fish | joepetrowflyfishing

Surprise, surprise, we have another post about carp. For those of you upset about it, not sorry. For those of you happy about it, I love you.

But for real and on a serious note, this past year was the definition of *elite* when it came to the carp fishing. Not only did the local waters fish excellent and produce some of our best fish to date, but I also had the opportunity to fish the famous canals around Scottsdale, Arizona and check out the carping scene there.

Let’s start with the Arizona carp. For starters, was there for a bachelor party weekend not focused on fishing, but still made it happen in less than desirable conditions. Best case fished for 2-hours each morning (early) as the hangovers were wearing off for the rest of the gentlemen and scholars at the AirbBNB. It was an unseasonably cold weekend in Arizona, but the fish did not seem to mind at all.

Not having fished in Arizona before, my best friend was Google Maps, and Uber’ing to a local park that had a handful of canals/ponds surrounding the premises proved to be the move . After about a 10-minute somewhat uncomfortable ride with the driver not understanding why I had a fishing rod with me, I entered a quiet residential park with practically no one else there. Literally upon exiting the vehicle and rigging up my 4-piece 6-weight rod, I was already seeing carp surface in the water around me. I also noticed some creek channels extending out of the ponds, to which I chose to explore those as the water was shallow and clear, and saw some fish moving. Within my first 10-minutes, I already was hooked up to a nice carp on one of my specialty home tie flies. Per usual carp fashion, the fish put up a great fight, and I was able to land a second fish shortly after in the same creek. The biggest fish of the morning came from one of the ponds themselves - a fish sunning in maybe 3-4 feet of water. Drag and dropped the fly right on its face, and bam. What a morning and one of the photos I was able to takee from it below:

As for the local carping this year, it continued to be one of my highlights for the summer. Although there were the recurring challenges with river conditions and clarity, when the water was clear and the sun was up, the fishing was unparalleled. Similar to last year, I found that late April and May produced the most fish (as they provided the largest schools I have ever seen – I’m talking 30+ fish in each school), but that fishing remained consistent until early September.

As always, the most effective way of catching these fish was on the micro skiff/stand up paddleboard, and exploring the backwater creeks off of the Chattahoochee river. One “newer” positive this year was that I caught more fish super shallow – i.e. less than a foot of water. Typically I am fishing for floating fish that are still over water that is 10+feet deep (which can be exceedingly challenging with the fly rod, as they can disappear upon desire), but now have some waters where it really is a true “flats” feel where wading is even possible if desired. One area I look forward to testing more in 2023 is trying to figure out the Grass Carp – there are a plethora in the river system that I fish, and although I’ve had some minimal luck, would be a ton of fun to figure out how to consistently hook into these fish. Have some plans to test out dry fly scenarios more with lighter tippet.

Was fortunate to have several outstanding sessions for the carp over the summer, and below you will find some of the best/highlighted fish we ran into. Overall, the favorite flies of the summer consisted of small damselfly nymphs, cottonseed patterns, as well as the occasional “wormy” looking thing when the conditions were right.

Thanks for the read and hope you are searching for some carp near you in 2024!

Many times later in life, you will discover something new and so valuable that it will cause you to stop and think “I wish I would have know about this years ago.” For fly fishermen specifically, I believe this happens even more frequently, as there are so many new waters to fish but limited time/opportunities to get out there and make it happen. For me specifically, I’ve had plenty of my “I wish I would’ve been doing this sooner” moments when it comes to fly fishing for Striped Bass up in Maine.

For a little background, my first trip to Maine was less than 2 years ago. Upon arrival, I was immediately amazed with the amount of water, nature, and overall beauty that the state had to offer. After this first visit, I vowed that I would at least make it a point to return annually, and fortunately for me in 2023 this consisted of some prime DIY opportunities to catch some Striped Bass.

This year we visited Maine in May, which turned about to be great from both a weather and fish perspective. We were fortunate enough to stay on a resort near the cliffs of Ogunquit, where the water was as royal blue as it comes. Immediately upon exploring town, I was investigating the water below the rocky bluffs for any big striper patrolling the rocks looking for a snack, and within a couple hours was finding fish.

Although I have not fished for striper to the degree of other predatory species, I have learned over the years (for both fresh and saltwater striper) that structure and moving water and key critical. The more rocks and deep ledges you can find, the better, and the more the current is moving, the better. On our first day in Maine this year, I found an area that had a heavy outgoing tide in clear water surrounded by rocks, and this led to my large clousers getting smoked by nice fish. Huge runs in the surf, backing making an appearance, these fish were an absolute hoot and made the blueberry beer that Maine is famous for taste better that evening. Successful results were yielded in just a couple of hours of fishing, and the next day produced more of the same in the same spot.

As with many trips to special places, fishing is not always the main focus, so on the final day I challenged myself to try and find some fish near the rocks by the hotel we were staying at (rather than doing continued excursions out of town and completely going missing in action for the day). Luckily enough for me, there was some prime looking water where we were staying, and it was just a matter of waiting for the right incoming tides to make throwing a line worthwhile in the surf. Although navigating the rocks requires an immense amount of focus and attention (so that you don’t eat sh*% and slip), if you do it the right way you can find some amazing fishing opportunities.

While investigating the water below the bluffs, I saw heavy movement by the rocks and was taken aback by my eyes – a large group of stripers on the prowl. Although none of “cow” size proportions, there were plenty of nice Stripers accompanied by a plethora of smaller slot fish. After dozens of throws with larger bucktail flies I had tied, I wasn’t getting any attention from these fish, and decided to downsize majorly to a small white clouser/deceiver type fly to see if that would do the trick. After my first cast with this, boom…fish on, and it didn’t stop. These fish appeared to be keyed in on extremely small baitfish right up against the rocks, and it was a blast watching the chase the fly all the way up to the rock walls before smashing it. Within a 1-hour window, easily landed 4-5 stripers, countless Atlantic Pollock, and a new species with the Atlantic Mackerel. Hands down the most difficult part of this was being able to safely land the Stripers for a safe release and quick self-photo opp. Overall, it was one of those evenings on the water that you won’t forget as the conditions, fish, and gear were all cooperating according to plan.