Lakes of Legends

I named this the Lakes of Legends because their are infinite lakes/ponds all across the coast that hold these massive carp in it; but most of these lakes require permission to fish in them so buyer beware. That is all Im going to talk about in regards to location since, as of now, is your best chance to catch a carp since the massive heat wave is causing lots of areas to produce aggresive feeding carp. So if I were the typical fisherman that is trying to get into carp fishing, all I would have to do is slap on a pair of polarized glasses, go to a location on carp spots on my signature or in the links I will display:

p.s. any location that says there is bass or catfish in it, also has carp...Links below:
http://dfw.state.or.us/resources/fishing/where_how/50_in_60_portland.asp

https://maps.google.com/maps/ms?hl=en&ie=UTF8&msa=0&msid=109540522836721970470.0004679994ee2773579ba&ll=45.468318,-122.590942&spn=0.28026,0.576782&z=11&dg=feature

Sorry I couldn't get any better photos, I decided to only snap a picture of every fish caught because the 25 lber I landed nearly died; I had to sit there and revive her for about 15 minutes, and struggled to swim for another 15 minutes before she came to. Also I was alone for all the fish except the 21 lber

17 lber

18 lber

In the two picture collage above, guess which fish is bigger before you read the rest of the post?

The next two pics are of a 21 lber, 35 inches long

25 lber, 3 feet long

Same 25 lber, but just next to my 8'6" fly rod. By the way that is my 3rd net in a year. My first net, a grass carp bolted through the net, and it was kind of too small for large carp in the first place. That net was probably between 10 to 20 bucks. The second net I bought for 20 bucks and it bent in half on around the 100th lbs of fish. This 3rd net pictured above is a 60 dollar net from Fred Meyers, made for salt water fishing, salmon, and sturgeon. So far it's doing pretty good, already over 400 lbs of carp landed so it was well worth the expensive cost, although right now my car smells like rotten milk and dead fish. 

The original set-up I bought was a 5/6 weight fly rod combo with a left handed reel from Wal-Mart for 60 bucks. I bought this new Okuma Sierra S5/6 Fly Reel from Bi-Mart for 30 bucks and it was well worth it! Plus, I had never been to Bi-Mart for fishing supplies and boy do I love it there more than any other store I've been to. In my opinion, they had almost everything I ever needed to go fishing, it was organized, and it didn't have millions and millions of isles full of clutter. So far my new reel is putting in work, so far handling 5 fish averaging 22 lbs. 

Same 25 lber showing how chubby they are

Now here is the real beast. A 37 inch long, 30 lb Grass Carp. I went to an entirely different lake and found an area just to relax and take in the whole trip, until I spotted, heard, and saw a fish tailing in about 3 feet of water right next to the bank, so money in the bank. At the end of the fight, I had the guts to loosen the drag a little, put the rod down, run 50 feet to my car, open my trunk, get the net, and run back to my fly rod. Something I learned about using hooks with barbs and fly fishing is that if I set the hook twice, there is no way they could spit that hook out unless they break my line or rod. When I landed this fish, it looked like the 25 lber I caught if it took growth hormones. 

Here is a little comparison "two-picture" collage showing the 25 lber 3 foot fish on the top pic, and the 30 lber 37 inch fish in the bottom pic. 

Here's a little blast from the past:

30 lb grass carp vs. 25 lb common carp

190 lb igquick vs. 155 lb igquick