Creek Addict

The fam and I decided to head out last Saturday and enjoy the gorgeous weather at one of the local parks. While the wife played with the baby, the baby played with his fish, and my dog laid in the grass, I decided to play with a few carp I saw cruising the pond’s edges. This was new water for me, so I wasn’t even really aware that there were carp here (I had my suspicions). It was supposed to be a “family” day. I wasn’t supposed to go fishing. I mean, Come on. You can’t expect a guy to watch fish tail around in the shallows and not do something about it. It’s like holding a crack rock in front of a crack fiend’s face that hasn’t had his fix in months. I hadn’t landed a carp since the fall of ‘09. I NEEDED one. Just one. Lucky for everyone involved, I always carry some rods in the car. Game on.

Victory!

Just a little guy, but I’ll take it.

Even the dog thinks they smell gross.

For the trout opener in PA I met up with Mark Erdosy from This River is Wild. We hit one of the popular local trout streams that is open year round in hopes that the other trout fisherman were off fishing streams that were previously closed. No luck. The place was crowded. I even saw a guy with a grill and party tent set up right on the banks. We fished a section that is a little less pressured in hopes of catching a few wild fish.

Mark was interested in learning about some of the European nymphing methods, and I was happy to oblige. After a few quick blurbs on how things work, and a quick demo of how it all looks, we were off to the races. It didn’t take long before Mark had a handle on things and started putting fish in hand with the new learned methods. It probably only took about 15 minutes from start to finish before he caught his first fish using the European techniques. After catching a few fish, we decided to head to one of his top secret spots. A more than fair trade. The amount of gold hidden in the place he took me to is unreal. A new favorite spot, and I haven’t even caught a fish there yet.

At secret spot X we met up with one of the other writers of This River is Wild, Adam Hope. As soon as I stepped up to the water, I saw the shadows. After trying for an hour or so, I couldn’t get a take. Adam was lucky enough to catch himself one. A sure sign that the season is looking up. It’s time for carp, and I couldn’t be any more ready. It was great fishing with these guys. I’m all about meeting new like minded fisherman. I hope to get out on the water with these guys again soon.

A nice little wild brown.

I love the buttery yellows the trout in this stream have.

One of Mark’s rainbows after the release.

Looks like we took the same picture.

Alicia and I decided to stop by the shit hole and meet up with Nick for a quick fix while we were out shopping for baby stuff on Saturday. The conditions weren’t great, but we managed a carp a piece before we had to run more errands. I was more excited to watch Alicia catch one than actually catching my own. If you haven’t been keeping up with the blog, I went fishing with Pete McDonald from Fishing Jones about two months ago. Unfortunately, Pete had to leave before he could net one of these smelly bastards (See this post). So, I’m pretty much putting this video up as a response from my wife officially calling Pete out.

PARENTAL ADVISORY-EXPLICIT LYRICS

My little guy. This fish has obviously been stuck in the lips before, and from the looks of it, it wasn’t a size 12 streamer hook.

If you haven’t noticed, we have a new fella posted on the right side of our site. Nick and I have been fishing with Jordan for a while, however, I just recently found out that he is a pretty serious photographer (View his work here). We decided to head out on Sunday and see what he might be able to contribute to the site. I think the results will pretty much speak for themselves. We decided to do our photo shoot (that sounds really gay) at the infamous shit hole. With the fish active, and the light cooperative, I think we came out with some pretty good material. Jordan even had some time to catch a carp of his own, although my picture of him didn’t turn out as nice as his did of me.

God, I’m such a narcissistic boner, I love it. Alex Landeen, If you’re reading, let me know what you think of these (or anyone else for that matter).

It may not be as good, but at least I got a picture of Jordan and his carp.

Nick and I spent our Saturday fishing in Joisy Jersey. We started the morning off with some wild browns, and ended it with some golden ghosts. The trickle of liquid coming from a horse’s ding dong trout stream was really low when we pulled up to the parking spot. The fishing was a little tough, but we still managed some trout. One of the browns I caught was one of the biggest Nick or I had ever seen come out of this stream (Nick caught one just a touch smaller the week before out of the same pool). It was a real beaut. I caught him on the Creek Addict caddis pupae (If you haven’t tied any yet, maybe you should). I actually pulled out another 12 or 13 incher only three drifts after putting the big one back in the water. That one took a micro mayfly nymph that I’ve been using this last month or so. I’m planning on putting a how-to of it up soon. Both fish were exceptional for this stream.

The second half of our day was spent at the shit hole in search of carp. It didn’t take long before we were both pulling them in. Nick and I both managed to pull in some real pigs. The big one that I caught literally took me a half hour to pull in. He put me in my backing 4 times and had my 8 weight looking like a wet noodle. Nick thought it would be fun to use his 5 weight on some of these fish. He had quite the time with the carp, even the small one he got gave him a hell of a time. There were quite a few traditional fisherman watching us do our thing, but none of them were having the luck that we were. With every carp hooked, the spin guys just inched in closer and closer until we were surrounded by an army of guys chunking out huge pieces of bread with surf casting gear and what seemed to be 5 ounce weights. It still didn’t stop the oh so sweet sounds of our reels screaming as the carp darted off like torpedoes, ripping off as much line as they could. After a few hours our arms were tired, and our bellies were empty. Unfortunately, it was time to head home.

The nice fish pulled out of the tiny trout stream.

The other good brown pulled out 2 minutes after the first nice one.

Nick and a smaller carp.

One of my better carp for the day.

Nick’s biggest of the day. This one put some serious bend in his 5 weight.

I think this is my biggest carp yet. This thing put up a serious battle. I can still hear the sound of backing zipping through my guides. All the carp were caught on 5x tippet! What an awesome day!

I spent Sunday at the shit hole with my buddy Jordan Ewing. The fishing wasn’t fast and furious, but we both managed a couple of carp in the rain. This was Jordan’s first time getting carp on the fly, and I can safely say, these won’t be his last.

One of Jordan’s carp. I think the three wolf one moon t-shirt gave him the right mojo to get him hooked up.

I think this is the smallest carp I’ve caught to date. Still tons of fun.

This was the biggest carp of the day. Again, I think the three wolf one moon t-shirt was behind his good fortunes on Sunday.

This was my favorite picture from the day. God, these things are ugly.