Carp

When I arrived at the lake it was so hot that no one was sitting in my favorite spot and it is
shaded by two trees!  "Mad dogs and English men go out in the midday sun", is an old song
that needs to be updated to include those of us who fly fish for carp during the dog days of summer.
The month of August has been one of the hottest months on record.
 

My back pack was filled with a litter of water and a half gallon of lemonade as well as few hundred
flies.  Serious problems can develop if you do not drink lots of fluids on a hot summer day.  Normally I would have skipped fishing on a day like this.  However, the need to catch some carp made me throw
caution to the wind.

SCORCHING and humid were the conditions.  No one was fishing.  carp were feeding so I "man up"
and started to fish different flies.  As the afternoon passed I started to hook fish.  My 4X tippet was
not enough for the first fish.  I like to challenge myself by using tackle as light as possible.  For me the
sweet spot is a tippet that is close to eight pounds, unless there are weeds or I'm on a river.

A fishing buddy who makes pellet flies from "flip flops" had given me some of his flies.  They worked!
I felt I was in the groove now.  Carp were feeding on the dog food I had scattered on the lake surface
(remember less is more once they start to feed).  A carp really hammered a slow sinking fly ( a fly made from a kitchen sponge ).  The rod actually shook in my had as the fly was taken.

When I can catch a few good fish, It makes for an enjoyable, though hot, afternoon of summer
fly fishing for carp..