It’s a bad sign for me to break out my Sharpies during the Johnny Boyd Carp Classic but once again it was the weather. While heat invigorates mirror carp, glassy calm conditions simply make them more vulnerable to predators and victims of bow hunters. The carp hate the idea of wearing and arrow.
My team and our friend’s teams had a plan. We went to where we had heaps of finicky carp swim past us all yesterday afternoon. We each staked out a point about 100ft apart and stared into the lake. We hoped we’d see a carp but unfortunately we didn’t.
It wasn’t all a loss however. I had a sizeable rainbow pass by several times. I didn’t cast to him as I didn’t want to spook my area in case the carp were coming. But I’m pretty normal, after the tenth time he mulled his way past looking for food I fed him my carp-crayfish pattern and you see what happened.
We kept thinking the carp would come as time passed. Soon your legs and eyes get tired. Then you grab a seat. Next its a beer. I turned on the Cubs game. Before we knew it all of us were sitting on the edge of Blackfoot Reservoir enjoying a party. The grill was fired and in the blaze were a dozen delicious elk burgers. Fishing stunk but life was superb!
The tournament ended at 3 today. The three teams of my friends were fishless. Most of the rest of the other 22 teams were fishless. There were only five fish caught again out of 75 plus anglers. My team, “Could Be Worse” got 8th place overall while 17 other teams tied for last with absolutely no fish.
photo by Scott Smith
Despite the tough fishing I love this competition. We raised nearly $9000 for Johnny Boyd’s daughter’s education. A lot of good people made it happen. I had a blast with friends that once the busy summer starts (this week) I likely won’t get to fish with again until October. Many of us spent one last night enjoying one more evening around the campfire. The first ever “Johnny Boyd Carp Classic” is in the books. It was a great one!
What a rainbow!
Tad
A pretty nice side catch for sure Tad!