Water Foul, Crappie, and a Ghost

The outing today was successful, but not to the extent I hoped for. The lake was teaming with birds, which was somewhat problematic. They spooked if you didn't feed them, and therefor shut off any carp in the vicinity. My father opted to do photography rather then fish. I wandered the lake's edge to get the lay of the land. I made a point to memorize structure and places where I could see mud kicked up. Then I went to a small pond downstream, where I saw but couldn't take a small carp. I did, however, hook into this pretty little crappie.

When I made my back around the big lake all of the mud spots were gone. I was complaining about the apparent deep water orientation of the carp when I noticed a big light stain in the water. I did a double take. This was a huge ghost carp, a light variation of common carp that I had not heard about in the U.S.. I know they are fairly common in British waters. And this one was probably over the thirty pound mark. I cast my fly with a good lead and he passed it as it sank. Then it got to about his level or hit the bottom and he turned back around and went for a closer look. I twitched it and hew moved off. I don't know if I will ever see that monster again. I sure hope I do. I'll post pictures when my brother, who had joined us, sends them to me. 

We decided to go check out some streams at the end of a big reservoir, but they were smaller then I remembered and held no trout. I was a bit disappointed, but the reservoir and surrounding hills made for some spectacular photography.