Ready for Tailers

I headed out to Smithville Lake in Missouri the other day hoping to find a new carpin' spot.  The sun was high in the sky and clouds few and far between.  Perfect conditions for scouting a new carp lake.  I didn't have a lake map, so I just cruised down the first available access road.  I noticed right away the lake had plenty of carp.  They were splashing all along the shoreline.  I was hoping for tailers, not spawners, but at least there were fish.  I wanted to scout for a shallow flat that would allow for some wading, but I couldn't pass over this spot just yet.  The area had nicely mowed grass along the shoreline.  Better yet, I could walk along the grass and look down into the water, as the bank dropped straight down about 7 feet before the waterline.  I could see fish swimming by constantly, and made numerous casts at them, but they were extremely spooky and not interested in eating.  I finally spotted a cruising fish that was putting its nose down every so often to root along the bottom.  The mud cloud the fish had created made seeing the actual take impossible, but I pulled up when I saw its tail flare and was hooked up.  Holding the rod butt as line screams off the reel never gets old.  I did a jump slide down the mud bank to the sandy shoreline below to finish the fight on the beach. 

I fished on down the shoreline without any more takers.  I came to a point where the waves had created a mud line that I could see carp swimming in and out of.  I blindly cast into the silt-clouded water and was able to get one more fish for the day.  I even invented a new yoga pose.

Downward Carp