Blistered Some Carp. And Me Too

My blogging got out of order last week.  I was anxious to tell about catching Highway Cone and I skipped one of the days before that.  During the time I was in central WA last week I covered a HECK of a lot of water.  Last year I committed to exploring a good deal of new Carp water and this year I am picking up right where I left off.   There are a lot things that are so frustrating about exploring new water.  My legs get tired.  My left hip hurts.  My right knee hurts.  I get lost.  (Not totally lost like I won't find my way home for a few days and like I have to stop and ask someone what my name is but lost enough that I lose an hour or two getting where I want to go.)  Another particularly frustrating thing about exploring new water is that sometimes I don't see a single darn Carp!  How can that happen to such a nice guy?  I just don't know.

Also, I guess I would say that I walked and waded WAY too much last week.

Its not like I have a hard life because I got such a big blister on my toe its just that I'm going to Idaho to chase fat Mirror Carp in two weeks and I'm worried I will have trouble wading.  I may have to ride piggy back on John Montana and cast while he carries me around.  Don't worry John; I'm not heavy--just 182 pounds.  I can keep my backcasts up so I won't snag you.  (I hope.)

While I was driving and walking all over everywhere looking for new Carp spots I did manage to catch some great fish.  I had one on that was over 20 pounds  I played him for awhile until he was about three rod lengths away.  He had been into the backing and was just about ready to come in and take a ride in my sling.  Then he got into some weeds.   Grrrrrr...  The line stayed tight but I knew I was kidding myself.  It was tight because after he got off the hook snagged in the weeds.  

Its like the darn blister.  How can that happen to such a nice guy?  

I did manage to get several fish over 15 pounds and felt pretty dang good about that.  Think of these next two pictures as sort of a composite.  Its the back and the front of the same fish.  Between the two pictures you get the idea.  I didn't want to keep trying to frame the picture correctly; I just wanted to put the fish back in the water.  

To get the picture right you have to be smarter than the camera.  Apparently I'm not.  To keep from hurting myself I need to be smarter than my feet.  Again, apparently I'm not.  

I was smart enough to blister some nice Carp though.  Apparently you don't have to very smart to do that.