Catfish and Carp!!!

Pretty much hunkered down in local flow for the last 3 days, 6-12 hours a session.

Saturday WAS AWESOME for the Smallie action, nailed too many to keep track of...I was breaking in a new 6 wt so castiung is a little hit or miss.

Sun AM starts off strong BUT around 2 pm things slow WAY down, the river seems to be shutting down, stay till dark...no big thrill.

Monday afternoon the river is DEAD, even the Rockies won't hit too consistantly.

Pulll up to an eddie below a pretty fast shoot, dag nabbit there are 3 people spinning the shoot...they are good folks, see them from time to time, they consistanly catch small smallies in the shoot.

On the opposite side of the pool, I flail around, still trying to get the hang of the new rod and catch a few Rockies and sime gill's...that's what this pool is good for, a mixed bag when the Smallies shut their mouths.

Casted out with a #12 nymph and the water EXPLODES, fish rockets, jumps 3-4 times and buries itself behind a rock...it was a 24 inch or so CATFISH...awesome fighter, first on the fly.

About 1/2 hour later, I toos the fly over my shoulder into some 6" or so water so I can reel up and leave...I notice my 3 fellow anglers are looking at me and then see a HUGE wake and my line heading down stream...it was a 30" or so CARP...caught toattly by accident!

You make me SICK!
The Sci sure seems to be your friend this season man.

Congrats on the great fishing!

That new rod has somme awesome MO-JO : never sell it!!

Take care,
chris

I have never caught a cat on a fly rod, but jealous. I do chase carp with the fly rod seriously. They are strong and formidable. They are a great challenge to pursue on purpose. Many have caught them as incidentals, but to chase them on purpose you will find them challenging. Give it a try and you might be surprised.

Wild One, The river has been VERY good this year and believe it or not, I have only ever fished about 1 mile of the river, if that...was out again this AM for a couple hours, it is deader than dead...3 days of constant nice weather, I think that is what shuts it down, seems change in the weather brings out the fish. Only managed to catch a 10-11" UGLY sucker from the shoot.

Chris, the rod won't be sold any time, has a non-conditional 25.00 replacement so even if I break it, a new one will arrive shortly. BTW, it was only cast on the lawn once and then about 5 times over water before the first Smallie blew up on a Gurgler!

Clay, Ironically, I was going to set aside a day for Carp hunting this weekend but the water here in the area has been pretty murky this summer, no clarity...can't huint what I can't see.

brhoff -

Really enjoyed reading about your three days on the water. Nothing like a good variety of fish, some surprises, and accidents to fill out an adventure like that !!

We don't have any catfish around here, best I know, and smallmouth bass and carp fishing is possible, but from what I've heard, it pretty much takes a watercraft to get to them ?? Would like to target both of those species one of these days, but not sure it is in the cards locally.

John

http://www.idfishnhunt.com/idahobass.html

John, a quick Google search brought up this site, hope you can find some Smallies...great fun and generally found in rivers and streams.

Also, I once heard that literally every body of water in North America has Carp in it...not sure if this is true but it sure seems like it.