CARP TIME!!!!

IT IS HERE!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I went to my local carp hot spot today hoping just to check the retreat of the ice, and maybe catch some perch. I brought a box of carp flies with very little hope that I would actually use them for that species. When I got to the pond though it looked like this:

Now that is a beautiful sight! And an even more beautiful sight greeted me on the mudflats:

Those are carp. Probably ten fish made up this school, and I was not even sure they were fish until I watched one follow my fly out of the group and suck it in. He immediately spat it back out. Although I had one more shot that resulted in a take today was just not the day for it. It was easy sight fishing but the clouds and temperature meant the fish weren't feeding aggressively and the wind and casting distance did not make accurate presentations easy. That being said I know exactly what I'll be doing the rest of the week! If I am lucky I'll be holding a big poor man's bonefish in front of the camera before Sunday. 

Beaver Pond Scouting

I have been hunting endlessly for a local beaver pond that contains wild brookies. I have found a couple but they were so small that the term pond wouldn't really fit. So on Sunday I did some map examination and found a possibility. It looked dark and deep on the map and I know the stream feeding it holds fish. So off we went. However the forest road that is the best way to get to the spot had not been plowed and it was only a short time before the car was stuck. Not to worry, reinforcements were called and with some chains and a jeep the Subaru was free! Thanks Taylor! And I was now free to do my scouting. I busted trail through some thick brush in an area that sees little if any foot traffic of the human kind, particularly this time of year, and eventually my keen sense of direction aided me in locating the pond without any map or GPS help. Unfortunately that massive effort was all for none and I was greeted by shallow water in which the only sizable living things were frogs, turtles and a pair of ducks. Of course the laws of the state dictate that all streams not listed apply to the normal season rules while unlisted ponds are open year round, so I was pretty much swamped. I hiked around and eventually reached an area where something odd was occurring. The topography and lack of animal noise created a small bowl in which there was essentially no noise. Not even that ever present drone of traffic or aircraft. This silence lasted only a minute, but it was stunning. The woods are such an amazing place.

The CT Small Stream Slam

Atlantic salmon parr, brooky, and brown: that's what I call the CT small stream slam. And though I wasn't out for one today, that is what I got. Throw in a tiger and it would have been the best you could do with this stream.

The stream I fished today is an interesting one, it changes every year. The first year I fished it the only fish I saw come out other than parr was a wild tiger. Last year I caught plenty of native brook trout and only two browns. Today I eclipsed that number. I'd call that a good start on that stream for the year! It was snowy and cold but comfortable and oh so beautiful the snow was only accumulating on the trees, not the ground, making for a very abstract setting in which to catch wild salmonids.

The pink worm catches! It may just be my new favorite fly. It took every fish I caught today, and pretty much all of the fish from the last three or four months.

The first brown of the year, always a very good thing.

Neither picture did this native brook trout justice. I dare you to count all those red spots.

As cold as this winter was and as icy as the streams got, the fish have not starved. All those that I caught today were fat, well fed, and healthy. But they are still eating and took my fly readily.

Best Trip In, Well, Months!

I chose the afternoon to fish a little stream that gets some tidal effects in a very deep ravine, mainly because it is actually legal while most of the other streams in my area are closed until opening day, but also because it holds some remarkable brookies and even the extremely rare sea run brown trout. The water was a little high and barely milky, and that made it much harder to spook fish. With a pink worm and short casts it was not long before I had a take. And I must say I was not expecting to see what I saw. The fish that ate was large for the stream, probably twelve inches, and as it was one of the first casts I screwed up the hook set. Not to worry, bellow a big waterfall I landed a gorgeous brook trout.

 
A bit above the falls I landed three more fish. The first, a heavily parred juvenile that looked to me as though it had been painted. Then a well spotted one of the average size. The last fish of the day, however, was the real head turner, sizable for the water he lives in, with big head and gorgeous blue shine. Not  to mention that stunning marbleation. What a creature!

Some Different Natural Beauty

Every now and then I post something related to my one of my other hobbies, mineralogy. Considering my inability to fish today I figured I might as well share some of the photographs I have been working on. The three here are the best out of a batch of more than 100.

Fluorite, Madoc, Ontario

Celestite, Nebraska

Wulfenite on Mimitite, Chihuahua, Mexico

Terrific Colors

Though today was quite chilly and rather windy aswell, I thought it would be a decent day for some blue lining. I had a string of bad luck though: missed hits, lost fish, spooked fish. It was beginning to get very frustrating when, in a shallow riffle, a nice fish took my Hare's Ear Soft Hackle. All that frustration was gone in an instant.

Pre-Stock Salmon River Streamer Fishing

I went to the Salmon today mostly to see what the conditions are like, as well as to toss around some big flies in hopes that a few fish had held over. If they did I sure didn't find them, regardless of a good amount of time and a large area covered. But that is perfectly O.K., it was a very beautiful day. The sun was out, after the snow this morning it warmed up drastically, and darn was the water clear. Just gorgeous.

A Couple Of Flies

As the snow is still coming down, here are a few patterns fresh off the vice:

The First Day of Spring

It is now what us humans call the first day of spring. We intended for that to mean that the weather would be nice and the flowers would start coming out. But of course whoever decided the dates starting and ending each season did not tell Mother Nature what he had in mind, because it is now snowy and cold on this spring day. Regardless, the weather is turning towards the better, the state has started trout stocking, and it should not be that long before I am out chucking big streamers on the Salmon. Good luck this spring everybody!

Spring's Best Parts

As the weather here continues to gradually get warmer and wetter and the air starts to get those hints of spring, and best yet some redness and fullness is showing on the trees, I am getting ready for some hatch matching and wild trout catching. My favorite two hatches are the Blue Quills and Hendricksons, both of which, believe it or not, are rapidly approaching. In fact on the warmer years I have caught the Blue Quills right around the end of March.

Carp Time Approaches!

As I watch the snow receding from the road margins and the streams and ponds gradually start to open up, my mind is starting to wander to places under that ice. Somewhere in that dark and very cold water lie the big carp I had the chance to discover last year. At the moment they are probably very sluggish. But when that ice is gone and the sun is warming the flats, the carp will come out to play. And I will be there waiting. With reel loaded up with plenty of backing and brown, olive, and black flies on the end of my tippet, some serious carpage is going to go down. My goal is the typical carper goal, a twenty pounder. I think I stand more than a good chance. Some fly carpers on the other side of the country have already done this! Look in the blog roll down there...