Rhode Island Mirror Carp on the Fly

 I've wanted to catch a mirror carp for years. Mirror carp are a genetic variation of common carp, believed to have first been cultured to make them easier to clean and ea. They are now mostly bred for aesthetic purposes. They're characterized by irregular scaling. The array of possible patterns- ranging from fully scaled to linear to nearly scale-less flanks -is quite impressive. Leather carp, not considered mirror carp, lack scales entirely. Though the genes that result in the scale abnormality are recessive, they manage to linger in populations where large numbers of mirrors were introduced for a long time. I've only ever seen a handful of mirror carp in Connecticut, even though a friend caught one out of the very lake I live right down the road from. My friend Mark got a mirror this spring, and I really started to get obsessed with the idea of getting one. 

Luckily, perhaps best mirror carp fishery in the Northeast is just miles from my partner's house. I made some half-hearted winter attempts and found very little life, but I knew that come spring I'd get shots if I was persistent. What I wasn't ready for at all was the shear abundance of mirror carp in this population.

One evening, while Cheyenne was out with friends, I headed to the river. It was my first trip in hospitable weather and my hopes were high. The first fish I saw was a common, cruising at a fast pace in the middle of the canal I was walking- not a viable target. For the next three hours I ended up seeing a few dozen carp, mostly tailing, many out of reach on the opposite side. Shockingly I never ended up seeing another that was definitely a common, every fish I got a good look at was a mirror. I never really got a shot but I didn't end up taking a skunk. I saw a decent chain pickerel cruising up the center of the canal just a few inches below the surface. I cast my mop fly a few feet in front of it, started stripping, and that guy came right over and crushed it.

The next morning I had a bit of free time again and went back out. This time I got a couple shots in the canal, but again came up empty. I walked along, looking in ever viable spot, and finally found a school of large fish, all very clearly mirrors, sunning behind a deadfall. These fish are usually extremely hard to convince to eat. I made the best of it though, making the gentlest possible presentation in front of the largest of the group. That animal didn't quite spook but definitely reacted negatively. The smaller one next to it whipped around and sucked in the fly. What proceeded was the most hair raising carp battle I've ever experienced. That fish was in and out of deadfalls constantly for the next 15 minutes. I was using 6 pound tippet and a 5wt. Nothing about my setup was geared towards keeping a 20 pound fish out of cover, and I didn't. Somehow, though, every time the fish made its way into the mess I managed to get it back out. When I got my hands on it, I knew a genuine miracle had just transpired. My leader was completely un-chaffed. That just seemed physically impossible, I'd felt my line rubbing on logs and branches numerous times. I really don't know how it worked out. 

With my first mirror out of the way, I'm excited to explore more of this fishery. I've long seen photos of big Rhode Island mirror carp caught on bait, I think its about time someone started showing them flies. 

  Until next time, 

Fish for the love of fish.

Fish for the love of places fish live.

Fish for you.

And stay safe and healthy.

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