It was Day 2 of the Johnny Boyd Carp Classic here on Blackfoot Reservoir.  My Team, “Could be Worse” of Ben Smith, Trevor Wine and myself were sitting in 10^th place out of the 30 Teams.  A comeback to win was doubtful but I’ve learned over the years that anything can happen so we jumped up ready to whip some butt.

There was no messing around as far as choosing our location.  We went to the exact spot I caught our one carp yesterday.  There were fish there.  The water was warmer than other parts of the reservoir so it was unlikely they would move.  The tournament committee let us loose at 8:30 so off we went.

It wasn’t only my team to the spot.  We have more friends in the tournament including my pal Tim Brune and his team.  They came with us which made it more fun for hanging out.  Before we knew it six of us were casting brown woolly buggers to the occasionally rolling mirror carp.

Rolling or leaping carp get the blood going when you want to catch them.  Unfortunately, I’ve learned that these fish aren’t doing much eating.  I believe the carp are spawning and the jumps are a combination of things from showing off to other carp, staking territory and possibly breaking their egg sacks.  I further think that they are like spawning brown trout that jump, the only time they eat your fly is when you tick them off.

The hours rip by when you’re in a tournament needing to catch a fish.  Out of the six of us not one touched a carp by 1 PM.  It was an uncomfortable feeling with no one catching a single fish yet.  But, instead of sweating it, we decided to have a royal lunch.  We broke out the chairs and a few beers and Ben grilled us all up some brats.

We didn’t fish hard after lunch.  It was more like three of us casting while the other three were watching.  Watching to see if anyone would get lucky.  Before we knew it we had 20 minutes to go.  Most of the guys reeled it in and packed up their stuff.  It was the rain that was starting that got everyone on “pack it up mood”.  Not me though, I put my rain jacket on and went to work.

At 2:50 my fly hit the water and on the first strip I felt a carp grab.  Off he went to the races.  I thought it was more like 2:45.  Ben said, “you better be fast, its 2:52.

Remember, we need to be to the weigh in on time.  That was 3 PM.  We were only minutes away but I had to land my fish.  Well, some people give me crap about the heavy tippet I use.  I don’t think fish see heavy tippet regardless of what some say.  And it’s a good thing I believe this.  I had straight 20lb Scientific Anglers flouro and I started backing up and reeling.  This big fish didn’t know what to do.  In seconds he was in Trevor’s net and then to the Yeti.  We took off and made camp by 3:03.  No one noticed we were three minutes late!

This old mirror carp was almost a leather.  He had very few scales and looked like he’d been through a war with his scars.  He weighed 16.1 lbs. and even though Ben and Trevor didn’t come through, this fish propelled us to 6^th place.  No medal but not bad.

It turns out very few fish were caught today.  We got lucky but in a comp you’ll take it any day!  As the award ceremony took place we were rudely interrupted.  About ten miles from us appeared the first tornado I’ve ever seen in my life.  It was a sight to behold and most of us couldn’t take our eyes off it.  Luckily it was headed towards the open flats of Idaho.

The Carp Classic raised over $6000 for the cause.  That’s pretty dang good for a bunch of carp bums.  It’s back to Victor in the morning for few days of catching up.  Then tune back in as I finish out the fishing in June in NH, Cape Cod and finally in northern Manitoba.

Jeff Currier Global Fly Fishing