Ploop

 A grey squirrel sits on the branch of a mulberry tree, stuffing its face with almost-ripe fruit. The oblong white berries are just starting to get the brushed-on red tint look that means they're ready for the taking. The squirrel haphazardly plucks them from the small clusters they grow in, losing some now and then. Each berry falls, bouncing off branches and tumbling as they go. The tree would have it that these berries land on dry ground where some other animal might find them and spread the seeds to areas not already thickly canopied. But this tree loses some of its potential offspring each season, because this tree happens to grow over water. Each mis-picked berry, dropped by a squirrel, grackle, sparrow, or starling, falls to the water below with a distinct "ploop". And there it is met by hungry fish. Cyprinus carpio, as foreign to the landscape as the starling above, gather en masse under each mulberry tree and greedily feed on the sweet fruits each berry season. They have grown so familiar to that "ploop" sound that, even when one is far way from one of the trees and the berry fall is long done, they still frequently come to inspect anything that lands in the water in such a manor. 

The well rounded and observant fly angler will learn to predict such events. Food drives fish and when such abundance of calories- one which exceeds normal standards but isn't so high as to drive down competition -the angler can have not only excellent fishing but striking opportunities to watch wildlife interact. On this day, the angler sat poised below the mulberry tree looking up into its branches rather than down into the water. The squirrel busily worked in the foliage, and eventually knocked another berry free. The angler's gaze followed its indirect path to the water. It bounced off of one twig, knocked a leaf, then fell to the water's calmly rolling surface. Two shadows rushed to the berry's sound, creating wakes in their rush to obtain sustenance. Neither one actually found the berry, which was then slowly sinking to be battered about by bluegills before resting on the bottom. One of the carp mouthed at a peice of flower peddle but found it lacking. 

The angler observed not because he didn't want to catch a fish yet, but simply because he felt no pressure to. He'd stood in this spot before, watching the same show. He knew what would happen when he pulled line from his reel, made his cast, and let his spun deer hair fly land with a "ploop". He was in no rush. That would only lessen the amount of activity he saw before him now and there was no need to disrupt it just yet. He'd watched this show, sure. But he was far from tired of it. He was content to remain a passive viewer for a few more moments. 

When the desire to interact with the carp in front of him finally overruled his enjoyment of their un-bothered feeding, he wet his fly in the water at his feet. This would give it the weight to convincingly approximate the sound of impact as well as the buoyancy of the natural berries. They don't float high and dry as a foam fly or completely dry deer hair fly would. Then, with a sharp flick, he delivered his artificial lure underneath the mulberry tree. A chestnut colored mirror carp rushed to it, needing to beat out the competitors lurking nearby. It was completely and utterly duped, slurping down the berry with no sign of apprehension. The angler raised the rod and in time made work of taming the specimen. It was a lovely creature. The fly was removed and the fish returned to its habitat a lot more weary than it had been before. Indeed the battle had made aware the other carp as well, and only two remained near the tree. Their actions were flighty and quick though, and the angler felt it prudent to call it a day. Though he'd enjoy catching another, he knew he could so elsewhere thereby allowing these fish to return to their natural rhythm. There was no sense in not only making the fishing harder for himself down the line by over-educating these already clever fish, nor did he feel making their capture harder for the next angler down the path was a kind thing to do to a fellow watcher of the interplay of berries and animals. Whistling as he went down the path, the angler thought about "ploop" sounds, clumsy squirrels, and hungry carp. 

Thank you to my Patrons; Erin, David, John, Elizabeth, Brandon, Christopher, Shawn, Mike, Sara, Franky, Geof, Luke, Noah, Justin, Sean, Tom, Mark, Jake, Chris, Oliver, and oddity on Display for making Connecticut Fly Angler possible. If you want to support this blog, look for the Patreon link at the top of the right side-bar in web version.

Dry Fly Carp For Garth

 A little while ago my good friend, nicknamed Garth, booked me for a short carp trip that ended up blown out from the crazy July rain. I'd almost considered suggesting a reschedule, but I thought one area in Rhode Island would drop fast enough. I was mistaken and we skunked, so I had him come back out with me a week later for free. Of course I intended to make a couple casts too, but the whole goal was to make up for the previous trip by getting Garth his dry fly carp. Conditions were prime and we got on the water early. 

Fish were plentiful, very plentiful. The high water had also seemed to move them around a bit. I wasn't recognizing fish in their normal haunts, unlike prior trips. Carp have relatively small home ranges in any given body of water, so it's very typical to recognize the same fish feeding in the same general areas if you fish enough. My home lake is a great example. It's huge and has both mirror carp and koi, but I'd never seen either variants fishing the accessible beats. When, for a short time, I had easier kayak access there though, I found some of those koi. They were always in the same stretch of shoreline. I didn't see a mirror there until this year's span- carp ditch their home range for the spawn. Big storms and changing seasons and food availability alter the range and distribution of the fish, and the big rain had very much refreshed this canal. Fish were in new areas. 

Despite an abundance of shots the fishing wasn't easy- carp fishing rarely is anyway. Garth was picking up a lot of the advice and tricks I was feeding him, and I watched him improve throughout the day. Eventually he nailed it under one of the berry trees and a gorgeous mirror charged his dry fly. 

I made a few shots too. I was intentionally picking tricky long shots, seeing if I could get my accuracy down just a little better. I stuck two fish. One broke off in a deadfall, another made it to hand. The one I caught was actually a specific mirror I've been after for a while. I've seen him a bunch of times but never got a good enough shit. He'd moved about 80 yards but wasn't too far from his typical beat. I really like this fish, I think he's a particularly pretty one. Noah's was also a familiar face too, actually, and one I'd missed a few weeks prior. Both were top tier fish in terms of looks. Really clean, healthy, with nice patterns... really great looking little carp.

I'm far from done with carp trips for the season, I've got plenty of space if you're interested. I'll be fishing primarily in mid-state Connecticut and Northern Rhode Island, tailored towards whatever sort of trip you may be interested in; moving water, lakes, ponds, creeks... whatever. There are a lot of options. 

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.

Thank you to my Patrons; Erin, David, John, Elizabeth, Brandon, Christopher, Shawn, Mike, Sara, Leo, C, Franky, Geof, Luke, and Noah for making Connecticut Fly Angler possible. If you want to support this blog, look for the Patreon link at the top of the right side-bar in web version. 

Geoff's Commons

 One day I had my good friend Geoff Klane (Brackish Flies) tag along with me to experience the mulberry chaos. I'd told him just how abundant the mirrors were in Rhode Island and how good the fishing had been. I fairly certain we had a pretty stellar bite ahead of us. Fish have a very interesting sense of humor though.

We cast at some tailers before we got to any berry trees and I did get one of them to eat. It was a perfect little mirror, precisely what I'd expected and how I'd expected. Even though Geoff's time was limited I was sure we'd get him his first mirror. At the first tree there were geese, and Geoff missed one take. That seemed to put the fish off. At the next, he got... a common. I'd caught more than a dozen carp in Rhode Island before I got the first common so that was a bit of a surprise. Even more surprising still, his second fish was also a common. 

Since commons aren't actually so common here, I thought Geoff's fish were pretty cool. Of course we both still really wanted a mirror, so it was really frustrating when the terrible hook I'd tied the berry fly he was fishing bent out on a good one. Reminder: even small carp will tow the nicest brown trout you've ever caught backwards for miles- don't use mediocre hooks.

Frustratingly, that was that. I'll definitely have Geoff back though and I'm sure he'll get his mirror.

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.

Thank you to my Patrons; Erin, David, John, Elizabeth, Brandon, Christopher, Shawn, Mike, Sara, Leo, C, Franky, Geof, Luke, and Noah for making Connecticut Fly Angler possible. If you want to support this blog, look for the Patreon link at the top of the right side-bar in web version.

Decoding the Carp Berry Bite

 Upon my return to the scene of the mulberry carp chaos I'd discovered, I was keen to figure out some new things. I wasn't sure how long the berries would last and I'd not yet figured out a way to get the fish that weren't under the trees to eat a fly. Learning should never stop in fishing. New bites present opportunity to broaden your knowledge, and this mulberry bite was something completely fresh for me. I'd love to be presented with such an interesting and new fishing opportunity each month, but the longer you fish the harder you need to seek these things out. 

Day Two presented the same challenges as the first day, but I was now a little more prepared. I'd tied up a handful of flies that I thought did a good job of imitating both the unripe and ripe berries, and had on a leader more appropriate for the snag-filled environment. I felt I'd be more adept at getting the fish feeding under the berry trees but still wasn't sure about the others. I spent the first hour fruitlessly casting sinking flies- not berries -at tailing fish. They would occasionally look but none ever ate... none of them. It was really frustrating. Eventually I got to the first mulberry tree, where I promptly broke off an atypically large mirror carp for this water body. Fortunately, two casts later I was hooked up again. 

After finding success at the next three berry trees and none whatsoever with the many dozens of fish I cast at away from the trees, I was starting to wonder how these fish could be so picky. I'd think the fish feeding specifically on berries would have more of a food image to follow than those foraging the banks. I thought perhaps I could downsize tippet, but that proved incorrect. No fly change I made changed my success either.

Eventually, after catching yet another beautiful mirror on a floating berry imitation under a tree, I simply left that fly on out of laziness. The next time I saw a tailing fish, I plopped that berry a foot way from him... and I'll be damned if that fish didn't come up and suck down the fly. 

After that, it was just silly. When I put that little purple berry in front of a carp- if it saw it- the fish would at least come up and give it a taste test. Usually it would just inhale it. The fights were nuts; each fish acted utterly shocked that it had been duped. Even though they averaged quite small, these fish pulled like crazy. It was a riot and some of the most fast-paced carp fishing I've experienced. Oh yeah, and virtually all mirrors... that's just what this place has. 

I'm not sure why the berry worked so well for fish away from the trees. It could well be that every fish is aware of the berries even if they aren't actually under the trees at the moment one is presented to them. It could also be the case that this is a behavioral trait that I've just not tapped into before... perhaps I should be casting dry flies at carp more often. I still have a lot to learn and that is just so exciting for me. 

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.

Thank you to my Patrons; Erin, David, John, Elizabeth, Brandon, Christopher, Shawn, Mike, Sara, Leo, C, Franky, Geof, Luke, and Noah for making Connecticut Fly Angler possible. If you want to support this blog, look for the Patreon link at the top of the right side-bar in web version. 

Edited by Cheyenne Terrien

Mulberry Carp Blitz

 We have some mulberry trees here in the northeast, though not that many. I've long heard of the chaos that occurs under berry trees that lean over bodies of water holding carp and catfish. These stories mostly came from the Midwest, and eventually I started to believe that finding carp chowing down on mulberries here in New England was unlikely at best, and my in fact never happen at all. 

Then, completely by accident, I found exactly that in Rhode Island, and it was crazier than my wildest dreams. I'd had a very frustrating morning and was walking along some decent but not that great water when I came to a tree, and underneath it were about a dozen carp. The tree was a mulberry tree, and it was pretty clear why the carp were there. When berries fell from the tree the fish reacted frantically to the sound, trying to beat each other to the food. Looking in my fly box, I didn't really have any berries. What I did have was a Parachute Adams. Maybe they'd eat that? 

It turns out the fish under the trees would eat every fly I threw in their general direction, and all the more so if it made a little "plop". The Adams wasn't ideal but it did take a couple of fish, the first of which was a particularly good looking mirror. 

As someone quite used to lackadaisical, non-committal, and all around disinterested attitudes from this species, it was a bit of a shock for me to see five or six carp charge m fly as soon as it hit the water. It really was a shocking experience. I threw mops, Black Ops, Hare's Ears, and a few other flies... they all got eaten. It was wild. 

In the mix with the slough of mirrors, I actually got my first Rhode Island common. That's how odd this fishery is compared to other East Coast carp fisheries... it is so loaded with mirrors that commons are, well, rare. It makes no sense.

Of course, the fish at each tree did slowly get wise as I caught them. They didn't become picky or anything like that, but they'd spook out as soon as I'd caught a few. Really that wasn't shocking, but at the time I couldn't figure out how to get the fish I was finding away from the trees to eat. If anything, those seemed more difficult than an carp I'd encountered anywhere. They were completely unwilling and completely spooked from the fly. Eventually I would figure out how to get these ones to eat but it didn't happen this day.

Under one tree I actually caught a turtle. It was a red-eared slider, a common invasive turtle species. These sliders are very pretty and easy pets, but as an invasive species they can wreak havoc... not unlike the very carp I was fishing for. The can be a big problem for native turtles.

As the day's fishing came to an end, I'd caught a half dozen mirrors and one common, a few of them on small dry flies. It was crazy, but it had only just begun. I'd be figuring out a lot over the next couple weeks.

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.

Thank you to my Patrons; Erin, David, John, Elizabeth, Brandon, Christopher, Shawn, Mike, Sara, Leo, C, Franky, Geof, Luke, and Noah for making Connecticut Fly Angler possible. If you want to support this blog, look for the Patreon link at the top of the right side-bar in web version. I truly would not be able to keep this going without you wonderful folks!