I had plans to fly fish and bowfish a local river today, but when I arrived at around noon the wind was untenable and the water was filthy. It took me about two minutes (literally) to decide that I’d drive the 90 minutes to a more promising body of water.

Gas isn’t cheap, that’s for sure. But, I’m dedicated to my craft.

When I stepped out of my vehicle at the reservoir, the wind let me know it was there. Gusts to 20mph almost took my hat off, and since the wind was blowing right at me, all the algae and silt was pushed-up right against my shoreline.

After an hour or so of casting my fly rod and stalking the shoreline with my bow, I decided to head back to the top of the reservoir. Someone was parked there when I’d arrived, of course, but maybe they were gone.

Sure enough, they were.

There were a handful of carp, and I got about seven shots off in all, connecting once. There were a couple shots that I felt I should’ve connected with, but didn’t. I’m still replaying those two shots in my mind—how did I miss?

Overall, the carp weren’t patrolling the shores in good numbers. Today was weak. Maybe it was the wind? I saw a fraction of the usual numbers I’m used to observing.

Common carp shot bowfishing