Undergunned

[asherman]

I had lots of family commitments on Sunday so my fishing window of opportunity was an hour or two of fishing on nearby Lake Arlington. I hit the lake with my six weight rod, with the target being bass and any bluegill big enough to hit #4 or #6 poppers.

 

When I got to the Lake, I saw a bunch of big carp milling around by the outflow of the lake. I looked at the big fish and thought, "what the heck" and I tied on a clouser swimming nymph. It took a few casts, but I did hook a big carp. For the first five minutes, the fish acted like it wasn't hooked. It hardly took out any line, and it just kind of sat there with very little movement and little action on the fly reel drag. After the first five minutes, I put more pressure on the fish, and it start peeling line of the fly reel into the backing. The fish then got sluggish again and didn't move move. I tried putting more pressure on the fish, but with most of the fly line out, I just couldn't get it to move. I could not get any line in. After another ten minutes, the carp shook the barbless hook. I have never felt so under gunned before with a fly rod. My eight weight rod and 1X or 0X tippet would have been a much better match for that big fish. At least I got to hear what the drag on my fly reel sounds like.

 

Once the carp shook the hook, I gave up on carp fishing and I ended up catching six or seven largemouth bass up to fifteen inches and a few nice bluegill.

[John Loebach]

Nice report , Alan. Like you with limited time I did some local pond hopping that produced a few fish before the weather intervened. Good to get out even if to test how far I can cast into the teeth of the southwest wind.

[ronk]

Big carp are unpredictable fighters. Some take off for the horizon on a reel screaming run like a bonefish.Those are the most fun. Others choose to slug it out in close.If you can't bring the carp back to you go to it if you can keeping a tight line.Doing that I've caught several big carp with a 4wt that have been encountered while smb fishing. It's good to see a fishing report from another flyfisherman.

[Guest]

In the latest edition of Fly Fisherman Magazine, Dave Whitlock did an article on carp fishing. He states that he has taken smallish carp on two weight fly rods but suggest six to eight weights for most situations. Fishing the Upper Mississippi River once, I hook a carp while standing on the bank and had to get back into my kayak where it towed me completely across the river and almost half way back again. This was with an eight weight rod and the fish only weighed nine pounds. Tough fish.