Hit the West Fork of the French Broad this afternoon. I was chiefly searching for holdover and wild browns, which I hoped to jig out of the deep holes below the various waterfalls with soft plastics. No such luck. I did hit on a number of smaller wild browns and two nice stocker 'bows (17" and 19"), both on jig rigged soft plastic hellgrammites. I came on a long stretch of quiet water and decided to fish it with a yellow perch pattern jointed Rapala (I like this color pattern, which mimics colors on the banded plectra-shaped suckers you see in a lot of our rivers). On my second cast, something huge slammed it. After well over 10 minutes, if finally get a glimpse of the fish: unfortunately, it turned out to be what I'd estimate to be a 15+ lb common carp (what the heck is THAT doing in a trout stream). Even more unfortunately, he took off on yet another run that A.) pretty much wrecked my reel and B.) snapped my rod in half. I'd forgotten how strong carp are. This rod and reel held up to a 4 foot bonnethead shark back at the end of September, but the carp killed it good.
Now what the heck is a carp doing eating a Rapala?
Now what the heck is a carp doing eating a Rapala?