There were at least six large grass carp feeding furiously in a relatively small area and within 20 minutes I had hooked and landed a big one (32lb, 40").

The Bad: Unfortunately, after winning an epic battle with said grassie I was dismayed to discover that my large olive MMF with the eyes cut out with pliers on the spot (best grassie fly I could come up) was just too light and had not gotten down as deep as I thought. These carp were tailing with an amazing amount of forward velocity. As a result the rapidly moving fish had tailed right under the fly and was hooked right in front of the tail.

I feel like a bit of a shit for being bummed out after all the things I have to be grateful for. Therefore I am going to just let it go. It happens, we will get em next time. I really don't need to be obsessed with another species thank you very much but I am pretty sure that Mike and I will be back. With a box of carefully weighted grass carp flies of course!

Landing Carp On The Fly Rod

2011-05-17T20:15:00.000-07:00

Carp are very strong but they rarely throw a hook and they are not nearly as talented as salmon or steelhead at finding random items in the water to break you off. Your success depends on the size and strength of fish, amount of current and time of year but I strongly believe that you should expect to land an average of 65% to 80% of your valid hook-ups. Based on my log I seem to land around 90% (ponds), 80% (lakes) and 70% (rivers) of non-foul-hooked fish. Everybody has the occasional streak of bad luck, but if you consistently lose allot of carp you might be doing something wrong!

Hitting Foul

People commonly mistake foul-hooked fish for valid hook-ups. It is obvious what happened when you bring back a scale but it is good to learn to how to call your own fouls. The hookup often feels odd, coming with a weird thump and at a time that just does not seem right. Fish hooked in the dorsal fin, pectoral fin or elsewhere on the main body are bullish and hard to turn with little or no pulsating sensation in the rod. Fish hooked in the tail seem unreasonably strong with a rapid frantic pulsating sensation. More often that not the hook just mysteriously pulls out under minimal pressure when you least expect it.

You expect to foul some fish when you are fly fishing for carp but if you are snagging lots of fish you should change up your presentation. Snagging is rough on the fish, doesn't count as real fishing and when it happens you have blown any shot at that carp and any of his pals that are close by!

Are You a Pushover?

You may not be fighting carp effectively. In order to land large carp at a high clip you should learn how to let your rod, drag system and spool/knob do their jobs. The rod is used to absorb shock, apply pressure, align the pressure and gain line. The drag system is used to make sure that you do not exceed the capability of the leader and rod. The spool/knob systems only job is to retrieve and store line that you have already gained with the rod.

Four important concepts for getting everything working together are authority, side pressure, using the butt of the rod and pumping the rod.

Authority: Are you in control or is the fish in control? For smaller or lethargic carp you should be the boss from the get-go. For bigger and hotter carp they may be the boss for the first run or two but then you should take over.

Side Pressure: When the fish are fairly close (<50ft) you should be maintain as much side pressure as possible. This does not mean that you have the rod to the side and low, although that is one of your tools. It means that you are always adjusting the orientation of your rod so that you pulling to the side and maybe just a little towards the tail. Side pressure is the most awkward and confusing direction for a fish to resist and it tends to wear out the fish much faster. Just standing there with the rod bowed in the same orientation at all times lets the fish find the direction that makes life easiest. To help explain I made this ridiculously amateurish graphic!

When you have turned the fish or it voluntarily switches direction that is usually a good thing. This means that the fish is tired of being pulled in an awkward direction and is making a play for something easier. You have asserted yourself, at least temporarily. In the famous words of Cartman from South Park "You will respect ma atoratayyyyy". Now you can change the angle of your rod or even switch it to the other side to keep the pressure on and maintain this new-found authority.

When a carp has made a long run and is far away it is more difficult to apply side pressure. In rivers you can sometimes follow the fish up or downstream. In lakes the fish has effectively taken control for a while. At this point you adjust the drag here and there but otherwise you sit back a little, let your drag do it's job and wait for your turn. When the fish slows down or turns that is your signal to take a shot at being the boss and recovering some line.

Using the butt of the rod: Your maximum authority occurs when the rod tip is relatively low and you are bending the rod near the butt section. It may seem counter-intuitive but when the rod tip is high over your head and bending at the tip your rod is no longer effective. My seven year old could do better than the next graphic, but here it is:

Pumping the rod: In order to use this technique you must first set your drag and trust it to work in conjunction with the rod to protect your tippet. While starting in position A from diagram 2 keep your off-hand away from the the knob and try to gain line with the rod. Your drag sometimes slips during the process resulting in not gaining or even losing line and that is fine. At the best that means that all the hard earned money you spent on a fancy reel is not wasted and you are applying the maximum safe pressure without breaking your leader or rod. At worst you need to tighten the drag a little and try again. Once the rod tip is nearing point B your spool/knob gets to do it's only job which is to retrieve and store line. While slowly letting the rod tip move towards the fish reel in the line. When properly done you are smoothly reeling the rod tip down the line towards the fish while maintaining constant pressure. Repeat and rinse.

I usually fish an anti-reverse (AR) reel which works a little like a spinning reel in that the knob is isolated from the spool through the drag system. Those who are used to fighting big fish with a spinning reel or AR fly reel have probably already learned to pump the rod or gotten really really fit. Why really fit? Because you can knock yourself out and turn that knob as fast and as furiously as you want but if the tension in the line exceeds the drag setting nothing happens or the line even goes out! This annoys the heck out of you the first time you use an AR but it forces you to learn how to fight fish with the rod and trust your drag.

Getting All Knotted Up

Nearly all of us, including myself, could do better with their knots. If you are breaking off many fish, the most common culprit is your tippet connection if you use tippet. Avoid a tippet connection by using a straight tapered leader, or learn one of the 100% class-tippet knots such as the Bimini Twist. If you frequently break off directly at the fly you can practice the fine details of your fly connection or switch knots. You can and go with heavier line, but most of us do not take advantage of the full capability of our tippet as it is.

Timing The Take

Sometimes you may be slightly early or late on the take and get shallow penetration in the carp's lips. The fish also sometimes misses a little on accident or on purpose and does not fully engulf the fly. This seems to be a little more common in rivers where the current adds extra complexity to the process for us and the fish. Both are more likely to miss the mark just a little bit when current is involved. This still happens to me fairly regularly. Unfortunately I know no easy fix beyond perseverance and experience.

Not Using a Net?

Until last year I preffered to beach carp and did not even carry a net. I have changed my tune a little. I now think it is a little less stressfull for me and the fish to scoop them up. Using a net helps your landing rate at least a little bit, particularly at the end game, but it can be difficult to find a net that is large enough for carp and easy to pack around.

Tore Up From The Floor Up
For some reason a really hot carp will sometimes just tear you a new one from the start. Sweet.

CARPTORIOUS: Still-water In a Land-Slide

2011-05-14T14:07:00.000-07:00

I had some help this Friday with my internal conflict between the river and still-water. The river was very good to me last weekend but one look at the flows Thursday night and it was obvious. Find the still-water action or stay at home and pick my nose. It was still-water in a land-slide.

I had to try lake A first which I currently love to hate. Love because it is a crystal clear lake with a shale bottom, scenic beauty and some very large carp. Hate because it is has become clear that it is only good between the last week in May and the first week in July. %$^&#$.

I have a whole different love/hate relationship with lake B. Once again the carp are large but that is where the similarity ends. Shallow feeding fish are available throughout the season but because it has a mud bottom and is fed with urban runoff the water varies unpredictably from off-color to chocolate milk to algae covered felch. You are almost always fishing to dust plumes and bubbles. If you are lucky you get a momentary glimpse of a tail or a shadow. The carp frequently seem to be grazing mindlessly through the muck and even if they are able to find your fly they often seem disinterested. This makes finding the zone, refining the presentation and detecting the take much more difficult than usual!

I have put fair bit of time on lake B and so far it has been a struggle. Relative to past experience Friday was a huge success with two very nice carp landed and a large Koi hooked briefly. The first (nicely sized at 12lb, 28") was landed on a size 8 black / olive Backstabber on the first small strip after dropping the fly by it's head.

The second (a hefty 15 1/2lb, 29") took a size 6 olive Primordial Carp-Stew on small slow 2" strips cast in the general area of a dust plume with a shadow in the middle.

In both cases park-walkers rushed to see what was putting such a bend in my rod and were kind enough to take pictures.

I wish I could provide some profound insights into how to fish the front range mud-pits (AKA reservoirs). If I had them to give I would, but Friday was strictly a matter of perseverance. Darker flies (olive and black) presented very slowly and patiently seem to be beneficial but there is so much more to learn!

CARPTORIOUS: Love-Handles!

2011-05-08T21:18:00.000-07:00

Maybe it wasn't all April's fault since it was my own fools mission. In April I made a decision to lay off my local river a little and focus on finding early still-water action in metro Denver. I could have caught as many 16" Carp in ponds as I wanted but that loses it's appeal pretty quickly. I did manage the occasional shot and landed one fish in a bigger lake but not enough to make it worth the effort. Live and learn.

This weekend I hit my favorite lake very early but once again there was nothing doin. To heck with it. I was crawling off the early spring still-water wagon a beaten and desperate man. When I fall off the wagon I fall hard. I raced to my local river and proceeded to have one of my best days there yet. Five landed, several more near misses and this very large (for me) 17lb carp sporting love-handles of all things!

Love Handles!

The action started quickly. Partially hidden behind a boulder the size of a refrigerator I was able to flick out a foam worm and twitch it along in front of a bank-cruiser. I would twitch the fly forward 6" and he would follow eagerly. On the fifth or so twitch he had had enough and charged the fly. This was an interesting fish. Very nice sized at 12lb, very strong and another one of those lip-less mutants I have been catching in one area. As you can see, my first ever attempt at a timed grip and grin went poorly!

Where is my Head...where in the heck are the LIPS...would he have gone 12-1/2 with lips????

After that I quickly caught a couple of smaller (22") fish. On the first I peeked my head around a bridge abutment and there she was tailing hard only 3' away. I flicked the foam worm underhand into the zone, stepped back, counted one-thousand and set the hook blind.  On the second I cast the foam worm blind into a slow pool and let it drift on a tight swing. After a half second or so the drift started to go weird and surreal as the line started moving upriver. Hello...sleeping-jackass...that usually means a fish doesn't it? No harm no foul as the fish was landed with the fly firmly in the corner of it's mouth.

After that the wind got vicious. Gusting to at least 30mph. I had 3 more awesome visual takes but on all three the wind was doing crazy things with my fly-line.  Every time it gusted at exactly the wrong time and pulled the fly out of the zone early. Two of the fish actually started tailing furiously right where my fly had been just moments ago! That was EXTREMELY frustrating.

In response I moved locations 1/2 mile downstream to a small deep hole behind a dead-fall under a bluff. I had excellent cover and was protected from the wind. I was able to fish within 6' of a group of circulating carp for over half an hour with them none the wiser.

These fish really did not dig the foam worm that others a half mile upriver had attacked passionately. I cycled through 4 or 5 different nymph and crayfish style patterns with similar results. They would either spook at the fly or ignore it altogether. I eventually cycled back to the leather worm.  On the first cast one of the circulators broke ranks and dipped as the fly plummeted for the bottom.    I set the hook and immediately knew this was a big fish, at least by my standards Of course he made a move for the dead-fall almost immediately but I was loaded for bear with 8.5lb flouro, good knots and an 8 weight. I asserted myself, tightened the drag and walked straight down river with the fish in tow.

Crazed Chipmunk With
The Kings Own Fish

This time the timed picture went considerably better as I took a practice shot ahead of time. I did everything I could to get these done quickly but I need practice before I do more of these shots. Hard on the fish!

It turns out I should have chopped my head off on all the pictures since I look like a crazed chipmunk. I had a wisdom tooth extraction earlier this week and am still swollen. I caught one more 24" fish on the leather worm with a drag and drop presentation and headed home. Very happy but also exhausted and starting to ache where that wisdom tooth used to be.

Hare's Ear Nymphs For Carp

2011-05-05T09:10:00.000-07:00

We have all heard the saying about flies being designed to catch fishermen instead of fish. Generally I believe that is not such a bad thing. Purpose built carp flies such as the Backstabber by Jay Zimmerman, Mark's outrageously beautifully carp flies at This River is Wild and my own creations sometimes bring a little extra confidence and that is priceless. Are these flies imbued with a magic mojo that appeals in a special way to carp and triggers a take? I don't care. Catching a carp on a carp-specific fly brings me confidence and intense pleasure.

Every once in a while a reality check is good though. When the carp seem to want something small and subtle I usually go straight to a Hare's Ear Nymph. If I was good enough at keeping a journal I might even find that my most productive carp fly of all time is the Hare's Ear in multiple variants.

I have caught Carp on many different recipes of this infinitely flexible nymph pattern. Throw in a gold bead and you have a weighted fly with a little flash. Add a black tungsten bead and you are ready to dredge the depths. In colored water sometimes adding a flash-back can't be beat. Do you really need a little bit of that carp-specific luvin feeling? Some fine Rubber legs do the trick. Are the fish ultra-shallow and super spooky? A very simple un-weighted variant in natural colors without even gold rib could be the ticket.

I usually stick to size 10 to 14 and my most productive colors have been olive and the traditional tan.

The Hare' Ear Nymph. It turns out that nearly everybody has a couple carp flies in their box!

Decisions, Decisions

2011-04-24T21:16:00.000-07:00

The urban fly fisherman frequently faces some unique decisions that go beyond which fly, what tippet and where to flail. I was confronted with some such decisions today.

Today I found myself perched precariously on a large (1 ton?) concrete slab tilted down the bank 10 feet above a small pool. Large Carp where cruising through the pool every 15 to 20 seconds. I had only decent cover and a single 4' wide window through the trees to flick out a fly.  It was difficult to tell, but they were either on to me or just not feeding. Either way I had run out of time to find feeding fish and was relegated to hoping for an unlikely mistake by my cautious friends.
Suddenly the world seemed to dislocate as the concrete slab slowly broke free and silently and smoothly slid several feet down the slope. It was a very odd feeling and I had time to look left, look right and realize I had no options. Ride it out or break a leg jumping off. Decision 1 was to ride it out.  Fortunately after a couple of feet it came gently to rest against another slab. The conversation with myself on decision 2 went something like this:

Trevor: "OK, lets get outta here"
McTage:  "No way we have time to find other fish before it is time to go home"
Trevor: "OK, lets go home early"
McTage: Silence
Trevor: "Then lets switch to that slab to the left"
McTage: "No cover"
Trevor: "The Right?"
McTage: "No angle"
Trevor: "These fish HAVE to be wise to us now"
McTage: "You never know"
Trevor: "Have you ever seen 127 hours?"
McTage: "Yeah, but I also saw that Carp just cruise through. 20lbs class easy"
Trevor: Silence
McTage: "Cmon, nobody was harmed in the soiling of these under-wear."
Trevor: "Fish on M-F-er"

Needless to say it was a waste of time. Or it appeared to be.  Ten minutes later while starting off into the distance I made the reluctant decision to give in and head out.  Without even watching my fly I lifted and began to reel in. Right into a really big fish.

Ten times out of 10 that means that you just lifted as a fish swam over your fly. It seemed fair but based on the odds I was really sticking it to the fish just to get it to the top for a glimpse.  The next move would depend on where it was hooked. Point the rod or land the fish based on which seemed kinder. To my surprise when I got a good look it looked to be right in the kisser. Somebody had made a mistake.  Both of us had made a mistake really, because horsing it to the max must have loosened things up and pretty soon the hook pulled free. Bummer.

2011 South Platte Pro-Am Carp Slam Open For Biz

2011-04-22T15:58:00.000-07:00

Registration just opened for the 2011 Denver Trout Unlimited Carp Slam. Get your entry quick because I just got mine and the spots should go quickly. Despite selling out nearly every year they made a cool decision to drop the price of entry just so that this poor guy (cheap bastard) could afford to participate. That had nothing to do with it of course, but cmon. if I wasn't at least a little narcissistic and self-centered would I have a blog?

The Carp Slam is a very interesting event and in 2008 it really saved my fly-carpin bacon. It was my first full season of fly fishing for Carp back in CO and it was a total disaster. It turns out that Carp are more difficult or at least very different in CO than in MI. It had been nearly a full season and I was ofer. My confidence was crushed.

My old man to the rescue. Somewhere, somehow he found out about the Carp Slam and gave me a call. "Hey Tage, I know you love Carp but apparently you suck. I hope you don't mind but you need help and I signed you up and paid your entry into the Carp Slam."
The Carp Slam is a Pro/Am draw your partner fly fishing for Carp tournament on the Denver South Platte. You contribute a small but substantial fee to the noble cause of improving the South Platte.  Denver Trout Unlimited (DTU) contributes a great venue, a fun format, an after-party and a professional partner to work with. What an incredible break. An opportunity to get a little guidance from a Master!
As my partner I drew none other than Barry Reynolds himself! My luck eased off a little after that since our beats were scarce in the shots and feeding fish category but who cares. It was fun as hell fishing with a legend and he gave me some good spots, some good advice and most importantly some confidence. I am not sure how you find your Carp mojo getting your arse handed to you in a tournament but I did.

The next weekend I went to one of the spots Barry pointed out, modified an MMF to his specifications (HEAVILY weighted, NO flash) and caught a nice 28" carp within 20 minutes. Confidence and a sweet spot is everything.

For those of you that like a good cause this is a very good cause. DTU is paying for some substantial river improvements with funds generated by the tournament. Just as importantly the tournament has raised the total awareness of the Denver South Platte and Carp as a resource. The increased awarness is good for the health of the river and the spread of the Revolution.

There is one other thing I love about the Carp Slam. If you put two 7 year old boys alone in a room for more than 5 minutes then you have to expect a couple of fart or poop jokes. Inevitable really. If over several years you involve a bunch of avid fly-fishermen in a Carp tournament then you are gonna get a stinky, smelly, stench ridden sleeper cell of the Revolution in TU.  Just as inevitable and nearly as amusing.

FULL DISCLOSURE: This year I have been peripherally involved in helping with the tournament.  These guys are way out of my league in the planning, promoting and vision departments so my contribution to this point has been nearly useless, virtually ineffective and in no way constitutes a conflict of interest. I think.

The Student Exceeds The Master

2011-04-17T21:25:00.000-07:00

Over the past couple of years I have been slowly trying to teach my brother-in-law to fly fish. It has been a bit of a struggle. Not through any lack on his part, he is one of those natural fishermen who usually just believes he is going to catch fish and therefore does. Having pretty much only taught one other person to fly fish, and being nearly 100% self-tought myself I am just clueless as to how to go about it. Today we had a very good day though, and the student exceeded the master!

HOW NOT TO GO ABOUT IT?
Two years ago, lesson 1 started poorly as I kicked him out of his spot and climbed in to show him what he was doing wrong. While attempting the most atrocious drift possible I was saying "See John, this is how you were doing it. When you let the belly of the line drag your fly blah blah blah...." At which point an overly eager brownie just had to whack the dry fly. That was hell on my credibility and had him justifiably pissed off.

Lesson 2 was worse as we spent a couple of hours together on the high country trout stream I fished every second I was able to from the age of 12 to 18. Certain doom. It turns out that watching your instructor catch a fish every-time he even looks at the water funny is discouraging.  Particularly when he managed 5 hits himself and missed all 5. At this point I am sure he had decided fly fishing was black voodoo.

For lesson 3 I took him on an exploration for Carp. This was in August which can be an extremely difficult month in Colorado. I was in the process of trying to work out the where / when / how of August Fly-Carpin in CO. It turns out that figuring some things out for yourself while trying to help someone else is not only kinda jerky but not very effective since neither of us had a chance in hell of catching anything that day.

Lesson 4 was better. This was during the Carp-Slam open where he was my partner. I thought it would be really awesome if his first fish on the fly was a Carp on the fly during the tournament. It was also a chance for us get a full official day fishing together and bond. As it turns out we had an absolute blast and it seemed that he came out of the experience more confident.  This WAS a carp tournament so at times I had to just let him struggle on his own while I tried to get us off the skunk and not-in-last-place (my only goal for the tourney). This worked out as we got not-in-last-place, he caught one 3" blue-gill and I got off his back!

HOW TO GO ABOUT IT?:

Beats the heck outta me, but maybe we did a couple things right today. Beyond getting lucky, after a brief experimental scouting trip I made darned sure we would end up in a place where I was absolutely 100% sure we could find feeding Carp this time of year. Second of all I stayed right there by his side for the first tailer and that was it. He came very close to nailing a couple of shots to that one despite 17mph winds messing with him. Good enough and I skeddadled after the Carp did, leaving him on his own in an area with active fish, my rod and a leather headstand worm. 10 minutes later I heard him gently calling from upriver "Tage...Tage....Got one on".  A couple of minutes and several smiles and high fives later it was mission accomplished. Off the shnide.  Pretty sure it feels just as good for me as it does him! Incidentally I somehow missed my only take on the day (no clue how or why, it was a perfect take) so he out-fished me.  I still have no clue how to teach somebody else, but today definitely seemed like an improvement!

To Move or To Wait?

2011-04-12T21:22:00.000-07:00

This weekend I learned a lesson I have learned many times before. I am sure I will have to re-learn it over and over. When fly fishing for Carp, every once in a while you have to let the Carp come to you.

I stopped off at a local pond around 3:00PM and quickly found nirvana. Six mid 20inchers tailing hard on a small flat. This pond and I are good friends and until recently I was sure there was nothing in there over 20". It is quite likely these were the 6 biggest fish in the pond.

Between a blown shot (lined him) and a blown take (barely stung the lip) they were all gone pretty quickly. For once I decided to wait them out and let them come to me. This is not how I usually operate. I almost always just move on in search of new fish. Well, eventually a 25incher finally came ghosting slowly back onto the flat. I dropped the worm two feet in front and waited until the carp came into range. At 6" I gave some twitches to get the tail wagging and the Carp did the rest. It's not too often you get to honestly believe that you just caught the biggest Carp in a body of water.

Sometimes it pays to let them come to you. Eventually I will really learn that.

Fly-Carpin Wins the OBN / MFC Fly Designer Contest!!

2011-04-08T19:41:00.000-07:00

Victory, Thy Name is Stench!

The MFC Fly Designer Contest Announcement is out and it seems that the folks at Montana Fly Company like the Carp-Stench I am dealing. McTage's Primordial Crust has been declared the winner and will now be included in the MFC Catalog. I will become a designated MFC fly designer and receive royalties! To top it all off they are sending me a hat and MFC Madison Reel. One of those cool fancy patterned jobs.

I honestly have no idea how profound this is in the grand scheme of things. I do know that it was a ton of fun and is in no way hard on the ego. I also know from experience that the only thing more gratifying than catching a fish on one of your own unique designs is watching or hearing about somebody ELSE doing so. This certainly increases the odds of that happening!

Thanks a bunch to Outdoor Blogger Network for setting this up. If you are an outdoor blogger and haven't checked them out yet...do so. They are constantly inventing creative ways to enrich the outdoor blogging experience. Thanks to MFC for taking some Carp Flies seriously. Finally, thanks to the other competitors. Going through the other submissions (1st, 2nd and 3rd place) was a significant part of the fun. Now that I have provided links to the entire universe I will sign off to hang with my Mommasita who just got back from a well deserved vacation in Germany!