A Busy Three Months
It has been a busy few months for yours truly, and, as you may have noticed, that has equated to our longest posting hiatus since the aftermath of Hurricane Ida in 2021. While no natural disasters have touched our lives as of late, it has been a bit of a whirlwind with both my day job and a new business endeavor claiming the majority of my waking hours.
While I was able to devout a respectable amount of time to fly fishing-related activities during the early portion of Q2, my rods (much like this blog) have remained untouched since the second week in May.
Likewise, a stack of fly tying tutorials remain unfinished in my posting queue as my vise has gone unused since late April. I’ll do my best to begin clearing that queue as we move into the third quarter of 2024, but it may be a while before weekly posts once again become the norm.
The second quarter wasn’t a complete wash, however, so here’s a look back at the fishing that was.
In the Field: Lots of Ditch Fishing
While time on the water has been limited these past three months, my species list has continued to slowly climb and stands at 30 Species as of June 30th. This equates to 13 new species added to my annual count including a handful of new additions to my life list.
While most of this fishing occurred close to home, a few weekend visits to the Florida panhandle helped pad my species list with the addition of a number of species including my first Choctaw Bass (featured to the right).
Here in Louisiana, I focused my efforts on urban angling opportunities as I attempted to add a variety of local sunfish to my 2024 list and continued to prepare for the Dirty Carp fly fishing tournament (more below). The latter produced a lifer of note as I added a long sought after Alligator Gar to my list.
While my current species count is respectable, it still hasn’t proven enough to pull away in the Redstick Fly Fishers’ Jambalaya Challenge as Ben Roussel, Brian Roberts, Brad Dunne, and I all remain within two species of each other. Given my upcoming schedule, I’ll be hard pressed to regain my crown in 2024. The Kisatchie Fly Fisher’s Mixed Bag remains close as well with new club member, Eron Borne, right on my tail.
On the Vise
Unfortunately, the second quarter of 2024 marks the first time in this blog’s four year history during which no tutorials have been added to the site. I have a handful in the works, however, and will do my best to begin publishing them once again as we move into July and August.
Until then, be sure to check back through our Fly Tying Library for any you may have missed!
The Dirty Carp
Under normal circumstances, The Dirty Carp would have warranted its own post. However, due to time constraints, I thought I’d share my experiences here.
In January of this year, I was approached by Mac Colvin of the New Orleans Fly Fishers about a new tournament in the works for May of this year. Hosted by Mac and his brother-in-law in association with No Wake Outfitters, the aptly named Dirty Carp would challenge teams of two to target common carp throughout the urban waterways of New Orleans, Metairie and Kenner. Sponsored by Hatch Reels, Winston & TFO among others, the one day tournament promised a serious payout to the team that could land the longest three fish bag.
Never one to turn down a little friendly competition, I told Mac to add my name to the list and texted Jake an invitation to join me.
Largely unfamiliar with these urban waterways, I made a point of scouting the various canals that transected Kenner and Metairie with regularity in the months that followed. While each trip produced fish (including Maedbh’s first carp on the fly), the fish were rarely in the same place.
By May, however, I had developed a feel for the area. And, after 10+ miles of scouting with Jake the day prior to the tournament, I was feeling good about our odds of placing.
Departing the captain’s meeting at No Wake before 8AM, we found ourselves off to a hot start as Jake hooked into a 26″ carp on his first cast of the morning. His first ever carp on the fly, it was only the beginning as he brought a second smaller fish to net shortly thereafter. Swapping flies to match the color that was producing for him, I quickly joined in on the fun adding a 24″ carp to round out our three fish bag.
Sitting at 74″ before 9AM (our goal was 72″ by 9AM!), we found ourselves with an early lead as we focused on upgrading our smallest fish. A few fish later, we had managed to upgrade our aggregate length to 77.5″, but found ourselves sitting in second place by half an inch.
Intent on regaining our lead, we began covering ground in search of larger fish. When a 30+” fish finally cruised in front of me about 10:00AM, I made the opportunity count and found myself locked into battle with a fish that may have been a little much for my 6wt. 15 minutes later, however, the fish was in the net, and we found ourselves at 83.5″ (holding a 5″ lead over second place).
While a 5″ lead was impressive, our victory was far from secure with nearly five hours of tourney time remaining. But, for all of our efforts, we could not manage another upgrade in the hours that followed.
Ready for some food and a cold beer, we made our way back to No Wake at 3PM to await the results. As luck would have it, that 5″ lead held and we came out on top! It was the third tournament Jake and I had fished together in the past three years, and our second time finishing in the top spot.
For the win, we were each awarded a Hatch Iconic 7+ Fly Reel and Winston Air2Max 8wt Fly Rod. Not too bad for a morning spent ditch fishing.
The Months Ahead
Summer is normally a time for tying tutorials here at the Fat Fingered Fly Tyer. However, with business obligations sapping any semblance of free time, they may remain few and far between at least until mid August. I do intend to spend a bit of time in the field in the interim, however. Here are a few of my goals should time allow:
- Surpass 25 Louisiana species on my 2024 Species list (18 down; 7 to go)
- First Shadow Bass on the Fly (repeat from last quarter as I never made the trip)
- First American Pickerel since 2022.
I believe that covers everything for the moment. I promise to be back at it as soon as time allows. In the meantime though, let me know about your summer fishing plans or favorite new patterns in the comments.
Until next time…
Tight Lines
Chris
Congrats on winning the Dirty Carp tournament!
Thanks Chuck! It was a fun tournament. I’m looking forward to seeing how it evolves in the coming years.
Congratulations on winning the tournament! And on that Choctaw bass!