My introduction to Colorado carp came from pursuing the multitude videos on YouTube and chatting with friends on Twitter. Being from the Midwest, I cut my fly fishing teeth on warm water species and learned very quickly the challenges of taking carp on the fly. But there was something intangibly intriguing about these Ghosts of Colorado. Perhaps the habitat was a little better, the fish a little bigger, and, just maybe, the experience a little better.
I hooked up with my Twitter buddy, Dave Maynard, for an afternoon of stalking the Golden Ghost on Denver's mud flats. Armed with a 7 weight Sage, 2x leader tapered to 3x fluorocarbon tippet, and some Backstabbers, I set out to stalk and battle some of Colorado's finest.
After a few unsuccessful attempts at feeding carp, I found another fish "locked in" rooting. I made the cast well past my target and stripped line until the fly was in the carp's field of vision. A short twitch of the rod tip, marabou and hackle undulating, was too much for the Ghost to ignore. He charged my Backstabber and sucked in the fly. I strip struck and the rod bowed. The fight was on.
Palming the reel during runs and working the rod to subdue the fish, I eventually landed my first Colorado Golden Ghost. What a great feeling!
During the rest of the afternoon, Dave and I continued to work the mud flats, putting our flies in front of as many active carp as possible. Some spooked, some were ornery, but some just ate.
Great story and great post, Andy. Wish I hooked up with Dave before my Denver trip last year - this looks like a blast!
ReplyDeleteI've tried chasing carp in our local river (Concord) but find its too silty to effectively sight fish. By the time you see them, they are spooked. Not going to stop me from trying, though.
...and some just ate.
ReplyDeletewell done sir...cheers!
Congrats on getting off the CO carp shnide, but be carefull Andy. They are very very sneaky. First you are getting out for the ocassional outing and luvin it, the next thing you know they have snuck up on you and are all you want to fly fish for is carp. Believe me.
ReplyDeleteDean -- Thanks! Appreciate it. Dave is a great guy! Passionate and fun to fish with. Keep trying on those Concord carp! Find a ghost that is so concentrated on eating and thread a fly in his feeding lane. My last couple of fish were rooting around in a foot of water, backs completely visible. Made about a 40 foot cast to them.
ReplyDeleteSanders -- Thanks, man! Blog looks great.
McTage -- Ha! Thanks for warning me of the pitfalls :) I think I've developed the first stages of this obsession already, which regretfully might take time out of my smallmouth bass fishing. I'm hoping to participate in the Carp Slam next year. We'll see how things pan out.
Great looking carp!!!I just found this Via Twitter. Cool blog!
ReplyDeleteyou should try to make it out for the carp slam next year.
ReplyDeleteGary -- if all goes well, it's my goal to be there!
ReplyDeleteThanks again, G. You have a nice blog yourself :)
Nice experience Andy! Hats off to you and Dave for a great day of fishing the mud flats for those golden beasts!
ReplyDelete