PESTS

I have very little to report about carp fishing so I thought I would discuss the big issues of the last week of so......PESTS.
The number one pest on the recent hit parade is mosquitoes.  Man, this is the year of mosquitoes.  The state DEM reports there are more mosquitoes this year than in any time in the last twenty years.  It's about the only thing I have ever agreed with that the DEM has said. In the last two weeks I have gone through an entire can of spray.  Without spray, your next of kin would find your bones along the fishing bank the next morning.
The number two pest is one of my favorites.....turtles.  Both sun turtles and snapping turtles are just all over the place and active in this heat.  Those pesty sun turtles will poke up their heads like a submarine's periscope and they will just watch your every move.  Make a cast and they will make a b-line for the ring in the water where your bait hits.  Those sneaky buggers will then dive down and take the bait off the hair rig without making so much as a twitch on your rod tip.  They will eat everything, including the plastic hair stop. And, after they are done, they will come to the surface again just waiting for your next cast. Wow, they are bad!
Finally, there is this pesty fish called a dace which inhabits the Blackstone River in incredible numbers in some spots.  These 6-10 inch pests are like piranhas.  The minute you cast a bait, any bait, hard or soft, they are on it causing the rod tip to bounce continuously until the bait is gone.  Try a bigger bait you say.  They'll devour a 20mm boilie like a kid eating a candy apple until there is nothing left. And, rarely are the sneaky buggers hooked.
And, yes, every once in a while you get lucky and a carp beats some of these pests to your bait.  Unfortunately, you are probably swatting mosquitoes when that happens and in all likelihood, you end up losing the fish.  Ah, summer fishing!