Another Plumbing (or plummeting, if you prefer...) Expedition!

Friday afternoon, after giving a guitar lesson, I called Carolyn (my wife, for those of you who may not know) and found out she wouldn't be home for an hour or so. Since I was in the vicinity of one of my old carp fishing spots, I decided to take a little stroll around an area I hadn't fished in about three years (but where I know there are 20-pounders swimming!). Didn't see any carp in the margins (I rarely do in this area.), but I did see numerous bubble trails (a sign of feeding carp disturbing the bottom sediment and releasing pent-up gases), which was very encouraging. It was also interesting that they were not very far off the bank--say, 10-15 yards or so.

Today, after working from noon until 5 PM catching up on entering and clearing transactions in the checkbook and seeing what we'd spent vis-a-vis the budget for the last several weeks, my brain was seriously bent and in need of a break. We had run out of shock (chlorine) for our pool, and our normal supplier had already closed at 4 PM, when I remembered there was another pool supplier--guess where--within a half-mile of the spot I walked yesterday. After checking their hours and finding that they were open until 7 PM, I grabbed my marker float rod and headed out. After picking up the obligatory pool god offering, I headed across the street (literally) to do some more plumbing. What I found is that this area of the lake is pretty uniform, about 14' deep from the middle halfway to the far side, and pretty consistently at that same depth until about 2-3 rod lengths from the near shore. As expected, at the very end of this arm of the lake, it got as shallow as 10' in the middle, but that is still a very respectable amount of water for carp to take refuge in. I also observed that, during the afternoon, the far side was shaded, making it the preferred afternoon target during the summer. Conversely, the near shoreline should be better in the early part of the day for the same reason. I am anxious to try this spot again after my investigations today. I will probably try fishing just where the bottom levels out to 14' (a likely carp patrolling area), on whichever side the time of day dictates. I found today that I can reach the opposite side just fine with a three-ounce lead. The only caveat is that this section has always been difficult to catch from in summer. I have blanked more at this spot than anywhere else I have fished for carp. Hope that trend is bucked the next time I give this spot a try!