Before I start todays fishing blog I’d like to give you access to a podcast I did with April Vokey and her Anchored Podcast ten days ago. The day after I got home from the Seychelles. I didn’t realize I was also being filmed. I just thought we were Facetiming to make the interview more personal. Please excuse the three weeks without a shave and how tired I appear (I was tired). But it came out well and you can listen by clicking here.
As you recall from yesterday I’m down in Phoenix, AZ to deliver three presentations at the local clubs and to fly fish the urban lakes and canals for carp. Today was unique in that I gave two presentations in one day. At 1 pm I delivered “Introduction to Saltwater Fly Fishing” to the Grand Fishing Club and this evening I presented “Fly Fishing in and Around Jackson Hole” for Arizona Flycasters Club. They both went great and it was fun to hang out with a bunch AZ anglers.
As for the fishing, this morning was a complete bonus. Calvin Hazlewood, who hires the speakers for Grand Fishing Club, invited Steve Berry and I to fish the private lake on the 9 Hole of his golf course subdivision. When we arrived there were two huge grass carp, also known as the white Amur, cruising around. I quickly extended my leader to a 12 foot 3X leader and tied on my favorite grass carp dry fly, an olive Rainy’s Grand Hopper.
Before you inform me, I know, grass carp are vegetarians and don’t often eat insects. This hopper, when splatted down about six inches in front of a grass carp, appears like a leaf or fruit falling from a tree or shrub. It’s about the plunk and plunking next to the fish that draws the strike.
As I pursued the carp, Calvin asked me about exactly what I just explained. He also added that he has little to no luck trying to catch grass carp on fly. That’s about when this fish sipped my hopper off the top.
I’ll be honest, grassies were one of the hardest fish for me to figure out. When I started fishing them over 20 years ago, right down here in Phoenix, I went entire weeks without catching one. I tried mostly nymphs and algae and weed concoctions. Then I learned that a big green dry fly draws a strike when it splats down next to them. Often times grass carp fight extremely hard, todays took it easy on me until I landed him. Notice the bend from its weight in Calvins wooden net. It’s a good thing he got his hand up near the net before it snapped!
This is a chunker of a grassie. I’ve caught plenty bigger but on a small pond, this is a good one. Furthermore, this photo isn’t exactly the best but this grassie started to fight after we landed him while I was trying to get the picture. This is as good as we got.
I had a few more grassies eat the hopper but missed them. Grass carp are very hard to hook. I also had a few close calls with common carp tailing in the deep as did Steve and Calvin. That’s all for today. I suspect a few more hours on the water tomorrow before the evening gig with Desert Fly Casters.