Spent a beautiful Saturday morning hitting some of the local Phoenix water with a couple good buddies. I returned to the spot I had fished last weekend where only a small bass came to hand and a large carp mocked me after spitting my fly. My goal was to rectify the situation.
As stated in the last post, this area has numerous ponds that contain the usual suspects of bluegill and bass, along with some assorted carp and koi. I found success in the first pond and solidly hooked up with a white koi (I believe). The tug on the end of my fly line was heavy and after 5 or 10 minutes, the white ghost came to the net. This was my first roughfish brought to hand and it gave a good workout to the 5 weight.
We kept working the pond, but the barking dogs in the yards behind us became too annoying and we switched over to another stretch of water. Jake and I continued to fish together and spotted several feeding bass and carp out in front of us. With a well presented wooly bugger, Jake latched into the big fish of the day. A huge carp began taking line and after Jake played him for about 15 minutes, the fish began to tire. As the fish came closer to shore, it appeared to be ready to be netted, but as soon as it reached the surface it took one look at us, bolted, and snapped the line.
We kept fishing and I spotted a brighter orange fish tailing in the shallow water in the middle of the pond. I cast ahead of the feeding fish and watched as the dancing green simi-seal leech was sucked into the vacuum cleaner of a mouth. Fish on and the line raced off the reel. I worked the fish over for a good period of time and Jake helped with the netting although the small trout net did not do us much good.
Again, I am not an expert on carp and which species of fish is which. Any help is greatly appreciated. I will say that this fish stank like nothing I have ever smelled before. Instead of a fish stink, it smelled like something from the bottom of a dumpster out back of a Chinese restaurant. It was so bad, that I switched my rig and did not attempt to catch another carp all day.
My buddy Jason was working a separate pond and found a big Koi willing to take his fly. After a long fight that took him halfway around the pond, this big boy finally conceded.
There were a few other hookups, but the bass bite was slow. We saw a few cruisers but nothing that we were throwing appeared to peak any interest. I got one more tug and found a feisty bluegill on the other end. All the fish caught today came on a green simi-seal bugger with a orange glass bead. Between the geese poop and barking dogs, the area lacks a certain pristine beauty when compared to the trout streams to the north. On the same note, I am not complaining about a fish on the end of my line, especially one that takes line off the reel.
Any insight into what type of fish I was catching is greatly appreciated…
Those are all common carp. Koi are just an ornamental breed of common carp, but still the same species nonetheless.
Thanks JP for the response. I knew you were the guy to ask. I appreciate the help.
Ben
I have been doing some reading about Carp and after this trout fever comes down a little I’ll be trying to catch them again. http://www.wyomingflyfishing.com/article/carponthefly.aspx http://ricarpfishing.blogspot.com/ http://thisriveriswildflyfishing.blogspot.com/2011/04/stubbornness-greed.html Here are three of the many places to read about carp fishing. The middle one has a post explaining the different types. I believe you had a Koi and a Common Carp. Great stuff!
Very cool stuff. Thank you Bruce. I’ve been following This River is Wild for a while and I’ve notice a shift for them to quite a bit of carp content. It sure is fun. Thanks for the help on the identifications.
Ben
Nice report. Carp were made for the fly rod. And never bring a trout net to a carp fight! Made that mistake myself a few times. Enjoyed the read.
Ty
Thanks Ty. The carp sure were fun. I learned my lesson with the net. Guess I’m going to have to invest in a bigger one. Thanks for the kind words.
Ben
I don’t think you should be ashamed of your farmer’s tan. I am rather jealous that you actually have a tan. Still haven’t had a short-sleeve shirt day up here in Montana.
Thanks Ivan. We do get a little spoiled with our spring, winter, and fall weather. Our miserable time is coming up here shortly. Luckily the mountains offer a cool respite with some hungry trout. Thanks for the vote of confidence in the farmer’s tan.
Ben
holy crap ben, that’s right in my backyard. shhh. I saw jason out there, didn’t see you…
mgj
Next time I’m over that way for a carp fix I’ll give you a buzz. Very cool over there.
Ben
Carp that stink? They are bottom feeding vacumn cleaners. Of course they are going to stink. Fun to catch if you can get past that.
Mark
True Mark. Guess I should have put a little more thought into that. I’m almost over the stench now and ready to get back out there. Sure is fun getting into those big boys.
Ben
Looks pretty warm over there! I’m guessing the heat didn’t help the smell either. Is your arm tired?
The Valley has been getting pretty warm. We have been pushing our way slowly to 100. Not a good thing in my book.
Ben