My introduction to the idea of “Carp on the Fly” was accidental.
For some reason, casting flies to these golden brown figures ghosting around the flats of local lakes never really appealed to me.
And then came a fateful day on a local reservoir when the largemouth bass refused to cooperate.
That’s when I noticed the dozens of tails popping up all over the place.
For just a moment, I thought I might be wading on a South Texas redfish flat, not a North Texas rez filled with ditch puppies.
After swallowing my bass junkie’s pride just a little bit, I decided to go gonzo and cast a fly or two in their direction.
A half hour of refusals later, I was still going hard at it, flinging a black wooly bugger with an orange conehead in the direction of any and all carp I could find.
Then I finally hooked one. Felt the sudden jolt of a fish. And saw the fly line delicously evaporating off my reel.
And gained a new found rush in my ongoing pursuit to cast flies to Texas’ various warmwater fish.
Welcome to the dark side Mr. Skywalker.
Fast forward a few weeks – now I’m tying up carp flies and seeking out places where these strange looking critters feed.
Ok, so maybe they aren’t bonefish on a Bahamian flat. Or redfish in the Lower Laguna Madre.
But they are plentiful in my neck of the woods. And they seem challenging to catch. And I’m putting back into action some South Texas flats fishing lessons that have remained dormant for several years.
The dark side of fly fishing indeed.
I just might grow to like this carpin’ on the fly.
Maybe and we’ll see.
So with all of that in mind, enjoy today’s “Monday Movie,” an inner city carp adventure filmed by the pike-man himself, Barry Reynolds Fly Fishing.
Carp on brother!
