"I guarantee you catch a carp." And with that, we were off. My friend had never caught a carp before. But today that would change. On the way into my hotspot, my friend spooked 11 carp. "You've got to be quiet," I said. He casted to a few fish feeding on the surface, but having not casted a fly rod for 9 months, the casts were just a little off. So the next fish I saw, I put a cast to. Strip, strip, rest. Set! Fish on. Then being the perfect, generous, awful.. wait no. Anyway, I handed him the rod. It was a good first fish, around four pounds. We caught a few more nice carp like the one above, and then switched gears. I had been feeling some bass hits earlier in the morning, so I tied on a popper and started throwing. We caught a few very small bass and a crappie, but nothing big. And that's when it happened. My friend bet me that I couldn't hit the opposite bank. I yanked out tons of line, picked up my rod, and cast. Clack! The fly hit the bank and bounced into the water. Almost immediately, my fly got picked up by something of size. At first I thought my fly had hit a carp in the dorsal. But no! It was a big bass, kicking around and throwing his head. I battled the the fish for a little while, put him in the net, and had my friend take a picture. Sweet! We decided to call it a day after that, and go home to set off some SERIOUS fireworks. Happy 4th!
