Hey guys,
Over the weekend I was able to get out for some carp on the Grand River in Cambridge one morning. As I approached the waters edge I saw something Ive never seen before, there was a group of at least 10 carp feeding off the surface. Their mouths were coming out of the water and sucking back spent caddis flies, there was a big hatch going on. Luckily I had some tan caddis of various sizes in one of my boxes that I had on me, normally I only carry carp flies, but this time my trout stuff was on hand. I tied one on using an advanced clinch, not my normal knot, but the fly was too small to fit through my normal surgeons loop that I use for carp fly fishing. This, along with the fact that the caddis fly was a size 12, had me very worried, but I cast it out to where they were feeding none the less. Within seconds one gulped down the fly and my line went tight. I followed up with a strip set to make sure i was hooked up and a 15 minute battle insued. I got the fish to hand and got some great pictures and video which you can see below.
After this, I headed downstream to see if I could find any more fish but quickly came across two fisherman moving up stream at either edge of the water. Any carp behind them would have gotten spooked away for sure so I left the Grand and headed over to the Speed River. It was warming up, had to strip off the waders and get wet. Found a few fish feeding but didnt manage to connect with them so I moved upstream above the dam at Riverside park. Lots of fish there were taking cover in a weed bed, the sun was now up in the sky, shining bright. I pushed through some reeds to get close to them, dropped a carp fly in pockets in the weeds and manage to hook up with several carp. Most of them darted deep into the weed bed and either broke off or freed themselves from the hook but I did manage a couple.
A fish taken from the salad
A view from mid river as a train passed by
The helmet worm - a fly I designed for carp
I hope you all enjoy my report and video, there will be more on the way. Just getting back into the video production thing now that I have a new go pro.
