I recently got involved in a conversation with someone who's married to a fly fisherman. Naturally the subject of Carping with a fly rod came up. I stated that it was nice to see more of the Carp subculture showing up in ads. She then told me that she didn't think that classifying Carp fishing as a "subculture" was accurate. As an example she used her husband whom she described as your typical bamboo-dry-fly-only-trout-snob. Within the last year or so he had taken up fly fishing for Carp, so obviously it must be going mainstream. I'm not sure that I agree with that logic though. It could just be that I like feeling that I'm once again part of a subculture again. It reminds me of listening to Nirvana in my bedroom wondering why nobody understands me.
In reality though I still have many customers come in to the store wondering what that funny looking fish is. I've had customers come in and say "geez I need to get you guys some pictures, you've got a Carp on the board for Chrissakes!" I know, I know, it's hard to find a fly shop that doesn't have a picture of some sun-bleached dude in a visor and shorts holding a Carp bugle first into the camera lens. Blogs hailing the virtues of Carp abound. Every company now carries a Carp fly selection and most shop rats are wandering brown canals for Carp on their days off. I still don't think it's mainstream. When we see ads with a guy in tweed standing waist deep in some brown frog water maybe I'll believe it. I still think we're a ways off from having some metrosexual admiring the spawning colors of a Carp along the banks of the L.A. River while pondering how it relates to the meaning of life. I'm glad for that!
Until then I may have to find a fish that's slightly less trendy though....Gar anyone?
Yeah, I agree. I don't think carp will ever be up there with trout, bass, etc. I think a lot of guys are trying carp right now because they're a bit of a novelty and they're getting some attention in the fly fishing world. Most of these guys will go back to trout, etc. after giving carp a try, but I think very few will make carp their primary quarry. Fine by me. I love having the carp flats to myself every single trip. As for the gar - I'm in.
ReplyDeleteThere are those that go just so they can say "yeah I've caught a Carp". The ones that stay are usually those that had to work a bit for their first one and enjoyed the challenge. At least that's been my observation.
ReplyDeleteThe difference between L.A. River carping and catching trout in the San Gabes, well, it's not really on the same scale, is it? If you've fished for trout, odds are you're going to hook up. But, it's not the same with carp, and that's the challenge. Spooky buggers ...
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