Thursday
Mar222012
March SOTM Entry: Mile High Mirror Carp
Thursday, March 22, 2012 at 12:00AM 
James Spicer with a downtown traffic cone. Like.
tagged Fly Fishing, denver, mirror carp, slab of month in Contests
Fly Fishing, denver, mirror carp, slab of month in Contests
Reader Comments (25)
Just puked.
every SOTM this month has their damn arms held out as far as they possibly can or wide angle lens...a little ridiculous..but whatever, maybe i'm just jealous..
Colorado Skies FTW!
SirCheesedouche-
That fish is 20lbs+ no matter how far you hold your arms out. Not to mention catching a Mirror on the S.Platte is rare as well.
Nice fish.
That fish makes me think of this emo song from Death Cab
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UPLlCcE-Dq8
I'd be keeping that thing as far away from me as I could.... What do you suggest he does, snuggle with it?
big fish but I still wouldnt touch it.....
Awesome Fish James! If people only knew the complexity of such fish!
You might call it a carp, but I would re-arrange the letters.
People won't be happy until SOTM fish are bear hugged and 100 yards away from the camera. Who wants to see the fish anyway?
Way to go. That's an awesome and disgusting fish at the same time.
I think its a rule with the arm length thing. FYI.
To all of those who encourage fish eye lenses, long arms, low aspect photos...
http://troll.me/2011/11/02/facepalm-picard/captain-picard-is-tired-of-your-bullshit/
Great mirror James. Don't sweat the "arms too far" douchebags.
Cheesedick - I am willing to bet that beast is a smelly motherfucker...especially coming out of the S. Platte. I would hold that fish as far away from my chest as I could if it were my photo.
really? it's a baby. i guess the west just has small carp.
sircheesedick-
It looks like his elbows are against his body, thereby supporting the weight of the fish.
That is a big fish.
.
Where are your SOTM entires?
Stop being a fucking troll, and start working on building a better community of fly fishers.
Piss off
Thanks for the support everyone! It was a monster fish for me.
Pictures rarely do it justice but trust me, in person mirror carp are stunningly beautifull. The sunlight refracts of off the part on each scale that is usually covered in different directions and in different colors almost like a prism. They are amazing and that is a heck of a specimen, particularly with that coloration and being from the DSP. Slab of the year may be sewn up in my book!
James, that is an a spectacular fish! Be proud of it.
Come on guys, don't feed the trolls.. Nice fish man!
you people are nuts if you think that's a big Carp. it may be the biggest he's caught and congrats on that but in the grand scheme of the species it's merely average.
is a 10lb Permit a slab? neither is this fish.
Do some research as far as the average size Carp in the South Platte in Colorado. Then check the number of Mirror carp vs. Common.
It is all about perspective of different fisheries. Congrats on having trophy carp water. Do you live in the UK? Or Kansas.
For those of us that fish the S. Platte in Denver we realize that's a nice mirror carp.
James,
Kinda a spot burn. Were you nymphing those holes on that stretch?
Hmm... Catch a carp on a fly, and suddenly you are awesome ?? What is this sport coming to...
Nice sewer fish, big is best right ?
ColoSkies - Say hi to Theo for me !
no i do not live in the UK or Kansas. i live near Lake Erie, where carp actually become "slabs". carp get big. slabs should represent the biggest of the species. i'm sorry you folks only have small carp, really i am. i was under the impression that a "slab" would represent the top size of the species. would my 9" brown from a tiny wild stream get a place here as a "slab"? no, it would not. "but it's the biggest fish in this water". still no. why would a carp be any different? if it ain't at least 30 lbs it's not a "slab" that fish might be 15. maybe, if he held it out further.
Carp from rivers are typically much much heavier than stillwater fish for a given length, particularly this time of year. Nobody can really estimate weights from pictures but I would say that fish is over 20lb (and I have caught and measured fish that size in the DSP for a basis). Now, by common carp standards you are correct, that is a very very nice fish but perhaps not a "slab". You miss the point though. That is not just a common carp. That is a fish with a 1% mutation (Mirror) that I would say is crossed with another 1% mutation (KOI) that also happens to be in the 20lb class with is probably in the top 5% even in the great lakes and less than that in the DSP. I am too lazy to do the statistics, but I am pretty sure that if it aint a 1 in a million fish it is nevertheless a freak of nature.
wow now i am edumacated. who would have known that was a mirror carp? i mean it's not like it says anything about it in the title. WTF? face facts that's a mediocre fish at best despite your supposed science and if that fish is 20# i'll eat it raw. mirrors get damn near as big as commons all over the world. why is CO the only place where a little one is somehow a slab? worst. slab. post. ever. as i said, which apparently you didn't bother to read, a slab should be the top of the species not the top of the species for the water it came from. why is that so hard for you to take? you folks need to take a look around at mirror carp sizes elsewhere. seriously, anywhere else in the world and that fish doesn't even get it's picture taken. apparently even you can't estimate weight from a photo. 20 lbs bwahahahah!
AWESOME FISH! I have yet to catch a mirror...wish I could've seen that one in person