Fun but Ugly

[Ham]

I got to make a couple of kayak trips with OA members this week. It was hot, but Thunderstorms both days cooled off the afternoon.

had fun, caught fish, some big, some small, all the usual ways. 

I finally caught a monster carp while on my kayak. I had caught a giant on the White River using a Zig Jig before so I knew it could happen. 

I had seen some tailing and switched to a Zig Jig. I caught s few nice smallies and them stumbled into the beast.

very lengthy fight that I honestly did not expect to win. It pulled a crap ton of drag, pulled my boat upstream, when through downed trees, a shallow riffle at the top of the pool stopped him and it was not a small pool. 

I had to bail off yak to work my rod thru the downed wood and then try  to swim to where I could stand and fight. Cajunangler was patient and helpful. And in the end we got some fun pictures. 

 

[DownStream]

Now that's a battle! Glad you were able to bring it in. Thanks for the report.

[Haris122]

Those kinds of adrenaline pumping contests between man and fish are what it's all about.

[MOPanfisher]

Carp are always a blast to catch.  And if they come off, oh well.  I will admit to fishing small creeks and spotting the working.  Then easing out to a nearby pasture, flipping cow pies to get a few red worms, rig them with just a hook and spend 20 minutes stalking them.  Why not!

[Ham]

1 hour ago, MOPanfisher said:

Then easing out to a nearby pasture, flipping cow pies to get a few red worms, 

Let no one doubt his dedication to the sport

[MOPanfisher]

To be fair the fishing had been pretty poor up to that point, even the wormy little bass and green sunfish didn't want to play.  Had to do something.

[hoglaw]

I've quit smallmouth fishing during a couple of CC floats to fish trout jigs to carp. One of the first rods I ever built was for throwing 1/16 jigs to oversized fish. Nicely done ham. 

[Ham]

I wish I was better at it. I guess I need to do a trip mainly focusing on them and when I spot carp take as long as I need to present the jig or whatever at them as well as I can. Make sure they are already spooked. 

[grizwilson]

In addition to his carp addiction....

[Ham]

The down side of hugging a great big carp is that you start to smell like a great big carp left out in the sun when your shirt dries.

Luckily, I carry liquid camp soap and I did a quick old school Ozark creek side laundry service on my shirt. I smelled fresh as a daisy after that.