The Parking Cone: 2 year quest for the elusive park pond mirror koi

For the past two summers I have been hitting the local park for carp on the fly. There are a few goldfish in the lake but every now and then I would see an orange glow in the distance that was much longer than a typical goldfish. It was never close to the bank and it was only visible with polarized lenses. Park goers who were walking their dogs or just enjoying the park had no clue what was lurking in the water next to them. People would even walk up to me and ask me if there were any fish at all in the lake.

Every time I saw this fish it was a good 30-40 feet away from the bank, and always cruising along. It was never feeding and never allowing me to even attempt a presentation. It wasn’t until this spring that it even surfaced enough for me to see that it had black scales on it. I have only seen “the glow” a few more times this summer.

Last night we packed up a picnic basket and the pups to have a picnic at the park and of course I threw my flyrod in the truck. After a few sandwiches and snacks I decided to take a quick trip down the lake to see if anything was stirring. As I came around a tree along the bank, I froze. The “Parking Cone” was rolling around and feeding only a few feet off the bank. I didn’t even have to make a cast and just dropped the fly right in front of it. It stirred around and slowly swam away. I didn’t spook it, but the water was murky and it just didn’t see the fly and swam off. I was sick and thought that I would never have another opportunity like that to land that fish.

I walked about 25 feet down the bank and as I was checking the water for shadows, the orange glow came swimming back into view. I put the fly directly in her path and she sucked it up and went screaming down the bank once I set the hook. She stayed along the bank but was in my backing before I could blink. Once I was able to get some line back in, she turned and headed straight out to the middle of the lake and just sat on the bottom. She emptied the reel and felt like a bulldozer out there. After a good 10-15 minutes of just holding on and burning arms, she slowly started back in. A few park goers had gathered on the bank to watch, and after a few swipes with the RhinoNet, I scooped her up and let out a yell of pure joy. I couldn’t believe it.

After a few pics and a lot of smiles, she swam away happy and ready to torment other urban anglers who are willing to attempt to catch “the Park Pond Parking Cone”

Please practice Catch & Release in urban settings to preserve these precious resources for other urban anglers.