Lazy Days

Finally, I can wet a line. During the past several weeks I've been slammed with work and I've had very little time to do anything else. Even with the down time, the heat and humidity has basically sapped whatever little energy I have left over. I seek refuge in the living room, as I'm a prisoner to my air conditioner. Maybe it's my way of reserving energy for the upcoming steelhead season. Summer is like a fasting for me as I wait patiently for the cool winds to whip across Lake Erie and the early morning crispness of mid September that gets me stirring.

The times I wanted to fish, the weekly late afternoon thunderstorms have trashed the rivers. This weekend the weather was perfect, albeit very bright and hot. I didn't stray far from home and fished the Rock for carp. The river was very low, barely flowing and the deeper pool took on that murky color from the silt and algae. I fished one my favorite spots along the muni golf course as I've done well there in the past. The water was extremely warm and had a somewhat smelly odor. That's probably due to the algae scum slowly baking in the sun or maybe I'm naive that I'm actually wading through untreated sewage. I probably wouldn't want to know what the water quality is like and I probably don't want to know. But only if some hideous red pus filled sore showed up on my lower extremities then I'll will inquire.

As with the steelhead, the number of carp in the river during the past several years has been lower. In past years, there would be at least a 100 fish in the several pools, but today your lucky to see maybe 20 fish per pool. I could see several fish loitering under the branches of several downed trees. Usually that's not a good sign as the fish are too lazy because of the heat. I tossed some corn in good faith that I could get some to come out and play. But, they ignored my offerings as they're probably sick and tired of corn.

I did find a couple of players cruising the flats looking for food. Several of them were on the larger size and I was still trying to perfect my "stealth" technique. I tied on a #6 hex nymph that could pass off as either a dragonfly nymph or grossly deformed crayfish. With a couple of false casts, I casted the fly where I think the fish might come and that's a big but. I stand there and it becomes a waiting game. Will the fish go left or right? I watch about 4 carp feeding as they have their faces scouring the bottom. I don't react or do anything until the fish get close by. 

One of the fish slowly turned in the direction. He methodical feeds sucking up the bottom and spitting out the contents. I'm not sure where the fly is relation to the fish so I twitched it. The fish suddenly stops and started to inch closer debating whether to eat it or ignore it. Not wanting to go home empty handed I twitched it again and the fish bought it. It inhaled it and I quickly set the hook. The fish bolted downstream looking for any cover trying in vain to snap the line. Luckily there wasn't any and the fish was tanked after it blistering initial run. It wasn't the prettiest looking fish as it had some red sore near the tail and anal fins.

I wanted to fish some more but unfortunately, I couldn't find my neoprene socks and I paid for it. Blisters and the back of my feet rubbed raw. Not wanting to flirt with some infectious unknown waterborne disease or parasite, I decided to call it a day. I hobbled back to the car, thinking about the colder days ahead because I can't believe how fast this summer is going.