As some of you may be aware, some of the folks here at F&F are kinda fond of the “low life” side of things…In other words we like to chase dirty fish on feathers…Yup, we talking about Carp…In particular, urban carp…We’re not talking about the Golf Course pond variety, or the ones living in quiet country estates…We’re talking about the low down dirty thug variants that live in waterways often avoided by most folks involved in the grand old gentile game of fly fishing…
Carp have an amazing ability to invade and survive in urban waterways of varying water quality…Some of it’s damn right nasty…Their ability to find food, and survive in waters incredibly low in oxygen, but high in shopping trolleys, used condoms, supermarket packets and old flip-flops is amazing…And also puts them within reach of anglers living close to built up areas, and close to these urban “Thug Highways”…Fellow thug fans Pete and Leonard, like me, don’t consider it a proper “Carp Mission” unless we’ve had to park somewhere seriously dodgy, climb over a razor wire fence, get chased by a junk yard dog, step over a used condom or two, and spent at least half the time looking over our shoulder for rival gang-bangers…(Insert gratuitous over dramatisation here)
Seems kinda crazy to put oneself in these scenarios, but thankfully the quality of the fishing sometimes makes up for it…These thug fish match their environments perfectly…They can be as shifty and paranoid as a crack dealer, and as aggressive as a hyped-up tik-kop…And they fight like a crips enforcer, especially as their environments are generally pretty tight, with tippet snapping structure everywhere…Its a close quarters game, no holding back…And the odds are always in favour of the local thugs…
Its about as far as one can get from the calm, quiet, beautiful scenes the general public imagines when they hear the words “fly fishing”…Aint no tweeds and stream side lunches enjoying a nicely aged brie with a chilled bottle of Cianti…Shit, you’re lucky if you don’t get some kinda E. coli infection doing this!
But this low down dirty thug fishing is no less dirty than a thug addiction; it’s gangster…Hell, some of us heathens even enjoy listening to the ‘gansgta’ rap (shock-horror) that so suits this low-life pursuit…Which leads me to the reason I thought about writing this post…I came across some like-minded folk on the other end of the world, Ryan Russell (@projectcarpflyfishing) from Phoenix Arizona, who took a little trip to the true birthplace of ‘gangsta’ rap and thuglife…And met up with Matus Sobolic (@CaliCarpin) who just happens to love chasing carp in the urban rivers and concrete environments of the City of Angels, the City of Bloods and Crips, of Dr. Dre and Snoop, and the most ghetto fabulous carp on the planet…Los Angeles…
Ryan put this video together with the appropriate soundtrack from Notorious B.I.G., “Notorious Thugs”…Check out Ryan and Matt’s instagram to follow their exploits, and kick back, pop a 40 oz, and check out the vid…
