Oh, Biggie give me one more chance…

I’ll be out of commission for a while, as of yesterday at 3 PM CST. No big deal, but carping will not be an option for a week or so. You didn’t figure I’d lay up without at least one more go of it though, did you? Hehe. It was 12:28 when I glanced at the clock, and the question was: should I try to carp fish on my way home? The answer was: you’re got-damn right I should. My suggestion to you is when you are doing some fence-sitting, err on the side of going fishing.

Walked up to this little joint and right away I saw nervous water. Rigged up the Wayfarer, and triple-tested both my knot and my hook. I figured if I couldn’t break them with my hands, no carp would break them. I crept on what I knew was a carp, and successfully got right on top of her, hiding behind some tall grass. This was a bit in which I said “this is a caught fish – guaranteed.” A guy says that now and then… sometimes it works out. I really figured I had this fish because she was unaware and feeding… and I thought if she’d hadn’t spooked on my approach, she wouldn’t spook before I could hook her. Flipped the LOD and dragged it front/side, but she didn’t see it. I gave it a little jig and she still didn’t see it. I did another flip then, dragged it into position… and boy did she bolt out of there! Pretty funny. I figure she must have seen me – I don’t think the fly spooked her. Just a case of not seeing me right away, but then happening to catch a glimpse of a storky anomaly with shiny glasses standing on the shore… later dude. So I moved on.

Next I saw a fish feeding in a little stand of filamentous algae. I could see everything but her head. I sneaked on her and wait for a few seconds… as luck would have it, she started to move her head out the other side of the algae mass… Flipped the LOD, and after 1-2 seconds she caught sight of it, and did the pounce. I couldn’t actually see the fly enter her mouth, but I knew it was there. I think I said something like “hells yeah” and set the hook. Now this fish decided to be a sprinter and a buller. Right away she took off like Qadry Ismail the Missle and put me half way through my backing! Maybe the best run I’ve gotten from a MN carp. She followed that up with several intermediate runs, and just bulled and bulled in between each of those. What a battler she was. After maybe 10-12 minutes of pretty hard pressure I beached her and pounced into the water. Took a few photos and released her on her way.

I didn’t use the competition control item because I could tell, having the mental reference provided by the previous two fish I had measured, that this one didn’t exceed 33 inches. However, she was BIGGER than the other two, no doubt in my mind. She was fatter, wider and deeper. I’d say she was no less than 15 lbs and no more than 20 lbs… probably closer to 15 than to 20, but I’ve not held that many fish in this range, so it’s hard to pinpoint. No way was she smaller than 15 lbs though. Maybe one of my top 5 carp, but hard to say for sure. Beautiful, strong and determined fish. For those who care, the fly was firmly implanted inside the lip.

I'd love to hear from John Montana, who has held/seen many carp in this range, a weight estimate. Keep in mind the rod is a 7 wt and reel is pretty big!