After having an awesome few hours of carp fishing last weekend on the Perkiomen Creek, I decided to go there again this weekend. All week I was looking at Google Maps trying to narrow down a new section to explore. The Perkiomen has a lot of accessible water because of the trail, but parking can be an issue in some sections. If you’re not parking close to where you want to fish, then you have to suck it up and walk. That was the situation I was in on Saturday morning. I wanted to fish a narrower section of the creek just below Green Lane Reservoir and I had to settle on the Crusher Road trail access lot as the starting point for my hike in. One nice thing about the Perkiomen is that there are many small creeks coming into it and they can make great access points. This was the case yesterday as I found a feeder stream and walked it to the Perkiomen.
The air temperatures on Saturday morning were the coolest they’ve been in weeks. It was 60 degrees when I arrived on the water at 6:30am. I wasn’t sure how cooler temps would impact the fishing but I figured carp and any other fish in the streams were ready for relief from a brutally hot summer. I started working my way downstream looking for good carp holds. The water was slightly stained, but clear enough to see tailing carp. About 75 yards downstream I found good carp water, but it was so still that even trying to move in slow was creating water disturbance and before long I saw several carp investigating. I was busted and had to give them a good 15 minutes to settle. Eventually I discovered there were about six average sized carp milling around a submerged branch. There was another carp that cruised by that was above average. I was able to hook up with one fish, only to have it break me off under the branch. I patiently worked that group for and hour and wasn’t able to hook up so I decided to move on.
A common carp I caught while exploring downstream.
After a half hour of walking and exploring downstream, I found a spot in the creek where a large tree had fallen into the water and by the looks, it was a perfect hiding spot for fish that wanted cover or an ambush point. I crept up within 10 feet and observed. Sure enough, a few minutes later, here came the carp to investigate. Carp are funny fish. I’ve read others who’ve described them as “patrolling” their water and they do just that. If anything disturbs their area, even the smallest noise, one or several carp will come to see if there’s danger. Sometimes just throwing a fly within several feet of a carp hold is enough to get them out looking around. After they feel safe, they are more at ease to feed. There was a large school hanging out in the submerged tree. There were probably 10 carp and at least two of them were easily over 30 inches and in the 15-20 pound range. I spent an hour at this tree casting to these fish. I landed two smaller carp that were both 25” and about 8lbs. I also was broken off twice in the tree, once by one of the big carp. And guess what, déjà vu as I was fighting one of these giants and the handle on my Sage 3850 replacement spool broke off and went flying into the creek. In two weeks that’s two spools, two carp, and no handles. I immediately decided that was the last time I will use a reel for carp that doesn’t have a threaded screw attaching the handle to the spool.
One of the carp I landed at the fallen tree.
It was getting close to noon and I decided to hike back to my truck. On my way back I stopped once more at the first location where I’d been unsuccessful. I was pleasantly surprised to find that all the carp had moved out of the tree branch hold and were tailing in the main current. I crept up and noticed two small carp and one large one. I cast and one of the smaller fish hit my fly and I was able to land him without disturbing the other fish. I unhooked him quickly and placed another cast to the school. This time the big carp swung around and took my fly and he was off to the races. This fish put up a great fight. He made one really long run and when I got him close to the bank I realized how large he was. I had a hard time getting him to hand because every time I’d attempt to lift him, he’d take off again. By happen chance a middle-aged gentlemen and his wife were exploring the creek and he was nice enough to come over and help me. I measured the fish at 32” and he weighed 15lbs. I hiked out to my truck and called it a day.
The 32" carp that a kind stranger took a picture of.