'Carp' Diem

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Early morning finds me on the water looking for fish.  I am not alone.  There seems to be blue heron every couple of hundred yards along the river looking for breakfast.

The temperatures have risen quite a bit.  I think the river is near 70 degF.  And what does that portend?

Near the shorelines you see splashing in the water and muddy water boiling up.

Yep - it is carp breeding season.  They seem to be everywhere in the shallows.

They pass right in front of my kayak - oblivious to my presence.

They remind me of a time when I lived in Vermont.  I was canoeing in a reserve called Dead Creek.  I was surrounded by dozens of carp.  They seemed to be chasing a larger fish - a female  I supposed.  They literally ran into my canoe in the shallow water as they chased the female.I could have easily speared them.

The splashing seems to only occur in the morning.  I wonder how long this cycle will go for . . .

Small Fry

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As the summer progresses, the weeds and lily pads continue to shoot up in the river.  Casting along the bank is getting harder with crank baits.  I now have to run shallow running baits (with a slow retrieve) or I get a lot of 'salad'.

I am starting to transition to top water lures.  Hula poppers are always a good choice, as are stick baits.

We have had a ton of rain lately, and the fishing has been harder (the water is very discolored for a day or so after a big rain).  Its been a couple of weeks since I caught any sizable fish, but I can usually get a few rock bass and smaller largemouth bass.  I've been using lighter tackle lately, just having fun in the shallow water.

The rock bass really attack smaller hula poppers, but they tend to hit the skirt on the back.  I was casting along the shoreline yesterday at twilight.  They would grab the skirt and I could see them pulling the lure around.  Without a hook in the back, I missed a lot of strikes.  Fun, but also frustrating.

Today I started with the hula popper again, and got a small rocky.  I still was missing quite a few strikes.  I switched over to a small Rapala and fished it with a slow retrieve so I would not grab any weeds.  I got my first bluegill of the year (I usually fish larger lures which the bluegill won't strike).

I forgot how pretty and colorful bluegills are.

I paddled around and went looking for a few more rockies.  I wasn't the only one fishing for the small fish.  The blue herons were about.

I think I was having better luck.

Nothing big, but still a lot of fun!