October 2024 - 28

NEXT MAN UP
Casting in front of guides and world-traveling
anglers like Jackson and Ogg always causes me
some anxiety. I'm afraid I'll blow the cast, or be
unable to make the throw. I climbed up on the
deck and began my version of a double-haul. The
fly landed on the nose of a cruising carp. The fish
flushed in a great boil. This set off other fish, and
like a chain reaction, 100 carp spooked and scuttled
out of view. But one of the great things about this
fishery is there are always more fish - more than
you can imagine. If you blow it, it's no big deal.
All you have to do is wait for things to settle down.
We fished the shallows and found carp along
the rafts of floating cotton seed and pollen. After
numerous turn-downs and no-thank-yous, a fish
broke from his group of surface-feeders and ghosted
behind my fly.
" He's following. Strip, strip, " Jackson called
Crayfish and damselfly patterns are effective for fooling big carp. (Photo by Dave Zoby)
a blistering run. As Jackson predicted, the fish was
a mirror carp. He netted it and brought it aboard.
The body showed a few scales the size of quarters.
The rest of the body was golden brown. The eyes
seemed intelligent, the barbels professorial.
" That was a kick in the pants, " Ogg said. " I've
got to get Aubry (his girlfriend) out here. "
Ogg admired the otherworldliness of the fish.
Then he set it free.
" Mirror carp are pretty easy to identify, " Jackson
said. " They have fewer scales than common carp,
and often they shed their scales. A lot of them will
have seven or eight silver-dollar scales and they'll
be a little more tan. The common carp will have
a normal scale pattern with hundreds of scales on
them. The mirror carp are more likely to be on
top. The common carp, from what I've seen, run
deep. " He added that his clients who come from
afar, say the East Coast or Europe, want a mirror
carp. It's something they have never caught before.
" They've got common carp, but they don't have the
populations of mirror carp that we've got here, "
Jackson said.
28 | October 2024
down from the platform. I stripped the fly a few
times. A large, dark shadow slunk behind my fly. I
felt the fish take. The mud bloomed from the lake
floor and the fish sped off with my fly in its lip. I
have only limited experience in saltwater fly-fishing,
but the power of this fish's first run reminded
me of some of the mahi-mahi I caught in Mexico
while throwing sardine flies. The rod bent in such
a manner that I felt the need to lay off the pressure
or the graphite would splinter.
Ogg netted the carp, another mirror carp. After a
quick photo shoot, we set it free. Then we were off
to other bay and sandy flats where the occasional
carp glided along.
CARP FOR DINNER
Carp were originally stocked in American watersheds
with the idea that people would view them
as Europeans do - a reliable, high-protein food
source. Matt Hahn, the Wyoming Game and Fish
Department regional fisheries supervisor in Casper,
said there was a time in American history when
there was great enthusiasm for carp.
" I would suspect that they were probably introduced
in the 1800s where the railroad crosses the
North Platte River on modern day Interstate 80.
That's how people stocked fish. They carried them
on trains and dumped them at river crossings, "
Hahn said.
Carp are thriving in Wyoming, Hahn said.
Rarely does their success cause any problems, but
he pointed out that, a few years ago, there were so
many carp in Goldeneye Reservoir that their constant
mudding and feeding caused water turbidity
October 2024

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of October 2024
