A Four Leaf Clover Kind of Evening

At the end of our stay at the Carp Lodge this week, I decided to go out and fish for a few hours late yesterday afternoon. This is not something I can do from my home in western Washington. Starting from the Carp Lodge the water is closer so I can go on the spur of the moment. I went thinking I would fish for a couple hours, hopefully get a couple grabs, and head back to the house (Carp Lodge). I call the house the Carp Lodge when I am talking to my fishing friends and when I am blogging. When I am talking to my wife and my family I call it the summer home.

I had low or modest expectations but cautiously high hopes. Put a fly rod in my hand and put me near water and I always am hopeful.

I don't know what this weed is. I mean aquatic plant. I mean good luck charm. It looked like clover but nearly every stem has four leaves so it can't be the same clover that I work to keep out of my lawn. Little did I know what good luck that was going to be for me!

I drove to a spot I have fished several times in the past. Lo and behold there were way more fish there than I expected. I wish I knew why. I wish I could say something clever and insightful. I wish I could show how good I am at predicting where Carp will be and what they will be doing. The truth is as near as I could tell there were so many fish in this spot because they could see the "four leaf clovers". I didn't know what all those fish were doing there and I don't expect to see them next time I go.

Within in minutes I had a fish on. He took me into some brush and broke me off. Again within minutes I had another fish on and I got him to hand. I had two grabs within 20 minutes and I have to say that is NOT normal. It may be normal for some Carp fisherman who are younger and better looking than me but it sure as heck is not normal for me.

I fished for less than three hours and I had 12 fish to hand. I also broke off some others. I have caught 12 Carp in a day before but never have I done it in less than three hours. I am glad that wasn't my first trip chasing Carp on the fly. If it was I would have been deceived into thinking it is always easy. In fact it is not. It is rarely easy for me.

It was a simply wonderful early evening of fly fishing for Carp. I saw a good number of tailing fish, I saw shoppers and grazers, and I saw slow cruisers. I am assigning a person's perception to Carp behavior but I believe some Carp seem to be cruising with purpose and some seem to just be ambling around looking for something to do.

I hooked some tailers as well as shoppers, grazers, and (purposeful) cruisers. I saw a Carp take a caddis off the surface. He was actually pretty close to me. I cast the Chocolate Cherry in front of his path and within 2 seconds he picked it up; it didn't even have a chance to sink. He had to turn on his side to take my fly. I was ecstatic.

I don't expect this to play out again anytime soon. I started with a #8 Chocolate Cherry on a 3769 hook. I fished only that fly. Good grief, I have no idea what happened but I sure had a hell of a good evening.