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One More Cast...
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Fishing Reports Carp caught on Kelly Drive in Philadelphia
The Fish Guys with some nice carp. Louis is holding a 20+lb carp and Donnie (the third fish guy) is holding a 60+lb buffalo (a close cousin to carp, not present in this region, but dominant in southern and western watersheds).
Matt Coll with a 31.5lb carp caught recently from the Potomac River Links for carp anglers
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Team Keystone Finishes Third in World Carp Championship June
5-10th, St Lawrence River New York As soon as it was definite that the World Carp Championship was taking place in the US, myself and my long time fishing partner, Louis Cook, knew this was an event of a lifetime and there was nothing we wouldn’t do to participate. The chance to fish along side carp luminaries from the world over was motivation in itself to get involved. Aside from a few casual Carp Anglers Group competitions, neither of us had much experience fishing in highly competitive situations. But, we knew we had the drive and the fire within us to fish our hardest no matter what for 5 days. The massive cash prizes just the experience in itself was plenty of motivation.
Many months prior to the WCC we began preparations.
Since both of us were in the final stages of graduate, just getting the
cash together required monumental preparations. By winter of 2005 we were already purchasing stockpiles of
Gamakatsu G-Carp hooks (www.royalcarp.com
), ACS safety clips (www.americancarpsociety.com
), thousands of yards of Power Pro (www.powerpro.com
) braided line, leads, kilos of Mainline boilies (www.wackerbaits.com)
and all the other essentials. We
began testing baiting strategies on our local river and we even began practicing
long range baiting and casting in the winter (if there’s not ice on the river,
we’re fishing!). When Spring
rolled around and we had submitted the entrance fee, we knew there was no
turning back. The competition was
only a few months away. As winter
erupted into spring and the competition came closer I continually developed a
worse and worse case of O.C.D – Obsessive Carp Disorder. I struggled through
my days at work thinking of massive St Lawrence carp instead of data analyses. Louis and I spent endless nights discussing strategies and
fleshing out a multitude of potential situations during the competition, and of
course, we fished obsessively. Win
or lose we knew we would return home richer from the new friends made and the
amazing experience, but in the back of our minds there was always that thought
“what if we DO win”? And it was
that exact possibility of victory that motivated us and every other confident
and optimistic carp angler from around the world to compete.
The Peg Draw and Pre-Event Ceremonies
Arriving at our hotel two nights before the event started, the
anticipation became real and suddenly Louis and I realized the competition was
already beginning. Tim
Paisley and the International Carper team were enjoying some beers and talking
over strategies, the Polish team was preparing their bait outside and the
parking lot was full of SUVs and trucks laden with carp fishing equipment.
Walking up to our room, foreign languages and the smell of fishmeal and
other potent carpy scents emitted from behind closed doors. Already sizing up
the competition, we instantly felt the advantage of only driving 8 hours in a
van loaded with almost 1000lbs of bait and every piece of kit we could possibly
cram in it.
Later that night on Friday, we drew our number for the peg draw. We picked 90! Lying in the bed on Friday night I found it challenging to sleep as I mentally labored over all our planning and preparations. I awoke the next day ready for the opening ceremonies and to draw our destiny for the next five days. Louis and I spent the day meeting friends old and new and reveling in the excitement of the atmosphere. As carp anglers convened for the peg draw ceremony there was an overall tense feeling in the air. Anglers were studying the maps that displayed the pegging and conversations mostly focused on which pegs would be hot and which peg would spell disaster. Louis and I kept it simple and instead focused on the mantra of “no island peg” because there was no way we wanted to unload the van and then put all our gear into boats! Knowing we were near the end of the draw, Louis and I paced back and forth like raging lunatics examining which pegs were left, and which had been chosen. An angler I sat next to who was drawing after us commented while tapping his foot madly and wringing his hands that waiting to draw a peg was “more nerve-wracking then they day he got married”. Finally, it was our time to draw. With sweat dripping down my face and a look of anguish on Louis’ face, he dipped his hand in the basket and pulled out 82. We dashed off the stage and ran to the map – “where were we”?!?! Upon locating our peg on the map I was filled with jubilation that my simple mantra paid off! We weren’t on an island! We quickly departed and raced back to the hotel – everything was falling into place perfectly. Once back at the hotel we continued to study the depth maps looking for features to boost our confidence. We had deep water within very close range and a shallow point upstream from us. Just having vague knowledge of these features was extremely comforting. Sleep was far from our minds, we just wanted to be at our swim already to start studying the water! Day 1Upon sunrise and a restless two hours of sleep, we took off for our peg which was in Waddington, just about a mile upstream of the mouth of Whitehouse Bay. We were so juiced we could have pushed the van the whole way there! Once we turned back onto the unmaintained access roads, we knew the ride back was going to be troublesome, but we were ready for anything. We stumbled upon another peg and soon observed feeding carp. Just seeing two mid-twenty carp cruising in the shallows pumped me with a rush of adrenaline. Struggling to locate our peg in this wilderness area created a sense of panic and frustration. But, our steward soon arrived and he located our peg far down the road beyond a barb-wired fence in a cattle pasture. Finally arriving at our peg, amazed we got our over-burdened sherpa of a van back such a treacherous road, first a sense of relief then a sudden wave of exhilaration swept over us.
As we quickly unloaded the van, I realized we were not alone – a herd of curious cows had surrounded us wondering what we were doing in their watering hole! After a while they realized we were not there to feed them, and they retreated to the shade of the clump of trees that separated our peg and the Romanian team’s peg at 83. Louis then began preparing our particles with a turkey fryer. While the steam began pouring off the pot of boiling maize and other particles, I slipped into my waders and grabbed my rod equipped with a Hummingbird Smart Cast. Besides the depth readouts, the first thing I noticed was that the water was cold and causing my legs to tingle! The contrast of the hot sun on my upper body and the cold water encasing my legs and waist was a feeling I would be getting used to for the next few days. A strong cold wind moving downstream from Lake Ontario was pushing colder water in the main river channel. Despite the wind, it still felt hot and humid out. With the use of the Smartcast, I quickly identified the upstream point that extended out 40yards slowly dropping to a depth of around 20ft. The downstream edge of the point was a rocky drop-off that quickly dropped to 30ft in front of our peg. While upstream from the point remained a shallow sandy area with an occasional rock grouping. Directly in front of our peg the water quickly dropped to 17ft within 20 yards of the shore, and then it sharply dropped from 17-20ft. down to 30ft. about 30 yards from shore. The tiered drop-off was contoured by the rocky shelves common in the St. Lawrence. The shelf 30 yards from shore was a consistent feature all the way down stream while upstream from us the drop-off went out and wrapped around the point. Upstream from us, the drop-off to deeper water was much further from the shore. When baiting began at 1pm on the first day, we put three forms of bait in the water. First, mixing fishmeal pellets, alphalfa pellets, bird seed, maize, calf milk replacer and chicken food we created 100’s of tightly packed balls of feed. We baited these using a CarpRUs baitsling for longer range and a catapult for shorter range..We specifically brought a range of particle and additives to we could create balls of feed that would have a breakdown time suitable to the depth and current we were fishing. In this case, we needed something that would bind tightly and withstand the 30ft depths and strong current. Upping the amount of chicken feed ad calf milk replacer would give us the perfect consistency. We began creating a baited area that resembled a right angle triangle, with the back to the drop-off along the shallow point. Next, using a similar blend of particles and boilies, we used a bait spoon to shovel in the loose bait along the top side of the drop off ledge and on the shallow point. Confidence in our baiting strategy was enhanced by carp crashing over our bait. With some time left until we could begin fishing at 3pm, we decided to cook up a great meal of tacos, rice and beans. Gorging on what could be our last delicately prepared meal until our runner and head chef Donnie could arrive on Tuesday, we ate watching carp crash right in front of us. At 3pm we made our first casts. We started off fishing snowman rigged mainline 20mm Essential Opals with 15mm pop-ups with PVA bags filled with a slightly packed ball of the semi-moist particles dusted with calf-milk replacer and mixed with some crushed boilies. We both started off using 4oz leads. Within an hour I had the first fish on, a confidence boosting 22lb fish. This was followed by a high teen fish a little later in the day as the sun was dwindling. After the sun set the wind began really ripping through our camp. Weighing in our first two sacked fish at 38lbs felt great! After 12 hours we had caught only three fish. Day 2Between sunrise and sunset on Monday, conditions deteriorated, but Louis had landed our fourth fish just after sunset. Another fish over night and another fish in the early morning put us up to 6 fish with a total weight around 115lb. Four of the six fish weighed between 20-24lbs. Tuesday proved to be the most frustrating. We had to
rearrange our camp in order to utilize the van to block the wind. 4oz no longer held the bottom sufficiently so we stepped up to 6oz flat circular leads. Besides the heavy current and winds we also increasingly had problems with grass-like moss that would detach from rocks in strands and coagulate on your line eventually clumping up and getting caught in the current. Repetative pulsing beeps on the alarms signaled it was time to reel in and recast. This would occur every 30 minutes or so. Midday Tuesday having caught no fish in almost 10 hours while the Romanian team had captured a 30 and a 29 right next to us, the frustration mounted. We continued with our baiting strategy. Late in the day, while the waves pounded on the shore, Louis saw a fish jump VERY close to shore. Frustrated with the problems with the wind and moss build-up on our lines, Louis decided casting a massive method ball close to shore may catch the random fish forced close to shore by the current and wind. We dumped loose particles with 10-15 yards of the shore. Louis molded a method ball around the 6oz. lead that easily weighed 10-12oz. The idea was to use the giant method ball to help anchor the bait and keep the hook from getting covered in any moss. Within the hour, he caught a mid twenty just yards off the shore in about 8-10ft of water. While the wind continued, we fished all our rods close to shore using the monster method ball strategy. I managed another 20+! Things were looking up! Hearing over the radio that Paisley and Briggs were hauling at a blistering rate we were amazed. We received phone calls from our girlfriends that we were in top 20. Amazed that we were in the top 20, we then set our sights for the top 15!. Then, something happened…. During our fishless periods, we greatly anticipated the arrival of our runner/chef and close friend, Donnie. We also were excited for the food and beverages he would be bringing! When Donnie arrived, he not only brought a gourmet assortment of food and cold beverages, but he brought an absolute change in fortune. Donnie arrived around 5pm on Tuesday and by 7pm the wind had COMPLETELY disappeared. The water became the largest piece of glass I ever laid eyes on. We quickly returned to fishing just beyond the drop off point in 30ft of water because fish began to crash at that range. Exuberant that the weather had changed and our good friend was doing what he does best, cook up delicious meals, we were blissfully ignorant at what was around the corner. As the sun sunk closer to the far horizon, Louis’ alarms broke the calm silence. As this fish could barely be stopped even as Louis tightened the drag, we knew he had a massive fish on. I waited patiently, standing in water above my waist with the net in my hand. With only half the sun still peeking over the horizon, a line of shade blocked me from seeing the fish in the deep water. Knowing the fish was just feet in front of me in the dark, shaded water I stood with the net stretched out. Suddenly the fish changed directions and darted almost directly into the net. I couldn’t believe it. As soon as I gazed into the folds of the net, I knew Louis had just caught a new PB. Absolutely stunned by the size and beauty of this fish, we took a few photos and quickly sacked the fish and returned it to the water. That fish was just the beginning of reaching an emotional peak after struggling through two long fishless stretches earlier in the competition.
Day 3By the next morning, we had added 3 more fish to accompany Louis’ massive fish for the morning weigh in. At the time the big fish of the competition stood at 38-10. We felt there was a chance Louis’ fish might top that. We had weighed it at over 39lbs, but we had not zeroed the scale properly during the frantic moments after it was captured. The other 3 fish were 24lbs, 25lbs and 17lbs. Louis’ fished weighed in at…….37-8! Excited to have a new PB, I could tell Louis felt slightly deflated to be a pound shy of having the reigning big fish. By this time in the morning on day 3, it was unbelievably hot and humid and I was beginning to slightly miss the cool wind. Although most of day 3 only saw a few fish, we really honed in on a successful strategy. The water had receded slightly and was noticeably warmer. It became evident that fish were traveling upstream, as we would see them jumping far downstream from us. The fish were moving exactly along the drop-off point, where we initially postulated we would catch most of our fish. The fact that the bulk of the stringy moss accumulated on our line occurred around the drop-off, we put the pieces together and realized the drop off point was covered in the moss. When we reeled in and discarded the clumps of moss from our line, we found tiny worms and snails in it occasionally. This was the natural feeding route of the fish and it was apparent by the fish jumping in a line downstream. We began only bating on this line, Using the Hummingbird Smartcast we pinpointed the exact location where the moss grew at the base of the drop-off. We continued using monster sized (10oz.+) method balls but added a lot of crushed boilies. The bigger the method ball the less moss that covered our hook. The giant method ball would smash down the striny moss and allow or hookbait to sit on a blanket of bait. Because we used snowman rigs, the buoyancy helped our hookbait standout. Baiting up with a catapult and CarpRUs baitsling, we loaded the drop-off with balls of feed that contained whole and crushed boilies. Then using a throwing stick, I created a line of boilies that extended almost 100yards downstream on top of the mossy drop off point. Essentially we baited in one long thin line along the drop-off, and the goal was to introduce our bait in the pre-existing feeding route so the fish could begin to seek out our bait. This strategy really began to produce by dawn on day four. Prior to retreating to our separate sleeping quarters, our banter focused on the prospects of a top 10 finish. Continuing to receive reports from friends and family, we had climbed into 16th place. Day 4A relatively uneventful night with only one fish quickly erupted to chaos an hour before first light. One fish to Louis’ rod was followed by a double header on my rods. All three fish weighed in the mid twenties. After a calm sunrise spent baiting up, we quickly caught four more fish in rapid succession. A 30, two 27s and a 29 were sacked up with the other three fish. The steward arrived around 7am to weigh our 7 fish. While weighing and photographing some of the better fish, we caught 3 more fish all of which were high 20s! It was absolutely unbelievable! That morning we weighed in 10 fish that weighed over 260lbs total! Just like all previous days, fishing then really cooled off during the hottest hours. Throughout the day our excitement continued to build, especially once we got leader board updates. Our recent weigh-in was bound to propel us into the top 10. Louis managed two more 30s the next night accompanied by a 29 and 25 I caught. With well over 350lbs of fish caught in one day, our excitement quickly turned to unbridled focus. Either winning a section or even placing in the top 3 was VERY possible. With this knowledge, our happiness and giddiness was drowned out by the new desire to actually come away with prizes.
Day 5The last night was a tense one. I felt as if the test of a lifetime that would make or break my future awaited me at sunrise. Louis and I sat fully geared in our waders, ready to spring into action and run into the water at any moment. By this point, I was so fearful of losing fish that I was neurotically changing my hooks on almost every cast. Despite a great day 4, I was haunted by the fish we lost throughout the competition. Could one of the lost fish be the difference between 4th or 3rd place? That night, despite a strong rainstorm, we diligently re-casted our rods at any sign of moss build-up on our lines. By this point, we had developed a sixth sense knowing exactly where to cast. We would recast right away if it didn’t “feel right”. Afterall, getting a perfect cast was tough because we were casting almost a pound of lead and method! By sunrise, we only had two fish sacked up. Anxiously waiting for a run, we sat listening to the radio waiting for the announcement of who was winning. Then, we heard our names called! We were in second place by ounces! There was 3 hours left to fish and we didn’t relent, knowing that there were delays in the reporting of catches and certainly, other teams had to still be hauling. Within the last 3 hours, we only landed one more fish. Painfully, I lost 2 fish to hook pulls, one of which I lost 4 minutes before the competition ended. The moment I lost that last fish is a reoccurring theme in my nightmares to this day. But, as we packed up and drove back to the headquarters, we knew we had to be in the top 5 no matter what others caught. Both Louis and I felt like we were on top of the world. This emotional rollercoaster of an event was finished and we came out near the top.
When we finally discovered that we fell to third place by 12lbs, we were only momentarily disappointed. Still unable to believe we finished in third, we were extraordinarily pleased to find out Stewart McKenzie and John Tillbrook were the team that beat us for second place. Along with Mark Metzger and Tommy Robinson, they were our teammates from “Team Capitol” for the 6 man nations team component of the competition! Their second and our third place finish made us a lock for the Nations Team champions. For the first time ever, USA was number one in carp fishing! Tim Paisley and Steve Briggs, two great anglers, were truly deserving of their victory. Not only because they have done so much for the sport, but they truly put on a carp clinic during the competition, catching what 3rd and 2nd place caught combined! All of these feats were celebrated before, during and after the closing ceremonies. Friends old and new made us feel so proud of our accomplishments. We were proud to represent America in the World Championships. It was truly a wonderful event. I know this event has already massively changed the face of carp fishing in the United States..
Specials
Thanks go out to Donald Hoffer, our runner/chef de cuisine during the event and www.dugancom.com
for providing us with transportation.
For more information about this event and future carp fishing
competitions in America, check out www.americancarpsociety.com Key Tactics for Successful Carp Fishing While
many think catching carp is just a matter of using Uncle Jimmy’s secret
doughbait and sitting back and waiting, there are some easy concepts to focus on
that will help you consistently catch carp.
For me, there are three main aspects of carp fishing that I focus on the
most when planning to tackle a new water or just head out to a local river or
lake. First and most importantly is
location. If they aren’t there,
you can’t catch them! Second, once you have identified a likely location on a body
of water you need to create a feeding zone by baiting up, or chumming.
Finally, the most critical part of landing a hard fighting muscular carp
is having end tackle suitable for the job.
I’ll provide some basics about each of the three concepts that will
hopefully help you land more carp. Location Carp are very habitual fish that tend to have specific patterns of movement based around roaming between feeding zones and areas of comfort and safety. In this regard, carp tend to relate heavily to currents and structure. If you are able to locate natural patrol routes for carp, you’ll be successful at catching them. In lakes, rapid depth transitions from shallow to deep water created by rocky drop off points or creek beds are key locations. In rivers, deeper, slow moving pockets in close proximity to shallow bays, creek mouths, slack water and major current obstructions (such as a bridge abutment) tend to be prime carp patrol areas. During feeding periods, such as sunrise and dusk, carp will move between depth transitions searching for food in the shallow, warm water. The nearby deep water affords them safety and stable oxygen and temperature levels. Just as carp will move between these depth transitions, in moving water carp will often move in and out of current breaks, resting in slow moving water and searching for a meal passing by in the current. A good strategy for fishing these locations is to find the desired structure or current seams, bait up (which I will discuss further below) a wide area that covers structure and current transitions. Fish one rod in each structural area. For example, if you are fishing a lake with a creek bed through the center and a shallow bay on one side of the creek bed you would fish one rod in the creek bed and one rod just outside the creek bed in the shallow bay. Once you locate where the fish are holding, you can focus both rods on the productive areas.
These are just a few brief suggestions based on my experiences. Location
and structure are an extremely important part of carp fishing that change with
the seasons and time of day. Observation
and time on the water is crucial to understanding carp movement and habitual
feeding patterns on a body of water. Fishing
for carp is often a waiting game and provides plenty of opportunity for
observation. Always keep an eye out
for carpy signs, like excess bubbles coming from under water (carp release
pockets of air under the lake bottom when rooting around and they also release
bursts of air from their air bladder), and carp breeching the surface. Baiting Up Now that you’ve identified a likely spot carp are holding or at least passing through, the next step is to bait up (chum) in order keep the fish feeding and roaming around where you are fishing. There’s a whole range of particles you can use as your groundbait. If you plan to go carp fishing more than a couple times a year, I highly suggest finding a local animal feed or tractor supply store. These types of retailers sell animal feed in bulk for cheap. Some of my favorite particles to use as groundbait are whole and cracked field corn, bird seed (especially millet and nyjer seed), chicken food, and rabbit pellets (rabbit food). Corn is always an instant bait, but if you plan to chum or fish with dried field corn, it has to be prepared properly in order for it to be safe for fish. Field corn (whole or cracked) should be soaked for at least 24 hours so the kernels can fully absorb water. Next, in the same water you soaked the corn in, boil it for around 45 minutes, stirring frequently. The corn will maintain a hardness, but will become soft and release attractive sugars and starches. My favorite blend for chumming is 1.5 gallons cooked whole field corn, 1 gallon cooked cracked field corn, 1 gallon rabbit pellets, and 1 gallon of mixed bird seed. This mixture is great because it has a variety of sizes, textures and colors. This variety will help carp become comfortable eating a variety a particles, and your hookbait will be less likely to standout drastically to a suspicious carp. This can be tossed in the water loose with a bait throwing spoon (or something shovel-like), or you can add some chicken food, powdered milk or breadcrumbs to make the mixture bind into baseball size balls. If you form the chum into balls it can be tossed much further by hand or using a slingshot. Now you got this chum all made up, you have to think about what bating strategy to employ. Will you be fishing this spot long term? Is this just a one day trip? What time of year is it and are the fish feeding heavily? How big a water is it and how big are the pods of carp? I’ll cover some different baiting strategies you can use locally on your favorite water. Of course, your chosen baiting campaign all depends on the amount of time and money you want to commit to catching carp. But, I can assure you, a successful baiting campaign will result in extremely successful fishing trips, where the action can be fast and furious!
No matter what type of baiting campaign you decide on, a major part of successful carp fishing is baiting up. Casting out a single hookbait with no free offerings will catch you relatively few or no fish at all, unless you are stalking or sight-fishing for carp, which is a whole other style of carp fishing. Just remember, if you feed them, they will come!
A
blend of sweet corn, chicken food, bird seed and pellets can be deposited in the
water via baiting spoon or if it is molded into balls it can shot out with a
sling shot. End Tackle You can locate carp and get them feeding with massive amounts of groundbait, but if your business end isn’t up to the job of landing big strong fish, it will be an aggravating day on the water! Whether you freeline corn or use a heavy sinker in strong currents, the most important part of catching carp is using line that is up to the job and strong hooks. I personally almost always fish with 30lb Power Pro due to its small diameter, great casting performance, sensitivity, abrasion resistance and all around superior performance. If you aren’t a big fan of braid, I would stick to mono or another type of line, with no less than 10lb breaking strength. As for hooks, the best type of hook for carp fishing is a small, heavy gauge hook. A size 6 hook is one of the best all around sizes. Many people swear that molding a doughbait around a small treble hook is the best bet for carp, but I highly disagree. First, carp can more easily detect a treble hook and they barely have to mouth it to realize they should not suck it in. Secondly, carp have a much softer mouth than other gamefish, and a treble hook can do life threatening damage to a fish. A single point, micro-barbed hook is the best bet. You will get many more hook-ups with a super sharp, single point hook. There are a wide variety of hooks and manufacturers. Size 6 Eagle Claw baitholders, Gamakatsu baitholders, or even various hooks for salmon or steelhead fishing are good. Many carp anglers like the cost effectiveness of Tiemco hooks for tying larger flies for salmonoids. The most important feature of a carp hook is that it MUST be super sharp in order to get that initial prick in the carps mouth before the hook is set. We prefer to use Gamakatsu G-carp hooks available from www.Royalcarp.com. These hooks are unbelievably sharp and strong. While I have had other brands of hooks bend or break while fighting a large fish, these G-carp hooks have never failed us (all fish pictured in the reports section were caught on Gamakatsu G-carp hooks.) One of the greatest innovations in carp fishing in this century was developed in England in the 1970’s by a group of carp anglers who observed carp sucking and spitting hooks with bait directly on them. In an effort to hook more fish, they developed a rig called the hair rig, where the bait dangles below the hook on a loop of line that is tied to the shank of the hook. Because carp are timid fish, they warily suck bait off the bottom and blow it back out as a tasting process. When a carp sucks in a hair rigged bait, they will get hooked when they sense the hook and attempt to blow it back out.
For an illustration of the hair rig and detailed description of it check out: http://www.carpanglersgroup.com/hairandboltrig.html
.
I’ve outlined three key factors to catching more carp and I hope that
some of this information will help you in your carpy endeavors. Carp are an extremely challenging sportfish that often times
are the biggest and strongest fish in the water.
Get out there and catch some carp fever, its contagious! For more carping tutorials: http://www.carpanglersgroup.com/carpingtips.html Golden Monsters Have
you ever been quietly wading in the margins or gliding on the surface of the
water in your boat when you encounter one those golden monsters?
Most fisherman first begin casting lures or just stare in amazement at
the large submarine-like shadows, only to have the fish skittishly bolt off.
Many anglers will marvel at the size of carp when they are seen cruising
in the shallows or crashing on the surface, but few actually consider carp a
formable game fish. Well, I think
that times are changing and carp no longer should be considered rough or trash
fish and as stated in a February 1995 In-Fisherman article, “carp are one of
the world’s greatest sport fish”. Both Louis and I got hooked on fishing by chasing the traditional species of trout and bass. Always looking for the biggest fish, our encounters with carp in trout streams or at local lakes peaked our curiosity. Fortunately, in this day and age a great deal of information is available on the internet. We learned that carp are not only plentiful throughout North America, but can easily grow in excess of 30lbs (PA state record is 52lbs.)! We voraciously read about carp fishing and joined Carp Anglers Group (www.carpanglersgroup.com), the premier North American carp fishing club which issues a quarterly publication. We learned a great deal about American and Euro carp fishing tactics and the history of carp in North America. After the initial introduction into North America shortly after the Civil War (for more information: www.americancarpsociety.com:8080/ACS/cypr_1history_usa.jsp) carp somehow became an under-appreciated species and often times associated with environmental degradation. While few Americans fished for carp, in Europe carp were elevated to game fish status, such as bass today in America. The carp fishing industry in Europe is a multi-billion dollar industry. We got started with a couple cans of sweet corn, size 6 Eagle Claws and 10lb mono on our all-around 7ft spinning set-ups. Throwing a couple handfuls of corn in the water and putting a few kernels on the hook, we eventually began landing carp somewhat consistently. My life forever changed when I landed my first carp. It felt like I had hooked a fish on steroids and its main objective was to spool my reel and break my rod. After a long battle with numerous drag peeling runs, I held up the near three foot long fish and knew I was addicted. Over the last couple years, both Louis and I have continued to refine and improve our tactics for catching carp. While we mainly fish the Schuylkill River and other local lakes, we travel far and wide in search of huge carp. In June 2005, we will be fishing in the largest carp fishing competition, The World Carp Championship, which is coming to the United States for the first time ever. It will be held on the mighty St. Lawrence River in New York. We will be one of 20 teams from America competing against a total of 200 two-man teams from England, Romania, France, Germany, Russia, Japan, Canada and many other countries. It will be a 120 hour (5 days straight) catch and release tournament where the team with the highest total weight wins over $50,000 in cash and prizes. On top of that, if any angler breaks the New York state record (51lbs) during the competition, they win $1,000,000!!! We hope to represent our state and country as best we can and bring home the trophy. In future articles, we will talk about tackle, bait, and other carp angling strategies. We just want people to get out and experience the fun and arm-aching adrenaline rush that carp fishing can provide. Until our next article, you can visit our website www.fishguys.org and ask any questions about carp fishing, we’re glad to help anyone. Also, we are sponsoring a biggest Philly carp contest where the winner can win up to $250! For now, get our there and catch some carp fever, its contagious.
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