State of the Union

  Union reservoir. I remember the glory days. Wasn’t all that long ago, really. A few of us could wade out off Dog Beach and almost expect to hook up a few good wiper. We would have to wait for the rumors to surface about them moving in close to corral shad…and the right weather, but it was reliable. And the carp fishing was about as good (i.e. easy) as you could find in the state. The carp fishing was so easy it was annoying. Myself and other hardnose carpers would be working tirelessly on flies and strategy, only to run into a Longmont carper…compare notes….and realize that while we are having to resort to sneaking around in camouflage and tying sparse, light weight carp flies, these chodes were drinking beer and catching good numbers of fish on big, chartreuse streamers. Like I said, friggin’ annoying. But the state of the Union has changed. I can’t remember the last wiper I’ve caught out there. There is an absolute TON of baitfish. Shad everywhere. But where are the wiper? I suspect we all know…every fly fisherman who has spent any time at Union can tell stories about the buckets of fish being removed by the “mussel” drowning, forked-stick crowd. Yeah, it’s depressing. But, on the bright side, the carp fishing out there has finally begun to be comparable to other local mud flats. The fish have become educated. Fly fishing for carp has gone mainstream. Most days you can see at least one or two carp crews out at Union. Some in fancy flats-style boats, others just pushing around an old johnboat with a makeshift pole. Kinda cool to see! And “real” carp flies like the Backstabber and Clouser Swimming Nymph are what you need to have in your fly box.