Carp! Why Not?
by
Tyson Vineyard
Unless you've been living under a rock you probably noticed the world had some changes happen over the last couple of years, jobs lost, trips put on hold.
Everybody thinking they know everything about everything...times were definitely odd...
Late 2019 I was deep in an obsession for muskies, and muskies only (on conventional tackle). I was blowing half a paycheck on all the coolest baits and rods, watching every video on YouTube. I lived for those toothy behemoths. I was spending hours and hours on these fish. Muskies had also brought me and a cousin of about the same age together very closely and we were a team effort in chasing these awesome fish, we caught many from shore early on as our obsession grew we were always upgrading our arsenal and techniques got a boat and absolutely were consumed by muskies.....and then 2020 happened.
Early 2020, such a time of uncertainty, anger, sadness, divisioness. I was put on leave for "2 weeks" from work and ended up not going back for quite some time... spring of 2020 finally showed itself with muskie tournaments becoming a stressful event due to the increase in recreational boat traffic. I had become pretty tired of chasing muskies... well not so much the fish but the hassle of it all....
Sitting around the house I was itching for something new. One day I was at a local fishing shop, and I had just gotten a raise/bonus or something at work and I came across this 3/4 weight Okuma fly rod in kind of a marbly green color. Growing up only fly fishing a couple times a year on the Henry’s Fork near Island Park, Idaho I thought “hey there is something different we could give a go.”
With an abundance of trout water around northern Utah the possibilities were endless. Now, don’t get me wrong I love trout. They are iconic in flyfishing and all but... unless its lake trout or a big ol gnarly brown the stocker bows and tiny brookies can become a snore. Not knocking the game it’s just not my style, but I had become hooked on flyfishing.
Something about landing that perfect cast and the rhythm of it all. I like to compare it to driving a manual transmission verses an automatic transmission vehicle. Both will get you where you want but I like being more engaged in the process of it all. Being limited on funds due to being out of work I did what I could to feed my obsession. I still had the Okuma 3/4 with some dinky plastic beginners kit fly reel but came across a lightly used Okuma 5/6 wt. reel and being a total noob at flyfishing bought it and threw it on the rod I had.
Growing up I have always loved fish. Anything with gills and fins were my thaaaang. Fishing with my dad I was exposed to many different fish at a young age, but I remember one morning in early fall we were fishing the reservoir for perch and crappie and later in life, where I fell in love with the pursuit of muskies. We had finished for the day, and we were walking out when I saw this giant figure laying on the bank down the little ridge from where we had been walking.
I was maybe 8 at the time but I remember the feeling I got when I saw that mirror carp lying there on the bank that morning. Just like the first time I watched Jaws I stood there mouth wide open amazed at the sheer mass of this big golden odd scaled fish (thinking about it now it was probably 8 pounds). I was scarred by that fish for a long time. I remember wanting to go back to just see it lying there on the bank at the time I didn't even understand decomposition, but I understood that I wanted to catch these big fish and as time would tell, my relationship with these fish would grow immensely.
I was walking through Sportsman's warehouse one day I came across a book called "Carp on the Fly" by Barry Reynolds, Brad Befus and John Berryman. I thought, "hey this might be interesting, it's not trout." I'm not even exaggerating, I read that entire book that night!
Not being one to follow the norm and wanting a challenge, the sound of pursuing these fish that I have once greatly admired became my whole world in a matter of days. Over the following days I gathered all the necessary components to encounter these fish.
After reading the book, I installed in my brain that I would not catch a fish in a while knowing these fish will eat many things in their environment let alone a hook covered in thread and feathers. I had to do it. After reading articles and seeing video upon video of people ranting on how fun these fish were to pursue on the fly, I had to give her a go…
The first day I pursued carp on the fly I rode down to a nearby swamp that was ten minutes up the road. I began walking and looking, I should probably mention that as a young lad I bowed fished for a couple summers and am remorseful to the fish that I done killed, but I'm thankful for the fish spotting abilities that it taught me.
I'll have you know to this day I have safely released ten times the amount of carp that I ignorantly killed as a bow fisher if one can call bow fishing fishing. I set out with a goal to try and trick one carp into eating a fly.
I hiked down and saw a small pod of fish ranging from 2-8 pounds in the shallows surrounding small boulders. I knew I had to get close to place my cast right. Crawling on my hands and knees I crept up through the cattail. The fish were right in front of me. I managed to flip my fly onto one of the outside fish of the school and beyond my belief he immediately inhaled the fly.
That 3-pound carp emptied my 5-weight reel of line in a matter of seconds when he felt the hook penetrate his lips. My heart was immediately pounding through my chest, I had achieved my goal in the first try, not a common event in my life. After a couple a minutes I netted the fish, screamed and went on to catch three more that day.
Here we are now in 2022 finishing out the season multiple fish a day, catching multiple fish and never getting old. It's always something new every day.
Here is one of my favorite carp to date…which also happens to be a killer birthday Mirror too…
We didn’t stick many that day before the rain arrived but the few we did, looked amazing!
Thank you for taking the time to read about my journey, I hope to do a few more blogs in the coming years…
Tyson Vineyard