Who Knows What Near Perfect Conditions Will Bring?

Right at the end of March I sold a home to my clients Jeremy and Kacie; it was supposed to close on Monday, May 6.  The seller refused to sign at the last minute because her agent told her she was netting $25,000 more than she actually was.  Unbelievable...  The escrow officer said she had never seen anything like it in 20 years.  My buyers had rented a truck and had friends lined up to help with the move.  Oh, and I was planning to leave the next afternoon for a few days of Carp fishing.  Wednesday morning Jeremy, Kacie, and I were back out looking at homes so I wasn't fishing.  Thankfully, VERY thankfully, we found something they liked better than the home they lost even though it was farther north than they had wanted to be.

Beating the traffic out of town, Wednesday afternoon I left for the Carp Lodge.  With laptop in hand I was able to write the Purchase & Sale Agreement from there and set it up for electronic signing; it is a modern, electronic world indeed.

Thursday morning brought what appeared to be near perfect Carp fishing conditions.  It was hot, the sky was blue and there was a very light wind.  I had my Zodiac in the reservoir just before 9:30.  It was awhile before I even saw a Carp let alone made a cast.  What happened to my near perfect conditions?  Don't the Carp know that when there is blue sky and a gentle wind, AND I'm stalking the shallows, that they should be there with me?  At about 10:00 I was casting to only my third fish.  I made a cast then dragged and dropped.  He picked up the Chocolate Cherry and took off.  He was about 8 pounds; I released him at 10:06.

Who really knows how a day will turn out?  You start to get a sense of things as the morning moves along but still, who knows?  I just wasn't seeing the number of fish that I had hoped to; I was hardly seeing any fish at all.  My visibility was good because of the clear sky and light wind so I just headed down the reservoir a mile and a half and then started stalking again.  That is probably not a completely accurate statement.  I didn't "start stalking again" as in I slowed the boat down and started looking for fish.  I "started stalking again" as in I saw some tails sticking up so I stopped the boat and started casting.  A couple Carp turned to the fly and then turned away.  I don't usually change flies as quickly as I did but I had tied some Black Betty's after writing the Purchase & Sale Agreement the previous night and I wanted to use them.  I don't know if it was the fly or what, but the darn Carp started hitting the fly.  In a few cases I would say they didn't just turn to the fly they actually smacked it and took off.  Dang, that makes me feel accomplished and clever.

I know how many fish I think I caught but I lost count a couple times so when I say I released 21 Carp I may be wrong.  It could have been a couple more.  Most of them were 6-9 pounds with several of them being 10 pounds and over.  One was 14 pounds and made a fine showing of herself as she peeled out backing.  It ended up just being an extremely satisfying day.  It certainly left me looking forward to the next day.