Connecticut Fly Angler: A.M. Carp on the Fly

When my alarm went off around 5:30 this morning, I peered out into a foggy world. The plan this morning was to go down to the carp pond to sight fish with flies. The fog would impede this plan, so I waited for an hour for the fog to burn off. Of course I neglected to think about the difference of elevation. It was therefore the case that I reached the spot while it was still in a very misty and creepy looking state. The presence of big tailing fish also factored into the unsettling feeling. I knew something spectacular was about to unfold. On my second shot at a good common I felt the characteristic pull. Maybe I was still a bit drowsy, for I neglected to react at all.

I continued to screw up shots and miss fish for about an hour. When these things happen I start to get down in the dumps. One wonders if it will happen at all. this is always when something miraculous happens. I was standing ankle deep, pitching inaccurate 50 foot casts to bubblers when out of the corner of my eye I saw a much closer fish. I quickly stripped in for a 10 ft cast. The shot was perfect. I led the fish by about a foot and past his path the same distance.

I stripped once and WHAM. BYE BYE! That sucker was going. The line at my feet zipped through my fingers. With that gone I watched the line on the reel burn away. The backing knot clicked through the guides for the first time in months. That fish just kept going, leaving probably twenty turns left on the spool. As is typically the case the fish began to do the back and forth, give and take, Through the snags fight. After releasing the fish I would look at the leader. It was lucky I landed that thing at all. Any one of those violent head shakes could have popped the tippet. With luck I got to observe one of these fish in detail. I let him go and looked up. There were no longer any feeding carp.