Last night I came home, kissed Emalie and ran out the door, back to White Rock Creek. I had to try for that River Carp Sucker (Carpiodes carpio) again!
I made it down to the creek and started walking up towards an old dam, off to my left I saw the shape of a bass sitting on the bottom in about 2 feet of clear water. I cast to it and a couple minutes later...
After a couple pix for posterity he swam off back to his limestone lair...
I continued to look around that area in search of a carpsucker when I noticed a fish under some tree roots, I got a look at its rounded nose and carpish appearance so I know it was a carpsucker, sadly, it saw me too and glided deeper into some weeds where Ic ould no longer see it. Disappointed I headed to a larger pool where I saw a number of carp, buffalo and some channel cats cruising. I made a few casts at the carp but they never even turned to my fly. From my perch I saw a nice sized channel cat cruise by, but I fumbled my cast, and in a last ditch I pitched my fly at it with a loud "kerplunk" near the fishes tail...
The cat did a 180 and smacked the fly! It took me a couple minutes to get him in, best fight of the day!
feeling that the catfish had probably spooked every other fish in that pool with its thrashing, I decided to head back to where I saw the carpsucker.
I looked and looked and right before I was about to give up, I see that cute face looking at me from about 15 feet away, sitting on the bottom between two logs.
I cast my nymph in front of him, a couple of excruciating seconds later he glided over to it and bent down. Did he have it in his mouth? Was he sucking it in? SET THE HOOK!
So I did and a good run later I brought the little fella to hand:
As you can see I hooked him on the tip of his nose, which was a little disappointing, but I figure thats close enough to his mouth that he was probably trying to eat it.
I made it down to the creek and started walking up towards an old dam, off to my left I saw the shape of a bass sitting on the bottom in about 2 feet of clear water. I cast to it and a couple minutes later...
After a couple pix for posterity he swam off back to his limestone lair...
I continued to look around that area in search of a carpsucker when I noticed a fish under some tree roots, I got a look at its rounded nose and carpish appearance so I know it was a carpsucker, sadly, it saw me too and glided deeper into some weeds where Ic ould no longer see it. Disappointed I headed to a larger pool where I saw a number of carp, buffalo and some channel cats cruising. I made a few casts at the carp but they never even turned to my fly. From my perch I saw a nice sized channel cat cruise by, but I fumbled my cast, and in a last ditch I pitched my fly at it with a loud "kerplunk" near the fishes tail...
The cat did a 180 and smacked the fly! It took me a couple minutes to get him in, best fight of the day!
feeling that the catfish had probably spooked every other fish in that pool with its thrashing, I decided to head back to where I saw the carpsucker.
I looked and looked and right before I was about to give up, I see that cute face looking at me from about 15 feet away, sitting on the bottom between two logs.
I cast my nymph in front of him, a couple of excruciating seconds later he glided over to it and bent down. Did he have it in his mouth? Was he sucking it in? SET THE HOOK!
So I did and a good run later I brought the little fella to hand:
As you can see I hooked him on the tip of his nose, which was a little disappointing, but I figure thats close enough to his mouth that he was probably trying to eat it.
The funny thing is that this is the exact same River carpsucker my friend Pondbass caught a couple days before, as evidenced by the scar on the side of the fishes body!
A good night!
A good night!
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