As Singlebarbed (the Underground’s brownlining equivalent) points out in his latest post, maybe it’s time someone spoke out for those waters considered too far gone by most to warrant a word:

Take a water district operating with complete autonomy; no CalTrout, no Trout Unlimited, no passionate enviro-lobby, as there’s little glamour in little brown rivulets, couple that with a week long promise of heavy rain, and you get Scarface and more like him as progeny.

140 CFS is the normal flow, yet for 12 hours during the storm the dam release was 14000 CFS – enough to take the face off what few fish could hide, and blew the rest of the fish into the Delta accompanied by Dodge Escorts and rusty shopping carts.

Scarred by massive flows? Singlebarbed thinks so.

I’m wandering an empty creek, barren of Bass – and what few fish remain show scrapes, scratches, and assorted wounds compliments of the “Zero Sum” water policy on the lake above.

You’re tired of hearing it, and I’m tired of saying it, “.. rather than spend those precious dollars on restoring the pristine, which we quickly despoil, perhaps we should be focused on restoring the balance of Nature.”

In each of the last two years the release from the lake coincided with the wettest storm, suggesting the water district management blew open the gates in response to what runoff was anticipated. Swelling any river 100 times its normal size in an instant makes a killing machine; it destroys the insect population, kills or removes all the fish, and probably wipes a goodly portion of indigenous reptiles, amphibians, and anything else that calls the streambed home.

Both years would have scrubbed the creek at the height of the salmon spawn.

Beavers are great swimmers, but not when the river is a torrent. Likely it kills most in their burrow – and those that make it into the water are battered into pieces. At right is one of three dead beaver encountered at the high water mark. A little far-gone to determine cause of death, but it’s possibly additional evidence of an abusive water policy.

If fly fishing really is experiencing a “fish where you are, not where you aren’t” movement, then maybe there really will exist the political will to make some of the simple water management changes. Then again, maybe not.

See you at Browline Unlimited’s Fundraiser, Tom Chandler.

Who are they? I’m talking about the the fast-growing mob of fly fishing’s “brownliners” – people happy to hammer the “rough” fish gone largely ignored in the trout-happy USA.

How’d you like to catch that on a 7wt?

Unlike trout, warmwater fish are everywhere (especially in urban settings), and in the face of disintegrating leisure time and high travel costs, America’s fly fishers may soon learn what the Euros have long known:

Carp are Cool.

Carp and Friends

Amusingly, carp have become the glamorous poster children for even more “extreme” gamefish like pikeminnows and suckers – an astonishing fact. Until recently, smallmouth fan Ian Rutter said even the kickass smallmouth bass was a hard sell to his fly fishing clients.

Now we’re looking hard at Pikeminnows and Redhorse suckers?

No less a figure than John “Trout Bum” Gierach lionized the Golden Ghost in an essay years ago, and European anglers have long had a love affair with the pouty-lipped wonder. And why not?

Carp are wily, they’re spooky, they’re strong, they feed in shallow waters, and they grow to impressive sizes in waters lethal to less-hardy fish.

When I moved away from the Silicon Valley – where I fished for carp in an apartment building pond – I found myself missing their selective natures and powerful ways, though I appreciated not having to run whenever an apartment manager hove into view.

Carp and Current Events

Fueling the carp frenzy are current events like skyrocketing fuel prices, which may do for brownlining what common sense couldn’t; turn close-to-home carp spots into jealously guarded secrets.

Carp-flavored Web sites, blogs and forums are popping up all over, and fly fishing’s well-trod essay book genre even saw the publication of an excellent book about fishing for odd fish in odd places (Offbeat Angling).

Naturally, fly tyers – bored with endless Atlantic Salmon patterns – are now applying their arcane fly tying talents to carp-specific patterns, with predictably interesting results.

Can the fly fishing industry – looking for its next big market – be far behind its fishermen? Carp Captains? Carp guides? Carp rods? (Will we see a resurgence of the reasonably tapered freshwater 7wt?)

It’s a Rough World – Or At Least It Will Be

After all, free enterprise – like nature – hates a vacuum, and while we may not see “Carp Glamping Trips” advertised for some time, we may see a bit more economic attention paid to fish that will thrive even as climate change sweeps over our coldwater fisheries.

The question is simple, Undergrounders – how long until Carp is King? Will the “rough fish” moniker – which is already losing its negative sting – ever simply refer to a class of warmwater fish?

And will other fly friendly “rough” fish – such as Singlebarbed’s beloved California Pikeminnows – ever see their names on a high-end fly rod (“The Pikeminnow Special”)?

A Pikeminnow (courtesty Singlebarbed)

Discuss.

See you on the brownlines, Tom Chandler.

A few online Carp resources (in no particular order):
Singlebarbed: The consumate brownliner
Carp on a Fly: John Montana and his Big Carp adventures
A Roughfisherman’s Journal: Exactly what it says
Angling for Carp: Central Texas fly fisher looking for rough fish

Forums & Groups
Non-Traditional Angling: Carp spoken there
Carp Anglers Group: Yes, really.
CarpNet: You knew it had to be…
Michigan Carp
American Carp Society: You read it right
OregonCarp: Can “CalCarp” be far behind?