# It only takes one



## TheCream (Mar 19, 2009)

As corny as it sounds, that's been my "motto" all year when the fishing has not been as good as I have expected or hoped. I keep telling myself it only takes one strike, one fish to turn around an average or below average outing. Sunday morning I was fishing a small flow for smallies with my 1wt. I can't complain too much about the fishing, there was quantity, just no quality. I usually pick up at least one smalljaws in the 14-16" range there, and on this trip I was only catching 7-10"ers. Plenty of them, just no size to them. Things turned when I saw a group of 3 carp swimming my way from a distance. I had a fly on that I have hooked carp on before, but never in the color combo I had tied on (olive over yellow). The smallies loved it that day, and on a "Here goes nothing" whim, I put a cast in front of the carp before they got close to me. As the fly sank, the first two fish swim under/past it without paying it any attention. As the 3rd fish approached, I gave a couple of short hard strips. As soon as I did that, one of the carp that had passed the fly turned on a dime and took the fly. Stunned, I set the hook and all hell broke loose. The fish nearly got to my backing on the initial burst, then I had to fight to keep the fish from diving into some heavy wood cover down deep near me. I managed to get my net handle extended (that long handled Measure Net has saved me this year many times) with one hand and after 4 failed netting attempts I finally got the fish in the net. 1wt, 4X fluoro tippet, 24" late season carp.



















All the smallies were pretty much carbon copies of this fish:


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## lunker23 (Jun 28, 2013)

Bamm! Kick azz and sounds like an awesome fight with the Carp. Even with my 7 wt. it's hold on tight, watch all your line disappear off the spool and enjoy the sweet sound of the drag screaming as the Carp runs.......


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## creekcrawler (Oct 5, 2004)

Nice, Did your one weight reel sizzle when you put it in the water< lol?


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## TheCream (Mar 19, 2009)

I figured out the hard way last time that when the fish starts running on that little reel and I have to palm the spool, watch out for the reel handle. Actually the hardest part was when the fish turned after that run and came back, it came back quick and I had a hard time reeling fast enough to keep tension on the fish. The reel didn't sizzle, but it and the rod got a good workout on that fish!


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## justinharrell (Sep 18, 2012)

Awesome story and fish!


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## Dolomieu (Aug 19, 2008)

Wow! Just Wow. On a one weight?!? That has to be some kind of record for that species right? What a day! Congrats!


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