Its Raining Its Pouring, but the Carp Spirits are Smiling

When I woke up I was so stumped as to how in the heck I was going to catch a carp today that I took my time getting up and getting going.  It had been raining all night and the weather man was predicting overcast skies and temps 15 degrees below normal.  So I slept in a little, tied some flies and even worked on some new graphics for the site before hitting the road.

I can't remember ever fishing these kinds of conditions in Colorado in July.  My best guess was that the low pressure front would push them deep in still-water so I headed to the river. 

The flows didn't look totally out of line on-line but when I arrived it was clear that the river was completely blown.  Chocolate milk.  As I approached the river my first thought was "If I don't find carp with their backs out of the water I am...".  That thought was rudely interrupted by "Holy crap that carp's back is three inches out of the water!".  And thus began one of my best day on the Denver South Platte to date.

I have experienced this same pattern several times in the winter and early spring and it is so much fun.  It had not even occurred to me that it would hold true in July.  The pattern is this;  The fish will be very very very hard to find, but every single fish is eating somewhere in the river.  The few fish you do find will be feeding hard withing dapping distance of shore,  If you put your fly in the right location and a carp sees it, the carp will eat it.  Period.