Who Ran Down the Road?

Which of these have I seen in the last 6 weeks?

A. The dog picked up the ball and ran down the road.

B. The driver picked up the hitchhiker and ran down the road.

C. The Carp picked up the Carrot and ran down the road.

D. All of the above.

"D" is the correct answer. The Columbia is higher than I have ever seen it since I have been fly fishing for Carp. I have fly fished since 1971 and have chased Carp on the fly since 2004. I was really only somewhat aware of the water level in the Columbia until I started frequenting it. There is so much water coming down that river, just so darn much water! The water is spilling into places it just doesn't usually go.

I caught this Carp in a wheel rut. He picked up the Carp Carrot and ran down the road. Literally, he ran down the road.



This is not a wheel rut that has been submerged for decades due to the damning of the river. This is a wheel rut that people drive on. Regularly.

The two lighter parts in this picture are the wheel ruts. I caught Carp on the Carrot and on a Rubber Leg Hare's Ear right on this road.



What a different, crazy, amazing, Carp season! I am fishing places I have parked my Carpwagon in seasons past. Having the water be so high is unsettling. We currently have some record snow pack. The prospect of rain on melting snow could mean some dangerous flooding in the weeks to come. I'm having fun looking for new places to Carp fish and looking differently at old places to find fish literally in fields and on roads.

Gerhard's Flies

Carp Fishing and blogging have been fascinating to me because I hear from and communicate with people all over the country and even in other countries. I corresponded with a guy in France who inquired about the Carp Carrot.

Last year, in a fairly short period of time, I got a series of questions from three different anglers. I exchanged email with each of these fishermen and I answered each of them in blog posts. Gerhard, from Ontario, Canada, asked about variations of the Carp Carrot. Klint, from here in Washington State, asked about fishing the San Juan Worm. And Robert, from Minnesota, asked about fishing for Carp in dirty water and whether there were any flies that would work and how to keep from snagging the fish.

Gerhard and I have continued to correspond some. After I made my blog post about The Wild Thing Gerhard sent me some flies that he and his friends use for Steelhead. It is amazing to see the variations of existing flies that guys develop. There are lots of "Internet flies" out there that have never been in a fish's mouth but seeing flies that have been used effectively in another part of the country or world is always very interesting and just plain fun.

Gerhard's flies:


Gerhard, it took me too long to respond with this blog post. Thanks so much for sending these flies. I have tied you a dozen of The Wild Thing. I tied them in two hook sizes with different size beads. I have used both sizes and don't have a preference at this point. They are packaged up and I will take them to the post office tomorrow.

Our Carp season is delayed or at least disrupted here because of high water but things will settle down eventually. I will try your flies this summer and let you know how they produce. Thanks Gerhard.

P

The Beginning of the Season

During the first week of May I made my first trip Carp trip of the season to the Columbia River. I wrote a long blog post the following week and had it saved as a draft. On May 11, eBlogger had an outage. Grrrr... It was down for almost a day. From what I understand they were able to restore posts that had been published but not the drafts. There was a message that said they would be able to restore drafts and comments. There have been six efforts that have shown up trying to restore the draft. There is nothing in the posts so I had to start over. Dang it!!


I suppose on the second telling of this trip I could "remember" catching more fish on that first day than I "remember" from the initial telling.


Day One:

Wow, on the first day I didn't catch a fish under 20 pounds! That's so incredible. Okay fine, I didn't catch one under 20 pounds either. I still remember that, so here's the truth.


I had been very busy with home sales and was following up with some transactions that Tuesday morning so I left home later than I had planned. I didn't get to the river until after lunch. The sky was mostly cloudy, the river was high and off color. And the wind was blowing pretty hard too. I just had to remind myself of that old question and answer: "What is the best time to go fishing?" "When you can." I could go for a few days so I did.


I started with familiar water that is easy to wade particularly since the river was so high. I had walked for half an hour and finally saw my first Carp. The rod was in my right hand, there was some line out, and I had the fly pinched between my thumb and forefinger on my left hand. The fish was stationary. Without even thinking I just flicked the fly with my left hand toward the fish. It was a Cy Young award winning flick; the fly landed right on the Carp's dinner plate. I'm sure he could see it there. He sat there for a bit and slowly headed away. I saw two more fish in 90 minutes of walking. I spooked one as I got close to it and the other was a slow cruiser moving away from me. He was out of sight in just a second or two.


I decided to try some new water that I have been eyeing for a few years. I have fished downriver from this spot but never up river. The water upriver from this spot is decidely different than the downriver stretch. Downriver, the bottom of the river is firm and easy to wade. There are some shallows that Carp come in to so it has been a spot where I have experienced some success. From the road the upriver section appears to have some bays that look very interesting; it's just that the access down looks difficult. I suppose I should say dangerous.


Heading down the hill I was having second thoughts. For a long way back from what I guess I could call the river bank there was marsh. Thick cattails, both growing and matted down from the past year, covered a muddy and uneven "bottom". From the road I could see what I thought was the easiest way through the weeds. It took me over a half hour to get to a point where I realized I was not going to reach the river and that even if I did I wouldn't be able to stand and fish.


From where I was I could not see my truck or the road. I knew which way the road was so I turned and headed for my Carpwagon. Not able to retrace my steps I soon found myself really struggling as I continued to step through the matted down reeds and into deep mud. There were some points were one leg was all the way through the weeds and much of it was in the mud and the only thing that kept me from being totally stuck was that my butt didn't go through. I was caught a few times with my right leg through the reeds while I was squatted down with my left knee right in front of my nose.

It was a lot of effort to pull myself out; at one point I thought I would actually not be able to get back to the truck and would have to call 911. My legs were getting so tired and sore fighting with the mud that I could only take 10 or 12 steps and then I had to stop and rest.


It ended up being a day where I never actually made a cast to a fish. I made one throw and that was it. I was so glad to get out of that damn marsh that I pretty much forgot I got blanked.


Day Two:
Well now, day two just looked a whole lot different when I greeted it. The sky was blue, the wind was calm, AND the river had come down. It wasn't exactly clear but it wasn't as bad as the day before.


Familiar, SAFE, water beckoned me. In just a matter of minutes I saw a tailing fish; after four casts to him he knew the fly was a fake and he moved on. The next tailer didn't know the fly was a fake until I set the hook. When he made the familiar, subtle, but not seen for months head turn, I actually remembered what to do. Damn, I love fly fishing for Carp!




He fell for The Wild Thing. I plan to fish this fly a good deal this summer. I'm hoping that it is an improvement of the San Juan Worm but I'm not convinced it is yet. Lots of field testing will be required.

Several other fish including some tailers and some shoppers refused to pick up my fly. Concered that they were just not be ready for a fly as advanced and sophisticated as The Wild Thing. I switched to the venerable Carp Carrot. Bam. Bam. Bam! Nothing works all the time on every fish but they sure do like the Carrot.



I had shots at a good number of fish and a bunch of them cooperated.



I didn't want to take pictures of all of them; I just wanted to go catch another one. I realized that I was shaking some of the time after releasing a fish. I felt like I was 12 years old again. I think I might have been for about 5 hours. After taking me into the backing


one of the fish scraped the leader against some rocks. I was lucky to get that fish in. I didn’t even want to take time to change leader because I just wanted to go catch another Carp. I don’t bother with a tapered leader when I’m fishing for Carp. I go with about 6 feet of 12# for the butt section and then about 2 feet of tippet. Usually the tippet is 1X floro. It was good to change the leader because it gave me a chance, or made me, rest. Fresh leader, a new Carp Carrot, and tight knots; I was ready to start stalking again. It took over half an hour before I was into another fish and it was a nice one. It happened just as it should—the fish was tailing, I put the Carrot past him, and stripped it on to his dinner plate. He even picked it up on the first cast. Like I said, just as it should be. There I am, the fish is ripping out line, just as it should be, but wait, oh hell, the line goes slack. He was in open water so I didn’t think he had cut the leader on a rock. He broke me off sounds good but the “broken” end of leader had a pig tail on it which only means one thing. Arrhhh:...My knot slipped!! Dang it, dang it, dang it!

Day two was simply wonderful. What else is there to say? I brought 11 fish to hand that were all over 12 pounds with some of them in the high teens. Dang it I love catching Carp on the fly. I just love it. It's challenging, it's frustrating, and when it works it's just so much fun.



Day Three:
The weather isn't always cooperative, particularly in the spring. Heck, even in the summer the weather isn't always cooperative. Starting day three I knew getting blown off the river was not just a possibility but a probability.

My legs were still tired and sore from day one so I chose familiar water with easy wading. The river had come up again and the sky was overcast; conditions were more difficult than the day before. Sticking with the Carrot from the previous day the first few tailing fish I came across gave me no love. No love.

After close to an hour this fish turned on the Carrot just like he should and I felt "life is good".



After a couple hours and three fish to hand the wind just got to be more than I wanted to deal with.





The Carp Lodge is almost finished so I'm looking forward to a lot more of chasing Carp on the fly.

Carpaloopers and Super Duper Carpaloopers

In the winter I don’t fish nearly as much as the rest of the year. It’s just too darn cold. That works out fine because I can tie flies in the winter. Besides replenishing my fly boxes fly tying gives me a great deal of satisfaction.

There is orderliness and precision to fly tying. Results are immediate and tangible. Repetition and production are relaxing. It is rewarding to fill storage boxes with dozens upon dozens of flies. It is even more satisfying to line up little armies of flies in the boxes I use when I’m fishing.

There is a creative, imaginative part to fly tying. It is fascinating to experiment with new tying materials and to play with variations of tried and true patterns. Sometimes that experimentation yields wonderful results, sometimes questionable results, and sometimes laughably bad results.

While sitting at the vise on a cold, wet day, daydreaming about warm summer days stalking Carp on the flats I can convince myself that just about any new fly or modification of a proven pattern will be the absolute best Carp fly in the universe. Flies like this have not only never been in a Carp’s mouth they have never even bet wet. Is it okay for me to call a fly that has never been wet a Carp fly? Sure it is. I think as long as I can laugh at myself it is.

As fly fishing for Carp is gaining more and more traction and as there are an ever increasing number of bloggers and fishing forums, imaginative “Carp flies” abound. There are so many Carp flies out there that have never been in a Carp’s mouth, and never been in the water, it’s just plain funny.

In anticipation of the coming Carp season I have a couple variations on existing patterns that I think are going to work. The first is The Wild Thing.

Actually I have already caught some Carp on this fly last spring but only a few. The San Juan Worm is a proven Carp pattern and I’m hoping this is an improvement. It is tied with a rubber band. No matter how it lands it is always three dimensional. The Wild Thing has caught some Carp so it is not really an Internet fly.

Experimenting with some of my Salmon flies I started using rubber tails this winter. I decided to add a rubber tail to a Carp fly and see what happens. Again, when its dark and cold out I can talk myself into believing anything will work. I actually do think this fly has a lot of potential. I talk myself into believing that the Carp will be attracted to the movement of tail. Who knows if it is true? Maybe it will scare them and maybe it won’t make a bit of difference. Time will tell.

The Rubber Tail Carp Woollie:



I tied two flies for this article that I thought were silly or more like downright ridiculous. I put a rattle on the first one and I’m calling it The Carpalooper.

The Carpalooper:




Sitting at the vise I can say the Carp will be attracted to the fly because of the noise. I think that is funny because they are so easily scared. But the more I daydream about it I start to wonder; maybe it will work. I think maybe I’ll put the fly on my blog and say that it will be this year’s big fly.

This next fly is the pièce de résistance, the crème de la crème, the cat’s whiskers, the best of the best of the best. This is not just A Carp fly, this is THE Carp fly. Fly fishing for Carp was revolutionized the day this fly came off my vise. It’s not just a Carpalooper it’s the Super Duper Carpalooper! Not only does it have a rattle; it has a propeller. Noise and motion; how can the Cyprinids resist? They can’t. Fly fishing for Carp will get so easy with this fly it will make things almost boring. (The rattle is made of glass and has two beads inside it. It is inside the mylar tubing on the Carpalooper and under the chenille on the Super Duper Carpalooper.)

The Super Duper Carpalooper:




The rattle I used:




Okay I tied the Carpalooper and the Super Duper Carpalooper because I thought it was funny. It is funny to me because of all the Carp flies on the Internet that have never caught a single fish and particularly because of all the flies I have personally tried for Carp that just haven’t worked. Sitting at the vise and then blogging I can say anything is a good Carp fly. Who would know?

I really do think that The Wild Thing will produce for Carp. I think I can catch fish on the rubber tail fly but I don’t know if it is an actual improvement. Maybe both flies will just end up being Internet flies that don’t catch fish. But here’s the thing. The more I look at my Carpalooper and the Super Duper Carpalooper I find myself thinking I just might actually try these flies. I tied these flies because I thought it was funny and to poke a bit of fun at all the Carp flies on the Internet that have never been fished and to poke fun at myself because of all the flies that I’ve tried that have not worked. Sitting at the vise I have talked myself into thinking these flies just might work. HA! Wouldn’t it be funny if I never catch another fish on The Wild Thing and the Carp just love the Super Duper Carpalooper? Well there you go; I ended up falling for my own silly flies.

Jim is a freelance writer living in Bothell, WA. His home water is the Columbia River.

Reprinted by permission from the NACA magazine. All rights reserved.

A Question From the Hillbilly

Eric, AKA the Hillbilly from West Virginia, or should I say Eric, THE hillbilly , put a question to me. Here is what he said. "As always Mr P, Great Read! I just got into tying my own flies a month or so ago and So far I am Hooked! I just leaned how to tie the San Juan Worm As I posted on my Blog ( http://hillbillybonez.com/home/?p=445 ). My Question is, is it the shape of the worm that catches the carps eye or is it the color or is it a mix of the Presentation and so forth?"

I'm sorry that it took me awhile to get back to you Eric. Thanks for the positive feedback here and in the past. Presentation is most important when it comes to sight fishing for Carp with a fly. There is just no getting around that. You have a better chance of catching a tailing Carp with a poor fly if your presentation is good than you do of catching a Carp with a good fly if your presentation is bad. In the past I have mentioned the dinner plate or spaghetti platter in my blog and in my print articles. Think of the space in front of and around a tailing Carp as a dinner plate or spaghetti platter. For the most part the fly needs to be on his platter for him to pick it up. They will often ignore something farther out even if they can see it. The fly needs to be cast on to the fishes platter or cast beyond it and stripped to the platter. Sometimes the fly will be sitting still and the fish will move. His platter moves with him. He won't even be moving to the platter but because he did move sometimes the fly ends up on his platter and he will pick it up. It is a real dilemna to try and cast the fly on the Carp's platter without spooking the darn fish. Again, presentation is absolutely critical.

What's next on the list? Hmmm... You asked about color and shape. I would add size to the question. I have tried a lot of different flies for Carp that don't work AT ALL. These are flies that work for other fish. I will make a generalization here based on my experience chasing Carp on the fly in three states. I think dark colors work better than bright flashy colors. (Subliminal message submitted here: Presentation is CRITICAL.) So yes, I believe color is important. I think shape is important and I do believe they respond to it but I'm not sure exactly how important it is compared to color. Size also comes into play. If the water is particularly shallow and clear and the wind is down then smaller flies work better. Sometimes you have no alternative but to use a larger, heavily weighted fly to get it down on the fish's dinner plate.

I have caught a few Carp on The Wild Thing but not enough to say it is truly better than the traditional San Juan Worm. I think it will be but I will have a better idea in September or October when I have field tested this pattern for a full season.

Got Some Tugs

I went to Monkey Forks to fish seriously for the first time last year. In 40 years of fly fishing I finally did it. I went again this week with my friend Gary. The first day the weather was pleasant, the wind was light and the fish were nice to us. I really wanted to get fish on dry flies. Like catching Carp on the fly, fishing dry flies is very visual and I love that.

For the most part anglers use Scud patterns on Monkey Forks. I tied some Scuds but I also tied Skitters in small sizes and I'm sure glad I did. I got two fish early on and then went quite awhile without a strike. Then there was a stretch of a couple hours when the fish were feeding on the surface and I caught me a mess 'o them Monkey Forks Trout. This one picked that Skitter up as it slid over where he had risen just 10 seconds before. Since I was really jonesin' for some tugs these fish really hit the spot for me. Not only did I get some nice trout I took them all on dry flies. Even when the hatch disipated I stuck with the dry fly because it is so darn fun.

The second day we worked a lot harder to get just a few fish. That's because the wind was working WAY harder too. How can there be white caps on a small, spring creek? Well there were.

Now I'm jonesin' for some tugs by big fat Carp. Soon, very soon...

Jonesin' for some tugs!

I fished for Trout one time a couple weeks ago. I had a nice day. Still I am really Jonesin' for some tugs. Its not quite time for Carp fishing yet. Early tomorrow morning I'm going to Monkey Forks Creek to chase big Rainbow. I hope they will pick up my dry flies. Wish me luck.