Life On The Bank
by
Mykayla Swartout
Hi, my name is Mykayla Swartout and I enjoy most of my fishing time in upstate New York. I have always fished but within the last few years I’ve become solely a carp angler and that’s now what I find myself targeting year round. Where I'm from there are so many fishing opportunities and as I come across new places up here, I realize there are so many magical areas to carp fish on the Rivers, reservoirs and ponds, etc.
Ever since I was young, rolling around in a stroller, my dad has brought me fishing. As I got older, he taught me how to fish on my own for Walleye, Striper, Bass, Pike and more, but carp angling has been my biggest excitement in recent years.
I’ve learned so much, from proper staging of a method feeder and hair rig to patience and the true meaning of having a carp on the other end of your line.
Now being 23, I have an amazing partner, Codi Green who my dad, Dan Swartout has also shown the ropes of carp angling to and we love fishing alongside each other and will be teaching my son as he gets older.
It was Father’s Day 2021, I went up to do a father/daughter session with my dad. It was a hot day and we were fishing over a concrete wall on the river. My dad had made a “walkway” down in the dirt on the side so it was easier to net our fish and get them in. When we arrived we looked over the spot to see if the carp were around and soon enough they started showing themselves. We saw plenty of feeding; needle bubbles, slurps and even a few carp crashing on the surface. We had to have been sitting there for a an hour or two before my alarm started screaming with line being stripped from the reel…
I picked up my 12 foot, 3.25 lb test curve mad dragon, ”still my preferred rod of choice” with so much anticipation, not realizing how excited I’d be once I saw what was on the other end. I had to have been tiring out this fish for a good 20 minutes, you don’t want to horse them and cause more stress on the fish and it also takes out the fun of feeling the fish on the line.
My dad always told me about mirror carp but I had never seen one in person. As I got the fish in I saw the beautiful markings that this fish had, they were like no other. Weighing in at 22lbs was a beautiful mirror carp. I got it safely into my net and carried it over to the cradle so that it wasn’t on the rocks where it could potentially hurt itself flopping around. Dad always told me to use a soft meshed, fish friendly net, so it’s easier on the carp and it doesn’t take their scales off. My dad has always taught me “Carp care first.” I then took my water bucket and poured water over top of the fish and gently lifted it for a photo.
Still in amazement, I released this beauty back into the water holding onto her gently until she was ready to swim off… I remember thinking as the mirror slowly swam away that I hope to catch her again one day.
I have always made a whole day out of fishing with 6-12 hours on the water being my typical session length. Codi and I had been seeing more and more people doing bivvy sessions (camping and fishing) and after reading into it a bit more, we wanted to try it out together. We bought a bivvy and went to a spot where we had fished before which is tucked away where no one would bother us.
We all enjoy fishing together so Codi and I asked my dad if he wanted to tag along and we were glad that he did because we had a great time. Fishing from after work on Friday, we soon got our poles and rod pods set up with lines in the water. Once that was done and we were happy with the our bait placements, we got our camp set up too.
We didn’t have too much luck that night but dad did catch a decent carp during the night and of course, we all caught plenty of catfish.
When it was time to lay down and get some rest, we felt comfortable leaving our lines in the water because we had our alarm receivers with us in our bivvy. I guess it was around 2 am when Codi and I were woke up out of a sound sleep by a very loud noise. It turned out that a carp had hit dad’s line so hard it tipped his whole rod pod over. We all went running towards the tipped Pod, hoping everything was okay and sure enough there was still a carp on the other end of the line. Dad was busy reeling it in when we got there… We ended up taking a nice picture and sent it back on its way in the water. But other than that excitement, the rest of the night was very quiet.
We all woke up early Saturday morning and redid our setups. Carp were surfacing all around and feeding, we could see feeding bubbles coming to the surface all around. It didn’t take much longer for my alarm to sound and the line to start stripping from my reel, I got halfway to my rod when I saw it go flying into the water, at least a few feet out. My heart dropped and we all went running over to see if we could find it.
No luck, so dad threw his line out and dragged it along bottom and luckily his hook grabbed a hold of my pole and brought it to shore. I was so grateful and from that time on, it way Game-On!
I got my pole set back up, cast my bait out and shortly after I had a fish on! I set the hook and tightened my drag so the fish could still take some line as needed during the battle. Just as I’m tiring my fish out, dads pole goes off down the bank and he runs to it and sets his hook and tightens his drag and seconds later, Codi’s pole goes off too! We were all speechless while fighting our fish over what just happened. What an epic moment and we made some great family memories in the process… We all got our fish in safely and carried them over to the cradle. We pored some water on them to keep them wet and hurried up with a photo so we can get them back in the water before they got too stressed. #catchandreleaseonly
We soon got everything rinsed out with lines redone and out in the water ready for the “magic hour.” We didn’t want to miss any fish coming up river during the next few hours. We sat there eating some scrambled eggs and spam over a one propane burner for breakfast.
I was in mid-bite when my line went screaming and it was fish on. I ran over and picked up my rod, reeling and reeling and I see the fish’s head come up to the surface. It was a lighter color than normal with dark marks on it that looked like a skull of a fish in a way. Amazed, I reeled it in and got it over to the cradle. It had a lighter body with an orange tipped tail and a cool pattern on the head. It ended up being my first ever ghosty!
A ghosty is known to be a mix of a common carp and a koi carp. Beautiful looking fish and I don’t think that photos do them justice.
As I’m admiring my fish and getting a photo when my other pole goes off and I send Codi over to take it. As I’m getting my photo and releasing it back Codi yells over “I have a Mirror!” But it was too late. I already released my carp into the water before we could get a photo of them both together. What an epic shot that would have been. Codi gets his mirror in and it is a beautiful linear mirror. That’s when their scales are in a straight line along their lateral line and sometimes on their back too.
We think this one was also mixed with a koi but either way, they were both beautiful looking fish.
That trip will always be a top memory. One other fish that also really stuck out from the trip that I have never caught before was a muddler carp. They are just like a common but some of their scales are flipped in the opposite direction. So amazing to experience!
As of writing this blog, it is now fall of 2023. Codi and I took a trip out to see a buddy, Fred Powers who was a few hours away to try out some new swims.
There are bigger fish there and also more mirrors than there are commons in a lot of the swims. We first went and fished an easy spot where we got fish but mostly on the smaller side.
Fred showed us different techniques that he uses as well… for instance how to use and rig up a lead clip as opposed to our usual inline lead. We left after a few hours to go track down some of the bigger fish and choose a spot just to finish the last few hours of the day where we could potentially catch some big fish. It was a harder swim.
Fred has fished it numerous sessions on end without a thing to show for his efforts, as have many other anglers…but we saw fish surfacing and feeding so we decided to set up until dark.
Four hours went by and not a thing. We were hoping and praying for at least one decent fish to hit the net.
A few more hours went by with laughter and good times as the sun dropped, but before we knew it we’d decided it was best if we packed up and start to head out to get some rest for the morning.
Because something had been messing with my bait a little earlier, Fred made a good point to leave my lines in the water with the rods resting on the bank as we packed up. So that I did…
We heard a little bit of line being pulled from of my reel and saw the tip of the rod bounce as catfish tend to do. Upon closely examining my rod tip, I saw my line veering slowly to the left so I picked rod up and set the hook and instantly the line started screaming!
I knew right away I was hooked into a good carp. My line went screaming left and I felt the pure power of the fish!
I kept my rod up high and pulled towards the right to keep it out of my other lines. It gave me a crazy five minute battle, ripping line with fierce head shakes and solid lunges back towards the depths… I couldn’t wait to see what was hooked on the other end of the line…
By the grace of god towards the end of the battle, she knew it was over and gracefully came in toward the net which was held by Fred. Codi was also in the water at this stage, and both their faces lit up with the biggest smiles ever while hugging each other and laughing… We made memories that'll last a lifetime.
Fred looked over and said, “you got the biggest fish in the lake!” I walked over as they opened the net revealing a beautiful scale pattern like I’ve never seen before. It was an old warrior, a mirror carp!! My mouth dropped and I started shaking and screaming, “OMG!! NO WAY!” in pure disbelief of what I’d just landed.
Weighing in at 37.2 pounds, this beauty is known to have weighed 41 pounds in springtime. I was so very proud, grateful and speechless. This made our entire trip! I would love to go back in the spring and have the opportunity to find her again.
As I further my carp angling I look forward to all the magical carp I may catch. Maybe even a fantail and a koi? Thank you for taking the time to read my blog and I hope you all are having a wonderful season.
Till next time.
Mykayla Swartout