Quick Trip

A little over a week ago I discovered some new waters to fish.  The area holds a lot of promise but with the shrinking water levels the carp have been hard to reach and even harder to catch.  After several trips all I had been able to accomplish was losing one fish to the weeds and scaring a lot of others.  I had a few hours to kill last Saturday night so I though I would take another crack at them.

There are a lot of “couch” water areas on this stretch of The Huron River.  Some areas are all muck and bordered by weeds, others are just slow water areas under large overhanging trees.  With the continuously decreasing water levels trying to sneak up on these fish has been problematic.  They are usually out of range in the deeper water or I can be easily spotted with the clear water.  The bright side is with the water being so shallow they are easy to locate.  Silt clouds, splashing and their backs sticking out of the water make them easy to locate.  Sneaking up on them is a different matter.

Such was the case this past Saturday night.  I was walking along the trail when I heard some faint splashing in the water.  I worked my way through the trees and saw swirls in the water ahead of me. Using the trees as cover I was able to get to the edge of the river.  Sure enough, there was on lone carp feeding in a spot maybe 20 feet in diameter.  There were a fair number of small branches in the water but a clear shot to the river except for a small clump of reeds maybe a foot wide.  I worked my way into position and placed the fly about 6 inches off his nose.  He quickly sucked it up and as soon as I set the hook he spun around and headed straight for the small clump of reeds.  Little did I know there was a branch buried in them as well that he swam under.  I mean, why not swim over it or just avoid the reeds and head through the open water?  Sometimes I really hate these fish.  Into the water I went to get my line clear.  Once that was done he took off downstream and headed for another log jam.  I was able to turn him back up stream and eventually I got him into the net.

This was a really thick fish, probably in the 8 to 10 pound range.  One of the bigger ones I have caught this year, which was a welcome change to all the 5/6 pound fish I’ve been getting.  After I got the hook free I revived him and sent him on his way.  I saw a few more fish in the next hour but I couldn’t get to any of them.  If we were to get some rain or the dam operators upstream would quit hoarding the water this area could get really interesting.  Until then I’ll just have to work though the different scenarios I’m presented.