At the Ponds in Pennsylvania, Our FFF Story Options

[Eich]

Our FFF began in the planning stages on January 2, 2007. Lowell (kingfisher) and I have a tendancy if we are not fishing, we are planning our next trip(s). To say that we are carp fishing fanatics woul be stretching it a bit. However our spouses may just disagree with us on that topic. A word of wisdom here for the married guys in CAG. Thank your wives for the opportunity to go fishing. Take her as often as she wants to go. Tell her your stories about fishing and listen to her stories on whatever she wants to talk about. Your marriage will be blessed for your efforts.
Okay back to my story. We were planning on fishing 3 venues during the FFF and calling it a tri-fecta. After all FFF has 3 F's in it so shouldn't you naturally want to fish 3 venues? But alas it was not meant to be as the kingfisher had plans to go on a lunch date with his wife (good man) and neighbors. Also during some of the final stages of planning Lowell was bringing a special guest. Guests are always welcomed to fish with us and we get excited about them all. Lowell had stated that this person had never caught a mirror carp. Right away my mind went racing. No you didn't actually get Neil Stern to come all the way to Pennsylvania just to fish our little ponds did you, I thought. Then he told me that it was a good friend of big Al and his name was Jim (CARPNCAT). I was awe struck.
Prebaiting, setting schedules, co-ordinating rendevouis, swapping phone numbers, making continjency plans and just plain making things work all had to be done. As procrastination goes it waited until almost the last minute to do. This meant that there were tons of things to do and only pounds of time left to do them in. My mission was to prebait enough, but not too much as to turn the fish off. By God's grace Jim was going to catch his first mirror-maybe even before 6 AM to receive induction into the prestigous Hall of Fame. Keep reading and see what happens!
Eleven o'clock PM on December 31st comes around too fast sometimes and this one was no exception. Jed and I had the vehicle loaded and ready to go. Lowell and Jim were to meet us at approximately 4 AM. We (Jed and I) pulled into the parking lot at 11:30 and progressed to set up our equipment. This year I was going to fish a little differently. Float fishing with the Scooby Doo rod. It would only be for the first few hours as I didn't want to embarass our guest. Jed fishes with one too from time to time so he is used to our little competition among ourselves to see who can land the biggest carp on the Scooby Doo. This morning however he chose to go with a regular spinning gear. We would just have to see who could catch the first fish and the smallest fish between us.
As usual the younger of us had their line in the water first at exactly midnight. Unfortunately my younger days are behind me. Experience will take over went through my mind as I made my cast with the float on the Scooby Doo Rod. Reaching over to prepare my other rod for service I noticed a little twitch in the float. My thoughts told me, "Couldn't be"! Then the float went under as I dropped my other rod, picked Up the Scooby Doo and prepared to do battle with what I intended to be a small mirror in the 1 pound range. Upon setting the hook reality took over and the drag began to sing. Wow! This can't be. But it is actually taking drag. "Hey Jed I'm going to need you to help me with the net on this one". A three to four minute battle and the net was slipped under my prize. "Thank you Jed-5 minutes in to the new year and I have my first carp". This is awesome. Hey it's a common not a mirror but look at those fins. "How much does he weigh?" Jed asked. "Get your scale and we'll see" I said. The scale settled on 10 pounds even. Pictures were taken and my little piece of gold was released. Thanks was given where rightfully due and I proceeded as best as I could to continue fishing.
My mind said that it was Jed's turn now. However we know that we are not in charge, so it was me again who caught the next fish approximately 50 minutes after the new year. This was a mirror this time. All 12 ounces of him. Yes that's right 12 ounces. A shot at the prestigous "Baby Phone" award. YES! Again, thanks was given.
The next two hours were full of conversations of listening to an owl, how's work going, are you cold. are you tired and all of that other important stuff that parents talk to their stepsons about without getting too corny. Do they still use that word "Corny"? Oh well I still do. Then it was to be Jed's moment of glory as the bite alarm went beep. Not a long beeeeep but rather just a short beep. He pulled to set the hook and felt a little resistance. Ten to twenty seconds later he pulls in his prize. A small mirror. "Looks bigger than mine" was my statement as I really was concerned what the scale would say. Fourteen ounces ... Whew! That's too close for comfort. We fished for another 1/2 hour then took a small break after moving to another pond to meet up with Lowell and Jim.
Some coffee was taken to warm us up and then the phone rang. Lowell and Jim were almost there and it was 1/2 an hour earlier than anticipated. Greetings and introductions were passed and we proceeded to give the pumphouse pond a go to see if at least Jim could get his first mirror. A little history here. This pond has fewer fish than the other ponds, but the average fish is between 4 and 6 pounds which is why Lowell and I decided this pond was where we would give Jim his best shot. This pond has a bit of history to it as well as was described by me in recent stories. Maybe on this morning it would have some more history.
Then at approximately 4:30 AM Jim's alarm gave the beeeeeeeeep of a solid run. Next I heard Lowell ask, "Hey Ray did you bring your net down"? "Sure thing Lowell, here it is" was my reply. I commenced to ready my camera as I knew that this pond only had mirror carp and a few catfish in it. The way it was pulling told me that it was not a catfish. Congratulations were made, hands were shaken, pictures were taken and Jim's first ever mirror was returned virtually unscaved. It still warms my heart to see a carp swimming off freely after the battle is done.
Daybreak came and the weather which to this point had been very cooperative, turned a little bit sour. A few drops of rain were seen on the pond before we actually barely felt a few. Then it stopped as soon as it started. The clouds were moving fast so maybe the precipitation would blow over. It was to start raining one more brief time before stopping all together. Then at about 8 AM our thoughts turned to food. To tell the truth I was amazed that it wasn't sooner. I took the orders as I was the host and proceeded to get us breakfast. Yes, it was New Year's day, but this place should be open. Upon my arrival the eatery was closed. What do you tell 3 hungry guys who want breakfast. Luckily there were some workers there and one was kind enough to come out to the door and say that they would be opening up at 9. My life was saved. So I went back to the pond and explained the situation to the guys. Thankfully they understood. So at 8:50 I went on my journey for breakfast again. As you will be able to tell by the pictures we had a breakfast fit for a king. Lowell King anyway!
As I was away getting breakfast Jim had another run. This one was a miss. Upon my return from the breakfast run the most beautiful sunshine broke through the clouds. This warmed our bodies and my soul. A picture could not do it justice, but I tried anyway. We ate, swapped a few more stories, and then the magic hour of 10:30 came by which was to be parting time for Lowell and Jim. Good-Byes were said, hands were shaken again and tentative plans were made for future trips to the ponds. These ponds are just simple puddles in the earth, but they are starting to hold much history for the people who are fortunate enough to fish them. Hope you enjoyed the story and please take a look at the pictures that go along.

This post has been edited by Eich: Jan 2 2008, 09:14 PM

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[Eich]

Here are a few more:

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[Eich]

And a few more

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[Eich]

And last but not least the best I could do with the sun shining through. Thanks all for reading.

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[Rob Byer]

A great read indeed Ray!! Great job guys; I cant wait to fish with you guys soon!!

Jim congrats on the mirror!

Those fish look nice and healthy!!

[hammercarp]

Great story and an excellent post. WTG!

[K-1]

And last but not least the best I could do with the sun shining through. Thanks all for reading.

I love that pic it looks like a painting ! Great stuff

This post has been edited by K-1: Jan 2 2008, 09:54 PM

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[Carpaholic]

Good job fella's. Aside from the weather, it would be wonderful if every weekend could be like the FFF with all the reports just rolling in.

[accordbw]

Really really great story! Congrats on the mirror and I am sure the scooby doo rod was a blast to fight a carp on.

[Ol Captain]

Great read and great job Ray! Pennsylvania cannot possibly be THAT far from the Hooch. Too much in common. Well done.

Horace

[Eich]

Thanks guys for all the kind words. Horace the Hooch is right next door in my heart as I know my venues are in yours!

Ray

[kingfisher]

Great story Ray...it is almost as if I was there!
Thanks again for being such a gracious host.
As you stated, the ponds may not be very big, but they do hold very grand memories.
A big congrats to Jim on catching his first mirror...a perfect fish to begin the new carp fishing year.

The skunk

This post has been edited by kingfisher: Jan 3 2008, 07:21 AM

[Jerome]

I love that pic it looks like a painting ! Great stuff

Exactly what I was thinking!

Great story and storytelling, as is now customary from one of the most dedicated FFF participants over the years. A first carp of the year with scoody doo rod, now that is something! And congrats to Jim for the first mirror.

[Big Carphuna]

Nice report, Ray! I think the McDonald's pic is the best "Sunrise" pic of them all! LOL

[supercarpio]

Cool story and thanks for sharing.

-Marius