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

Weak Sauce

has it been more than a month since i last posted?  how can that be? 

blogging is like a muscle.  if you don't exercise it by posting often, it will deteriorate and get weak.  i am the first to admit my blog has become weak sauce. 

truth be told, my fishing has been uneventful. since my last post, i've been out a handful of times, and all i have to show for it is a sea robin.  there are reports of bunker as far as the eye can see, and that is also the truth.  i've seen pods and pods of bunker, flip flopping on the surface, but nothing working them.  they are the happiest bait in the world...frolicking lazily in the sun.  hopefully, at some point (if the weather cools down a bit), it's going to be mayhem (the good kind). 

i did get to see the "crab hatch" as well.  scores of tiny tiny crabs, but nothing slurping them...at least where i was at.  how bad can my luck get? 

my life, in contrast, has been somewhat crazy.  first, my 11 month old son got sick, then my wife got sick (which is twice as hard than when the kid gets sick), and then i got sick, and then my son got sick again.  to top it off, my mother in law broke her hip and has been in the hospital for the past few days.  hopefully things will settle down soon and everyone will be healthy.

until then, stay salty.  XXA 

I've got the Blues

i took the kayak out to the Norwalk Islands this past saturday, and finally some luck!

my son (9.5 months old) is going through some severe separation anxiety and wakes up multiple times in the middle of the night.  on saturday morning, around 1:30 AM, he woke up again, and after bringing him into the bed with us, i couldn't fall back asleep.  i was too mentally wound up with 'visualizing' catching some large stripers later that day.  about 2 hours later, i finally decided just to get up and slowly start getting ready to head out.  since i had packed most of my gear the night before, all i had to do is get changed, eat something for breakfast, and do my 'other' business.

i left the house around 4:30 AM i arrived at my launch site around 5:00, and was on the water 15 minutes later.  i had timed it perfectly since sunrise was about 5:30, and it was about two hours past high tide.  at first, i was a bit worried since there was so much fog, i couldn't see 50 feet in any direction.  it was eerie and amazingly calm.

by 5:30, i started to hear a few boats around me, which were close enough that i could hear people's conversations clearly.  i was so afraid that they wouldn't see me and i would get run over.  fortunately, i didn't see a single boat, although i kept looking over my shoulder just in case.

around 5:45, i started to see some swirls around me, and i realized i was lucky to be at the right place at the right time.  since i hadn't tied on a fly yet, i took out my spinning rod, and threw a bubble gum colored sluggo.  

wham, bam, thank you ma'am!  first cast, i felt the hit, set the hook, navigated a few head shakes and runs, and landed a blue.  not the largest i've caught, but if you've followed XXA for a bit, you'll know that i'm a firm believer in 'beggars can't be choosers'.  within the next 10 minutes, i landed a couple of more, exactly the same size and weight.

my second blue threw up a tiny baitfish and also a shrimp. until then, it never crossed my mind that blues would also eat shrimp.  (sorry for the bad picture).  the shrimp was about 1" long. 


i decided to change it up a bit and picked up the fly rod.  i tied on a pink Shannon's Streamer, thinking that it resembled the bubble gum sluggo.  i made a dozen casts, but didn't get any takes.  unfortunately, after that, the action and swirls died down.

i paddled around looking for more activity for about 1.5 hours, and then finally made the decision to head back to the first spot.  right when i arrived, the swirls started appearing again.  i landed two more blues on the sluggo.

next, i tied on a rapala skitter pop for some topwater action.  i love reeling in the lure as quickly as possible and watching the blues chase it, miss it, and keep after it until they're hooked.  it's so much fun since they'll chase the lure right up to the kayak.  i had a couple of fish where the bite was close enough to splash me with water. 

all in all, i had a terrific day!  9 blues in total, all around the same size and weight.  i'm hoping to get out again soon, so stay salty!  XXA

Pass the Salt, Please!

it's been a while since i've posted, mostly because it's not fun to write about blanking out on fishing trips.

a few weeks ago i visited a friend in Sag Harbor, and we launched a couple of kayaks into Little Peconic Bay, near his home.  conditions were perfect.  there was even a chance we could catch a cinder worm hatch since the tide, temperature, and moon were all aligned.  but alas, we ended up paddling for 4 hours without anything to show for it. 

what was most frustrating was that on one cast, i was reeling in a yozuri and was about to cast again, when a bluefish rose and almost took it.  since it was less than a rod's length away from the kayak, it actually scared me a bit and i yanked the lure out of his mouth!  argh!  let's just say that i had a few choice words to say to myself.

that next week, i flew to dallas to spend some time with my brother and sister-in-law who were moving out of the country for at least a couple of years.  i was excited to go catch some carp, at LLELA and Lake Ray Roberts.  it turned out that i didn't have time to go to either.  of course, family first.

since it was less of a time commitment, i did get to go out to the Farmers Branch library, where i heard it was pretty easy to catch something.  the first time, i spotted a ton of panfish, some decent sized bass, and even a couple of carp.  all i have to say is that it is next to impossible to fly fish that pond/creek!  not only are there tons of spinach in the water which makes it hard to see anything, but even your weedless flies get caught up in everything.  plus, all the chicken wire on the banks makes it easy to tangle/catch your fly or fly line!  i did cast at the carp, but i don't think they even saw my fly.  too much vegetation everywhere! 

later that week i took my father and brother to the library again to go after those bass.  all we managed to do is catch some green sunfish.  I caught a handful on a size 8 clouser and even a caddis dry.

 

anyways, i'm hoping to get out on the kayak at some point this long weekend.  stripers, blues, whatever.  just need to catch something in the salt!

Dallas Fishing

headed to Dallas again to visit family.  thinking about hitting up Lake Lewisville and Lake Ray Roberts.  i'm hoping to fly fish for carp on the flats of Ray Roberts, but have no idea how to go about finding the right places.  anybody care to share some good spots with me?  i promise not to divulge it to anyone else!

SOTSOG Fly

early reports have stated that stripers (schoolies and a few keepers) are everywhere, and now is the prime time to catch them before the blues arrive.  while clousers and deceivers will more than suffice, where's the fun in only using those flies?  since water temps have warmed up earlier than usual, i'm sure the blues will also arrive earlier than usual.

after watching the videos the Fly Fishing the Ozarks have posted on tying Kelly Galloup's articulated streamers, i have been mesmerized by their action in the water.  after doing some searching, i found Ward Bean's Jointed Minnow.




anyways, i got to thinking...why aren't there more of these types of flies for saltwater?  Dave Seller conceived his SST to add more motion to the fly, so why not create a jointed striper fly to impart additional movement?  so, Standing On The Shoulders Of Giants, or SOTSOG, was conceived.  (i haven't stumbled across a fly that is similar, but that doesn't mean it doesn't exist.  please let me know if it does.)

i wanted to create a fly that utilizes a secondary hook in the jointed fashion, but also rides hook up so that it is weedless.  a la Bob Clouser, i used dumbbell eyes to invert the hook.  i also didn't like using a normal stinger hook or octopus hook for the trailing hook because their hook eyes are horizontal.  when tying the wire to connect the two hooks, the second hook is slightly misaligned because the wire cannot sit perfectly on the bottom because the hook bend is in the way.  to avoid this problem, and to create a more side to side action versus the up and down motion (like Galloup's streamers), i used a 60 degree jig hook.  the wire is symmetrically tied on both sides of the hook, and the jig hook eye's vertical position allows for more side to side motion. 

here's my recipe:

Thread: Danville Flat Waxed Nylon (White)
Front Hook: Gamakatsu SS15, size 1/0
Back Hook: Eagle Claw 413 (60 degree Jig), size 2
Eyes: Painted Lead Dumbbell eyes
Connection:  Beadalon 7 Strand .024 inches
Tail: White Polar Fiber
Wing: Pearl Angel Hair
Coloring: Prismacolor Chartreuse, Prismacolor Olive

one other thing to note is that you must use heavy enough lead/tungsten eyes for it to invert both hooks and material.

if there is enough interest, i'll post step by step tying instructions.

Close Call

on a string of moderate fishing success, i went out to the pond again to see if i can feed more white perch.  i went with low expectations, because weather/water temperatures have dropped about 5 degrees, and the wind had picked up to 21 mph.

i put on a chartreuse and white clouser, and within two minutes i snagged another minnow.  what are the chances of snagging a minnow?  but two in a week?  this time, it was a silverside.  it's amazing how pretty they are and how different they are in comparison.  i think the one on the left is a banded killifish.





after i 'released' the silverside, i caught a small striper.  i could tell immediately that it wasn't a white perch, just by how much pressure was being put on the line.  the striper's more streamlined body creates less drag in the water.  after that, the activity died down completely, so i decided to switch flies.  i put on a glow in the dark, size 8, clouser and managed to fool a white perch.

the wind had started to pick up considerably, so i decided to make one last cast.  on the back cast, a gust of wind flared and my fly flew straight into my right eye.  ouch!  wincing in pain, i tried to pull the fly out, but it was stuck. just touching the hook caused pain.  i started to freak out.  there was no one around, and the sun had already set.  i tried to remember if i had crushed the barb.  i thought about calling my wife, and then driving directly to the emergency room.  i managed to cut the leader and navigating with one eye, found my way back to the car. and then using the visor mirror, i inspected the damage.  i was lucky, the fly hook had not pierced anything, but was just trapped between my eye and eyelid.  i carefully removed the fly and drove home.  whew, what a close call!

during daylight, i usually wear sunglasses when i fish, partly to remove the glare but also for eye protection.  when there is little light, i don't wear anything on my eyes.  what do you guys do?  any suggestions?

Pepe Le Pew

channeling Penelope Pussycat, i finally gave Pepe Le Pew the finger, and caught my first fish of the year.  the skunk is gone.  i have been after the white perch in this local, brackish pond, and they have gotten the best of me in my first four outings.  i was rank with the stank of self disgust and failure...but no more!

per usual, i went to the pond around sundown the day before yesterday to get in an hour of fishing.  the fish were swirling less than 20 feet away and i was struggling to get a take.  switching flies, i tied on a What's Up Doc? fly by Daren Selznick of Ole Florida Fly Shop.  then bam!  i got my first bite...and then wham! i lost it.  then shazaam, i got another bite!  my first fish of the year was landed.

the best part of it all, was that i learned from it.  i knew the white perch were feeding off of tiny minnows, and i had a general idea how small they needed to be.

armed with that knowledge, i went to the pond again yesterday evening.  for some reason, the What's Up Doc just wasn't producing and i was left saying, "what the #$%* is up, fish?" 

as luck would have it, i ended up snagging a minnow that gave me an indication of the size of bait they were chasing.  anyone have any idea what kind of minnow this is?  pretty cool looking.

then i tied on a size 8 clouser minnow in chartreuse and white.  within 30 minutes, i had 5 bites, and landed two of them.  i also caught a small striper which was pure icing on the cake.

i'm sure i can think of some life lessons learned from all this, but ehhh, that just wouldn't be me.

stay salty,

XXA

Not So Perfect

so far this year, i've been out fishing 3 times, and still haven't caught my first fish.  i've been trying to fly fish for white perch, but those buggers are getting the best of me.  i start fishing about 30 minutes prior to sundown, and the timing is great because they really get going, starting to feed in shallow water.  the fish are nearly 'boiling' around me, with swirls less than 10 feet away.  yet, i can't get any bites.  i've tried a plethora of flies, including clousers (almost every color possible), shrimp flies, dry flies, woolly buggers, and even Prater's Hushpuppy nymph on a variety of setups, but i got hardly a nibble. i don't think they're on bait because i am not seeing the typical spray out of the water.  for some reason, i think they're eating the insects on top that have recently hatched, but i'm not sure.  any ideas?

however, i nearly caught one with the Hushpuppy, and had it almost in hand but it came off literally a foot away.  some people might say that it was a 'caught' fish, but unless i can take a picture of it, i don't count it.  the loss was completely angler error.  i didn't perform a good hook set, so i have only myself to blame.  i find myself not very good at strip setting the hook because half the time i'm surprised that i have something on the end of my line, so in a state of disbelief, i usually forget. 

anyways, i've heard reports that schoolie stripers are around, so i'm preparing to go inshore fishing.  i've been tying some leaders, but the one thing that pisses me off about not using store bought tapered leaders is that when i make a poor cast, and get the tailing loop...the leader gets tangled around my knots' tag ends.  then i spend about 15 minutes trying to untangle the leader only to find out that i made it worse because the leader was not in fact tangled or knotted, but only hung up on the tag ends.  argh.  am i the only one where this happens?

so i tried creating a whipped loop rather than using a perfection loop just to reduce the amount of tag ends, but it just doesn't work well on mono.  so i ended up thread wrapping my perfection loops in order to create smooth taper, and it seems decently strong.  they're ugly, not perfect, but strong.  we'll see.