No, but did I ever tell you about the PA state record carp caught in front of my cabin? That was back in the 50s or 60s by the fish warden himself. In his retirement, I (then in high school) used to walk down to the dam in from of my cabin anytime from 3 a.m. to dawn and speak to him on any Sunday with good weather. His old record was 48" if I remember or something close. BUT...
In the year of Hurricane Agnes, huge carp were everywhere and one absolute monster was discovered on the other side of the dam at the base of the spillway which we had made marks on the lower end of for measurement purposes. One fine morning we spotted her dorsal in the 3 foot deep water (her belly was touching bottom it appeared). Crouched at the top of the spillway, Steve O'Neil placed his eyes on the tail marker and I on the snout marker and we walked straight down to measure the points...59.5" and the close proximity of the carp to the marks left little distortion of that measurement.
Steve fished for that carp all week and hooked him twice. The first go round lasted about 3 minutes and absolutely ruined his dad's favorite reel. I never saw gears without cogs before. The second was the most fun I ever had watching a fish fight in that stream. Steve had that fish on a #2 hook with 500 feet of new 30lb mono coming off a brass (Penn?) reel and 10' 10 wt for leverage best I remember. Trouble was how fast that mono was coming off the reel as he had the drag set pretty good but not so much that a sudden run would snap him off easily.
When the battle started, I was on my porch sort of watching Steve, from 200 feet away I'd guess. When he hooked up, I ran down and witnessed a fish with a man on. Yep, that was my impression. Seemed like forever that carp would muscle him around and then take a rest, Steve would then try to slowly crank and reel in some line but it seemed each time the carp had found a rock to wedge herself against.
When she finally got bored with Steve's lack of fight, she merely began swimming downstrean through a cut made between the islands there and I watched as all 500 feet of line seemed to be destined downstream. Steve decided he had naught to lose and horsed that fish with all his might, leveraging his 10 foot rod and taking my cue on raising slow but firmly, cranking as fast as he could keeping taught the line as he lowered, and raising that rod again as though dragging a rock. All seemed possible until she decided to charge the dam (we were standing on top of it, 8 feet above water level below) and Steve had so much line to reel in it sort of nested. The following run fouled the nest and "snap"... it was over.
In the end, which came that (197x?) weekend as the flood of Agnes washed everything away, the carp won and to this day no carp over 36" has been seen there. But... every year in the past decade, the carp have been getting larger, the largemouth more plentiful, smallmouth larger, and one day...
From: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
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To: <[email protected]>
Subject: Re: [VFB] Jerry "Philly" C
Date: Tue, 10 Jan 2006 21:54:40 EST
Murf:Did I ever tell you the story about the 72 inch Muskie that lived in the Delaware?Jerry C"All things considered, I'd rather be in Philadelphia."In a message dated 1/9/2006 22:30:09 PM Eastern Standard Time, [EMAIL PROTECTED] writes:Goin' for the little ones? Sad you don't have anything worth a struggle up your way.
MurfMember: www.virtualflybox.comFavorite Fly Tying Shop: www.LinesEnd.comDavid T Murphy: The Walper Group, Career Owner, Your Business Door, Franchise; Maryland/Delmarva/Consulting/Consultant/Career/SalesPros, Sales Doors, SurfMurf, Little Diddy
From: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
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To: <[email protected]>
Subject: Re: [VFB] Jerry "Philly" C
Date: Mon, 9 Jan 2006 22:03:01 EST
Murf:You almost got it right. I'm not trying to catch shad. I'm tying flies to imitate them. Trying to get them just the right size for a 30 or 40 LB striper to inhale.Jerry C"All things considered, I'd rather be in Philadelphia."In a message dated 1/8/2006 22:57:50 PM Eastern Standard Time, [EMAIL PROTECTED] writes:Jerry,
I know you NEED those sizes as those shad in the Delaware tend to swallow the tiny 4/0s.
MurfMember: www.virtualflybox.comFavorite Fly Tying Shop: www.LinesEnd.comDavid T Murphy: The Walper Group, Career Owner, Your Business Door, Franchise; Maryland/Delmarva/Consulting/Consultant/Career/SalesPros, Sales Doors, SurfMurf, Little Diddy
From: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
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To: <[email protected]>
Subject: Re: [VFB] Jerry "Philly" C
Date: Sun, 8 Jan 2006 21:27:56 EST
Murf:Thanks for the offer, but I already have Mustads in that size, in fact I spent a half hour sharpening them on Saturday. I'm probably going to use Gamakatsu's, touch the point on those suckers and it draws blood, for the big flies(10-12 inch), Mustads for the midsize(7-8 inch) and Gamakatsu's or Partridge(Pike hooks)for the small(5-6 inch).Jerry C"All things considered, I'd rather be in Philadelphia."In a message dated 1/6/2006 21:33:22 PM Eastern Standard Time, [EMAIL PROTECTED] writes:
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