Slammin' It!

34", 18 lbs, long fight on a 6wt!

What a gorgeous day to be out on the lake!  And the fish were more than happy to play with me too!  I started off chasing some carp, which weren't being terribly responsive at first. I was tossing a variety of flies but nobody was overly interested. Welcome to carp fishing! Finally I had switched to a bead head nymph and I tossed in front of a deep swiming carp close to the boat. That fish literally attacked the fly!

I had that fish on for quite a while, close to 20 minutes. I was using a 6wt and I had Orvis Mirage 3x tippet (my absolute favorite tippet in the world!!!) That fish ran, did circles around the canoe, went under the canoe, went through the weeds (pulling a lot up as it did that). It was awesome! Finally the fish tuckered out and I got it in the boat with my Boga-Grip. I was brilliant and didn't bring a net with me. The fish was 18lbs and measured in at 34 1/2". My first Master Class carp!  Species #13 on the board for me now!

Nice big female bowfin!

After that fish I switched gears and started hunting bowfin. I knew where to find them and what to use to get their interest. I had a couple swim near the boat and not show much interest. I saw something crazy I had never seen before too- a big bowfin with a half swallowed bullhead in its mouth. Awesome sight for sure! Finally I found one that was a player. That fish hammered the fly and tore me up. 30" and 10 pounds... great bowfin and a MC fish too.

Paddling a little ways from there I saw a huge pickerel and some big bass. Nobody was interested though. That is when I saw a group of pumpkinseeds. Nice school of them. I watched them for a couple of minutes before noticing a HUGE individual. I love fishing sunnies and you don't often see really big pumpkinseeds like this. I hunted around for a small fly and I had just the thing in my carp box- a midge pattern. He had spooked by this point but I noticed he only moved about 5 feet away. I repositioned the canoe and dropped the fly in some grass. BAM! he was on. 9"- Master Class pumpkinseed thank you very much! Species #14 for me at this point. I am pretty close to halfway through the species list now. 

That is a corker pumpkinseed!

Gorgeous fish!

Brindle bowfin!

I had seen this pair of bowfin cruising earlier and I wanted to see if they were still around. Sure enough they were. I saw a disturbance on the suface and investigated. There they were, hanging out together. Sometimes bowfin will pair up to hunt which can lead to double trouble!  I noticed that one looked different than the other. I tried for the normal one first, but after it missed the fly I looked for the other. I watched this lighter colored fish swim under the bow of my boat. I thought I had lost my opportunity but it showed up a minute or so later. It engulfed the fly without hesitation. When I landed the fish I noticed how cool it was- extremely white belly, the white coloration when about a third of the way up its side, the normally dark top was a light olive color with black scales sprinkled throughout. A brindle bowfin!  And it clocked in at 30" and 10 pounds too- my 4th Master Class fish of the day!

Check out those spots!

I headed in shortly after that, but not until I got a male bowfin in spawning dress and losing another in some puckerbrush. Awesome day out there!  I have a guest joining me today... if you want to get into some hot fishing, now is the time!  I have some slots open if you want to learn how to fish the way I do... go to MasterClassAngling.com and book yourself a trip!