Choose Your Bait Carefully

This is a business related post, but first a story.

The Story

Saturday afternoon, I had a chance to go fly fishing. Now don't get the wrong impression. Where I live, there are no pristine rivers where one can wade under a canopy of weeping trees. There are no riffles or dark pools of water holding gorgeous colored brown trout.

Instead, I undertake what's been called brownlining. Essentially, it's fishing in suburban areas where the types of places I mentioned above don't exist. Brownlining happens in ditches, golf course ponds and creeks where the water resembles thick murky chocolate milk. More or less, it's anywhere you can find some water where fish could live.

One secret location where I fish, I've aptly named Carp City. It  is an amazing spot. I can go to this location and hook into some monster 10,20,30lb+ carp.

Now I know what you're thinking. Carp are gross. Am I right?

Actually, carp don't get the type of respect they deserve. Many people assume carp are a bottom feeding garbage fish. That couldn't be further from the truth.

Carp are actually one of the toughest and most sought after fish to be caught on the fly. They are also 50 Times harder to catch than other freshwater fish, such as trout.

For a great primer on the history and beauty of the carp I refer you to my good friend, Ian James, also known as the "carpfather." Ian is known as the carpfather because of his passion and respect for carp. Ian is largely responsibly for the reason fly fishing for carp has become popular over the past few years.

Catching a carp on a fly rod is hard to explain. The best way I can think to explain it is, it's a lot like taking one end of your fishing line and tying it to a train leaving the station.

On Saturday, when I reached Carp City, I noticed another man fishing the area. He wasn't a fly fisherman. Instead, he was tossing large 3-prong treble hooks into the water and proceeding to literally snag fish and bring them to shore.