After two weeks of trout fishing here and there you know I had to squeeze in a day of fly fishing for carp. Visiting South African pal, Garth Wellman, wasn’t so sure about the idea when I first tossed it out there, especially after the two days of epic trout fishing I’ve showed him. But I’m a convincing lad. At 7 AM sharp we headed out on a beautiful scorcher of a morning for Blackfoot Reservoir.
The hotter the day the better the carping and this week we’re experiencing our fieriest temps of the summer. Up on the high desert of Blackfoot Reservoir the thermometer hit 89°. Toasty enough to bring out the first Mormon cricket I’ve seen in years. And just as expected, the carp were in tight with tails flashing.
Garth gets into some nice carp fly fishing back in South Africa so he’s no stranger to the challenging sport. And in less than five minutes he was on. His reel was screaming and his line was leaving at a fast pace. I’m pretty sure he forgot completely about the great trout fishing we had the last two days at this exact second!
My best flies for carp are bonefish flies such as Crazy Charlies and Bonefish Bitters. I always fish light brown or root beer colors and they crush the Blackfoot mirrors well. Garth had a cool looking crayfish/Clouser concoction and he said his fish ate it so fast it made his head spin.
After an intense battle that took Garth deep into his backing, he finally backed up the bank to land him. These carp can’t stand the sight of a human so the best way to land them is to back up the bank out of view and beach them. It’s easier said than done because when the carp get shallow their bellies start touching bottom and they go ballistic!
Garths first mirror of the day was a respectable 13lb. They get a heck of a lot bigger here but 13lb is hefty anywhere else on the planet for a carp. We shot a few pics and released the striking fish back to the wild.
Garth hooked up two more before I got settled in to a spot. I ran to him each time in hopes he had a monster. Perhaps he did because each fish schooled him and he either lost them in the weeds a 100 feet out or on the rocks in close. He finally had his area rattled for a bit and I was soon walking my own flat.
There were a ton of fish today. The water was amazingly warm and the carp were wallowing. I wasn’t as sharp casting as usual and screwed up the first two happy feeders in range. But stay consistent in your attempts and sure enough things come together. Soon I was getting rocked. It took me a good eight minutes for me to land what was another 13lber.
The carp kept coming. We’d spook a flat and wander to the next only to find more feeders. Garth kept the pressure on and landed at least six more before midafternoon. I worked hard and managed to stay just behind him with five for myself. While a few pushed past the 15lb mark, lucky 13lbs was the standard for the day.
My favorite carp of the year came today. Its this fully scaled mirror carp. While I have a lake that consistently produces this jaw-droppingly beautiful scale patterned fish, they rarely top 6lbs. Today I got the Blackfoot version and he had some weight to him. This fish reminded me of catching a golden mahseer in India only today I was a mere two hours from home!
We banged up the carp till 6 PM then I had to drag Garth off the flats. I normally camp at Blackfoot but tonight we made the drive all the way home so I can take Garth to the Teton tomorrow for his last day. We ended the night at the Knotty Pine with a big barbecue dinner and a few brews. Life it is good!
0 Comments