An Apex Athlete Mirror

One way of saying it would be that "feeling crappy" had passed so to speak.  Dear God, what a relief!

A cloudy morning did not bode well for a day on the river; at least not for the kind of carp fishing I much prefer.  From a distance I like to stalk fish in shallow water, move into position, and cast to them.  (And of course set the hook when they take the fly.)  I was already in central WA so I went fishing anyway.  I arrived at the river at about 10:00.  Come on, I'm 63; I don't wade the river for 8 or 10 hours, 6 hours is plenty for me.  As the morning unfolded I was seeing fish, but often just as I spooked them; damn the devil clouds!  Wind was churning up the water; visibility was not good.

At about 1:00 the wind gods began to favor me.  First they allowed me to pass wind and be confident that it was wind alone.  As I said, what a relief.  Next they started disassembling the clouds.  Soon the the clouds looked like jig saw puzzle pieces just taken out of the box and scattered across the sky.  When the sun shined through the spaces I could see my friends the carp and I could cast to them.  Several 8-12 pound fish sucked Black Betty off the bottom of the river just a pretty as you please.  Dang that made me happy!

Going away, my favorite fish of the day was this apex athlete, mirror.  Just as I got ready to cast I could see the distinctive, large scales.  That made me want this fish even more.  I called out and thanked him when he took the fly.  That was so dang nice of him.  I thanked him for running into the backing and I thanked him for coming all the way back in to the net.  What a magnificent fish!

I love carp fishing and I am ready to go again.

Kaopectate Can Only Help So Much...

Following the Gregg Martin Rule I decided to fish when I didn't feel good.  Admittedly I hadn't thrown up for two days but the other end was still not back to normal.  Heck, I hadn't been sick for 5 years!  Not a cold, not a sore throat--nothing.  How the heck did I get sick for several days?

Well, I can say that I did get out and try to fish, but as I said in the title, Kaopectate can only help so much and after that you just deal with it.  I decided to fish from my Zodiac since I felt so "crappy".  I can sit down in the boat and take breaks.  Never mind that the sky and the water were both cloudy

and never mind that there were so many weeds that I could hardly see fish and never mind that I was getting salad on my fly on almost every cast.  Waa, waa, waa!  It was just not the best conditions and I only lasted four hours on the water because I felt so "crappy".  I moved around the lake for an hour and a half before I even saw a fish.  He was moving so fast I didn't bother casting to him.  I managed three fish all in the last one hour plus.  It helped that the clouds broke a little otherwise I don't know if I would have caught a single fish.

Not every day is a stellar day in terms of numbers.  I got out.  I made the effort. I'm still very grateful.

The Gregg Martin Rule and a Wonderful Day on the River

 Bothell, where Katy and I live, is in western Washington, a minimum of 3 hours from the water I carp fish.  It's not a simple afternoon of fishing and then home for dinner.  It is a commitment of at least a one night stay.  Prior to building the Carp Lodge I always came for at least two nights and tried to fish a minimum of two days.

When we built the Carp Lodge Katy and I anticipated enjoying it on several levels.  We enjoy coming over together.  We walk on the river, we hang out, we read, we talk; it's wonderful.  I fish sometimes when we are here together.  I also come over alone  and fish.  We have had several different friends over--Katy's friends, my friends, and our friends.  Our families have come over and our kids come over.  It's all good; actually it's wonderful.

In the past when I came to central Washington to carp fish, and I was staying in a motel, if the weather was sketchy I would just fish anyway; what was I going to do, sit in the motel and look through my pictures all day?

At this writing I am at the Carp Lodge.  It is in central WA; it overlooks the Columbia River.  I can drive 20 minutes to a beautiful flat. There is plenty to do at the here--I mean besides looking through my pictures and video.  There is no TV here but I don't count watching TV as doing something.  If I am at the Carp Lodge and the conditions get particularly bad I don't exactly feel trapped here.  It's a home.  There is a toilet and shower, beds, a stove and oven, a washer and dryer, central heating and air conditioning, a refrigerator, WiFi (I bring my laptop), a patio, some fly tying tools, and a beautiful view.  Oh, and there's a garage too.  I pull my carpwagon in the garage and don't worry about my gear.  Heck I don't even park in the garage at home.

The sky is clear 300 days a year.  During carp season the weather is warm and often just plain hot.  The view is beautiful.  Again, it's wonderful; it is so easy to be here, even on a day when the weather is bad.

The Carp Lodge

                                              

The Columbia River seen from the back patio

"It is so easy to be here..."  Yes indeed, and therein can lie the problem.  Because it is easy to be at the Carp Lodge it gets too easy to not go fishing just because it is cloudy or the wind is blowing (it almost always does), or the river is too high or too low.  Okay, if there is lightening then I should stay off the river.  But if it's  just cloudy, well, then I know it will be tough to spot fish but I can still try.

Recently I woke up at the Carp Lodge with the intention of fishing that day.  The sky was overcast so I immediately let that transfer to my mood and I felt overcast.  I want perfect conditions!  I felt the draw of being too comfortable holding me back.  I knew that if I was at a motel there would be no question; I would just go fishing.  On days like this I remind myself of what I call the Gregg Martin Rule:  "Go fishing--no excuses!"  Here is a link to a post I made a few years ago that talked about Gregg.  He makes the best of it no matter what!  As I have said before, Gregg is an inspiration.

I held myself to the Gregg Martin rule and I'm so glad I did.  I loaded up my carpwagon and headed to the river.  I wish I could say why the fishing was so good.  Obviously it helped that the sky mostly cleared by the time I started stalking.  Truly, I had not taken 10 steps and I spotted my first fish.  He saw the Black Betty but didn't think it looked appealing.  I was seeing lots of fish and they weren't spawning.  Some were cruising, some were sunbathing, and some were tailing.  Lordy, I love the tailers and the slow cruisers.  I particularly like the ones that will take my fly.  I had a fish in the net in the first 20 minutes.  I had lots of shots at good targets.  I particularly liked that I wasn't happening on fish in cloudy water and then dropping the fly in front of them; I was making casts and shooting some line.  That too me is carp fishing at it's best.

The day was very memorable just by virtue of the numbers.  I lost count at about 16.  I know I had 19; it was probably 20 and may have been 21.  It was a special day because 6 of the fish were apex athletes (between 16-18 pounds).  As I was walking back dragging my butt back to my carpwagon, I reeled in.  My wrist hurt from playing fish and I had reached a point where I wouldn't cast to another 8-9 pound fish.  I told myself I will only cast again if I see a fish that I'm sure is over 15.  Near the truck, I did see one and cast to him.  He sucked up the Black Betty and took me into the backing.  It was a tremendous last fish for a wonderful day.  Thanks Gregg for your positive example.

In the interest of full disclosure not all days are like this; most aren't.  

An apex athlete who thought Black Betty looked good enough to eat

They can't all be over 15 pounds but I pretty much like any carp who will take my fly.

This one was particularly strong and persistent about not coming in.  

This carp was clever but not clever enough to know my fly was a fake until I set the hook.  

Carp are beautiful!

Simply wonderful

Last Year's Last Fish and This Year's First Fish

Last year I saw a grand total of two clooping carp.  I don't count the ones that are just sunbathing with their mouths out of the water; I mean the ones that are actively feeding on the surface.  The two I saw were on the last day of the season and they were right next to each other.  One of them was small and the other one was smaller.  I made a single cast to them and the smaller one took my fly.  I weighed him in the net; he was a whopping 3.5 pounds, the smallest fish I caught all year and my last fish of the season.  I have the take on video.  Here it is:

I thought I would return to that same spot on my first day of this season and see if by some miracle I would see two clooping carp again and possibly get one of them to agree to be my first fish of the season.  I returned this past week to find that not only were there no clooping carp; there rarely are, there were darn few carp around at all. Black Betty tricked three fish.  I was reaching for the first one with the net and the fly popped out of his lip.  Was that my first fish of the season?  It was my first hook up but not my first fish in the net.  I only managed two more in the net over 5 more hours.

My first fish in the net was a mirror.  I enjoy mirrors so much; I particularly enjoy the ones that take my fly.

 

It felt SO good to be back at it!

I went out again a few days later--dear God what a difference--but that's for another post.