The Wild Thing: A Better San Juan Worm

I'm excited for the Carp Lodge, I mean summer home, to be completed. Part of that of course is to spend time there with Katy. Part of that excitement is also for the weather to be warm and to go fishing for Carp. Hell yes!

Having worked virtually seven days a week for the last three and a half months I have not tied as many flies as I was planning. When you are in sales you have to work when you have work. I have had a lot of work and I'm very grateful.

The San Juan Worm is definitely one of the "go to" Carp flies. I would think that would be true pretty much everywhere but I don't fish everywhere, I fish in the Pacific Northwest and here, it is a Carp staple to be sure. I feel it is particularly effective when a Carp has his nose down and is working hard in the mud. If they see the worm in the silt cloud there is as good a chance that they will pick up the SJW as any fly out there.

The San Juan Worm is such a simple fly. Could there possibly be a simpler fly? I think the majority if not all effective Carp flies are simple patterns.

I have experimented some with rubber band bodies for some different flies through the years. I have tried a few different kinds, widths, and colors of rubber bands. For the record, if any of you want my blue rubber bands you are more than welcome to them. (I may have already thrown them away.) I'm keeping the black ones and the red ones.

The San Juan Worm wasn't a fly that I have actually fished that much at least not until I started Carp Fishing. I fish lots of Chironomids and Blood Worms but they are not tied like the San Juan Worm. Its okay, and in some cases important, to say that a fly is just fine the way it is. Blogging and fishing forums have made "improved" versions of flies common but often they are not an improvement at all.

Mindful of that I think that The Wild Thing is an improvement over the San Juan Worm but I really feel it needs lots more field testing for me to be sure. I made a blog post about The Wild Thing last spring but didn't say any more about it throughout the season. It certainly is a more durable worm imitation than the San Juan Worm. The other thing I like is that it is always three dimensional. By that I mean that no matter how it lands part of it always sticks up. I think that makes it easier for Carp to see. Some Carp have been tricked by it but I need a few days this spring where I see lots and lots of Carp pick it up. I'm anxious for the grand opening of The Carp Lodge. I'm anxious to really press this pattern into extensive service and I'm anxious for the guys I fish with to try it. I'm also anxious for some people who I exchange flies with in other parts of the country to give it a try for Carp on their home waters. I know Carp like The Wild Thing but I want to be able to say they LOOOOOOVVVE The Wild Thing.

P

'bout Froze My Apples Off! The Carp Lodge Part IV

Icicles in distance


Icicles at midistance

Last week when we traveled to The Carp Lodge it was cold. Darn cold! We met with our builder for a few hours to make some choices about lighting and fixtures. We tried to meet on site but the cold just got to all of us so we finally had to go to a restaurant to talk. Both Katy and I dislike cold weather more and more as we get older. Part of why we are building The Carp Lodge in central Washington is so that we can go there in the spring, summer, and fall, when it is warm and sometimes just plain hot. Ahhh... We are both really looking forward to that.

There is Carp fishing over there too of course but I'm not talking about fishing now I'm talking about the weather. It's just a coincidence that there is Carp fishing near the Carp Lodge, that's all, just a coincidence.

When we got up on Friday morning it was 10°. During the night it had gotten down to 5°. That doesn't even count the bloody wind chill factor which was taking it below zero. That's too cold! It had been cold during the week to be sure but the temperature had dropped quickly, it had dropped a lot, and the wind had come up again.

There are a lot of orchards near The Carp Lodge. When we passed one it had thousands of icicles hanging from the branches. It was both beautiful and eeire.

Icicles close up


Framing is coming along nicely. The home is Santa Fe style. It will have a slightly pitched roof behind parapets. The exterior will be stucco and it will have scuppers and false vigas.




This picture is with my back to the river.


There will be no television at The Carp Lodge. We think of these two living room windows as "side by side big screen TV."


And even though it is only a coincidence that there is Carp fishing near The Carp Lodge I am sure looking forward to warm weather with big Carp in the flats.

Hurricanes & Mirror Carp: The Carp Lodge Part III

Dear Fat Mirror Carp,

On February 12, hurricane force winds blew at The Carp Lodge. A neighbor's anemometer (wind guage) registered 98 mph. Someone else observed 106 mph. That is inside of the guidelines for a force II hurricane. The winds lifted a guy's boat and trailer up, moved it across his yard and planted it up against the house with the motor stuck in the ground.

The wind certainly blows hard in central Washington but not usually that hard. I'm glad I wasn't there. It blew so darn hard that it actually tipped part of The Carp Lodge. The builder got it all straightened out and sheeted so things are fine.

We don't see many of you Mirror Carp in the Columbia; a few of course but Common Carp are the norm. Because I don't get to see you Mirror Carp very often it makes you more interesting and exotic. I really don't think that catching you or playing you is any different than catching or playing a Common, its just that you're unusual.

I try not to believe in bad luck; I prefer to believe in good luck. I think that it was very good luck that The Carp Lodge didn't tip all the way over. I think that good luck is going to continue this summer and I would really like one of you porky, 30 pound Mirror Carp to take my fly this summer. I'm really looking forward to it. I hope you are too. See you when the wind calms down.

P

Foundation and Framing: The Carp Lodge Part II

Dear Common Carp,

The foundation for the Carp Lodge was poured and framing began. As you are aware this is a weekend and summer home for Katy and I. Please know that I want you to think of this as your lodge too my Common Carp friends. You and I will be spending more quality time together in the months and years to come. I am already picking out pictures of some of your Columbia River friends taken in years past. Their pretty faces will adorn the walls of the Carp Lodge. If you have a rotund stomach and you take my fly you too can achieve immortality on the walls of the Carp Lodge. I'm looking forward to meeting you; especially if you are just plain fat. I hope you are looking forward to meeting me.

P

Excavation: The Carp Lodge Part I

Katy and I have talked about owning recreational property for years. We have looked off and on during much of that time. The fact is, we could never really afford it. I have changed jobs late in my life (well sort of late) and I'm making more money.

Carp fishing, particularly on the Columbia, got me looking again for possible property in central Washington.

There is so much, actually too much, to say about how we came to finally make an offer on a piece of property on the Columbia. In June 2010 we did. The offer was accepted but we had to go back and forth with the listing agent about the septic "As-Built". Finally, we got it and the loan was approved. It took months. We had met a great builder early in the process.

What can I say except that Katy and I are building a home on the Columbia River. We will enjoy it together, we will enjoy it with friends and family, we will enjoy it with our seperate friends, oh and one more thing, I will enjoy it for Carp fishing. She is very patient with me when I refer to it as The Carp Lodge. Holey Crimeny when the Carp Lodge is finished I will be able to stay on the river for a week. Suddenly Carp fishing will be a series of day trips from my home instead of an overnight trip. I can fish for a few days and then rest my middle age knees for a day and then fish for a few more days.

Katy and I are very excited. The view from The Carp Lodge is wonderful. The Carp Lodge is big enough that we can have guests over and they can have their own bedroom and their own bathroom. Did I mention that the view is very cool?

Construction on the Carp Lodge just started in December. These pictures are from that first day of excavation.

Dear Columbia River Commons and Mirrors--Come this summer you and I will be dancing regularly. I'm looking forward to it; I hope you, my fish friends, are looking forward to it too.

Boom, Boom, Pow!--Before I blogged: Part III

BOOM!


BOOM!

POW!!!

Gotta get-get, gotta get-get, Gotta get-get,...
Boom boom boom, Gotta get-get
Boom boom boom, Gotta get-get...

Yo, I got the flies that rock
You got that bluff overload
I got the that rock and roll
That future flow

I like that boom boom pow
Them chickens jackin' my flies
They try to copy my swagger
I'm on that next trip now

I'm so 3008
You so 2000 and late
I got that boom, boom, boom
That future boom, boom, boom
Let me get it now

Boom boom boom, gotta get-get
Boom boom boom, gotta get-get
Boom boom boom, gotta get-get
Boom boom boom, gotta get-get

Boom boom boom, now
Boom boom boom, now
Boom boom pow
Boom boom pow...

Let the beat rock
Let the beat rock
Let the beat rock

This beat be bumpin', bumpin'
This beat go boom, boom...

I'm on the supersonic boom
Y'all hear the spaceship zoom
When, when I step inside the water
Them Carp go ape, uh yuh...

I like that boom boom pow!!...

"A Stomach with a Handle"--Before I blogged: Part II

Again, going through pictures and trips from before I blogged... This fish had such a fat stomach; it made his tail look like it was a handle. I worked the Washington Sportsmen's Show all day Friday and Saturday a couple weekends ago. I talked to scores of guys about fly fishing for Carp. A few had tried it, a surprising number said they were already planning to try it this season, some said they "had heard about guys who did that", and some asked, "Why would you want to do that? They're so ugly!"

Myself, "I think Carp lips are dang purdy; they ain't ugly a tall." The heck with their lips, look at the gut on this thing!