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.