Name that Fish!

in search of more white perch, i went back to the local pond yesterday evening, about an hour before sunset.  on the second cast, i caught my only keeper white perch.  it was about 11”.  (sorry, no pic here.  do you need to see another image of a white perch on the ground?)

while there was some topwater activity, the recent warmer weather had me expecting more.  at sunset, i caught my second, which was a tiny one at 6”.  about 10 minutes after sunset, the topwater activity really turned on and there was consistent and plentiful splashes even less than 5 feet from the bank.  the water was boiling everywhere!  in the next 20 minutes, i caught 3 more fish (including losing one).  two of them were white perch and they were about 8-9”, which is undersized.  the last fish was 17.5-18”, but i’m not exactly sure what species it was.  maybe you know?  please post a comment if you do.  my guess is that it is an American Shad, although the mouth shape throws me off.

this fish fought about 3x harder than a white perch, so i first thought it might be a baby striper, but then it jumped a few times in the air, and i knew it couldn't be.

anyways, my guess for why the activity turned on so late is that it was too dark for all the predator birds to hunt (hawks and ospreys have been hanging around), and the fish felt safe.  it's amazing how many factors you have to consider to increase the odds of fishing success.  what a sport!

Damn Midges!

recently, i've been to the local pond a handful of times to try for some white perch.  starting about an hour before sunset, there is a decent amount of topwater activity.  rarely, you'll see some minnows jump out of the water in the shallow areas, but most of the time, you can't see what the white perch are feeding on.

after about 6-10 total hours and 1000 casts, i've only caught 1 perch.  it was caught on a size 10, gold bead head white woolly bugger.  but for all the visible activity, i really haven't interested them in my flies.  i've tried clousers, buggers, and small shrimp flies.

my guesstimate is that they are feeding on midge emergers and adults.  how did i come to this conclusion?

here was one of a hundred on my car

yes, i've tried midge flies of all types and colors.  unfortunately, there seems to be too many around for them to notice my one fly.

High and Dry

currently, i'm in Dallas again so my son can spend some time with his grandparents.  on friday, the weather was great, so i went to the one place i knew exactly where some carp would be.  unfortunately, when i got there, the dam wasn't releasing any water, leaving the tailwater system high and dry.  and i mean Dry.  i walked the whole area and other than two holes, most of the riverbed was exposed.

it wasn't hard to find the carp.  they were schooled up in this one hole and nowhere else.  i estimate all together there was about 75-100 fish...buffalo, common, and suckers.

      

same hole with polarization

i fished for 4 hours and all i hooked was three buffalo carp.  it was hard.  they were not feeding and were so spooked since the water level was extremely low and not flowing.  they were motionless, most of the time not even moving their tails.  every now and again, a group of 6 or seven would break from the pack and venture out only to report back that they were locked in.  i tried picking off the fish that were on the outer edges of the group, but to no avail.  only when a group would break off was i able to interest them in the slightest.  here is my largest one, and i while i didn't measure it, i estimate it to be about 2.5 2.0 feet.

all three caught on an olive Carp Crack.  actually every carp/buffalo i've caught at this location has been on a Carp Crack.  they've refused all other types of flies that i've thrown including, but not limited to, Backstabbers, Blind Squirrels, Egg flies, Sucker Spawns, Eggi Juan Kenobis, San Juan Worms, Montana's Hybrids, McTage's Leather Trousers, Clouser Swimming Nymphs, Prince Nymphs, Midge Emergers, Midge Dries, Griffith's Gnats, Soft Hackle Hare's Ear Nymphs, Dragon/Damselfly nymphs etc.  and yes, i've tried them all in different colors and weights and even presentations!

Beginning Fly Tying for Saltwater

i wish someone had written this post before i started fly tying.  it would have saved me a ton of time and money.  i stumbled upon a post at Flytying New and Old that outlined the materials needed for a beginner to start tying flies.  i think this is an excellent, and much needed, post.  however, i do think it was focused more on freshwater/stillwater flies than saltwater.  here is my own list of what a beginner would need for saltwater fly tying...particularly inshore flies for the NE.

one general thought about color choice.  as Lefty Kreh says, "If it ain't chartreuse it ain't no use."  you also might hear the saying, "it can be any color as long as it is chartreuse."  that being said, the main colors used other than chartreuse are: white, olive, gray, tan, pink, black, red, and light blue.  but as a beginner, and if you are trying to save money, just buy chartreuse and white.

disclaimer:  by no means is this list comprehensive.  i've placed an * next to the items that i believe are necessary.  if you have any questions, or if you want some tying help, or even want to know some tricks to save money, feel free to email me.  good luck and stay salty!

Tying Tools:

• vice*  -  with ability to handle right size hooks (sizes 6-3/0)  
• ceramic bobbin(s)*  -  2 or more will make your life easier
• saltwater hooks* (sizes 2-2/0)  -  i prefer Gamakatsu as a good blend between quality and price
• thread*  -  just needs to be strong enough.  i used Danville's Flax Waxed Nylon
• mono thread*
• general scissors*  -  i use 5" Fiskars
• detail scissors  -  i use Anvil  
• Sally Hansen's Hard as Nails*  -  for securing thread wraps
• super Glue*
• wire cutter -  for cutting bead chain eyes, etc.
• pliers*  -  for crushing barbs
• Matarelli style whip finisher  -  helps create better thread heads on smaller flies
• toothpicks  -  in place of a bodkin
• coffee grinder - it is so much cheaper if you make your own dubbing
• Clear Cure Goo or Tuffleye or Loon's UV  -  i use Aleene's Fabric Fusion
• fly drying wheel  -  helps tremendously when tying surf candies
• different colors of Sharpie markers
• 17-22 lb hard mono  -  for weed guards
• 30 lb mono  -  for making shrimp/crab eyes

Tying Materials:

• bucktail* (chartreuse, white, olive)  -  used in common flies such as clousers and deceivers
• pearl krystal flash*
• pearl flashabou*
• saddle hackle* (white)
• marabou (white, chartreuse, olive)
• synthetics*  -  super hair, ultra hair, EP fiber, etc...although congo hair is cheap, relatively
• polar fiber (white, olive, tan)
• bunny strips (white, chartreuse, olive)
• peacock herl*
• polyester rug yarn (beige/tan, olive, brown)  -  for crab flies
• dumbbell eyes* - brass in different sizes (black, nickel)
• beadchain - (black, silver)
• braid* (pearl)
• estaz (pearl, chartreuse)
• deer belly hair (white, chartreuse, olive)
• craft foam  -  for tying poppers and crease flies

if i've forgotten anything on this list, let me know.

XXA

Man Love

if there was anyone in the entire fishing world (fresh/salt or conventional/fly) that i would have a man love for, it would be John Skinner.  sure, i could have man crushes on guys like Jose Wejebe (RIP), Lefty Kreh, Bill Dance, and all the guys at Skinny Water Culture, but not man love.

John is the author of "Fishing the Bucktail, Mastering Bucktails from Surf and Boat", creator of FishersLog, and is a blitz of information.  (you gotta love a guy who creates software to analyze his fishing).  i had seen many references to John at Surfcaster's Journal, and i think even Zeno has a man crush on him.  i've never met John, but i would love to fish with him.  i'm sure my angling skills would quadruple in a matter of hours.



as some of you might remember (highly unlikely), that one of my 2013 goals is to catch my first fluke this year.  i'm all for catching stripers, blues, and albies, on the fly, but when my wifey says to bring home dinner...

i was doing countless hours of researching on the internet, and couldn't find what i was looking for.  and then...i stumbled on John Skinner's YouTube channel.    GOOOOOAAAALL!!!!

not only did he present the information that i was looking for, he freakin' just caught fish after fish.  and to top it off, he uploaded an underwater video showing the technique and the effectiveness.  what the whhaaaa???

all that being said, the reason why he is at the top of my list is because he seems like such the "salt of the earth" type of guy.  totally genuine, and just loves fishing.  nothing more.    check out his book, YouTube channel, etc....you won't regret it.

Let's Get Kinky!

i bought a hot pink marabou package from a local hobby/craft store, and i've been trying to find fly patterns that will help me use some of this stuff up.

i decided to tie up a couple kinky muddlers for the first time, and see if they'll trick some stripers.  here is the fly pattern i used, with the addition of the pink marabou collar.

King's Kinky Muddler

then, i found essentially the same concept by 'Jonny' at stripersonline.com.  click on the image to go to the forum page.

  

i tied two different versions.  one is the standard, and the second is a 'clouser' variation with dumbbell eyes, and it should swim hook up.




not bad for the first attempt, but not great.  here are my thoughts:

1) i think i need to add a bunch more marabou to get the same pink effect.  mine is looking a little sparse.  i think it's due to the quality of the craft store marabou.  there is too much of the unusable webby portion of the feather.  it works well with some patterns (e.g. used for some pink dubbing), but not for this one.

2) i realized that i don't like this pattern (although i haven't fished one before), mostly because it takes so long to tie, and uses so much material.  i could replace the synthetic, kinky hair with deer belly hair and it would be so much quicker to tie...although just as messy.

3) i'm going to see how they fish, and if they get me a little luvin', then i'll tie some more with more pink.

anybody have any ideas what other patterns i could tie using the pink marabou?

2013 Goals: Get'm Done!

well, 2013 has started off pretty slowly, but at least i was able to end 2012 right.  in December, my goal was to catch some atlantic herring, so i could live line them and see if i could get a holdover striper.

i did a little research, and found out that most people use sabiki rigs to catch herring.  from what i've read, once you've found a school, they're pretty easy to catch.

i decided to tie up my own sabiki rig, seeing as how they didn't look that complicated, and i had all the necessary materials on hand.  i used 6' of 18 lb Rio Hard Mono Saltwater for the main leader line, from which i made 6 dropper loops, and then used about 4-6" of 12 lb Rio Hard Mono Saltwater for each dropper line.  i decided to use the Rio Hard Mono Saltwater mono here so that i could prevent as much tangling as possible.  for the weight, i used a 1 oz kastmaster without the treble hook.  most people use a bank sinker, but i thought the extra flash would help attract some fish.  then i tied 2 different flies, 3 of each.

Red Rocket Minnow
hook: Mustad 3366A - size: 8
thread: Danville 210 Denier Flat Waxed Nylon - red
tail: white feathers from sofa cushion, pearl krystal flash, Celebrate It Metallic Crinkly - iridescent

Simple Glow Shrimp
hook: Eagle Claw ML226N Octopus - size: 8
thread: Danville 210 Denier Flat Waxed Nylon - chartreuse
tail: glow in the dark fibers
body: pearl estaz

Red Rocket Minnow

Simple Glow Shrimp

from what i've heard through the grapevine, there are boat slips 2 minutes from my house that is usually a good place to catch herring this time of year.  when i arrived around sunrise, there were 5 other guys (mostly Russian, i think) already there, all fishing off the end of this slip, within 5 feet of each other.  as i joined the group, i realized these guys are braving the cold to bring food home, and less for sport.  i knew then that i wanted to try eating one.  forget the striper...after all, herring must taste good if people risk frostbite for them.

the technique: cast, let the rig sink until you hit bottom, then reel in slowly, dragging the weight across the bottom.  every few seconds i would twitch the rod a bit, then reel in the slack.  it was not rocket science.  i ended up catching 6 herring in 1 hour time (only one of the other guys was out fishing me).  the hit ratio was 2:1 in favor of the Red Rocket Minnow.

once i got home, i filleted them, and pickled them for 2 weeks.

toasted wheat bread, sour cream, pickled herring, diced onions, celery leaves, and lemon juice.

finally, without much ado, here is my 2013 fishing goals (in no particular order):

1. in the Spring, i want to catch more white perch on the fly, and eat them grilled.
2. i heard that the local reservoir has monster carp.  in the spring and summer, i want to hunt a few down with a fly, ideally using a crayfish pattern.  
3. in April and May, i hope to catch a striper on the flats, sight fishing from my kayak, and using a crab fly.
4. i want to catch from my kayak, black sea bass for the first time, and cook them whole.
5. i want to catch from my kayak, blackfish for the first time.
6. i want to catch from my kayak or from the shore, flounder/fluke and make fish tacos.
7. i want to catch lobster, and make an herby lobster roll.
8. i want to go clamming locally and use them to make linguini con le vongole, with red pepper flakes.w

they're not that ambitious, but very reasonable goals with one 17 month son and another due in the summer.  

more to come, so stay salty,

XXA

XXA's Top 5 Videos of 2012

okay, i know i've been MIA.  i have a been out fishing a few times, but have nothing that interesting to report.  i've been doing some thinking about the direction i want this blog to go, and decided that i want the majority of the content to be about gear reviews, fly tying, and educational information.  no one, including me, really wants to see another grip and grin photo.  i will post some fishing reports here and there, but judging by the stats on this blog, the pages with the the above information has the most page views.  so, stay tuned to XXA v2 in 2013!

now drumroll, please!~  here are my top 5 videos of 2012.  this is purely subjective, so don't complain if you don't see one of your favorites here.

1.  i don't hunt, and it's not about fishing, but this video gave me the tingles...everywhere, and i mean everywhere.  *wink wink.


Searching for West from Helio Collective on Vimeo.


2.  i want to go to there.


REBOUND from SHALLOW WATER EXPEDITIONS on Vimeo.


3.i haven't caught a permit on the fly, so i was peeing in my pants with jealousy.


Summer of 2012 from Chris Lewis on Vimeo.


4.  Bill Wetzel and his passion for the sport is inspiring.  he gets so worked up...which is AWESOME!





5.  the fact that you could potentially catch these GTs sitting on one of the beach chairs, drinking a fruity cocktail, is a dream come true.

Must Try this Fishing Technique!

i'm always on the lookout for techniques to improve my fishing, and i think i found one that will definitely improve my catch ratio.  i'm sure this will also become a huge fad, upon which many new products will be based and introduced at next year's ICAST.
 

Typical Montauk Fall Blitz (almost)

well, i think i made the trip to Montauk two weeks too late.  the wind on Sunday was around 20 mph, gusting to around 30 mph.  unlike prior years, there were hardly any boats on the water...about 7 in total.  while most of the boats had cancelled their outings, we decided to brave the elements.  believe it or not, we didn't see any striped bass or albies, and the blues were of typical Montauk size...a bit on the smaller side.  all in all, around 10 blues in about 3.5 hours.  oh well, that's fishing.

Timing is EVERYTHING

the fishing has started to get good.  really good.

about a week ago, i caught my personal best bluefish.  15 lbs.  pow!  the brute took me on a sleigh ride all around the harbor, and it took me 20 minutes to reel in.  i was on my kayak, and was having the hardest time working it.  if i set the drag too loose, it would take off.  if the drag was too tight, it would just drag me around.  it was hard enough trying not to bump into the boats tied up on their moorings.  when i finally landed it, and laid it down inside the kayak, its head and those chompers were six inches from my crotch.  yowzers!  a bit too close for comfort.  i didn't even take a picture as i wanted that thing weighed and released pronto.

this past weekend, i had one of my best days fishing ever.  i had been going to this local outflow area where i was having fun catching snappers and small stripers on light tackle.  on thursday night, i caught 7 snapper blues and 1 tiny striped bass on zoom flukes in the arkansas shiner color in about 1.5 hours of fishing.  not bad, but not great.  (i know what you are thinking...why would i use soft plastics with blues around?  the answer is that i had no choice.  for whatever reason, they wouldn't hit anything else.)

i considered it good practice as i was perfecting the slow retrieve/twitch that would prove to be key.  i went back around the same tide on friday, and it was completely different.  stripers were busting on bait everywhere!  i kid you not, i landed 20+ stripers in 1 hour.  the largest was 32", and the rest were around 25-26".  for about 40 minutes, i caught a striper every cast....literally.  some other anglers saw all the commotion, and came over and tried to join in.  they asked what i was using, and i told them that the zoom super salty flukes were producing, and I even gave them a few.  they couldn't get the presentation right, so i was the only one catching fish.  all that practice paid off.  the crazy thing was that i left to go home even with the fish still biting.

i ended up taking one home and you can see what they were gorging themselves on...peanut bunker.

on saturday, i went back around the same tide again, and while i caught 7 stripers, the largest one was 14".  it is really amazing how timing is everything.  i'm studying my log to see if i can pinpoint why friday was so different than thursday and saturday.

also, i'm headed to east long island this weekend, and going to Montauk on Sunday to fish the blitz.  this time around, i'm going to focus more on taking pictures for the blog (when i'm not chasing the albies).

stay salty.  XXA

Gift that Keeps on Giving (hopefully)

i'm the richest man in the world!!!!  look what arrived today as a birthday gift from my in-laws.

i guess i know what i'll be doing this winter.  hopefully this gift will keep on giving (i.e. i'll catch some bonefish using flies i've tied from this book).  nice!

update:  i've been going through this book and it is definitely worth the price!

Tailing

western LIS version.

Grace from Above

a little while back i posted a question to Mr. P.  if you don't know who that is, you should, especially if you like fishing for carp.  and i do....i lika da fishing for da carp a lot.

he was gracious enough to answer my question with a post.  "Answer to a Carp Behavior Question".  thanks Mr. P!

Carp vs Carp

last saturday, i met this retired gentleman while fishing a reservoir about 25 minutes from home.  he showed me a lure that he makes from scratch (hook, weight and all) for catching panfish.  using 1 lb pound test line, he cast into the water, and hooked up with a bluegill instantaneously.  needless to say, i was impressed.

since he lived in the immediate area, he told me of a couple of public ponds nearby that held incredible amounts of carp and was fairly open, making it easier to fly cast.  i was an eager beaver to try out the ponds, so i went out yesterday.

and i did find carp.  loads of them.  but i didn't catch a single one in 4 hours.   i couldn't find out what they were eating!  they would come up top, stick their backs out of the water and wiggle around, or...they would stick their mouths up and out of the water, sucking in air or whatever.  i tried dry flies, san juan worms, egg flies, crawfish imitations, damselfly imitations, etc...and i couldn't even get their attention.  the problem was that they weren't moving at all.  if i cast 2+ feet away from them, they wouldn't notice the fly, and if i cast less than 2 feet away, they would spook.  what was i doing wrong?  i think i'm going to review Mr. P's Lessons From the Carp Lodge.  maybe they just weren't interested in eating.

but i got to thinking...maybe pond/public carp are completely different (and much harder to catch) than river/wild carp.  so far, i have not caught a public pond carp, because they just won't pursue my fly presentations.  is the lack of food competition and predators keeping them from being aggressive, unlike river/wild carp?

lastly, i saw one thing i have never seen before, and was able to catch it on my iphone video.  it was 4-6 baby carp, huddled together, slurping the air.  they didn't really spook, and they weren't eating.  i drifted a dry fly right over their mouths, and nothing happened.  anybody else seen this behavior?

8/24/12 update:  turns out these carp are 'clooping' and they are not 'babies'.  they are probably between 4-7 lbs.  since i can't identify what they are eating up top, most likely they are midges.

The 5 That Got Away

on saturday, i was in nassau county again to visit the in-laws.  i decided that i wanted to check out a new pond, one known for its pickerel and bass.  there are also rumors of very large carp which i had to go verify myself.

while this pond was larger and more accessible than the other ponds i frequent, most of the fish i spotted were panfish and bass, and also very very small.  i was able to spy one very large carp from a distance, and as i got closer to make a cast, it disappeared into the depths, nary to return.  

after a couple of hours scouting the pond, i cut my losses and headed to the nearby pond where i know exactly where the carp will be hanging out.  i've mentioned how hard it is to cast here, with limited access and so much weeds/plants in the water.  in about two hours, i made about 20 casts, but only 5 that had any potential.  

here is one pic where the carp refused my fly and decided to scram.  he's slightly lower and to the right than the center of the pic.  the pic below is of an aggressive frog that was attacking my fly line. (can anybody identify the type?)   i noticed it when there was some splashing at my feet, and the frog was going crazy trying to bite my fly line!  little bugger...he ruined a good opportunity.  sheesh.

Nervous Water

i was lucky this past weekend to get out and go fishing three times. on friday, i made a last minute decision to catch the evening tide and try to line some porgy for dinner. i launched the kayak 5 minutes from my house at around 4:45 PM, which was about 1.75 hours before high tide. the water temperatures were in the low 70s (a bit too hot) and the wind was nonexistent.  failing at finding any scup, i started paddling around the harbor.

per usual, there was bunker everywhere.

 

imagine there to be about 20 of these pods, all around the boat moorings.  for the most part, there were no bass or blues working them.  they seemed to be so content, just flipping about, slowly moving from one area to another.  with the kayak, i can get extremely close to these schools, and i can see the hundreds of adult bunker just circling around.

knowing that live bait was my best bet to catch  something, i snagged a bunker, put it on a circle hook and left the pole in my flush mount rod holder.  i then alternated between flies and lures, casting around the edges of the pods to see if anything would take.

unfortunately, nada.

my thought was that it was just too hot for any action.  no worries, though.  this just means that september, when the water has cooled down, is going to be craaaaaazzzzyy!

XXA

Oracles

in antiquity, there were oracles who prophesied the future, divined by the gods.  later, in the 1500s, there was Nostradamus.  today, there are meteorologists who prophesize based on science. isn't it amazing how often meteorologists get it wrong?  if there is one thing i have learned in my career/life, it's that past performance is not indicative of future results.

it's amazing how much we anglers depend on the weather.  we study, we prepare, we make journal entries, all in the hope that we can decipher not only when to go fishing, but how the weather helps or hurts our success.

my plan was to go out fishing on the yak by 4:30 AM this past saturday.  the sunrises at around 5:45, so it gave me about an hour of fishing in the dark.  there is so much bunker around, and with the recent cooler temperatures, i thought it would be ideal setup for catching some stripers.

i check weather.com and wunderground.com for weather daily (it's amazing how they differ sometimes).  for saturday morning, it predicted a 20% chance of rain all day, and wind of around 6 mph out of east.

i woke up around 3:15 AM, did my 'business', packed up and left around 4:00.  i arrived at the launch site, and was prepared to launch when i noticed a stiff breeze.  i ignored it, hopped in the kayak, and started paddling, i then noticed all the noise.  all the boats that were docked at their slips were rocking about and occasionally bumping into the sides of their slips.  i thought that it was pretty weird, because 6 mph is essentially no wind.  each time i've gone out in similar wind situations, the water has been like glass.  i checked my weather apps again, and there had been no change from the night before.  wind around 7 mph.

as i paddled out of the protected area into open water, i saw tiny little whitecaps.  what the whaaa?  i decided to check the western long island sound weather buoy for wind data.  the wind was 17 mph with gusts up to 22 mph. okay, that made so much more sense.

i thought about it for a few minutes, and decided to paddle back to the car.  it wasn't worth it to fish in that scenario.  i try not to kayak in winds greater than 15 mph because paddling the freedomhawk in that kind of wind is a chore, and setting up a good drift is next to impossible.  i also convinced myself that the bait would be pushed down a bit, so i wouldn't be able to find them.

since i was up so early, i ended up going to a local park on the water, and fishing off a point.  i caught one snapper blue (didn't take a picture) on a kastmaster, had another one chase down my skitter pop (amazing that i didn't hook up there), and another one bite off the tail of my storm wildeye shad pearl.

anyways, on the leeward side of the point, there were a bunch of silversides.  every time a twig or something floated by, they would hurdle it as if it were fun.  never seen that before.

it's my son's first birthday party this weekend.  i've been crazy preparing for it.  hopefully i  can get out on the kayak soon since i've heard there are some bruiser blues out there.

until then, stay salty. XXA

Carp + Suspicious

was out in LI this past weekend to visit my mother-in-law, and decided to try my hand at catching those carp in that nearby public pond.  you can see that the pond is fairly weedy, but pretty shallow.  i was fishing an area that held the deepest part of the pond, at 5 feet.  bluegill are rampant, and there are bass up to 5 lbs in this very spot.



i tried using fly patterns that imitated crawfish, eggs, damselflies, and worms (san juan), but the carp would come and inspect the fly, and then move on. i'm sure they were suspicious.  argh.  it was hard to present them with a fly that requires some minor stripping since one strip would pull the fly into some weeds (even with some mono weedguards).  i think the issue was either that my presentation was wrong, or the fish had become so used to people feeding them bread, they just weren't that aggressive (so i've heard).  i think it's more likely the first scenario.

frustrated, i ended up deciding to switch to the spinning rod, and landed a 10 lb.  of course, it was the smallest one that i spotted.

 


on a side note...is it weird if someone decides to fish next to you, and then spends a lot of time eyeing your gear? i had my fly rod, fly boxes, and spinning gear/lures on the ground next to me, and this person who decided to fish 5 feet from me, kept staring at what i had. it made me so suspicious, but should i have been?

Lessons Learned

this past weekend, i was out in long island visiting my mother in law who was recently admitted to an acute rehabilitation center after falling and breaking her hip.  i knew that i would have some time to spare, so after a few minutes of research, i took off to a local spot to to try and catch some carp on the fly.

i got to the pond around 3:15 pm and the conditions were okay because it wasn't too hot, but was a bit overcast.  while walking the shoreline, i met this older gentleman who walks the pond daily, and he actually showed me two carp hangouts.  he doesn't actually fish but on his walks he stops and tries to spot birds or fish. within minutes, i spot a lone carp, probably between 10-15 lbs.  he knowingly said that they don't like noise, so he left me to it.

i must have spotted a dozen different carp, all probably exceeding 10 lbs.  some were absolutely enormous, and some actually tailing a few times.  i must have has around 50 shots.  so what went wrong?

first, the water was stained, so it was hard to spot the fish in the first place.  i had to wait until they rose to the top of the water column, or search for streaming bubbles.  secondly, and more significantly, there was just not enough room to cast.  i had about 4 feet of clearing behind me and about 6 feet above me.  the carp were only 20-25 feet away but i couldn't get the fly in front of them.  i tried roll casting (which I'm not very good at) but to no avail because i couldn't get enough line out to load the rod.  anybody have any advice on how to deal with this? 

frustrated, i go check out the other spot the gentleman mentioned, but I didn't see any fish after about 30 minutes.  i thought, "never leave fish to find fish", so i head back to the first spot and i run into two anglers headed to the same destination.  they were there to catch dinner, and were going to use worms to catch panfish.  i could feel myself get snobby while saying that i was there to catch CARP, on the FLY.  as i said that, one of the anglers said that there was no way i could catch carp using a fly.  i needed to use bait, such as corn, and chum the area first.  he was incredibly condescending.

so i guess snobbery goes both ways.  mind you, i don't usually look down on bait fisherman...in fact, i will will often use bait myself.  i am not sure why i felt that way then, but perhaps it was because i was pushed out of my spot.  i decided to fish about 20 feet away from them, which happened to be the only other shoreline accessible spot.  as i was changing my fly, one of the anglers made his first catch, and proceeded to catch a sunfish.  they quickly followed with 4 more panfish.  5 fish before i even changed my fly!  that's crazy!  i guess he felt sorry for me, and offered to share his worms with me.  it was this gesture of kindness that really put me in my place.  i was there to fish, and hopefully catch fish.  why was i so adamant on catch carp, and why was i so stubborn to use a fly rod.  i had brought along my spinning rod, so why was i hesitant to use it?

lesson #1:  don't be prideful

i actually pulled out my spinning rod, put on a plastic tube, and within 5 minutes, caught myself a bluegill (let me know if i misidentified it).  in truth, catching it just didn't do it for me, so i decided then i would rather not catch anything while trying to catch carp on the fly, than to catch panfish using a spinning rod (panfish on the fly is fun, but again, i wasn't able to cast a fly far enough to get to where they were).  this doesn't make any sense, but the saying that popped into my head at the time was, "it is better to have loved and lost, than never to have loved at all".

i pride myself on being a problem solver, so as i was driving home, i put my head to it, and tried to find a solution to my casting problem.  i thought, i just need more room above me.  i also needed to use a heavier line, so that what little line that was outside of the rod could carry the fly. 

i went back to the pond around 7 AM the next morning with a plan.  i changed my setup from my 8' 6" 5wt rod, to my Sage smallmouth bass rod.  the Sage rod is 7' long, and comes with a 290 grain floating line.  using this setup, and rollcasting while kneeling, i was able to cast far enough.

however, did i catch anything?  nope.  the conditions were horrible.  it was completely overcast so i couldn't see anything, except for the reflection of nearby trees.  also, the few carp that came to the surface were not feeding.  perhaps it was just not the right time of day.  for some reason, i didn't mind not catching a carp as much as i had the day before. 

lesson #2:   fishing, is a metaphor for life.  you need to learn how to adapt when presented with tight situations

lesson #3:   you need accept the factors that you cannot control.  some days you just lose without a fight.

anyways, i'm probably headed back out to LI to visit my mother in law again this weekend.  hopefully, the conditions will be better, and then it'll be on me to do my best.

until then, stay salty.  XXA