[youtube http://youtu.be/D0RTWVzmP1s]
My buddy Don did some carp scouting on Friday morning. This pond was damn near boiling with them. There were gar in there too. The pond is no secret. It’s in plain view of a major US college. It’s connected to a major US waterway. It’s dirty and smelly and just the place you’d think to find some fish who can stand those conditions. Let’s meet up at 6:30am on Saturday and see about catching some fish. Deal.
All we had to do was find a spot to put in the kayaks, paddle upstream a ways, and slip into the channel to the pond. Easy.
I don’t enjoy signs like that. I know there’s bacteria and all other kinds of goodies in our watersheds, but seeing a sign like this makes me wonder if we shouldn’t revisit our waste water issues. I’m fairly certain I’m immune to this shit growing up fishing in Northwest Indiana, but as a germaphobe in the making, it creeps me out.
Getting a feel for the pond took a little bit but the picture started coming together. The common carp were cruising middle of the lake. The silvers were scaring this shit out of me with their acrobatics. I wasn’t keen on getting whacked by a 40 pound airborne silver carp while standing up in a kayak. Seemed like a good way to take a bath. The gar were cruising and porpoising randomly. Blind casting to them with minnow patterns, I spooked a few that I hadn’t seen. Damn you overcast skies. I had two good eats and lost both. I’ll take two eats.
We’d only been on the water about two hours when the skies decided to piss on our parade. At first it was a light drizzle, then it kicked up, and finally hiding under trees hanging over the water wasn’t working so we packed it up. The fish had pretty much disappeared as the rain came down harder.
Paddling out I took a closer look at the dead carp hanging four foot over the channel. One unlucky carp or Darwin at work. It was pretty damned impressive that a tree caught a carp.
The worst part of the day was turning a 4 piece Guidelines 6wgt into a 6 piece. If I’d have paid more for the rod I’d be pissed, but I picked it up while tying at a show last year. $20 and it was one of my favorite rods to cast. Ain’t that about a bitch?
I get some questions on the Jackson Cuda 14′. If you’re looking to buy a new kayak or need anything for kayaking, check out Wildcat Creek Outfitters. They know kayaks inside and out.
