Carp Fishin' w/ New Friends

11/9/2018

Fitz contacted me the other day and was interested in learning the dark art of carping, I was more than happy to oblige. We hit up a pond I'd never been to before that seemed interesting and proceeded to get nothing in the way of bites for the first few hours. It was kind of nice to not be too busy as I could show Fitz the ropes without interruption. We did see one small carp crash, but the lack of activity prompted us to move up the pond to try a slightly different spot. Again a few hours passed with nothing, we had scoped out yet another area to try and I had just started moving all my gear minus the rods which I left in the water. I was almost to the other spot when I heard my alarms screaming, I ran as fast as I could in my waders to the rod and lifted into the fish. Finally, some action! The fish had wrapped itself around the fountain in the middle of the pond and I guided it out as best I could, trying at first to pull it away from the fountain and when that didn't work tried using reverse psychology on it and pulled it towards the fountain. It worked, and soon enough he was in the net. Almost immediately my other rod ripped off and what with the lack of activity I gave this one to Fitz.



Smashed the blank with a double! My carp looks just a bit different, I was calling it a koi but it doesn't seem unique enough to count as one.

With the double we chose not to move and stuck with the same spot. I told Fitz to check his rods just in case anything happened on his end and one of his rods was completely stripped of line! Luckily, whatever was on the other end was behaving enough to not break the anchor knot on the spool. Fitz picked it up and retrieved as much line as possible before discovering the fish had gotten him in a snag. He moved all around, but couldn't shake it loose. With the fish still on, he passed the rod to me as I waded in the water and went underneath a bridge so we could try to shake the snag from the other side. Fitz must've moved 3 or 4 times before finally pulling up a branch. I got it off the line and by some miracle the fish was still on! After a bit more of a fight I netted Fitz' new PB carp @13lbs.



Miracle PB for Fitz. What a fight!



He landed another small common, gorgeous little fish!



Strangely only got one of these, they usually come in swarms



I also got a new PB! 10lb 4oz Channel Cat

11/11/2018

Wasn't going to fish Sunday but was convinced otherwise. Glad I was as even though it was cold we landed some decent fish!



Rob with the first buff of the trip, small for this lake but a welcome sight!



Triple take! Unfortunately you can't see my other carp in the mat, but I assure you he's there. The one I'm holding is a pristine little Ghost carp!



This buff is more like it! A bit above the average at 18lb



A nice 20 or so buff not too long after



Love it when they've got a humpback!



Double take!



Same fish as above, biggest of the day @23lb 8oz. Love this lake!

Caught a few more throughout the day which you can see in this album here: https://imgur.com/a/B5OMJ3i

Great post as always Txmultispecies! You were fishing with one heck of an ANGLER! Andrew aka Fitz is truly an ambassador of the great out doors!

Thanks Banker! He was definitely a cool guy, I'm sure we'll be seeing some big carp and buffs he'll be posting in the near future!

I have fished with Andrew several times over the years he like you loves being in the outdoors and is a "BIG FISH MAGNET".




Side Note: Andrew can also work a fly rod very very well! Would love to see a carp fight on the fly! Again super post and super fish!

This was one of my better used PM's, in contacting TXMulti-Species (TXMS), it got me front row seats of seeing a Carper, run full speed, in waders, over 100 yards, while the alarm was going off, AND female observers ogling, get that first fish of the day buttoned up. There were strong (vocal) cheers of accomplishments when that fish slid into the net. This was a varsity level, high science achievement, to land that fish.

On to my PB, this was a team event, I crossed a bridge no less that 3 times trying to free the snag, but it was ultimately Finley, wearing waders, that was able to hop in the water and walk my line under the bridge that gave me a decent chance to land that beauty, many thanks for that!

Finley has a bright future fishing ahead of him, I have no doubt he will be setting water body records, State records, winning tournaments and also breaking his own PB's with regularity. Thanks for the fun day, and teaching me the basics, I will look forward to the next session, which I hope will be soon as well.


Chuck, whats up buddy! Appreciate the kind words, Sir. You have had an incredible year of landing trophy and record fish. I look forward to our next time fishing adventure (hopefully sooner than later).

Thanks Fitz, it was an interesting day on the water for sure. We'll have to get out pretty soon and get you on some buffs!

Awesome fish guys, congrats. Where any of these caught on the fly, by chance?

Thanks! These were all caught bottom fishing packbait and hair rigs. One of these days I'll learn to fly fish for 'em.

As always great post! Great job guys.

I'd would like to pattern Carp/Buff next year on fly. I have lucked into a couple fish, but not to a level of any confidence.

Well done.

Awesome post and cool pics!

Thanks guys!



Check out CarpPro Magazine, they've got a lot of info on fly fishing for carp throughout all of their issues.

Nice fish.

Very nice, looks like a great time!

great angling

Thanks Laker, Dmunsie, and SoCalCarper!