My First Carp

I have been casting to bubbles, tails, mud clouds and anything that looks fishy in the water for quite some time with no rewards and maybe a couple bites (and the bites could have been my imagination!). Finally, I got my first carp on the fly rod with a black and olive size 6 backstabber. I even found a new fishing spot. There is a country club in town, and by country club it is a bingo hall with a playground. The place has a pretty decent lake and they allow folks to fish from dawn to dusk. Of course, I stopped by there this morning on my way to work to give it a go. Carp were everywhere and this place is minutes from my house literally on my way to work. I spent an hour casting to every likely candidate with no luck. However, I snuck up on a couple carp in real shallow water rooting things off the bottom. I cast and droppped the backstabber right into the middle of them and one shot after it. I set the hook and held on! The carp was only 2.34lbs, but it fought hard. Now, when you fish before work you are not thinking, "hey, I may have to get dirty or wet." I had to land this thing and I couldn't just haul it up on shore and I was in my work clothes. Stupid. So I clamored down into the muddy water and landed my first carp. The fish was feisty enough to splash muddy water all over me and my shirt to get even. I got some weird looks when I got to work.

Thanks to all of you who blog about carp fly fishing. I have learned tons from people sharing their insight. Here are a couple that have helped me out:

http://coloradoflyfishingreports.blogspot.com/

http://flycarpin.blogspot.com/

I can't wait to land another one!

My First Trout

I got to spend 4 glorious days fishing the southern branch of the Root River in southeastern Minnesota a couple weeks ago. You've heard the phrase, "a fish out of water" well I was a fisherman out of his element. I have never fished for trout and I have never fly fished small rivers and clear water. Thankfully the trout didn't mind. I landed my first trout of my life on my second cast with an elk hair caddis fly pattern I tied up for the trip. It was a beautiful brown trout. I spent the next days wet wading going for trout as often as I could get to the water. My wife and I tent camped and our camp was 20ft from the river. I also got the pleasure of teaching my wife how to fly fish and she was able to land 2 trout of her own! I also got 3 leeches on my feet since I wasn't wearing boots. Gross, but that didn't stop me. It made me take a look at them and tie up some patterns to match their size and shape. We also got to witness a sulfur hatch one evening. I was blown away at how many bugs come off the water.

We had a wonderful trip and I highly recommend Forsetville State Park in Minnesota. I wasn't sure how I would feel going back to my urban trash filled home waters after fishing pristine clear water in a peacful wilderness setting. When I cast a line into the murky brown stillwater I fell right back into my rhythm. I guess I am home.