Carp On The Fly Reports

Every carp on the fly brings feelings of triumph.  I can only describe the feeling as....CARPTORIOUS

From hot to cold.  From huge to tiny.  You may notice a gap in these reports.  You may notice a significant reduction in scale of the carp involved.  Well, lets just say I seem to have used up all my luck in December / January.  Fortunately itty bitty cute pond carp are always willing to play after ice-out and play we did.







Breaking my personal best DSP carp with the last fish of 2012 was really cool.  Doing it again with my FIRST fish of 2013 was just crazy!  This fish was a couple ounces bigger than the last 22 pounder and was caught sight-fishing with a rust McLuvin.  Two personal bests in a row in the middle of winter, both on my newest fly.  It was amazing.







2012

12-22-2012: Biggun For Christmas
At 22 pounds, my final fish of 2012 would end up being my personal best on the DSP.  Caught blind casting an Olive McLuvin, this was about the best way to close out the year that I could possibly imagine.







12-8-2012: A Casual Winter Day
Winter had finally conclusively and obviously hit.  Somehow I kept what had been one of my best stretches of off-season carpin going strong though and landed two fish.





12-8-2012: A Casual Winter Day
Winter had finally conclusively and obviously hit.  Somehow I kept what had been one of my best stretches of off-season carpin going strong though and landed two fish.



Although I came out CARPTORIOUS in the end, for a short time this was a pretty scary afternoon.  Without some help from my friend Chris Galvin I might have been in some honest to goodness serious trouble.



11-18-2012: Throw Off Your Bonds
In which I rail against the oppression of winter and exhort my fellow carpers to get out there in defiance.  Because, well, I was having my best November ever and so were some friends and I was pretty pumped about it.






Dusk comes fast this time of year.  Fortunately on this day dusk was the ticket and everything came together late for a great day on the water.





As the season progresses, sometimes you just have to give in and blind cast a little.  It really is very possible to catch carp on the fly blind-casting and on this day it paid off.




It was late enough in the year that when you get 6 hours of sun you worship it.  And catching a carp - or three in the process doesn't hurt.



OK, the stillwater action had been nil for several weeks at this point but I kept trying and was finally rewarded and proved out the concept of using egg-yarn for the head on an Egan's Head-Stand in the process.




Celebrating a great day during one of my favorite carpin months. Beer bellies all around. Even if I don't really drink beer.



10-3-2012: That Didn't Hurt
Actually it hurt quite a bit. On an outing with Barry Reynolds I earned 13 stitches while working through a very complicated landing scenario. The memory of the carp will likely fade, but the memory of the scenario and the battle-scar earned in the process will not.




9-25-2012: Falling Fast
Fall had arrived in name and in spirit on this day.  The carp had been getting more passive all September but on the other hand the big girls were out to play and on this day I landed one of my biggest DSP carp of the year.  I also broke my rod on the next fish but landed it anyways!




Soft Hackles are a critical part of my fly arsenal and un-weighted versions can be deadly in the right circumstances and are particularly effective at triggering a take on the rise and when carp are being finicky.  During this trip they really saved the day.





Well, probably not.  Barry Reynold's does though and we got out for some carpin together.  The river wasn't co-operating but we both caught a fish and had a great day.







8-3-2012:  Hot-Really-Really-Hot
When you fish when you get to fish you ocassionally have to put your big boy pants on and suffer through some 100 degree days.  Particularly in the summer of 2012.  On this day the weather almost defeated me but the carpin was great!






I was out this week to chase some carp on the fly on the Columbia River with John Montana.  We had some conditions working against us.  At times I was on my game and adjusted, while at times I had difficulty.  At all times we had a really great time! 






6-30-2012:  Road Trip!
A friend and I went on a little carpin road trip to Greeley.  The fishing was tough and the carp were smart but we broke in some exciting new waters. 









6-6-2012:  Mirra
Give me an inch and I will take the full fly line.  The more mirror carp I catch the more I want.  I caught this one on a yellow version of the Carp Stew that I was trying for the first time and it was a really unique take.








I have to admit that on some levels I am uncomfortable with the idea of fishing Sand Creek less than 6 months after the spill.  On the other hand, the on this day the carpin was pretty good and they were attacking my Trouser Worm over fairly large distances.







While this post was intended to introducing ThunderNet somehow it descended into an excuse to show off pictures of my latest Mirror Carp.  What can I say, catching Mirror Carp was a relatively new and exciting experience for me.  Did you happen to see the picture of it on the left?  Just making sure. 








It wasn't a big carp but it was my favorite take of the year so far that broke in Matt's Carpers Crab from this years fly swap.








4-27-2012:  My Callus Theory
In which I reveal McTage's theorem on carp lips or lack thereof.  What can I say, profound stuff from a profound site.  Caught some nice fish in the process too!






4-8-2012:  Carp Pond C Meets Gregg's Eggs
I finally broke out Gregg's Eggs from the fly-swap on Easter.  They worked great and helped me land some of the toughest pond carp I know of.




It was the best of days, it was the worst of days.  On what was otherwise a really tough spring day I caught what will probably be one of the coolest carp I will ever catch on the fly.  And then botched the photo!





3-16-2012:  March BowChikiBowBow
Things were heating up on this freakishly warm March day in Denver.  The carp were feeling oddly frisky and I even saw signs of ultra-early spawning.




3-6-2012:  Comically Pathetic Takes
I am not sure which was more pathetic.  The slow motion and desperate nature the carp were taking the fly on this day or my inability to time the hook-set.  All in all a great day though. 


2-25-2012:  Quick And Dirty Carp
In a short outing I was lucky enough to have some fun and moderate success with winter carp on the fly. 


2-22-2012:  The Day
It was a rough couple of months for catching carp on the fly but I finally found the day.  The river was post-snow-melt blown but the fish weren't.  While I didn't find many, every single carp I found was tailing. 





2011


It was a great year for fly fishing for carp in Colorado and this post reviews some of the higlights.
TroutDawg on the stalk while fly fishing for carp

6-10-2011 through 6-13-2011:  The Big C 2011:  Invasion of the Carp 
A 23lb carp on the Columbia River, my largest to date!

20lb carp caught on a Primordial Crust carp fly

  
5-7-2011:  Love Handles!
A very fat 17lb carp caught on a leather Trouser Worm carp fly






Ancient History

24" Carp (Nov 2010, Size 8 Orange / Brown Primodial Carp-Stew)

26" Carp (Oct 2010, Size 4 Orange / Brown Primordial Carp-Crust)

19" and 14"! Carp (Aug 2010, Carp Slam Open, size 10 Black / Olive Backstabber)

28" Carp (July 2010, Size 8 Gold-Ribbed Hairs Ear)

Small Carp (July 2010, Size 8 black / olive backstabber)

23" Carp (July 2010, Size 8 Olive Damel Fly)

Zack's First Carp!! (July 2010, Corn)

31" Carp (June 2010, Size 4 Jamie's Krazy Carper, Orange / Brown)

27" Carp (June 2010, size 8 Mr P's Carp Carrot)


High 20" Carp (May 2002, size 8 MMF)


29" Carp (May 2001, size 8 MMF)

31" Carp (May 2001, size 8 MMF, near dusk)
 

11.5 lb Catfish!!!! (June 2003, Hex nymph)

Small Spanish Mack (June 2010, SW Florida, Chart/White Clouser)

Kim's (AKA Mommasita) big walleye (2007, Detroit River MI, minnows) 

MONSTER gill (Zack's 1st fish, 2007)


Friend Miles with a Nice Freshwater Drum (Way back in the day, chart/white clouser)

Miles with a 42" Musky (2008, jointed rapala, cheater!)

Random MI Smallmouth Porn


 Random MI Pike pics 

 Kurt with a 14lb Steelhead (Grand River MI, 2003)  

 

 22.5" Brown (July 1999, Big Manistee, Hex Spinner)

23.5" Brown (July 2002, MMF with a twister-tail added on)










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