Spring is for Carp

Gold

It begins slowly at first. The grip of winter casually dissipates and a few warm days get yours hopes up. You decide to check out the local hot spot and quickly realize that the lake is a huge chunk of ice that you can easily walk across. With hopes dashed, you realize there won't be action for quite some time. Much later, you arrive to find the lake only half covered in ice and you see your first mud plume of the year. A few sluggish fish that haven't seen your flies in months, come to hand in the cold water. Your car begins to smell like carp again. Road trips to other venues reveal that the season is on the precipice but the big fish are still lingering in the depths. Weeks go by and the temperature steadily climbs enough where you consistently have results. With the leaves budding, you venture out and find them en masse. It is a banner day marking the beginning of Spring and the fish that define it have finally arrived...

The early season was tough this year with old man winter lasting well into March. Local ponds and lakes were my preferred destinations with eager smaller fish coming to hand. My carping season didn't really get under way until April, with May being the best month for big pre-spawn fish. I was able to have a few great weather/tide days to target some coastal carp. A few fish were the largest carp I've caught in years that forced me to go out and buy a scale and order a weigh sling. In May, I began targeting local creeks and finally weighed my first carp at 25 lbs. She was laden with eggs and probably was my sixth largest fish of the spring season.

End of March ice...

After work special...

A few of many pond fish...

After a day of tidal fishing...

First big bruiser of the year...

Just shy of that 40" hero mark...

I really wish I weighed this fish...

Aggressive pre-spawn male on the 5 weight...

My favorite carp block of the spring...

Fat female...

Fun on a low slack tide...

Tyler Nonn of Tidewater Charters crawled through poison ivy to hook this fish...

The glare was so bad on the stream I could barely make out this fish that moved onto a sandbar. All I could see was a tail and I tossed my fly upstream for a drift in her general direction. The tail flickered and I set the hook on a creek beast. Twas a great fight in a flowing creek over and around a few log jams before she succumbed. Good stuff. 

Solid.