Sugar pond in Westchester

I saw this tiny pond on a Google Map and decided to see it in person.  When I arrived I saw
big tad poles at the pond's edges

Almost everywhere there were panfish; young panfish swimming but not taking any of the flies
I offered.

As I fished my way around the pond, I noticed that there was a lone koi swimming
at the north side of the pond.  So I took out my camera and began to photograph the koi.

Before long I saw an orange and black koi swimming near the first koi (orange and white).

Then I saw another koi swimming in the north end of the pond.  I looked closer to see if
I could detect the movement of any common carp.

Here is the orange and black koi swimming with a white koi.

During my visit I counted more than six koi.  I detected no common carp but that does not
mean there are none.

The orange and black koi

Oh boy koi

It may take awhile to locate but there is a deer in this thicket!

Sugar pond, looking north

Large tad pole.

Saw Mill River fishing II

The Saw Mill river is proving to be a great place to sight fish for carp.  It did not take
me a long time to locate carp sunning themselves.

It was not difficult for me to sneak up on them in the river.  I am standing a little behind them
and the sun is in front of me.

I did not even attempt to throw flies at these fish, at this time.  My goal was to locate them
and formulate a plan of attack.  But it was tempting!

For me, this was the beginning of carp season.  I always worrying when trying to catch the first one of the season.  Will I have "soft hands"?  Soft Hands  allow the carp to tire faster. Hands that are not soft allow the carp to snap tippets or break fly rods.   I always allow the carp to take it's first run.

Just before I cast a fly at a carp, I imagine what can go wrong while playing the fish.
This allows me to give the carp a free run.  After that first run, I apply tactics to tire
the fish.  I try to stay relaxed as I play the fish.

The river is almost crystal clear.  I also saw bluegills here and there.

The river looks like a drainage ditch here but it is still a long way from Yonkers.

Looking north on the Saw Mill River.

It is hard to see but there is a big brown rodent swimming in the Saw Mill ( a little right of the
picture's center).

As soon as I saw the carp go into a feeding mode, I decided to use an egg pattern drifted
into the feeding zone of the carp.  It had been awhile since I have had to use this technique.
The first few casts were off.  Eventually, I got the drift to stay in the feeding zone but it was
still startling to see it work.  When he took it, I hesitated just before setting the hook.

I was worried about pulling the fly out of the carp's mouth.   The carp fought hard and long.
It made several runs in the river before tiring.  I used my Fenwick "Floater Bum" fiberglass fly
rod (3 piece, 7 wt).  So the carp was out gunned from the start.

If you look closely you can see the egg pattern stuck in the upper lip of the fish.  In carp fly fishing
"Presentation" is everything, not the fly.

The Saw Mill River is a 23.5-mile (37.8 km)^[2]:9 tributary of the Hudson River in Westchester County, New York, United States. It flows from an unnamed pond north of Chappaqua to Getty Square in Yonkers, where it empties into the Hudson as that river's southernmost tributary. It is the only major stream in southern Westchester County to drain into the Hudson instead of Long Island Sound. It drains an area of 26.5 square miles (69 km²),^[2]:9 most of it heavily developed suburbia. For 16 miles (26 km), it flows parallel to the Saw Mill River Parkway, a commuter artery, an association that has been said to give the river an "identity crisis."^[4]

Saw Mill River fly fishing

I received a tip about the Saw Mill River.  My camera does not have a polarized lens, so you are only able to see the carp suspending in the upper third of my photo.   But there are at least a dozen carp in this picture.

Here is another view.  These carp are not feeding, just holding about a foot beneath the service.
Up until I got a tip about the Saw Mill River, I did not know where to start my search for fishing in the river.  At one time the river was stocked with trout.  I do not know if that is still the case but a local told me that he had caught a nice Brook Trout using an ordinary worm!

This is a better photo of the torpedo size carp near this tree.  Since this was my first visit I tried to inspect the west side first.  I did not see many fish.  I had two carp take notice of my soft hackle.

Looking north; each shadow is a carp.  I plan to walk the east side of the river on a future visit.
Google Maps shows possible access points further north; which look fishable too.

What was really exciting was the fact that I saw a dozen or so young carp (about five pounds or less)
swimming under a viaduct about a half mile from the area I fished.  It appears this area on the Saw Mill has bass, carp and a few trout.  I had to walk about an hour to reach this place ( both ways).   I enjoyed the walk going back to the train station because The Saw Mill River has fish.

The Saw Mill River looking north.

The river affords some of the few remaining open spaces in Westchester County. Near Ardsley and Dobbs Ferry, the river passes through V. E. Macy Park, popular for picnicking and fishing in Woodlands Lake.^[76] Butternut Ridge Park contains Tarrytown Lakes and a hiking trail.^[77]

Two bicycle trails run along parts of the river: the North County Trailway and the South County Trailway, which run from Van Cortlandt Park in the Bronx to Putnam County.^[77]

The Saw Mill was also known as the closest trout fishing river to New York City. In the early 2000s, it was stocked with a few hundred trout each year.^[78] The lower river specifically is a good trout river.^[79]

Fly Fishing for MONSTER CARP

My carp flies

You are looking at my collection of carp flies.  Some float on the surface of the water.
Some sink in the water and lay on the bottom.  A few can either float or sink depending
on if they are treated with a floatant.

I do not tie flies but I have been able to get flies through fly swaps and by looking for
new and different flies on line.  The egg patterns shown above are used either on the surface as
"dry flies" or fished on the bottom.

Deer hair flies are used to imitate bread or dog biscuits.

The white woolie bugger is my all time favorite fly.   I have loss count of how many carp
have taken this fly.  I like to think it is because the red thread appears to be blood flowing
from an injured minnow.

There are many carp flies like these.  They all catch carp.  The flies on the right side
have rubber legs and clouser eyes.  The flies on the left resemble woolie buggers.

Deer hair flies can be tied on a variety of hook sizes.

Two deer hair flies are part of my midge collection of deer hair flies.  The red is a #16
The brown is a size#14

I obtained these flies years ago on e-bay.  In the water they float and look like bread
or a decaying leaf on the surface.

I really enjoy using deer hair flies during the Mulberry season.

Here is another group of flies that can be soaked in floatant and fished as a dry fly.

For the mudding carp these red flies appears to be a juicy worm.   The other is
a river clam fly.

Boobie flies

Worm flies for carp tailing

 More worms

Double deer hair fly on a single hook

Flies for grass carp.

This style of carp fly was developed for carp of The Great Lakes.  The flies are
sturdy, made for meat eating carp!

My wax worms are soft baits that have fooled a number of big carp here in New York City.

Golden Shiner

I'm still trying to catch a carp in Prospect Park Lake.  I arrived after 5:00pm for this session.

There were very few turtles lying in wait; even though I had put two pounds of corn in the water the previous day. The spot I chose is heavily wooded so I brought my "Fenwick "floater bum" fly rod.  It is a three piece, 7 weight fiberglass, six foot, ten inch weapon of carp destruction!  Like most fiberglass rods, it can take a lickin and keep on tickin.

So even though no carp were visible in this cove, there were lots of golden shiners. Lots of them.
I used a small egg pattern (yellow) because it resembled a corn kernel.

Every few years, there are larger than normal size golden shiners in the lake.  This seems to be
one of those years.

The spot where carp like to suspend and spawn.