First carp of 2011

Though I normally avoid fishing on weekends due to crowds, with the weather predicted to hit over 20 degrees, I took my kids for a rare Sunday outing. Headed to the other side of the Saunders dam, plan was for the kids to catch perch and for me to supervise them while still fishing for carp.

Though the weather cooperated as far as temperature, a steady East wind along with rising water turned my spot upside down. As a result, none of the fish were cooperating, at a time of the year when I often get non stop action.

By mid afternoon, I noticed some carp splashing around in the warming shallows, so I made my way over to any area I don't normally fish due to heavy weed growth. With my luck, it was still fishable. After chumming with some different sized boilies, it took about 45 minutes or so for my rod to go off, baitrunner drag screaming that sweet sound I've been dreaming of since last fall.

I set, the big carp headed staight for the marsh, I managed to stop him just in the nick of time. Finally managed to get it close to shore for a glimpse, was considerably larger than the 12-13 lb average for that spot.

I loosened the drag slightly and handed the rod to my 10 year old son. Fish took off as expected. He brought it back to shore 2 or 3 times, but it was still full of energy. I finally took the rod after 5 minutes or so of him going back and forth with the big fish, landed it shortly after.

We guesstimated it's weight before weighing it, my son accurately called it a 21 lbs. Saw a few more carp jump, but didn't manage any more in the next hour or so, so we headed back and beat the traffic.

Winter took a bit longer than usual to leave this year, so it felt really nice being out on the water on the first warm day this season. Though the fishing wasn't too hot, I got to relax in the sun, and managed a quality fish that put up a great fight, in addition to putting huge smiles on both my sons faces.