I had given up hope of accomplishing my goal that evening, and then the next thing I know I hear something splashing around over in Brent’s direction. I got over there just in time to miss an impressive tailwalking and realized Brent had hooked into a gar… couldn’t believe it.

Botched a nice photo op...

Not only did I miss the tailwalking in the sunset… but my camera died after the first pic. Way to go Ward. Good thing Brent had one tucked away to document the surprising catch!

For you gar pro's... What species is this??

New adventure in fish handling !

Was pysched to see Brent drag this guy in… Gar are never really even on my mind when I’m on there (though I’ve seen one other gar ~12in), I’ll have to see if I can find more!

I’m feeling it, I’m going to knock another species off the (modest) lifetime fish list soon…. and it’s going to be a toothy one.

Panorama wasn't cooperating... bummer

I don’t know if the boaters enjoyed getting a close up look at a fly fisherman or what, but it seemed like every boat on the lake would make pass after pass right in front of me. I wouldn’t have even needed a double haul to cast into many of their boats as they would pass.   The wakes were rolling in high (and OFTEN), but the carp were still plenty willing to play around.

Refreshing... but oh so frustrating.

The wakes were a throwback to my Santa Barbara surf fishin’ days. Line control was definitely a pain, and detecting a strike in wavy water was no easy task, but there were enough fish running around that I could just move on to the next spot after I’d spook a group. Weighted red SJW’s and the trusty rusty Egan’s Headstand were both good producers, bringing to hand half a dozen in a few hours. None of them were the monsters that I had hoped to find, but the quantity made up for the lack of size!!

Small, but still knows how to run...

It seemed like the larger fish were all off the bank clooping, but I was had a terrible time enticing them with anything I was throwing. I spent over an hour working a few different groups of cloopers, no dice. I think I feel a new personal challenge coming along…

cloop cloop cloop

The constant waves made it hard for me to keep track of my drys, but I’m sure they helped me keep from spooking them so easily too… give and take I guess…

cloopin away

If you have any advice for foolin’ cloopers, please share… I clearly need the help!!

All in all, definitely a good weekend at Arcadia. Saw a few bait fisherman wrestling some nice cats and even a few nice looking hybrids (though I saw them from a distance so might have misidentified??).  I’ll close with a parting shot of some wildlife… time to go nurse my sunburn.

He was fast and I was far away

Enough of the introduction… It’s business time.

This work week may have been short thanks to Memorial Day, but it sure felt L O N G. After sacrificing my lunch hour three days in a row, I finally had a chance to break free of my windowless, fluorescent light filled prison cell office to grab some lunch. I drove out to my fav lunch spot below the Lake Overholser Dam to enjoy some sun and fresh air while scouting the tailwaters. I didn’t see anyone catch anything (although I must admit I didn’t have too long to observe), but they were releasing a good amount of water from the canal and it was virtually WIND FREE. Not a bad combination. I headed back to the office determined to finish things up in a hurry so that I could get in a serious session on the water before it got dark. I mean come on, wind <10mph… that’s an Oklahoma rarity that demands to be taken advantage of.

Although the water release was tempting me to chase some hybrids below Overholser, I couldn’t resist the urge to track down tailing carp in one of the local golf course ponds. I figured with the light breeze I’d have an easy time locating the goods. Definitely made the right decision.

I got out to the pond around 5:30 and after making sure my girlfriend was comfortably situated with a book/chair/water/etc so she could “sun,” it was game time. I tied on the go-to rusty orange egan’s headstand and got to work. I crept around the bank for a while until I spotted a tail flicking around in the murky water. After putting my first cast about a foot out of range, the second cast was right on target… Saw the tail drop, set the hook, and BOOM… early success. Or so I thought.  He didn’t hesitate for a second, running straight to a metal stake sticking out of the water 10ft away near the bank, quickly wrapping my leader around it, and leaving me saying a few words that my girlfriend wasn’t too happy to hear. She was practically across the pond from me, but I could still see the glare and evidently, she could still hear me pretty well… whoops.

Tied on another headstand and kept on movin’. I crept along west side of the pond, keeping my shadow in the shadows of the bank to avoid spooking the fish that I thought would be feeding on the bank. Didn’t run into a single carp along the whole bank (surprising, normally see at least a fish or two, even on days when the conditions aren’t as pristine). It wasn’t until I got down to the creek/waterfall on the far side where water was draining in from the pond above that I saw any activity, but WOW… was there ever some activity!!!

I don’t know if there was a dead fish (or multiple dead fish) in the upper pond or what, but there were quite a few pieces of “flesh” draining into the pond and they were causing a feeding FRENZY.

Little chunks of fleshy/fishy/goo

Here’s a video of the action:

You’d think the fishing would be pretty simple with some much action going on, but between avoiding the ridiculous number of catfish going to town on whatever had died and trying to entice the carp to eat something artifical instead of the bountiful easy “real” meal being funneled right to their mouths — it wasn’t quite as easy as I anticipated.

It seemed like every time I’d put the fly on the nose of a carp I’d end up setting the hook on one of the catfish instead. The competition was  fierce and this one had the battle wounds to prove it…

Bet it was from the same turtle that got a hold of my sage rod tip... Still mad.

I had to start being very selective concerning which carp I’d cast to since each time I’d drag out a cat I’d spook the carp and have to wait for them to return. The selective casting paid off and I ended up bringing a couple nice carp to hand. I’d run them (literally… the golfers probably thought I was crazy)  along the bank to get out of the action zone to keep the commotion/spooking to a minimum.

Don't know what's more special... a nice carp, or a shot of the nice calm water. What I would do for a few more days like that each year...

The fly that changed my life...

By the time I pulled in the 2nd one I had thoroughly spooked the carp from the area. My stomach was growling and Reese had finished her book so it was a good time to pack it up and go pick up some dinner. What a nice way to cap off a long week…

-Ward