Larry A. Smail's Blog

My Wednesday “TO DO” list had three early morning possibilities listed. One was a hike and one was a bike ride and the third was carp fishing at a local state game lands pond. I chose to hike to the SGL pond to fish. However, my plans needed altered for a bit. My cousin, Donny Smail called me Tuesday evening to make some stencils at the Kittanning Township Firehall.

I met Donny about 6:15 and began measuring and placing letters onto cardboard to make the stencils for the words “NO PARKING“. I placed the cardboard in my vehicle to cut out later in the day and off to fishing I did go!

State Game Lands road

  The walk to the pond is a mile. Usually, one sees deer or turkeys, but this day was void of sightings. I approached the pond cautiously already seeing hints of water disturbances from carp activity.   The first cast close to shore landed a small carp. The next two hours I caught eight carp from about 14 inches to about 22 inches. What a morning!

    Two carp broke my line and another threw the hook out at a high leap out of the water. Most were caught by my carp stalking techniques and close to the shore. Several of the bigger carp really gave me and my rod and reel tackle a work out!

The negative aspect of the carp is the habitat destruction they can do in ponds. They root around in the shallows easily disturbing  other fish nests harming the populations of bass and bluegills and the like.  They can make a pond very dirty with the bottom mud disturbances too. Many specie prefer clear waters  for optimum  survival. But, since the non-native carp has firmly naturalized in Pennsylvania waters, as well as most waters across America, one may as well enjoy fishing for them.

Polyphemus Moth

  Personally, I have never eaten carp. My father said he ate them in WWll. The German civilians would cook them up for the soldiers and my father said the fish were good to eat. My dad said he tossed gernades into small water areas to gather up the fish.

While walking out from fishing I notice a Polyphemus Moth on some grass. The moth was not doing well at all. His wings had lost their luster and colors. The moth’s existance is not long.