An Unexpected Meeting

from my fishexplorer.com article;

You just never know who you may bump into on the bank side.

I headed up to Chatfield Reservoir on Wednesday, 5/27/14, the first long distance run for my new (1999 4-runner), the "carp mobile". I was planning to meet up with a young lad from the Carp Anglers Group. He was interested in learning about carping with "bait" rather than "on the fly". Alas, due to a last minute schedule change for him, he wasn't able to make it. I almost cancelled the trip.

However, for the CarpQuest, and the lure of Chatfield, I just had to head up there.

As it turned out I was not to fish alone this day. Whilst walking Raven, my carp-dog pup, down the bank I met up with old familiar face from FXR, Jacob. He was already there, on the shoreline, both rods out and had been fishing since the morning without much success.

Fishing is always better with a friend. So after a bit of a chat, some introductions to my "psycho" puppy, I setup just down the shore from him - making sure we both had enough room so as not to get tangled if we got fish-on.

We didn't have to wait long before the carp action was ON. I banked a couple of commons, 10'12 and 14'6,

Jacob followed up with a pair for himself, both around the 10 lb mark. Jacob had another real nice ~12 lb'er mid-afternoon.











The next few hours we both had our fair share of miss-adventures with fish-on, fish-off, a couple in particular right before they were at the net - sometimes carping is not so easy!

Just before 5 pm, as I was about to pack up for the long drive home, I had a nice run and landed my 3rd of the session, an 8 lb common - before that was even in the net, my 2nd rod had real a screamer and the best fish of the day, a real chunky 18 lb common, was banked.







All told, we landed 7 carp, lost maybe 4 or 5 between us. It was a great afternoon, doubly so, as I got the opportunity to fish with an old friend I hadn't seen since an early session last year. We shared the highs and the lows of fishing together that day. I also finally managed to get some carp on film again for CarpQuest.

 It would have been easy for me just to cancel my trip when I found out my intended partner for the day wouldn't be able to make it. I am so glad I did not and chose to make the drive up to Chatfield yesterday. It was an unexpected meeting with an old friend and a chance for us to fish together again.

So get out there, rods in hand, you just will never know you may meet up with.

Here is the video I took of the session.

Don't forget to subscribe to my youtube channel, www.youtube.com/johnfinneycarping to keep up with all the latest episodes as they are published.

Tight-Lines,

John

CarpQuest Youtube: www.youtube.com/johnfinneycarping
Facebook https://www.facebook.com/carpquest
Twitter: @finneycarpquest

Everything is better with Friends

CarpQuest is all about having fun and, most of all, fishing with friends.

On a chilly early morning I took a trip to Pikeview Reservoir, Colorado Springs, to fish with James. Arriving just before dawn I got setup, drank that first morning cup of java and waited to see what the light of day would bring.

Since the start of the season we had yet to put a carp upon the bank together. The sweet corn had not gotten the quick action of the past year and it was time to change something. So, rather than fish my usual sweet corn and panko/oats pack bait, I decided to go with something different, some NGT tiger nuts.

James arrived an hour or so later. We both had other commitments later in the morning so this was really going to be a very quick session. Fortunately I had seen a few carp jumping and rolling out on the water earlier. I was initially fishing both to the left and right of the spot. It was a coin flip, should James fish to the left, or the right? Both had showing fish. I volunteered the right side and James setup quickly and got his baits cast out.

The session was brought to life when James had a great fast run and soon after banked a fine 18 lb 12 oz grass carp. He was a very "Happy" man to say the least. Well done James !

This was the first carp banked together for the "carp crew" of the season. James had to depart again soon afterwards and by 9am I also had to head for home. It really was a lightning quick session, only a few hours. Though I had not put one in the net for myself I was so happy to see James holding up his prized capture. All in all, a successful outing to Pikeview !

You can see the video of our session here.

Tight-Lines,
John
CarpQuest