andy-ap emerger
03-09-2005, 11:38 AM
With the low water, high gas prices and a slow winter steelhead season...it's back to the Golden Ghost.
Yesterday afternoon I left the office at 4:30pm to hit a few of my favorite carp haunts. One in particular is on the Columbia River underneath the I-205 pilings, off of Marine Drive. This segment of the river provides exceptional carp habitat. Clear, low water on a muddy flat. It's best fished in the early am before the typical east wind picks up. A little chop is perfect to sheild you and your cast's but too much wind is very difficult to spot rooting carp. Looking for nervous water & mud "poofs" is ideal. Too much of that wind makes it impossible to locate feeding fish.
Yesterday was IDEAL! There was just a little ripple-chop on the surface and there were actively feeding carp all around me. I stripped out 50 feet of line, tied up a maroon "ap carp cash" pattern and let her sail right into a small muddy "poof" area. As I was letting the fly settle to the bottom, I was just going mentally blank with daydreams when I hear and feel a "Whaummmph, whump....." Huh, I thought there must've been a barge unloaded or a train connecting. 10 seconds later I see a HUGE explosion near where Mt ST Helens was. WOW! No way! The mountain is erupting right in front of me! "W O W!" absolutely incredible to first hear & feel it. Then equally impressive to see a huge, building explosion before my very eyes!
Oddly, the water went completely still & calm. All of the fish that were feeding & tailing abruptly stopped. For the next thirty minutes there was no sign whatsoever of any fish activity.
As I sat on the bank & enjoyed the show a bald eagle comes swooping over head and soars away....
Unbelievable. I jokingly said aloud to myself "these things don't happen to people who live in Ohio."
What a beautiful string of events.
-Viva la Fly-rod!
-Andy ap emerger
:cool:
Yesterday afternoon I left the office at 4:30pm to hit a few of my favorite carp haunts. One in particular is on the Columbia River underneath the I-205 pilings, off of Marine Drive. This segment of the river provides exceptional carp habitat. Clear, low water on a muddy flat. It's best fished in the early am before the typical east wind picks up. A little chop is perfect to sheild you and your cast's but too much wind is very difficult to spot rooting carp. Looking for nervous water & mud "poofs" is ideal. Too much of that wind makes it impossible to locate feeding fish.
Yesterday was IDEAL! There was just a little ripple-chop on the surface and there were actively feeding carp all around me. I stripped out 50 feet of line, tied up a maroon "ap carp cash" pattern and let her sail right into a small muddy "poof" area. As I was letting the fly settle to the bottom, I was just going mentally blank with daydreams when I hear and feel a "Whaummmph, whump....." Huh, I thought there must've been a barge unloaded or a train connecting. 10 seconds later I see a HUGE explosion near where Mt ST Helens was. WOW! No way! The mountain is erupting right in front of me! "W O W!" absolutely incredible to first hear & feel it. Then equally impressive to see a huge, building explosion before my very eyes!
Oddly, the water went completely still & calm. All of the fish that were feeding & tailing abruptly stopped. For the next thirty minutes there was no sign whatsoever of any fish activity.
As I sat on the bank & enjoyed the show a bald eagle comes swooping over head and soars away....
Unbelievable. I jokingly said aloud to myself "these things don't happen to people who live in Ohio."
What a beautiful string of events.
-Viva la Fly-rod!
-Andy ap emerger
:cool: