I caught a football too!

[Slipstream]

Last night a friend invited me by his pond for some fly fishing. He has some large catfish and carp that he had seen cruising the bank in front of his home. I took my 8 weight rod that I had recently been using in Andros on bonefish. I cast a non-descript brown nymph on 8 lb. tippet in front of a cruising fish, and had a strong take. Turns out I hooked this nice carp.

http://i297.photobucket.com/albums/mm233/robfreeman_photos/carp1.jpg

He gave a good fight, and if not for the 8 weight rod I doubt I'd have brought him to hand. My friend ran to his house and grabbed a net from his boat. When the fish saw the net, he took off for another run that took me into the backing. Sorry about the poor pics from my phone. My friend was laughing so hard he shook the camera. After a quick picture, we put this monster back in the pond. Forget bonefish, let's catch carp!

http://i297.photobucket.com/albums/mm233/robfreeman_photos/carp3.jpg

[dailey624]

That's a nice Grass Carp. They sure can put up a fight. I once hooked in to about a 40 pounder and it took me a solid 45 minutes to land the thing. Carp are by far my favorite type of fish to catch if I can locate them with the fly.

Justin

[Plunker]

Thank God for that 8wt.
That bad boy would have turned a 4wt into matchsticks