On a wade for Salt Creek Carp
Saturday March 06, 2010
Yesterday I got the invitation to fish the upper stretches of Salt Creek with Kevin Nikola (aka – MacGyver). We fished in his backyard from 1-5pm, first targeting Walleyes for over an hour, and then trying to stalk some skinny water Carp for the other two.
It was too bright and sunny for any good and predictable fishing to occur, and water temperatures were anywhere in the 39-40 degree range. Still cold, despite an existing warmwater discharge less than a mile away upstream.
For the Walleyes we headed upstream closer towards Busse and the place was a zoo. The DNR officer was out writing up tickets, and nobody was catching anything, including ourselves.
About one hour into the outing, both Kevin and I were complaining how sunny it was, and that we weren’t seeing any fish. He then proposed that we try Carp fishing, by utilizing a secret method of his which nobody else really does.
Being entirely sick and tired of ice fishing, we just wanted to catch something regardless of what it was.
We headed back to his house, grabbed some bread, and we walked a distance away to begin our mile-long wade down the creek.
This is what we did and how we did it:
The secret was to wade quietly, and then to chum pieces of bread and let it drift downstream. If we saw any surface activity in the shallow water, in the way of any fish coming up to suck down the bread-balls, we would stay there and begin making our drifts with our hook and “bread fly”.
On a day like this I really wished I had that stupid 8WT fly rod I got for Steelheads rigged and ready to go.
Next time.
To make a long story short, and to summarize the video, I was 0-for-3, and Kevin was 1-for-2. The fish were totally negative and still inactive. It was difficult to get the little hooks buried into their mouths, and it was equally as hard to feel any bites, or even the slightest amount of weight when your line and bread is drifting 75 yards downstream.
Here are some photos of the only fish we caught:
Regardless of outcome and jinxing myself by proclaiming “First fish of 2010″ before it is even landed, it was a really enjoyable day, and the perfect day to begin an adventurous and action-packed fishing season.