No Foolin' ! (we need more rain)

I had the same response from two different fishing amigos today when I texted them about catching fish.

"Is this an April Fools? In this wind?"

No joke. The carp are up on the flats and feeding prior to the spawn. The wind was a bit of a hindrance today but at some point it actually helps. Once the wind gets over a sustained 20-25 mph, the ripples get the tops blown off and you can actually see fairly well (if there's sun - it was partly cloudy today). The fish can't see crap above the surface and the noise allows for some less than stealthy wading. Don't get me wrong - it's a bitch to fish in and I would much rather have a nice 5 mph breeze just to help cool off - but it's April in North Texas. The wind blows. A lot.

The lake is more than 3 feet low and weird stuff is starting to pop up in strange places (like the V8 engine block I found today). Some of the flats have disappeared while others have expanded. Water clarity is very good for this time of year. I probably saw two dozen fish in two hours today in less than perfect conditions.

The good thing about fishing the pre-spawn bite is that this is when we sometimes catch the largest fish of the year. I caught two today that were easily over seven pounds (I didn't have the boga-grip) and several over five. The downside to the early bite is that water temps are still a little low for carp metabolism - you won't get the same fight out of them. Those 7 pounders would have been in my backing after Mother's Day. As it was, I could easily turn them and I think the longest run was about 20 yards.

Highlight of the day . . . being about 50 yards away when a Northern Harrier (one of my favorite raptors) nailed a Meadowlark. Impressive.

The New and Improved Coyote Carp Fly

After a month or so of tinkering, I finally had the chance to put the latest version of the Coyote Carp in front of an actual carp . . . and MAN, does it work!

It took awhile to find the right combination of hook, eyes, and material to get the correct action out of the fly. I knew I wanted to use a medium bead chain eye so that I could get a decent sink rate without too much SPLAT on the water. Most of my fishing is in about a foot of water so I am more interested in stealthy presentations than a rapid sink rate. The problem came in finding a hook that was light enough to ride inverted ("hook-up") while in a #8 being stout enough not to straighten as a 8+ lb. fish is pulling on a 2X leader. With the help of a handy dandy analytical balance, I came up with a rough ratio of eye/hook mass needed to invert a fly. Turns out the eye needs to be about 2.5X heavier than the hook. Obviously, this also depends on materials and where they are placed on the shank.

Anyway, I spent a bit of time in March with an aquarium and some prototypes. The winning combination turned out to be a Gamakatsu SC-15 #6 with medium bead chain eyes (the SC-15 seem to be sized a little big - their #6 is the same size as a Mustad 3407 #8). This is an AWESOME shallow water fly; it hits soft, inverts easily, and hooks fish in the upper lip every time. A "deep" version (for fish in 18-36" of water) is tied with the SC-15 #4 and mini lead eyes. The minis don't hit too hard and get the fly down fairly quick. This should also be a KILLER redfish and bonefish fly; as a matter of fact, a handful of these are currently in the Seychelles with Brent and David from Tailwaters. I'm interested in their report - if nothing, that one of my flies is stuck in a coral head somewhere in the Indian Ocean!

I LOVE the SC-15's! At first, their thin diameter gave me caution - I've had clients straighten hooks on carp before - but, in actual "fish-testing" today they performed perfectly. I caught 7 carp on the same fly, the last two were over seven pounds each and I leaned on them pretty hard; trying to straighten the hook. Nothing except a perfect hook set right in the upper lip.