Haven’t posted in a few years, but I (Bob Trigg) thought I would share this with the group.

Been going up to Busch Wildlife for the past few weeks.  Looking for my “white whale” in the form of a big carp.  They call these guys the poor man’s bonefish.  

The Cicadas are everywhere   Fluttery on the surface. The bass and carp are hitting them like crazy. Thing is these carp are not stupid (bass not so much). Don’t know what it is about the carp, but they come up and either roll the fly, or the spook of at the last moment. Might be the 3X tippet, or my design of my Cicada fly. After re-engineering the cicada,  I finally did it. I think I had too much para post on the wing, and not enough deer hair. After finally trimming the para post back, it made the fly look more like the original. They rolled my fly several times and they missed it from a take standpoint.  Then it happened  after several false  takes, I finally hooked up. And he hit it like a brick thrown into the water.  Violent strike

Catching a 20 lbs. carp on a 5 wt. and 3x was quite the experience.  After 20 minutes, he landed.  What a rush.  He didn’t fit in my midsize fishpond net (pic) Guessing 28/30 inches – no scale to measure the actual weight.

If you all get a chance, check out lake five at Busch.  Fish close to the shore/lily pads.  And trust me, hang on for dear life when they take.  So cool !!

Figure I might not be around in another 17 years when XIX hatches again, so I gave it my best effort.  Headed up again multiple times before the end of June when these are gone.  If anyone wants to go, ping me.  It’s not trout, but it is AMAZING.  It’s just a really cool way to fish without driving 2.5 hours on the fly rod.

Try it guys!