If you think the lack of morning carpin' posts is a result of my not having fished for them much in the past week or so, you were wrong. Every morning I set my alarm for 4:30 and if the weather looks right and If I am feeling up for it, I ride up to the lake. Unfortunately the carp have been in a weird mood for the lake. The water is extremely clear compared to what it often looks like, and that has the carp concerned. They will feed in the shallows, but when they are within sight of the shore they have been extraordinarily skittish. Most of the shots I have had have been to fish that are feeding in 4 feet or more leaving a bubble trail. That is very much uncharacteristic of this lake and it has taken me some time to adapt to this new feeding pattern.
I've been very weary of using heavy flies for carp, as they often seem to spook either at the sound of the bug hitting the surface or the speed of the fall. I realized today that neither of those things would matter at all for fish that were digging in the mud in as much as 6 feet of water. The moment I put on a big JM Hybrid with dumbbell eyes I knew it was going to be the ticket. Third roll cast into a bubbler's path and I came tight to a very angry carp. It made it's move very quickly, breaking me off on a buoy rope. There really isn't much you can do to change a carp's direction early in the fight, so I wasn't really upset. There was still a few fish there feeding. Cast, strip, drop, wait... the fish let you know when the eat by loosing their minds. Two casts later I was in again. It was a small fish, and the fight wasn't long. I was pleased to get a week long skunk off my back.
You always figure it out because you understand the nature of things. Nice catch and the water is so calm. I need to try harder to catch a carp!!
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I don't always figure it out... that's why I haven't posted photos of all of those other carp I've seen feeding over the past week!
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