I would have caught a carp, but.......

I'm on my way home from work tonight and stopped dead in traffic. It appears that everyone and their mother in a 20 mile radius had to go to this one bar to celebrate the fact that they aren't irish but are wearing green anyway (for the record, I'm about 30% green blood). I pass by the park with the pond and creek that is full of carp and figure I might as well wait out rush hour by scouting for fish.

As I'm walking down to the bridge under the road that is backed up with cars, I notice a pod of fish holding tight against the concrete wall. I see two really small bass, a handful of bluegills, and then I see a carp, probably about 5 lbs. I was peaking at the fish from around a tree and they didn't notice me at all. This was the first really warm day we've had so far this spring and the fish were just starting to wake up, but still pretty lethargic. I darted back to my car, grabbed my 4 weight (which is the only rod I had in the car) and headed back behind the tree. I figured that something big would spook the carp, and that since they are still in quazi-hibernation mode, something small and easy would be the ticket. I rigged up a tiny san juan worm, trailed by a glass bead head pheasant tail. I figured that would sink really slow and give the carp a chance to take notice.

I get a perfect roll cast around the tree and a perfect drop near the only fish over 6 inches long. the PT starts to drop, and I see the san juan just holding sub-surface. After about 10 seconds, it starts to slowly drop as well. Visibility was only about 2 feet and they were holding in 4 feet of water. As soon as I see the flies drop out of site, I watch the carp slowly start lowering, following the worm.

As he gets out of view I see something slowly drag my line down and I'm thinking "game on! I'm going to land a 5 lb fish on my way home from work!"

WRONG.

I set the hook like a champion with a strip strike, and prepare for the biggest battle I've had in a few weeks.


The little fish spooked the carp and he took off. I waited about 5 minutes, saw him appear again, cast at him, and the whole thing just repeated itself. Another darn bluegill.

Oh well, at least I didn't get the skunk. Two fish in 10 minutes is better than I've been doing almost all year!