Monday, May 16, 2016

Quick carp trip


Last Friday, me and a buddy headed out to the flats to chase grass carp from kayaks.  I think it's his second time fly fishing from a kayak.  He's not new to the carp game just the kayak.  Didn't take him long to hook-up.  The process was repeated many times over the afternoon.




 In the beginning, we split up and worked the flats from about 50 ft apart.  Sighting and pointing out fish for each other and taking shots at those in range.  It was nice having another set of eyes scanning the flats.  In ideal conditions getting a 30ft shot is great.  Gives you enough space to make a presentation, possibly 2.  Anything closer and the odds of spooking the fish are really high.




The water wasn't clear on Friday but it wasn't chocolate milk either.  We've had a lot of rain and all the rivers and lakes in my area are high and stained...if not chocolate milk.  From the pictures you might think sighting a 20lb grass carp would be easy.  It was anything but easy.  But that's part of the challenge and I love the challenge.




The chrome colored scales and limited movement of the fish really conceals them in the off colored water.  We spooked a ton but we felt the pull of many.  It was a great day.  June starts the travel season for me.  Got a few trips lined up.  Stay tuned for reports.

9 comments:

  1. Cool pics. I was wondering if you were using a drone or something at first.

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    1. Thanks Kevin, you can probably see the painters pole in the last picture. Think I'll call it the "poor mans drone."

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  2. Those shots are just awesome, especially the first one!

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    1. That was a cool moment. It was too tight for both of us to fish. So I decided to try and capture it on camera. Wasn't expecting the carp to run straight at me. Just glad I was prepared...filming and fishing are way different, lol!

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  3. Drew
    First off how did you get those aerial shots, cool images; amazing how you guys saw the carp in stained water. No need for workouts when you are fishing for those beast. Thanks for sharing

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    1. Bill-I've been using a 14ft extendable painters pole. I can keep it at 7 or raise it to 14...so while standing it's at a height of nearly 20 ft. Over time I've gotten better at picking them out. Looking for shadows or changes in color. At times I get lucky and spot a tail then wait try to sneak up and hope to find it again...the hunt is the exciting part of sight fishing.

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  4. Great pictures Drew. They almost made me forget you were fishing for carp! Just kidding. I know how much fun it is to stalk them.

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    1. Thx buddy. I recently discovered a secret to making carp look...ummm, not so ugly. Film them from 20 ft, lol. That secret can be applied in other situations also, profile pictures, online dating picture, used car 4 sale, dog 4 sale, etc.

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  5. Those shots look fantastic, Drew!!! Solid camera work. Those carp are incredible and look like such an awesome time! I like the secret to making carp look good that you told, Howard. Haha

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