Show 1 IntermiaunrainHr A fly fisherman ( )f'f it tries his luck along the banks of the Bechler River recently went' Moments biter my orange fly line gave white hacking bruised my knuckles to way In trying stem the momentum of the retrieving fish and I finally settled by' ihniiiK'thc bottom of hiy' reel until my ' with the friction' The kicking escaped through the 'lop of my vfly rod hand burned 'Causing meto physically give chase- to ' ' : t : spolmel gazed knowingly our the flat having invested some time to read upon this newfound pursuit Avjt turns out fly fishing dicjhalloQhiU if I applied any real carp flies: pressure real the fish bolted bending the graphite intii a dangerous liw ' Finally jiist as resolved to pointing the nxl iit the fish and breaking the leader the line went slacks I reeled in my fly which wait miraculously still attached (i was pretty ' darned proud of my knot tying) The hriok was straight When I tied the fly I had the barb clown to get the tungsten bead fo fit sc when the big fish tugged hard veniiugh the wire simply pulled free" I smiled One week later to the day I was kick ' at the flat this time with a rexj the heaviest rexj I owned And upon arrivalvH!' " 1 ! ' tnissile-shax-- tiring' for ed a piece of wel you know - into the schcxil of grazing fish' I hooked up This time theilsh with liiy left liandtiic:carp mustered enough for one lastangry pull So much for my was now a thr'cc-picc- nxl The c e And the fish after grating the leader against the reinnantsof the graphite was' gone "Carp 2NFeD y l’ye waited almost a year to exact revenge (in those nasty fish I built' a nxl oyer the summer Tve tied some flies this time on f) saltwater hooks more I1 vc done some' more reading:'e' aAcore tp settle I'yegot two-piec- ' fly - ocean-goin- Moments' later after dropping one'of “carp flies” - sciniethi'ng ' my olive-colorii might have resembled cravvfish or perhaps ' ' -- I nciticeck1 tcxi yet '" '' I stared down at the Jtea colored water and theft 'in the corner of the ugliest mouth I ’d ever seen was liiy carp fly As I reached ': was ready : xl i ' that the ccimpiiriscins many anglers iiiiikc between carp and 'saltwater tedfish or even kinclisli are very true In the shallow water I identified a ' dozen or so carp simply grazing on thekit tom - noses down tails up fust like' redfish Just like kinefish And rememkr g critters arc highly these: big respected Ihii Carpr lt jiist hasn’t Caught on ' SON " honest to goodness activity - a for Carp is jin real passion for some The Internet is’packcd with Web sites on the topic and some even feature grinning fly fishers mugging for the 1 f !'H F away' Camera with a monstrous carp cradled to their chests Not pretty I read a bit about tactics Tied iip some I F : thcstroh'gest fish 'I'd ever lonnected 'with bar none ' And I was' woefully undcrcquippcd to deal with it: but for akiut 2(1 minutes I did just that I somehow managed to retrieve my hacking amfinssethe big beast back into It was l April 2004 armed with a hefty fought back the luxik well hard hoping to push tugged into the lips And tile big fish pulled kick What-- v thrill Againto die kicking Again I gave chase This time though! put the confidence of the (weight to work I horsed the big fish inciting a rare jump And in my mind instead of standing in a muddy kiekwater kiy in Idaho's Snake River I was kinefisli on a battling a crystal clear (’ukin flat-- reeled madly tugged hard and after ID minutes my Ixxl'yV ‘ supply of adrenaline was spent And the mighty fish - hulk of brassy muscle - was 1 I - prevent the big fish from taking tiiy entire SM Mil could sec the smallmoiitbs uiy friends had interested spoken akiutbut 'waded right past them to where die carp stirred up the water in the middle of the flat No wind this tune The water was quite a bit'ciearer and when a Carp swam elosC enough to quic kly finned I F ’ a- I : ' 1 -- V- : 39 |