Minor changes in sum can make for major change...

Started out the day driving around with the heat on full blast again. Pretty funny. By 830 AM I was covered in sweat... yeah man. I poked around Lake Zumbro - walked a really cool shore and blew a couple chances at carp - not much action though because the top end of the lake is so turbid. It's criminal that the public can't get to the tailwater of that dam... I trie dand tried and was turned away by private property signs. Finally I walked into a resort thinking I might camp there and pay for a day... only to find that it'd be tough fishing from shore, so I axed the idea and headed for Oronoco. As I pulled in, I saw a VFW pancake breakfast. Outstanding timing, so I stepped in - reminding myself that I was not in a rush.

The coffee was steaming, as you can see. There was a Schlitz beer light on the wall. The cost was $4 and the sausages were of unknown origins. You tell me - does this look like a corn free meal?


The price I paid was greater than money though - I found out later that I left my precious Gazetteer and all my trout stream maps on the table. Hehe - too bad for me I guess. The door was locked when I returned. A friendly neighbor gave me a phone number to follow up... thanks to him.

From there, went to the local dam thinking I'd nymph up a storm. I didn't, but I did get more than my share of smallmouth action. The best of which is pictured here - caught dead drifting with indicator.


All of these smallies were caught with the Wonderod - a fiberglass Shakespeare model given to me by my bro - he picked it up for $3 at a g-sale. I decided to fish it after some encouragement from JB and my neighbor. I like it.


After smallies and no carp at the dam, I went back to the torture chamber that is the local carp water. I knew I'd see fish, but the question was: would I be able to fool them? This time - YES was the answer... thankfully. I hooked three and landed two great fish. I got that damn carp monkey off my back. I saw quite a few fish - the first one I had a good shot at I hooked only to have him come off right away... The second one was a dapping situation - money in the bank there. The third was a cruising fish... put fly in path and guessed right. That last fish hooked was one of the biggest I've seen in that water - probably 7-8 lbs or so (??). I'm convinced that it had a lot to do with the fly - JB's green mini-crayfish. Pretty much every fish that I didn't spook that saw that fly ate it readily.


Also - I fell in love with the old 5/6 Pro Graphite for a carping rod. WHAT A DIFFERENCE it makes to have the right rod for the job... the 4 wt just doesn't cut it - doesn't cast well enough. I was putting money casts on fish left and right - even in strong wind. Then I broke the rod. Snapped it in two... Went well with the shattered fly box (happened when I vaulted up on a cement slab about five feet high and forgot that the box was in my pocket), lost Gazetteer, and lost dozen flies.

All in all it was tough equipment day. THe fishing was not fast and furious but it was enough for me to be in harmony as I sit here writing. Heck, I just consumed two brown trout from the Zumbro system along with a few glasses of red wine... How can a guy complain about catching stunning brookies, hard-fighting smallies and a couple great carp on the fly? He can't.