Tailing Carp Dreams

Yes, that’s my old car almost completely buried in snow in mid March. There’s some absolute garbage falling from the sky today here in Victor, Idaho. It’s been warm so the snow is soggy. It rained all night. Then it turned to sleet this morning and now it’s dumping snow. It’s just lovely! But, it’s a perfect day to paint a jumbo Snake River Cutthroat, do a little writing, continue packing and researching for Madagascar and . . . watch a little NCAA – absolutely perfect!

For some odd reason I’m craving mirror carp fishing over at Blackfoot Reservoir here in Idaho. You can’t even drive to Blackfoot at the moment because of deep snow and even better, the lake is covered with three feet of ice. Nonetheless, I sit here daydreaming about tailing mirror carp.

In case you’re not up to speed on your carp you should be aware there are many different types. Carp are natives to Asia and Europe, where there is a variety of species. They since made their way around the globe carried by settlers for food. Here in the US the most prevalent and widespread is the common carp (Cyprinus carpio), (top) which is so common that it is found in 48 of the 50 states. The mirror carp (bottom) is a mutation of the common carp and is so different in appearance that one might incorrectly assume that it is a separate species. But it’s not. It is actually descended from common carp bred by monks back in the 12th century to have few or no scales, making them easier to prepare for eating (Although we’ve tried, my friends and I haven’t had much success making them edible!).

The mirror carp’s shape is similar to that of the common carp, but its scales are fewer and significantly larger. Usually, the scales are arranged in linear fashion, with two rows on top of the back, one down the lateral line of each side, and a row along the belly, all separated by golden brown skin. Some mirrors, however, have completely haphazard scale designs, and others are fully scaled. No matter how many mirrors you catch, no two will be the same, but all will be beautiful.

Like most invasive species, all carp are harmful to our shallow lakes and wetlands. Their feeding disrupts shallowly rooted plants muddying the water and they compete for food and spawning habitat of the native species. But like the cockroach, house sparrow, starling, and the red fox to name a few harty species, carp aren’t going anywhere. With that in mind, I hope you do or will learn to enjoy fly fishing for them as much as I do!

To learn tactics, fly patterns and more on how to catch carp on a fly, here’s a link to my past article in American Angler Magazine. And learn about other warmwater fish from my book!

Jeff Currier Global Fly Fishing Website

100 Degrees and Few Bass

I was all amped up after giving my talk at Desert Fly Casters last night. It went very well and when we got back to Steve’s house at 11 pm there was no way I was going to try and sleep. Instead, Steve and I each grabbed a beer and watched a cool DVD called “Once in a Blue Moon”. It’s about the mouse hatch in New Zealand. I hit a mouse hatch in New Zealand many years ago and the DVD brought back incredible memories. We didn’t get to bed until 1 am.

It was no easy task, but we got up at 4 am to head to Bartlett Lake to chase down some bass. We were the lucky guests of Skyler Clark, a really nice kid about 22 years old. Skyler works part time at Sportsman’s Warehouse while going to college and is a friend of Steve and Cinda’s. He’s also one heck of  a bass fisherman and last Saturday his boat took 10th place out of a field of 60 in a bass tournament on Bartlett Lake.

Both Steve and I were a little groggy out of the gates this morning. Steve could hardly tie his fly on. However, once on the lake and after a few casts the body completely forgets about how tired it is and before we knew it we were concentrating on our fishing. It took me about ten minutes to realize our fishing was not going to be that good. I began by popping the shallows. It was great looking water but not even a small largemouth stirred. Steve was dredging streamers on a sinking line and Skyler was using his bait caster with all the right lures – but nothing. I think the field of 60 competitive bass anglers last weekend really educated the bass.

Despite the lake being full of bass, Steve and I landed four bass on the fly and Skyler landed about a dozen while using every trick he knew with his bait caster. It was slow to say the least. And the biggest bass were a couple of 14 inchers that Skyler dredged up. Not exactly the hawgs we were hoping for. Nonetheless it was a gorgeous morning on a spectacular desert setting. But at noon we reeled in and made a dash for some carp lakes. Skyler had never caught a grass carp and Steve and I knew we could probably put him on one.

We didn’t have a lot of time for carping because we had dinner plans at Eddie’s House. By the time we fought our way through the Phoenix Arizona traffic and arrived at the urban lakes we had an hour to fish. It was calm and a scorching 100º! Both Steve and I knew although miserable for us, the grassies would be feeding. We split up and started beating on some fish. I got my grassie the other day so I rigged a nymph and hammered away on some nice koi. I even caught what appears to be a giant goldfish. It’s definitely not a normal koi because of its long draping fins.

At the end of our hour Steve, Skyler and I met on a school of grass carp that were feeding vigorously. I was taking some photos of them and Skyler made a cast. Most of these grassies refused the offering but the last one in the rear of the school couldn’t resist. Skyler watched the grassie indulge his fly and set the hook perfectly. Five minutes later, Skyler had his first grass carp.

Tonight Steve, Cinda and I had a scrumptious dinner at Eddie’s House. Chef Eddie Matney is a great friend of ours. Eddie fly fishes like crazy and therefore Steve and Cinda have known him for years. I met Eddie in Jackson Hole with Chef Michael DelMaria whom we had dinner with on Tuesday night. Chef Eddie fishes the Jackson Hole One Fly Contest every year. This year Eddie led his team to a top ten finish by scoring 9th among all individual contestants. Not an easy thing to do when you consider there are over 160 individual contestants. Eddie’s House is located in Scottsdale on Indian School Rd. Every course of our meal was phenomenal to say the least and I highly recommend a visit to Eddie’s House if you have the chance.

The warm weather fishing is over for me for a couple weeks. I’ll be leaving Arizona early tomorrow morning fat and happy and ready to play with my local trout. Expect a few good stories from my neighborhood but the big news is I’m off to Africa in less than two weeks to chase a subspecies of tigerfish that was discovered in 2008. I will be part of the latest Confluence Film project hosted by Tourette Fishing in Tanzania. More on this trip to come in the next few days.

Jeff Currier Global Fly Fishing web site

Not All Carp Species are Equal

Steve, Cinda and I couldn’t travel far from the big city today because I had to do my presentation for Desert Fly Casters tonight. That didn’t hinder our fishing at all because the lakes in and around the city limits of Phoenix Arizona have plenty of fish. Most of them have bass, sunfish, crappie and various carp species. It’s the grass carp (white Amur) that I like to fish for. Grass carp are Asian fish frequently stocked throughout the southern United States to trim aquatic vegetation that often grows in lakes. It seems the hotter the climate the quicker vegetation grows so almost every lake in the Phoenix area has a population of grass carp.

Grass carp (I call them grassies) are very hard to catch on the fly unless you have experience with them. I remember speaking at the ISE Show in Phoenix over ten years ago and noticed the peculiar looking fish in  a pond behind my hotel. I had a 5-weight with me (I always do) and thought I’d waltz right out there and catch one. Fat chance! I fished them for five straight mornings and only landed one. He was worth it though as he would have topped 15lbs and was the grassie that got me hooked on the species for life.

With few exceptions, grass carp fishing is all sight fishing. You must creep along the edge of these lakes and hunt them. Grassies are extremely spooky and will sink to the deep if they see you. If you are lucky enough to see them first, observe them. Happy grass carp ease their way along inches below the surface and rise to almost every piece of plant life they see. With that in mind, greenish dry flies work best. Being that plant life comes in every shape and size imaginable, I don’t get too concerned about the pattern itself. I have done excellent with olive grasshoppers. Once I know the direction my grassie is traveling in I try to land my cast about 6 inches in front of his nose. I want him to see it land and think a leaf just blew out of a tree. There are definitely times when the grassie spooks but often they move to it ever so slowly. Now for the part you won’t believe. While some do sip the hopper like a trout, be ready to watch the grassie nibble on  a leg and gradually work the rest of the fly into his mouth. Don’t set until you’re sure the hook is in there. As soon as you see that, strike hard.

We got up around 6 am today and made our way to a group of lakes that have plenty of grass carp. I could hardly wait. These particular lakes are also stacked with koi and have few common carp. I rigged up my 5-weight Ross with a floating line and a 12-foot 3X Rio leader. I tied on one of my green grasshoppers and walked out to the first lake. These lakes are true urban lakes. They all have sidewalks and houses completely around them.

At first I stood and looked around. The one thing I didn’t want to do was spook a grassie by hastily walking down the sidewalk. Right away I noticed some koi mulling around. The koi rarely rise to a dry fly so I gazed  beyond the koi still hoping to see a grassie. Steve and Cinda made their way to me and saw that I was rigged for grass carp not koi. Steve dropped a cast with his nymph to the nearest koi. The koi looked but then slid into some deeper water where we could no longer see him. We walked this pond together and continued to see many koi and a few common carp but the grassies were hiding. Perhaps it wasn’t hot enough yet. Steve and Cinda got numerous shots at koi but most were not participating. Finally, Steve hooked and landed the first fish of the day, a very lightly colored common carp. By the time I snapped a few pictures of Steve and his fish Cinda hooked up to a koi. That was it. The bite was on. Due to the lack of a grass carp sightings I took off my hopper and tied on a nymph. The three of us proceeded to catch numerous koi in every color imaginable during the next three hours. I even caught a strange looking fish that may have been a koi/common carp hybrid.

Gradually, we began to see some grass carp. Grassies don’t eat the nymphs anything like the koi do so to catch one I had to change back to my green hopper. This was a tough thing to do because koi fishing was red hot and a lot of fun. I made the change though and then like you’d expect, I couldn’t find another grassie to save my life. I walked five ponds in the next two hours and never made a single cast to a grass carp. Meanwhile, Steve and Cinda kept reeling in the koi.

I was about to give up and switch back to a koi rig when Cinda suggested we walk to some spots where she recently saw some nice grassies. By now it was easily 95° and very windy. Weeds and other debris often accumulate on the windy sides of these lakes and attract the grass carp. Sure enough the first spot we went had a pod of grassies nestled under such debris. The problem was there was so  much debris I couldn’t land my fly where the grassies could see it. It was useless. We kept walking and at last we spotted several grassies floating high and happy. Cinda generously stepped aside and let me have at them. I landed my hopper just in front of a cruiser and he moved to my fly. Then just as I thought his mouth was going to open and take I my fly he spooked by exploding at the surface. I think he freaked out because he knew at the last second it was a fake and realized how close he came to being caught. I was extremely disappointed assuming he likely spooked every grass carp around. But luckily that wasn’t the case. Two more grassies were slowly meandering my way looking for their next meal. I picked the larger of the two and once again dropped my fly six inches in front of his nose. Again the fish moved to my fly only this grassie opened his mouth and chomped it. I waited for the huge mouth to shut the door on my fly and  struck with authority. Mr. Grassie was on!

Grass carp are not only hard to fool. Once hooked up they put up a battle. It would be nice to have a 7 or 8- weight rod for this part, but heavy rods just can’t provide the finesse needed for the initial presentation. So you just take your time, steer them from any structure that they could snag you on and hope they give up. That’s exactly what I did and eventually I was lifting a quality grassie from the pond. Success!

Tomorrow we are bass fishing so I’m thrilled that I landed my grass carp today. These guys really are a favorite of mine and being that they like the heat, we don’t have them near home. Shortly after the fun catch, we packed it up so we’d have time to clean up and set up for my presentation for Desert Fly Casters.

My presentation was called “Fly Fishing Through Midlife Heaven” and was a collage of my top fishing trips that have occurred since I left my day job at the fly shop last October. This was a new show for me and I’m pleased to say the show went great before a large crowd. If any of you ever need a presenter for your club or Trout Unlimited banquet keep me in mind. I offer numerous presentations that you can choose from my website and there are instructions on how to book me. Keep an eye on the presentation list as I’m always keeping it up to date. Soon I’ll have a great one on how you too can succeed with the various carp species on a fly.

Jeff Currier Global Fly Fishing web site

Big Ugly Spider & Gorgeous Little Trout

While most fly fishers that pass through Phoenix, Arizona don’t bring their fly rods, I always do. In fact, Phoenix is one of my favorite places to travel for work because the fishing here is so enjoyable. Personally I like chasing the grass carp (white Amur) in the ponds in and around the city limits. Grass carp are incredibly challenging with the fly and chasing them is the ultimate. Not only do these ponds have the grass carp but also koi, common carp, largemouth bass, bluegill sunfish and black crappie. Sometimes I venture northeast to the Mogollon Rim where trout fishing can be fantastic or not too far beyond even fish for Apache Trout. And when I get the chance I love to fly fish the reputable bass lakes found in every direction.

I arrived in Arizona last night and will be presenting my latest creation, “Fly Fishing Through Midlife  Heaven” to Desert Fly Casters on Wednesday night. This is a PowerPoint presentation highlighting what I can honestly say has been the best year of fishing and traveling of my life. A year ago I was a little nervous about my career adjustment but so far it’s surpassed my wildest expectations.

I’m here early so I can do some fishing. Today I went with friends and hosts Steve Berry and Cinda Howard. Both of them are locals and know the fishing inside and out. Steve is a fulltime spokesman and helicopter pilot for the city of Mesa, Arizona Police Department. He devotes much of his free time to fly fishing. He not only fishes but he is very involved with the community teaching fly fishing and is president of Desert Fly Casters fly fishing club. Cinda is fulltime in the fly fishing business. She manages the Orvis Fly Shop in Scottsdale, AZ, teaches fly fishing and is also very involved in Desert Fly Casters fly fishing club. She is frequently found harassing the fish of Arizona but also hosts trips around the world. Her most recent adventure took her to Alaska with Midnight Sun Trophy Pike Adventures where she landed numerous northern pike over 45 inches!

Our jaunt began today with a three hour drive to Canyon Creek on the Mogollon Rim. Although scorching hot in Phoenix, it was a comfortable 70° in the mountains. We arrived at the creek at about 9:30 and hiked a mile downstream from where we parked and cut off to start fishing. This stream is tiny. In some places it’s as narrow as three feet across and in its widest spots not more than fifteen feet. I don’t do enough small stream fishing at home so today was a true pleasure. While Steve and Cinda rigged up dry-dropper rigs (a dry fly with a nymph dangling below tied off to the hook of the dry fly) I went straight dry with a size 10 Chernobyl ant.

On any small creek I prefer to start downstream and fish up. Assuming most river trout face upstream into the current, I have a better chance at them not seeing me and spooking. I fish fast but thoroughly dropping my fly on all the good looking spots. I generally find small stream trout aren’t too selective so if I don’t get a strike on the first drift I move up a few steps and hit the next spot.

The other thing about a small stream like Canyon Creek is that if you’re fishing with friends you either split up and fish different sections or stay together and take turns. You just can’t have three people jockeying for spots and expect the fish to hang around. Cinda, Steve and I have a lot of catching up to do so we stayed together and took turns. Cinda went first and Steve and I  kicked back to watch. It quickly became apparent that there were plenty of aggressive small brown trout that were literally only 4 to 6 inches. Steve dropped into the next run and hit a very nice rainbow that I’d of guessed to be nearly 14 inches. I was surprised to see such a nice sized trout out on this tiny creek but it turns out Cinda and Steve have caught a few monsters over the years that broke the 20” mark!

Canyon Creek was not only full of trout today but it was absolutely gorgeous. The trees are just beginning to turn and while the most places are full swing into fall, it is just starting here. Between the three of us we must have caught a dozen trout and a wolf spider. Yes you heard me correctly, a wolf spider. The spider was nearly the size of my Ross Evolution reel. We spotted him crossing the road near the river and after a photo or two I messed with him  for a minute. I set my Chernobyl in front of him and twitched it a few times. At first there was no reaction but then like a striking rattlesnake he attacked my ant and went into a full blown wrestling match with the fly. When he discovered it wasn’t real he let go and appeared very embarrassed.

We ended the day with one of the best meals imaginable. We had it thanks to a mutual friend, Chef Michael DelMaria, who kindly invited us to have dinner with him at his fantastic new restaurant called Heirloom. Heirloom is located in North Scottsdale at the DC Ranch. I have known Chef Michael for years because he is a veteran angler of the Jackson Hole One Fly Contest. All I can say is that if you ever get the chance to eat at Heirlooms, I’d highly recommend it. Every course of the delicious meal was superb starting with our appetizers and ending with our desert. Chef even has his own special blends of coffee to finish off the evening.

Tomorrow is an urban fishing day in the lakes and ponds around Phoenix. We are fishing around the city because we need to be done early as I will be giving my presentation at the Desert Fly Casters fly fishing club. Expect to see some cool carp pictures here tomorrow!

Jeff Currier Global Fly Fishing web site

Carp for Trout This Week

It’s been an unbelievably great season of trout fishing in our area. In fact it’s been so good that if you’re not careful you can start to expect it and perhaps even take it for granted. That’s why this week Granny and I rested the trout gear and went fly fishing for carp. While many trout anglers still snub their nose at such a diversion, we like to mix it up. Chasing a variety of species keeps our life interesting and because each species requires a few special tactics, I think it makes us overall better anglers.

Some fantastic carp waters exist right here in Idaho. While carp are classified as warmwater fish, the truth of the matter is that they are like earwigs, rats, house sparrows, whitetail deer and red foxes, they seem to thrive just about anywhere they happen to live. Two hours from Victor Idaho we have Blackfoot Reservoir and a few surrounding lakes that have heaps of mirror carp and the occasional common carp.

Granny and I have camped almost every Tuesday and Wednesday (Granny’s weekend) all summer long. This weekend was no different. We packed my rig, bought some food and drink and off we went. These carp lakes work like this. Blackfoot Reservoir has big smart carp and it’s tough to land them because there are lots of weeds and protruding willow bushes in the lake. They average about 10lbs and 20lbers are common. Granny and I have taken several fish over 30lbs! The surrounding bodies of water to Blackfoot Reservoir have small dumb carp. Small meaning 2lbs to the biggest I’ve seen, 16lbs. Seeing that I haven’t chased the carp around since our annual tournament last May, we chose to start with the easy guys.

Let’s just say the easy guys weren’t so easy this trip. The temperature around here is in the 90ºs. We see it this hot about once every three years. The heat doesn’t hurt the carp fishing, but it makes you do stupid things like try to fish in shorts and flip flops. That was our first mistake at the small carp lake. Naturally we were slipping on rocks and the first time I wandered out to retrieve a snagged nymph I got so stuck in the mud that I nearly lost my flip flops. I may as well have because now they are so stretched out they are basically ruined. The end result was, Granny left to read a book and I put on an old pair of leaky duck hunting waders and sweat my way around the lake.

Water clarity was poor. We’ve had lots of storms and this shallow lake was churned up from weeks of major wind. One thing about proper carp fishing is that you sight cast to them. I like to watch them mull around the weeds and drop offs looking for nymphs and crayfish. Sometimes they tail like a redfish or create muds from feeding aggressively along the bottom. Either way, I always observe them a few minutes before I make my cast.

Due to the lack of clarity, I wasn’t seeing the carp soon enough. I was basically standing  on them when I saw them. Then, all I had to do was wave my rod to cast and they spooked. It doesn’t take much to spook a carp. Gradually my eyes got tuned in and after an hour instead of spotting the carp next to me I was able to pick them up when they were twenty feet or so away.

They still weren’t easy by any means. Not as easy as they usually are on this particular lake. But after botching up three in a row I hooked and landed a nice mirror carp of about 6lbs. Carp always give you a good battle but this guy really took my 5-weight to the test. Real quick, if you’re wondering why the 5 instead of a heavier rod, it’s because heavy lines hit the water harder then that of the 5-weight. If they hit too hard you spook the carp. Sure, with a 5-weight it’s hard to turn a big carp but at least you get  the hook up and then it’s a heck of a lot of fun trying to land them.

By 2 pm it was so windy that my chances of spotting even a tailing carp became unlikely. I managed one more carp that was one of the smaller ones I’ve taken. Granny was around so we popped a few pictures of the little guy. Then we packed it up and drove to Blackfoot followed by a treacherous drive through a mile of tall grass to my secret carp camping spot.

The wind was really cranking by the time we got to Blackfoot Reservoir. Whitecaps covered the lake surface except for the tiny bay where we staked out camp. Granny decided on a nap and I wadered up and made a slow walk around the bay. These are big carp! Blackfoot Reservoir carp always amaze me when I haven’t seen them in awhile. For the last month I’ve been trout fishing and the biggest one I’ve caught was about 20 inches. One pass around this bay and I saw five mirror carp near 3 feet long with girths like piglets! I didn’t catch any though. The wind and chop on the water was too much. I got only one decent cast for most the brutes saw me before I saw them. And the one fish I cast to refused my offering. I was done for the day and Granny and I kicked back and grilled up a feast while listening to Cubs baseball on my XM radio. All the time the wind settled and at dark there were tailing carp everywhere.

Falling asleep to tailing carp got me up early this morning and eager to land one of the Blackfoot beasts. The problem was we had clouds, some rain and no tailing carp. It was completely opposite of the forecast we expected and spotting carp in such conditions was near impossible. Luckily clear skies loomed to the west and so while we waited Granny whipped together a superb breakfast and we had our second feast of the weekend. By 10 we had clear skies and calm waters.

With conditions near perfect we wadered up and made a death march to one of my favorite points for sight casting to carp. It was hotter than yesterday and both of us  nearly died in our waders. It didn’t matter Gortex or not, it was brutal. Normally we wet wade but not in the weeds and mud of Blackfoot Reservoir. Once there it appeared the walk was worthwhile. The water looked good and there were cruising carp and a few muds to attend to.

Granny opted not to fish. She climbed up on a ridge viewing the lake, ditched her waders and kicked back to enjoy the day. I prowled along the shoreline like a blue heron. The carp were difficult as always. The wind from yesterday and earlier murked the water more than I thought and it was difficult to spot carp. I startled a few right off the bat before I figured out how far from the bank they were cruising. Once I had that down I never took my eye off there again and started to see them. I cast to at least six cruisers and dropped flies into muds with no takes. I used several flies that normally do well for me. My favorite is a red Copper John but I also do well with rubber leg hares ears, tan Crazy Charlie’s and some of my Vladi Trzebunia nymphs. But the carp paid them little attention.

Three hours into it I was really scrambling for ideas. My sightings of carp were dwindling and the wind and clouds were making their way back. I was running out of time. Finally I met the cooperative carp I was looking for and he was at least 20lbs. I twitched on of Vladi's woven body Euro nymphs in front of him and he destroyed it. He didn’t follow it or scrutinize the fly, he simply attacked. I gave him the metal and I laughed at the shocked expression on that carps face. His eyes bulged with surprise and he opened his mouth and flared his gills to the max trying to blow my fly out of his soft mouth. He failed and the game was on.

I love my 5-weight Ross fly rod for carp fishing but it is the drag of my Ross Evolution LT Reel that makes it all possible to land a 20lber on a 5-weight. This big carp was a hot one. He smoked me straight out about twenty feet into my backing and started a big sweep to the right. He knew exactly what he was doing, because to the right was a patch of willows protruding from the lake. I put an unbelievable amount of pressure against him both with my reel and the bend of my rod. It was like I was putting the heat on a speeding saltwater fish. I even started backing up on shore trying to force him away from the willows. By now Granny was at my side. She had a look on her face a lot like the carp did when I hooked him – shocked and surprised. Then, that sick feeling of instant slack happened. The carp was gone. It didn’t look like he made the willows but evidently he got me onto something. He broke me off. It was over.

Granny looked at me with disgust. It was if I totally screwed it up. Evidently she wanted that carp bad. But there was nothing I could do. The carp of Blackfoot are tough. Blackfoot Reservoir terrain is unforgiving. And this big-ole-boy kicked my butt. I’m a sick man. I love the agony of defeat. I’ll want it more next time. I love the challenge. I’m not sure Granny will be charging back with me anytime soon, she likes her fast and furious trout fishing. Next week I’ll take her to the Gros Ventre and she’ll catch more trout than you could ever dream of!

I love my 5-weight Ross rod for carp fishing but it is the drag of my Ross Evolution LT Reel that makes it all possible to land a 20lber on a 5-weight. This big carp was a hot one. He smoked me straight out about twenty feet into my backing and started a big sweep to the right. He knew exactly what he was doing, because to the right was a patch of willows protruding from the lake. I put an unbelievable amount of pressure against him both with my reel and the bend of my rod. It was like I was putting the heat on a speeding saltwater fish. I even started backing up on shore trying to force him away from the willows. By now Granny was at my side. She had a look on her face a lot like the carp did when I hooked him – shocked and surprised. Then, that sick feeling of instant slack happened. The carp was gone. It didn’t look like he made the willows but evidently he got me onto something. He broke me off. It was over.

 Granny looked at me with disgust. It was if I totally screwed it up. Evidently hing I could do. The carp of Blackfoot are tough. Blackfoot terrain is unforgiving. And this big-ole-boy kicked my butt. I’m a sick man. I love the agony of defeat. I’ll want it more oth with my reel and the bend of my rod. It was like I was putting the heat on a speeding Jeff Currier Global Fly Fishing web site

Cliff Fly Box Art Madness

Jack Dennis is a last minute kind of guy. On Monday he sent me a box of twelve Cliff Fly Boxes to put my fish art on. He planned to get these boxes to me on May 1st but just kept putting it off. Finally, last week he got around to ordering them and of course he wanted them drawn up ASAP! Well, I’m a man that comes through in the clutch – I got them all done in less then 36 hours.

Cliff Outdoors is a family owned business located in Casper, Wyoming that designs and manufactures unique practical outdoor gear. Their current product line is geared to needs of practical fly anglers.

If you want to order a decorated Cliff Fly Box or send me your own box so I can spice it up, then feel free to contact me. I charge $25 for one side or $50 for both. And I’ll do any fish species you want from the hook jawed brown trout to the fattest carp you ever saw!

You name it! You’ll find a “Contact Me” button on the right hand side of this blog.

Check out even more information on my web site.

Jack Dennis is a last minute kind of guy. On Monday he sent me a box of twelve Cliff Fly Boxes to put my fish art on. He planned to get these boxes to me on May 1st but just kept putting it off. Finally, last week he got around to ordering them and of course he wanted them drawn up ASAP! Well, I’m a man that comes through in the clutch – I got them all done in less then 36 hours.

Cliff Outdoors is a family owned ine is geared to needs of practical fly

Jeff Currier Global Fly Fishing web site

Cave Angelfish

Member of the family Balitoridae (Loaches) belonging to the order Cypriniformes (Carps). This group of fish is known for their non-visual senses and its a good thing since this fish is perhaps one of the most specialised species on earth inhabiting only waterfalls within caves in Thailand. This fish has no eyes and lives out its entire life within the cave. They hang on to rock with microscopic hooks on their flattened fins. Their diet is bacteria. They were filmed for the first time for the BBC documentary Planet Earth.

Socializing Makes Thick-Skinned Fish

Cyprinid fishes (carps) show fright, or escape behaviour, when smelling alarm signals produced by conspecifics. These chemical alarm signals are found within special club cells and are released when these cells are ruptured. In nature, fish possessing the alarm club cells may become aware of a predator as it becomes labelled with the alarm pheromones when ingesting prey. In cyprinids it has been found that higher club cell densities exist in regions where there is a high abundance of predators. Higher club cell densities means the fish is able to produce a greater volume of alarm pheromones. Important when a predator could be lurking around any corner. The authors in this study hypothesized that club cell density is plastic in regards to predator presence.

For the study they raised crucian carp individually and in groups of four. For both rearing types, fish were exposed to the skin extracts of either conspecifics (alarm signals) or brown trout (without club cells), and provided food in either low or high food rations. Interestingly, they did not find an association with club cell density and the presence of an alarm pheromone or predator chemical cue. However, what they did find was that club cell density increased when fish were living in close quarters with conspecifics (ie group of four fish).

The data from this study suggests that group-raised fish are more chemically on guard than those raised singly. The data shows that club cell density can show a ten-fold increase through an increased feeding regime combined with group rearing. Club cell density is plastic and is likely to be controlled through internal physiological regulators such as blood androgen levels, but also through external regulators such as nutritional status and growth promoting factors via chemical sensing. But in the end it just makes sense to not spend growth energy on lots of alarm substances when there will be no one else around to heed your warning.

Stabell, O., & Vegusdal, A. (2010). Socializing makes thick-skinned individuals: on the density of epidermal alarm substance cells in cyprinid fish, the crucian carp (Carassius carassius) Journal of Comparative Physiology A DOI: 10.1007/s00359-010-0550-4