# My biggest fish ever on the fly



## TheCream (Mar 19, 2009)

Yesterday, I was not a happy camper. I had plans to go UL fly fishing in a stream about an hour away, and with all the rain Saturday, those plans went out the window. Instead I chose to hit my favorite local carp waters in the kayak, even though conditions were cool, windy, and all together not good for sight fishing carp in a mud flat. I got refusal after refusal, and spooked several fish that I couldn't see due to the chop on the water. After an hour of beating my head off the wall, I ditched carp and decided to go for bass. That didn't go much better, I managed a small dink bass and a green sunfish on a streamer. I wasn't about to give up on the carp, though. I returned to the flat only to get denied several more times. Finally, the wind calmed down, the stars aligned, and I spotted a huge fish. It was maybe 75' away and swimming left to right slowly. I inched closer to about 35' away and made a good cast leading the fish with a #10 black/chartreuse Bitch Creek nymph. I saw a subtle twitch of the fly line, set the hook, and all hell broke loose. I was in the backing in what felt like seconds. I got the fly line back on the spool, and the slug fest was on. I tried my best to work the fish side to side but this fish was not tiring. I got it close after about 15 minutes, thought I was about to get her in the net, and that's when I saw the surprise: it was a grass carp! First one I have ever hooked.  The fish barely contacted the net and went nuts, and I was back in the backing seconds later, and had to start all over again. Finally, after roughly 35 minutes, the fish came to the surface and appeared to be giving in, and I got her head firmly in the net...but she was only about 2/3 the way in the net because she didn't fit. 




























How long was she? No solid idea. I was exhausted, I knew the fish had to be, so I snapped those quick pics and got her back in the water. I had planned to revive her a little, but seconds after I got her back in, I had ahold of her tail when she thrashed hard and was gone like a rocket. 

Yesterday went from miserable to epic in a heart beat.


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## SeanStone (Sep 8, 2010)

Man thats awesome. Well done.

Sent from my SCH-I545 using Ohub Campfire mobile app


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## TheCream (Mar 19, 2009)

SeanStone said:


> Man thats awesome. Well done.
> 
> Sent from my SCH-I545 using Ohub Campfire mobile app


It was intense. Landing that fish on a 9'6" rod in a kayak with a short handled net was beyond difficult.


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## toobnoob (Jun 1, 2010)

Congrats Cream!! That had to be down right epic. I'm still trying to get my first grass carp. Landing one in a kayak is nuts!


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## sbreech (Jun 6, 2010)

Wow! Freshwater bonefish!


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## TheCream (Mar 19, 2009)

sbreech said:


> Wow! Freshwater bonefish!


And *THAT* is why I have non-UL gear.


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## jhammer (Jun 13, 2011)

Very nice!!!! :B


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## ejsell (May 3, 2012)

Heck of a fish. He looks like he could of really towed you around.


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## MikeC (Jun 26, 2005)

Excellent. Thanks for sharing.


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