2002 Q4 North American Carp Angler

Publisher: Stewart J. McKenzie

www.carpanglersgroup.org

NorthTheAmerican Carp Angler Newsletter of the Carp Anglers Group October/November/December 2002

E

U S S I S I H T N I

Editor: Becky Byla

FREE GIFT COURTESY OF SPECIALIST TACKLE

The North American Carp Champion and Chicago Carp King, Mirek Malej and his son, with his big carp of the CCC at 15lb 9oz

• 9th Annual Chicago Carp Classic • • Troy, New York Fishin 2002 • Real Fishermen • • 1st Annual Virginia Fishin • • 2002 WORLD CARP CUP • Winter Reading Guide • • Virginia is for Carpers • ...and much, much more!!

PLUS, DON’T MISS

c’s

holi Carpa

Tackle Talk

ON WEIGHTS

The President’s Page With David Moore The vote is in and as you may have noticed on the cover the new logo with the carp being held by an Angler is the winner by a 2 to 1 margin.

Also, the Amendment to the objectives won overwhelmingly.

Thanks to all that voted, after all this is your group.

The CCC has come and gone again and we are already starting to plan for the Austin Team Championship.

Enclosed you will find the entry form for that please get that sent in as soon as you can if you plan on participating in that.

I announced at the CCC we are going to try and add a 3rd event this next year. It will be held one day (probably the last weekend of June) at several different venues around the country and ran by area chairman.

Since every member can't make Chicago or Austin it makes sense to try and get an event started that most all the members can participate in. This will take a great deal of coordinating and volunteers to pull off but I think we can do it.

I also just got word that the end of August a junior event (18 and under) will be held on the St. Lawrence with some big name young carp anglers… should be exciting!! There will be all kinds of prizes and events to go along with the fishing competition. Watch

the website or the next NACA for details on this.

Enclosed is a membership form and some CAG business cards to hand out. Those of us working behind the scenes have done our best to get this newsletter out in a timely manner and produce something we hope everyone enjoys.To take CAG to the next level, i.e. bigger issues and possibly color print we need to get the membership level over 1,000. So I’m asking every one of our 500+ members to go out and sign up at least one new person to CAG. You will receive a 3 month extension and they will receive new or advanced member packet.. You may want to consider buying a CAG membership for someone for Christmas…8-) On a final Note I want to Thank all those organizations that have supported CAG this last year; Fox Tackle, Specialist Tackle, Specialist Angling Supplies, The Tackle Box, Cabela’s, Angling Lines, Total Carp/Advanced Carp Fishing and Wackerbaits.

This newsletter contains an item that was provided

by Specialist Tackle (see ad page 26).

I would like to Thank them for their generosity of donating the Korda safety rigs to all our US members.

Cheers, David.

A Publication of the Carp Anglers Group

The Editors Executive Editor

Becky Byla

W8191 Clover Valley Rd. Whitewater,WI 53190 byla@calshp.cals.wisc.edu

East Coast Editor Advertising Editor

Patrick Kerwin

206 10th St. SE Washington, DC 20003 pker@loc.gov

Midwest Editor

Tommy Riley

1649 N. Honore St. Chicago, IL 60622

tommyriley@earthlink.net

Contributor Editor at large

Brian Nordberg

1413 Glendover Drive Allen,TX 75013 carpaholic@aol.com

Publisher Graphic Designer

Stewart McKenzie

17244 Magic Mountain Dr. Round Hill,VA 20141

stewartm@explusinc.com berntzen-mckenzie@prodigy.net

Fly fishing Editor

Tom Conner

NACA ADVERTISING

Tom.Conner@ssc.msu.edu

PLACE YOUR AD HERE

The Carp Anglers Group PO Box 1502 Bartlesville, OK 74005-1502 Ph# (918)335-3062 e-Fax#(702)975-5686

CONTACT: Pat Kerwin: pker@loc.gov Tel: 202 546 8313

OR CAG: PO Box 1502, Bartlesville, OK 74005-1502 Ph# (918)335-3062 e-Fax#(702)975-5686 Page 2

North American Carp Angler

www.carpanglersgroup.org

North American Carp Angler

The 9th Annual Chicago Carp Classic Once again it was a wonderful time on the Des Plaines River in beautiful downtown Joliet, IL. The weather was great, no barges scraping the walls and lots of fish caught.The fish weren’t big, but size isn’t as important as having an opportunity to meet, mingle and learn.

There were 78 entrants, 11 states represented and 75 fish caught between 36 anglers. Almost felt sorry for the stewards with all the exercise they got running to weigh fish. Mirek Malej had the big fish at 15.9, the most weight of 4 fish totaling 41.9 Becoming the North American Carp Champion, the Chicago Carp King and the Fox

International Classic Carper. Wow! Way to go! Bruce Mitchell, Louis Bird and Robert Kraft were section winners and Mike Wiza won the Elliott Bennett Damn Yankee Creative Carp Gear award for his amazing automatic hook setting set up. I hope he does a write up with pictures of this. Last but not by any means least, Fran Slasinski won the Best Sinker Award for his beautiful stone sinkers.

Paul Pezalla, Bill Hodges and many more worked very hard to ensure a smooth and well run Classic.And a fine job they did. Big thanks to them all!

2002 CCC Gallery

Article by: Name: Becky Byla Age: ?

Located: Wisconsin Occupation: Molecular Biologist Personal Best: 39 lb

CAG Merchandise Show your colors! Show your fishing friends (who probably catch only small, stupid fish) that you are a carper – and proud of it!!

T-SHIRTS (heavyweight, pre-shrunk cotton) are $13 in sizes M, L, and XL. $14 for size XXL. $15 for XXXL. All sizes available in forest green and granite grey.

Most sizes available in Khaki (specify second color choice).

CAPS (baseball style, adjustable cotton twill) are $13 in solid-crown realtree Camo and mesh back advantage Camo.

Al St. Cyr with the biggest of the weekend, 22lbs

Becky Byla, NACA Editor

T-shirts and caps have the CAG emblem in a contrasting print.

CAG CLOTH PATCH (four color, fully embroidered) is $3 postpaid.

CAG DECAL (4 inch, four color) is $2 postpaid

Bob Henson

Deb Mitchell and a nice 9 lb mirror

North American Carp Angler

Bruce Mitchell with a pristine mirror carp

Elliott with his fish

Shipping charge for items not postpaid is $3 for up to four items.

Free shipping on five or more.

To order: Describe the items, including size, color and quantity and enclose a check or MO for the full amount:

CAG Merchandise PO Box 1502 Bartlesville, OK 74005-1502 Ph# (918)335-3062 Page 3

FINAL RESULTS TABLE: Section winners were: Bruce Mitchell with 4 fish at 35-11 Robert Henson with 4 fish at 16-10 Louis Bird with 4 fish at 35-3 Final Rankings and weight of 4 biggest fish: 1 Malej, Mirek 41-9 2 Mitchell, Bruce 35-11 3 Bird, Louis 35-3 4 Hodge, Bill 32-12 5 Gant, Brad 19-5 6 Phillips, Diane 17-2

7 Kraft, Robert 17-0 8 Henson, Robert 16-10 9 Orenstein, Skip 16-5 10 Bennett, Elliott 15-14 11 Byla, Becky 15-6 12 Stull, Elizabeth 14-6 13 Balik, Brian 13-1 14 Rhodes, Fred 12-12 15 Huxley, Gil 11-15 16 Mitchell, Deb 11-1 17 Leno, Nike 8-6 18 Phillips, Norman 8-1 19 Henson, Doris 7-10 20 Russell, Mike 7-10 21 Somerville, Richard 7-7

22 Byla, Al 6-7 23 Wiza, Christine 6-4 24 Pasternek, Jim 6-0 25 Andrews, Robert 5-4 26 Straus, Peter 4-8 27 Cundari, Mickey 3-11 28 Wells, Paul 2-14 29 Rutcosky, David 2-6 30 Giegerich, Dan 2-5 31 Wiza, Mike 2-0 32 Lamberti, Brian 1-14 33 Albrecht, Michael 1-6 34 Boehner, Jim 1-4 35 Baer, Bob Sr.. 0-2

Doris Henson with a 7 lb 10 oz common carp

Mirek collecting all of his trophies!!

Fran’s “Lovely Leads”

The CAG Tent

Page 4

North American Carp Angler

Reading materials for the winter…that deal with Carp Fishing of course.

In Pursuit of the largest by Terry Hearn - Terry just keeps on raising the bar in the carp fishing arena, fantastic Angler without a doubt shares his perspective with you.

Article by: Name: David Moore Age: 36 Located: Oklahoma Occupation: Certified Financial Planner Personal Best: 36 lb 12 oz

I periodically get asked how to order carp fishing materials so I thought I would let everyone know since prime reading time is just around the corner.

All the above can be ordered through Angling Publications call 011 44 114 258 0812 *

explores more of the technical side of things. Both have great ideas to share and are easy to understand.

Call 011 44 845 345 0253* and have your credit card ready or go to the website at: www.total-fishing.co.uk Big Carp, which is true to its name, and focus on catching the “Big Carp” can be order at 011 44 158 245 3263* A weekly publication, which has covered a few captures here in the States, is Carp Talk. It’s more of an up to date what’s happening in the area of captures.

Includes some very informative articles on what worked and how these fish were captured.

“Absolutely Hilarious!!!”…Carp fishing entertainment at its best!! The Syndicate trilogies by Mark Cunnington are wonderfully written books that are an absolute must read. They include some carp fishing information but focus on the entertainment factor of actually carp fishing. I personally have read all three and I could hardly put them down!!!…

You can go to www.carpbooks.com and order just one or all three books and pay by credit card. You can also call 011 44 142 420 2848 to order* All books are £9.95 each plus shipping. To the US shipping costs are £4 for 1 book, £6 for 2 books and £8 for three books. (There is no VAT for reading materials and the current exchange rate is £1=$1.55) Total Carp, which has always been a great supporter of CAG by donating subscriptions as prizes, along with its sister issue Advanced Carp Fishing.

Total Carp covers the basic tactics and ideas that will help you put more and bigger fish on the bank. Advanced Carp Fishing, now a monthly publication,

North American Carp Angler

Carpworld is a great read and covers not only what’s going on in the UK but also around the world. They’re going to be more and more coverings of the USA in this magazine in the future…

You can also order Crafty Carper magazine and several other books including: Strategic Carp Fishing by Rob Hughes and Simon Crow “A technical perspective on carp fishing”

Also we can’t go without mentioning the book by Kevin Maddocks that started it all “Carp Fever” Two more how to books I can highly recommend are: Carp Rigs by Kevin Maddocks and Julian Cundiff Carp Baits by Ken Townley These books and many others that I haven’t mentioned can be found at www.amazon.co.uk * These offices are 5 hours ahead of EST so calling in the mornings is better.

Bait, Tackle & Technology for the Dedicated C & R Carp Angler. ❖ Fine English terminal tackle, rods & bite alarms. ❖ Flavored sweet corn from Italy. ❖ Shimano, Mitchell and Penn reels. ❖ Hemp seed and other baits and bait additives.

Discovering Carp Fishing also By Rob Hughes and Simon Crow “This book covers more of the many times forgotten middle ground ..neither basic or advanced.”.

Carp Amid the Storm by Tim Paisley “Tim is possibly the most well known big fish water Angler in England, his results speak for themselves.”

Strictly Carp by Martin Clarke This book has received many accolades for how well written and wealth of information.

339 Harrison Oak Park, IL 60304 708-660-0866 fax 708-570-1441 www.wackerbaits.com Page 5

ic’s l o h a Carp

Tackle Talk

If you will forgive the pun, carp leads (sinkers), are a much weightier subject than you might think. They can serve at least three different functions. First, they provide weight for the casting. Second, weights help hold the rig stationary on the bottom, especially in current and third, leads act as a tether point for self-hooking setups like the bolt rig.

Keeping in mind each of these three main functions, we will talk about how the factors of weight, attachment, shape, and even color can affect performance. As you will see, the best weight for one function may not be the best for another. As usual, trade-offs may be required for any given fishing situation.

How heavy a lead is needed? Some would say that no lead at all is best.

Others would recommend no less than 2 oz. If the main purpose is to provide weight for the cast, a heavy lead, up to a point, will add distance.

When using long euro-style rods, a decent rule of thumb is to change the lb TC of the rod to ounces and then to add about half an ounce to give the ideal casting weight. For example, when using a rod of 2 lb TC, a lead of 2 oz plus 1 oz for a total of 3 oz should give the best casting distance.

If the main purpose of the lead is to hold the bottom in current, either more or less than the ideal casting weight may be required. Try increasingly heavier weights until you find one that holds bottom without drifting and snagging. If the main purpose of the lead is to provide a tether point for a self hooking setup like the bolt rig, a lead of at least 2 oz is best.

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What is meant by the term “bolt rig”?

Until relatively recent times, the conventional wisdom on carp fishing was to use as little weight as possible or even to use no lead at all. This thinking grew out of the carp’s seemingly uncanny ability to pick up a bait, sense the resistance of the lead, and then spit out the bait – all without getting hooked. By using no sinker or a small sliding sinker, the resistance could be minimized and the carp fooled into mouthing the bait long enough for the angler to set the hook. With the arrival of the hair-rig, things got a lot better.

Instead of burying the hook point inside the bait where a carp could suck in and blow out the bait like a lollipop with little risk of getting pricked, the hair rig placed the hook completely outside the bait. Now if the hook were sharp enough, it would catch and prick the carp’s lip while the fish was merely sampling the bait. When pricked a carp’s first instinct is to bolt like a startled deer.

If the angler were lucky, the hook would dig deeper into the lip as the line pulled tight against the rod and reel. If the angler was unlucky, the slight prick would not hold and the hook would slide out of the carp’s mouth. Before long, carp anglers were fishing very tight lines in an effort to more deeply prick and hook the fish on the take. Of course, if the fish bolted in any direction other than directly away from the angler, the tight line was less effective. At some point, some thinker types decided to abandon the light weight/no weight conventional wisdom. By rigging a heavy sinker in such a way that it would not slide along the line, the bolt rig was born. Given a relatively

Article by: Name: Brian Nordberg Age: 33 Located: Texas Occupation: Chemist Personal Best: 39 lb 8 oz

short leader, a fish could pick up a bait, become pricked, and bolt off in any direction. Now, however, the heavy lead would act as a tether or hitching post of sorts. Once the slack was straightened from the leader, the momentum of the fish’s movement against the lead drove the hook point home.

A word on safety is appropriate here.

When making a bolt type rig it is best to think of what might happen to the carp if the mainline were to break or get cut off anywhere between the reel and the weight. If the lead has no way to release or slide off the broken mainline, the carp will likely drag the heavy lead around like a ball and chain until the lead snags along the bottom.

A hooked carp tethered in place to the bottom will likely become a dead carp. For this reason, bolt rigs with no release mechanism are often referred to as death rigs. Various safety systems have been devised to overcome this problem. Check out the Fox safety lead clips for one way.

If in doubt, talk with an experienced CAG’er before using bolt rigs.

Anyway, back to weight. Both the traditional minimum resistance approach and the heavy semi-fixed bolt rig approach work here in the USA. Don’t get caught in no man’s land though with a weight heavy enough to be sensed, yet not heavy enough to hook the fish.

In a way, we already began our discussion of attachment when we talked about sliding versus semi-fixed (bolt rig), arrangements.A sliding lead fished on a relatively slack line can approximate the zero resistance achieved by free lining while still

North American Carp Angler

providing enough weight to cast. The only resistance felt by the fish would be the friction of the line sliding through the lead. For this reason, I prefer to use the bell shaped leads with the swivel tops as I believe the line creates less drag passing through the swivel loop than it does when pulling through the center of an egg shaped sliding sinker. The one time when I abandon this approach is when the battle with the hooked fish is likely to pass through heavy weed.

The bell shaped casting sinker dangling from the line like a pendant seems to hang on every strand of weed until you can’t get the fish through. A good alternative in these conditions is the oval in-line egg singer or even better, the pointy tapered styles that seem to pass through weed without snagging.

Once again, the Fox safety clips are a good option as even a pendant type lead can be freed from the line allowing the fish to be landed without the lead.Another attachment method that I tend to avoid is the traditional crimped split shot. Its just that when using light weights, I like to use them sliding to minimize resistance and when using heavy weights it takes far too many split shot to be practical. One last point to

consider when using split shot is the possibility of weakening the line if they are crimped too tightly.

Shape is yet another factor that will vary depending on the main required function. If casting distance is the main function, then an elongated, aerodynamic shape is the way to go.

Some leads even come shaped with fins to help stabilize them in flight and to help them plane up quickly off the bottom during the retrieve. If holding the rig to the bottom in current is the chief objective, shapes ranging from pyramids to flattened discs to wire legged bottom grabbers are available. In fact, some shapes are so efficient at holding bottom that a lighter weight may be used. When choosing shapes, think of what the bottom is made of: silt, sand, gravel, large stones, etc.

Through experimentation you will find the shape that is right for you. If the main purpose of the lead is to set the hook bolt rig style, consider using short dumpy leads rather than long thin ones. Remember that the weight needs to act like an unmovable hitching post. With long thin leads, the fish is able to lift just one end on the lead while the other end rests on the bottom.The end result is that the

lead behaves lighter and is less effective at hooking the fish. A lead with most of its weight focussed as close as possible to the attachment point will be a more efficient dead weight and will hook more fish on the bolt.

Finally, color may or may not affect performance. Clearly the color doesn’t affect any of the three main function of casting, holding bottom, or hooking fish.The lead color may act to spook away wary fish or even attract the more inquisitive. Most of the high priced leads sold in England have drab colored coatings to make them less conspicuous. Brown, olive, and tan are all available to help camouflage the lead and cover shiny surfaces. On the other end of the spectrum, one fishing buddy of mine spray painted some of his leads bright yellow to imitate the maize chum and hookbaits we were using. If the fish were attracted by the yellow corn, why not give them a bigger visual signal to home in on was his thinking. In the end we both caught about the same number and size of fish, even though I was using plain unpainted leads. I just thought I’d mention this bit to encourage you to think outside the box. Maybe you will be the next to invent a better way!

The 4th annual WI Café Carpe Classic Article by: Becky Byla The 4th annual WI Café Carpe Carp Classic fish-in came off beautifully.

Great weather, lots of fish and a couple of newcomers. Quite a few walkers stopped to ask questions and seemed really impressed with the fish and methods. Once again IL was well represented by Norman and Dianne Phillips, Bruce and Debbie Mitchell and Herman from Chicago.The usual WI folks, Ron Case, Steve Holmes brought a friend, Val Vance. Ken Weichsel from West Bend, WI also

North American Carp Angler

came to try the action. He’s not a member...yet : ) We also had Bob Siegal and Wayne Neuman from St Paul, MN join us for both days. It was a good exchange of information and techniques for all that attended.

Everybody that fished caught at least 1 fish, with over 100 caught in the 11 hours of fishing. Dianne Phillips got the big one of 15.8. Couldn’t ask for a nicer bunch of folks to fish and learn from. Looking forward to the 5th annual already!

Right: Diane with her big one of the day at 15.8

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Carpin’ Philly Style Article by: Pete Volkmar Philadelphia, Pennsylvania: Home of the Liberty Bell, Independence Hall and Monster Carp. The urban Philly carpin’ scene is essentially centered on two rivers, the Delaware and the Schukyill. Both of these waterways hold large populations of carp with some of these fish being truly monstrous. While my carpin’ friends and I fish both of these rivers, this article will focus on our experiences at our favorite swim on the Delaware River.The Delaware River or “Big-D” as it is affectionately known is quite expansive by the time it reaches Philadelphia from its upstate New York origins. In the Philadelphia area, the Delaware is crossed by three major bridges, is at least a half-mile wide in places and is forty feet deep in the shipping channel. The area of the “Big-D” that my friends and I fish is known as the Frankford Arsenal.

The Arsenal was a munitions and bomb making facility during the Second World War that has since been converted into a public boat launching and fishing facility by the Pennsylvania Fish Commission.

Carping sessions at the Arsenal are usually limited to the weekends with day-sessions being the most common. Pre-baiting with maize is done several times during the week before fishing. The heaviest amount of pre-baiting occurs the night before the session with 20lbs of maize commonly going into the swim. On the day of session we arrive at the swim at first light. After getting set-up and casting-out our lines we catapult some maize or sweetcorn into the swim. Bait selection is usually maize, sweetcorn or cornmeal. The carp in the “Big-D” are generally not picky about their

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meals and exotic baits do not seem to be required.

I have tried experimenting with boilies and different kinds of particle baits, (Maple Peas, Chickpeas and Tigernuts) but have not had anywhere near as much success as with corn-based baits. Interestingly enough, corn meal based doughballs account for quite a few of the large carp caught at the Arsenal.

The carp at the Arsenal seem to have specific feeding times that revolve around the tidal flow of the river.

Typically, one-hour before low tide to one-hour after low tide is prime carpin’ time. During this peak feeding time is when you can expect some truly scorching takes. The carp in the “Big-D” are not shy! When they take a bait they take it and RUN! When buzzers are sounding and reels are smoking it is time to move into action. Fighting a twenty-pounder in this tidal section of the river on 12lb test line will definitely test the skill of any angler. Generally, the first run of the carp is made in an attempt to reach the deeper and faster moving water. It is the goal of the angler to prevent this from happening without breaking-off the fish.

Once accomplished, the rest of the fight becomes a tug-of-war in the margins.

If not accomplished then just hope that your reel is adequately spooled as the carp will use the current flow along with its weight to either take every last inch of line from your spool or simply break you off.

Landing carp at the Arsenal is always an adventure as there is a 12ft. drop from where we fish to the water.

Therefore your typical carp net will not work and a drop-net is very cumbersome to use. Netting the fish is done by having a person, (usually Pete “Carpman” DiDonato) scale the

wall while the person that is hookedup guides the fish to the net man.

Once the fish is netted it is handed to someone up above and then placed on an unhooking mat for weighing and pictures. Please note that great care is taken to avoid hurting or damaging the fish during this process.

The average size carp caught at the Arsenal is around 15lbs. Twentypounders are common and thirtypounders are not rare. In fact, during the pre-spawn period this past Spring, (2002) there were 6 carp weighed that exceeded 30lbs with the largest being 33lbs. My own PB is 28.8lbs and my carpin’ buddy Pete “Carpman” D. has caught many carp in the high twenties along with a monster that certainly exceeded thirty pounds but the carp was never weighed. While on the subject of monster carp in the Delaware River, it should be said that an “old-time” Philly carper is said to have caught a 60lber some years ago and supposedly has a picture to support his claim. The point in mentioning this is that there are no doubt very, very, very large carp in the Philadelphia stretch of the Delaware River. In fact, I would go as far to say that there are carp in the “Big-D” that would shatter the current Pennsylvania record for carp of 52lbs.

In conclusion, carpin’ on the “Big-D” in Philly is both exciting and challenging.

While the actual numbers of carp caught during a session may be considered low, the carp that are caught are generally large. In addition, the opportunity to catch a mega-carp is always present.

Hopefully, someday I will have the opportunity to write in these pages about a new PA State Record carp that was caught by me or one of my Philly carpin’ buddies. Good Carpin’.

North American Carp Angler

Virginia is for Carpers Article by: Name: John Tilbrook Age: 30 something Located: Virginia Beach, VA Occupation: Factory Manager Personal Best: 38 lb 8 oz

It’s not very often it happens, but when it does it makes for a truly memorable trip.

It started as an invitation from our publisher, Stewart McKenzie, to fish Lake Orange in Orange County, Virginia over the weekend of 11th/12th August. Lake Orange is a department owned 124 acre lake approx. 25 miles north of Charlottesville. Its claim to fame is that it has produced the world record White Bass at 6lb 13oz (wow!). I had loftier sights in mind! Stewart had fished the lake on three previous occasions with various friends and they had enjoyed success with Common Carp to 33lb and Grass Carp to 35lb.

I arrived at the lake 8.30pm on the Friday and found Stewart already set up on the end of the point, his three rods cast out no more than 30yrds. I asked Stewart’s advice on where to fish and he suggested an area to the right of the point where he had liberally scattered corn when he had arrived that evening.

That was good enough for me so I set about tackling up.

The three rods had been prepared at home the previous evening.Two with method feeders and one on semi fixed lead.

Terminal tackle in all cases was 3ft lead core with 10” of 15 lb Merlin as hook links tied knotless knot to size 7 ESP Raptor hooks. Boiled maize was threaded on the hair and ‘cracked corn’ method mix squeezed into the feeders. The

Stewart with a 27lb Grass Carp three rods were cast out, bite alarms set and Stewart and I settled down to our first cup of tea of the session.The Friday night passed pretty well uneventful, interrupted only by a couple of small catfish on Stewart’s rods (don’t you just love ‘em).

At first light the plumbing rod was set up to try and establish what was in front of us. We found deep margins, dropping to 19/20 feet then shelving up to a steady depth of 11ft in front of Stewart and a continuation of the marginal trough running through my swim with water steadily shallowing to around 7ft away to my right. I also had a small island at approx 40 - 50yrds in front of me. I elected to put one rod in the trough, one part way up the shelf and one in the shallow water to the right of the island. Just as I was about to cast the middle rod a fish crashed some 30yrds out, the first fish we had seen.‘That’ll do for me’ I thought and the loaded feeder landed right in the center of the ripples the fish had created.

It was now 11am Saturday morning and Stewart feared his first blank at the water and I was beginning to wonder if the 180 mile journey was going to be worth it. However, as it is with Carp fishing the whole complexion of a session can ‘turn on a dime’. So it was when at 11.30am the middle rod screamed off without warning. A fairly uneventful fight followed but when the mesh closed around the first Carp I felt there could be more to follow and at 22lb 10oz it was a very encouraging start.

23lb 6oz (middle of the night) Common

North American Carp Angler

The bait was re-cast and I settled back with renewed optimism. The hours ticked by and I was beginning to wonder if my optimism was unfounded when at 4pm a run on

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the right hand rod galvanized me into action. Don’t Grass Carp fight weird?? I didn’t know what to expect having never caught one before. It wallowed to the margins without putting up any resistance and initially I thought I’d hooked a small Catfish. I was about to net it when Stewart advised I tire it out a little before bringing it ashore.At that point the water exploded and line was ripped from the clutch with a high pitched hiss for 15yds or so before the fish turned and came back to the net again with minimal effort. Then again a blistering run, and so it continued for several minutes until finally the fish came exhausted to the net. 19lb 6oz - not a bad way to become acquainted with a new species!

Stewart had mentioned that his mate Pat had taken a 28lb common on float fished corn in the margins some weeks earlier. Now this really appealed to me, the idea of taking a big fish literally under the rod tip sounded like big fun. Both Stewart and I set up float rods with English waggler floats (no, I’m not being rude - that’s really what they’re called) fished slider style with size 6 hooks and three grains of sweet corn

as hook bait. Maize was scattered off the marginal shelf and the float cast out.After just half an hour the float slipped away and I was into another torpedo which gave an excellent fight on the 8lb test line. This one turned out to weigh 19lb 7oz and was a new personal best for the species (just!!). Then it was Stewart’s turn. A screaming run saw him strike into a very large, hard fighting Grassy. Just as it was nearing the net my right hand rod bent round and the Optonic started screeching. I abandoned Stewart to net his own fish whilst I commenced battle with what was obviously a Common Carp due to the lack of explosive runs but heavy, ponderous fight.

By the time Stewart had landed and weighed a very impressive 27lb Grassy my fish was nearing the net.This gave an opportunity for one of those rare ‘double hit’ photos. On the scales my fish weighed a very pleasing 26lb 2oz and was a perfectly proportioned, immaculate fish. The photos were taken and the two fish released.

One of those rare ‘double hit’ photos

Cartoon by Monty Mittleman

First ever Grass Carp at 19lb 6oz

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By this time we had generated a fair bit of interest from the jerk bait hurling bass fishermen who had been thrashing the water to foam with little to show for their efforts, most of whom seemed genuinely stunned that there were fish of such size in their favorite crappie venue! Stewart and I were questioned extensively about baits/methods etc I think there may be some converts in the making!!!

The fish were obviously on the bait and from this point forward the session became a steady stream of Common and Grass Carp for the remainder of the day and through the night topped by a 23lb 6oz Common and a 27lb 12oz Grassy.

Despite the bleary eyes, first light saw an opportunity for some more float fishing so a few handfuls of maize were quickly followed by the float. Almost a carbon copy of the previous afternoon, the float slipped away and the strike met with heavy resistance, obviously a Grass Carp again but this time more weight than speed. I could tell it was a biggie from

North American Carp Angler

the deep bronze flashes I could see through the clear water but when it finally came to the net I held my breath as Stewart struggled to get the fish into the 42” landing net. It was huge! Thankfully Stewart’s scales had capacity to weigh it, a new personal best (for any strain of Carp) at 38lb 8oz. I was delirious!

I could have quite happily ended the session there but it was still fairly early so it seemed a shame not to exploit the situation and catch a few more....

By the time we finally packed up at 2pm I had landed 19 Carp for a total weight of over 400lb - without doubt one of the very best sessions I have ever enjoyed in over 20 years of Carp fishing in 7 different countries! I am convinced that introducing feed little and often, using the regularly cast method feeders, had generated sufficient interest from the fish to promote competitive feeding without overfeeding them and turning them off. Had the weekend not come to an end I’m sure we could have gone on catching with increasing regularity!!

Now, more than ever, I am amazed that Carp fishing for sport is not more popular in America, particularly given the interest it always generates when ever a big fish is landed. This country is blessed with an abundance of beautiful, un-spoilt lakes and rivers with un-pressured stocks

A new personal best (for any strain of Carp) at 38lb 8oz of huge, hard fighting, beautiful Carp - how could anybody ever get pleasure from hitting them with an arrow?.There is so much water and so many Carp in this country I’m sure the levels of pressure that have become typical in many parts of Europe could never become a problem here but so long as a majority of anglers continue to pursue the more traditional North American sport species we will have the opportunity to enjoy this fantastic sport undisturbed.

2002 CAG Events Schedule DATE

EVENT

LOCATION/INFORMATION

Nov 28 - Dec 1

Southern California CAG Fish-In

Santee Lakes in San Diego. Keith Thompson (e-mail: keith.thompson@calcarpin.com).This is an excellent venue with 7 lakes (all reasonably small).Two can be camped on (night fishing is allowed if camping).The pice of fishing includes a license so no one will need to purchase CA Licenses.

Two guys who are fishing down there have had numerous carp to 38lb including some nice mirrors. For this event We will need exact numbers as we have to pre- book the camping otherwise there is no guarentees on access.

March 28 - 29, 2003

2nd Annual Austin Team Championship

Town Lake,TX (e-mail: Carpaholic@aol.com) Brian "Carpaholic" Nordberg (972)678-0930 2 man team event

August 22 - 24, 2003

St Lawrence County Chamber of Commerce presents the 1st Annual International Junior Carp Tournament(18 and under)

St Lawrence, NY between Massena to Waddington.

Special Guests: Martin James World Angler and BBC Journalist Tom Felton, actor aka Draco Malfoy of Harry Potter and carp angling enthusiasts. Endorsed By I Love NY Many, many prizes to be won... More details to follow soon...

Those interested in sponsorships can contact Kathy Kelly (315)764-5654 or email: StellMarkSolve@aol.com

North American Carp Angler

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Troy, New York Fishin 2002 Article by: Ed Wagner Seems as though I was just getting it together for last year’s fish-in and here I am writing about the outcome of this year’s fish-in at Troy, NY. The weather, other than a few brief periods of heavy rain, was in our favor. Most years have been very hot!

My cousin Paul Nevadomski (“Mud boy”) and I arrived about 2pm Friday, a day early so we could do a little baiting up along the bank where most would be fishing. We were also expecting Mike Dragone, the new CT. chairperson to join us early to help bait the swim, but he was detained at work and joined us at about 7 that evening. A pleasant addition to our group was a new CAG member Val Grimley, (NY), who also was up on Fri. along with Miguel Angelo, (NJ). So we had a great start to the weekend.

I’d recieved a call from Chris Labucki (the “Carpist”), who said he would be arriving at first light on Saturday.After setting up and getting some bait out for the next day along the venue, we sat back to relax a bit.

Things seemed as though it was going to be slow but about 6pm one of my Delkims went screaming and the start of the Troy, NY fish-in was on.

Carp in the net and on the scale at 14lbs plus. Knowing what I know now I should have taken in my rods and nominated myself to be NET BOY for the weekend as that was to be my only fish until very late Saturday Paul very shortly was also into a fish at about 15lbs so things were looking up. Paul did very well over the weekend with high hook of 15 fish and actually caught 2 fish on super hot 5-alarm chili maize! When it’s your day, it’s your day. Now Mike Dragone is another story, within 20 minutes or so after arriving and

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A beautiful 24 1/2lb mirror caught by Tony Bright on tiger nuts

Miguel with another one form the "zebra" swim

Paul Nevadomski with after dark 18+ common

"Carpist" under the Rt 7 bridge. Boy he looks younger every day!

getting his rods out he was in with a nice one of about 13lbs. It was interesting to note that the fish were smaller this year. Troy has a reputation of producing fish well over 15lbs with many a PB being broken and many 20 plus fish being taken.

Back to Mike, that guy is a fish magnet. If there is 1 fish in the swim to be caught my money will go on Mike. I think that he has stolen some of my luck as I am having a terrible year! Mike is a regular fishing buddy and I’m happy as a clam that he’s having a banner year, as he and the rest of us have all had some very poor years, (keep it up Mike that 30lb PB awaits!). Miguel, (NJ), soon after arriving was into fish at about 10pm and had the hot swim for the rest of the weekend with Paul and Mike right on his heels. Miguel’s count was 8 fish landed, biggest at 17lbs. His count would have been the high of the weekend, but he was in a very snaggy

swim and all asside did very well under the conditions. As for Val, (Ossinning, NY), activity was very slow with a few promising short runs that didn’t mature. The next day he changed swims during the outgoing and incoming tides and managed 3 fish, breaking his old PB of 17lbs with a clean common of 18lbs 10oz. Good going Val! As for me, nada!

On Saturday Chris Lubucki, the Carpist, was set up off his usual “pedestal” swim, a little to the left, a favorite swim of Fran Slasinski, (MA), who was fishing the boat ramp with a very pleasant addition Tony Bright, (Chappaqua, NY). We haven’t seen Tony for a while and it was nice getting together again. That’s what CAG fish-ins are all about. The Carpist was actually fishing night crawlers in the hope that anything would produce a run. Note: Chris and Fran were actually some of the

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Miguel hooked up with Paul playing "net boy"

Our host Ed Wagner with a typical common

Mike with a 19lb, 13 oz common, caught at range with a stringer of tuttifrutti/plum boilies

Miguel with an 17+ caught on maize dipped in Vasbyt glowing (stinky!) cheese dip

Val's new PB of 18lbs, 10 oz

Mike with an 18+ caught on the "famous" banana/pineapple/crawfish" boilie (thanks Ed!)

Val & Miguel with a double header catch, both fish 16lbs, 5 oz

Val Grimley & Ed Wagner setting up for the night bite

Val doing battle

Mike with a late night common

Releasing the "queen"

North American Carp Angler

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first to pioneer the Troy area and offer it to the local CAG members.

Thanks guys. Others, including me, have had some fantastic days here and there’s always a soft spot for me as my first 20 plus fish was caught at Troy.

On Saturday Tony landed a very beautiful mirror of 24lbs 8ozs and also another mirror of about 9lbs.

Mirrors are caught at Troy but they are rare, so nice going Tony! Also Tony had the largest fish of the weekend, 28 1/2 lbs. Apparently Tony got the fish on tiger nuts in his swim. He managed 13 fish total before the current changed on Sunday. Fran, driving over from Mass, had to leave at 11am Saturday due to family plans.

As usual, he managed 3 fish to 16 plus lbs. Another gentlemen that fished with Tony on Sunday was Bill from Albany. But after many cutoffs he also called it a day. Hope to see Bill at his usual swim at Port of Albany. The weekend wasn’t as productive as past year’s fish-ins but all in all more than 60 fish were caught with a nice 28 plus common and the 24 lb mirror of Tony’s were real highlights of the event along with Paul’s 2 fish caught

on 5 degree chili maize. Since returning to carping in 2001 Paul has made tremendous strides that include a 31lb 10oz capture last Dec. with me here at Troy. Saturday night was real crazy for us down at the beach swim. For about two hours the fish just turned on. I think in that short time everyone doubled the their catch count! Another note, the fish seemed to just want something different and the bait of the day was something that Mike D. (CT) hastily put together by taking some Ocean FreshTutti Frutti readymades and adding a few drops of Ritchworth Plum Royale flavor. That along with Miguel’s stinky glowing cheese dip, which he recieved as a freebee from Wacker Baits (thanks Paul Pezalla!), accounted for quite a few fish, but we also had to put up with the smell all weekend. Ha, ha! Also, as previously stated, all Tony’s fish came on tiger nuts. So different was definitely the way to go!

On Sunday morning Mike Miguel and Val added another fish to their total.

Paul just prior to leaving picked up 1 final fish for a great closure to a great

weekend, being justly rewarded with a 15 pounder on sweet corn.

I would like to say thank you to all that came to Troy this year with some new faces and some of the old.

Thanks to Paul, Mike and Val with the help in baiting up Fri. Could not have done it alone. And thanks once again to the “Iron Chef” Paul N. (NJ), with grilling up some terrific Pizza burgers, they were Great! I hope all will keep in good health and join us again next year. I myself will have to take a good look at my approach as only catching 2 fish did have me a bit irked. I think I have to start rubbing up against Mike D. (don’t get any silly ideas), to scrape off some of that good luck.Ybut then again, you know what? I really don’t care. Just being with a bunch of nice people and fishing is OK with me, catching is secondary. Or is it? Yes I’ll admit it, I wanted to catch! I said it, hope your happy! : ) Hope all have a very good end to your 2002 season and soon the CCC will be upon us with all that excitement! Tight lines.

Hooked on Carping Article by: Eddie Turpin I have had a lot of fun in the past 10-15 years carp fishing. If you’re in VA and catch 10 carp that weigh 20 pounds or measure thirty-four inches, the Dept. of Game and Inland Fisheries call you an Expert Angler. Over the past 15 years or so I’ve managed to catch 6 carp that classified as trophy fish toward the 10 that I need to qualify as an Expert Angler. My 2 sons, daughter and I have fished a lot and have been CAG members for many years.

I have a new wife,Trina, and wanted to get her interested in carp fishing. I read

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everything I could about baits and tackle so when the 1st of April rolled around, we were ready to fish. After a couple of unsuccessful trips we finally got lucky. Lines baited up and sat down with coffee for the wait. Fifteen minutes later the 1st fish was on.We’d decided to take turns with the fish and Trina being the sport that she is told me to take the 1st one, a 15.Trina then got a 12, a 20 for me, a 19 for her, a 25 for me and Trina’s whopper at 27. We got a total of 178 pounds of fish that day. We had hooked and lost at least that many.Trina was sunburned head to toe, so we called it a day. Seeing the excitement and joy on Trina’s face told me that all that reading and bait making

/ perfecting was worth every minute.

The excitement was unreal. Watching her dance around when she landed her biggest fish was a joy to behold. From that day on Trina has wanted to go fishing, no matter the weather. From April 18 to June 26 Trina and I have reeled in 1070 pounds of carp. I have my ten citations and Expert patch,Trina needs 2 more to get hers. Her largest fish is thirty-two pounds. She is the best fishing partner a person could ever have. Very few men have a wife that likes to fish more than they do.

She’s the greatest and I am very proud of her. Just wanted to tell some one of the joys and rewards of carping.

North American Carp Angler

KUDOS FOR THE MUCH MALIGNED CARP Article by: W. Daniel (Dan) Sable

Attempts were made to interpret these marks.

The carp, Cyprinus carpio to ichthyologists, is considered by many a trash fish. Names like bugle mouth bass, mudsucker, Rock River salmon and other names even more uncomplimentary are indicative of what many think of our finny friends.

The carp is thought to be inedible by many people in the U.S. Perhaps much of this stigma is because of the intermuscular Y bones.Yet it has been and is still considered a delicacy in many other parts of the world. In the 5th century B.C. the emperor of China enjoyed eating carp so much that he directed Fan Le Chu, his fish pond manager, under penalty of death, to provide fresh carp daily for the emperor’s gastronomic enjoyment. From this came the first written instructions on raising fish, A Treatise on Fish Culture. Many of these techniques are practiced to this day. The carp was imported to Europe and raised in ponds and has a splendid reputation as European anglers can attest. Carp are sometimes referred to as the German Carp because the US stockings came from German ponds.

Hoffbauer, in 1898, is credited with validating this technique. He grew carp in controlled fish ponds in Germany.After examining carp scales for three growing seasons he determined the criteria for our current understanding of annuli or age marks and back calculations. He was able to demonstrate on carp scales, when growth slowed or stopped during fall and winter and began again or increased in spring.

These areas on scales are called annuli. Although this is similar to growth rings on trees it is more complicated. Certain patterns of scale growth are sought. Circuli become closer together as growth slows and are spaced farther apart or more irregularly in spring as growth increases. From these irregularities Hoffbauer and other fisheries biologists determined fish age. A fascinating fact worth forgetting is that for convenience or standardization, as in horses, fish are considered to have their birthdays on January 1 in the northern hemisphere and July 1 in the southern hemisphere. Obviously this is why we celebrate on the first of January.

The Israelis have mastered carp culture, turning many desert areas into very profitable carp culture regions. In the 1870’s, because of the splendid reputation of carp in Europe, people in the U.S. insisted that the U.S. Fisheries Commission introduce carp into North America.

Carp culture went into full swing and enjoyed great success for a time. Fish management today is often based on age and growth determinations.Again the much maligned carp steps into the picture. In the late 19th century it was suspected by fisheries workers that fish growth was shown in various patterns on scales.

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Back calculations are determinations of how large a fish was at a certain age or how much a fish grew during any given year or years as shown by the spacing of annuli and a simple scale to body ratio. Unfortunately as fish grow, and especially carp, it is very difficult to age larger fish. Other structures, such as spines, otoliths (ear stones), and other bones can be used for this. The carp is a minnow.

Although minnows are considered as almost any small fish, especially bait fish, the designation “minnow” is actually the family of fishes

Cyprinidae. From this you can see the origin of the genus name of the carp, Cyprinus. This is the largest family of fishes in the world originating in southeast Asia. It is characterized by having no teeth in the mouth but pharyngeal or throat teeth.These are bones with tooth like structures in the throat just behind the gills. In the carp there are several rows of chewing or molariform teeth on either side. These articulate with a triangular pad on the roof of the throat to crush food.

Other minnows have various teeth patterns for different feeding habits.

Minnows also have cycloid (smooth circular) scales.These are scales that are relatively smooth, not having roughness to them as on perch or sunfish. Other smooth scaled fish include suckers, pike and trout and salmon.Various fin positions also help characterize minnows.

According to the National Freshwater Fishing Hall of Fame in Hayward, Wisconsin the all tackle world record for catching carp is 57 lb 13 oz. caught in the Tidal Basin in Washington, D.C./Maryland on June 19, 1983. Records are listed by the NFFHF by line class, individual state or foreign country and for catch and release fish. You can check with the Hall for information as to how to register a record. I have heard of but can’t document an 83 pound carp, supposedly caught in South Africa.

Certainly we must have CAG members who can qualify their catches as records of the Wily Much Maligned Carp!

W. Daniel (Dan) Sable Ph.D. Fisheries Biologist Professor Emeritus University of Wisconsin-Whitewater

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1st Annual Virginia Fishin Article by: Phil Saunders The 2002 Virginia Fishin held at Lake Orange managed to miss the storms that had plagued other east coast fishins this year. Everybody who came caught at least one 20lb + fish and the lake's largest known grass carp to date, put in a welcome appearance.

First off the mark was Roman, from Newport News VA, via Germany, who got things underway with this nice 33lb Grass carp.

Several grass carp had visited my net during the night but the 6am one, turned out to be a bit special, well worth waking Stewart up to return the earlier favors with the camera...

Stewart recognized the fish, all 38lb 8oz, as the grass carp taken by John a month or so earlier.. the tail is a bit of a giveaway.We were all glad to see it still alive following reports that a large fish had died.

Alex’s Dam swim

in hand to let us know how things were going.

Lunchtime saw Jack Randolph and his wife arrive to meet "the mad Brits" who wanted to catch carp. Jack writes the weekly fishing report for the Virginia Department of Game & Inland Fisheries. We obliged and caught 3 whilst he stood chatting ...

Phil’s 38 lb 8 oz monster grasser!

Roman with the first fish, a 33 lb grass carp

Things got even more hectic at daybreak, breakfast was postponed....

How was Alex getting on?? Yes the fish were there too and during a slack period on the point I slipped anchor and

This fish proved to be his biggest of the several he caught during the weekend.

Stewart "I never catch a fish in the night", from Round Hill VA, via somewhere north of Watford, England, started his string of 20lb+ commons at 00:45 and topped out with a nice 27lber.

A memorable morning, just before breakfast!! 3 fish and 3 20’s

Stewart’s biggest of the night at 27 lb

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Alex , from DC via Serbia, had decided in the morning that the fishing would be better at the dam so off he went in a Jon boat, walkie talkie

went down to take a picture or two.

His 28lb common had gone back, along with several grass carp but we had managed to convince him to sack up this nice 27-8 common.

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out what the noise was coming from his pod... result !! on the bank 30 mins.... and posing for the camera's.

The frantic pace began to tell on those who had started Friday evening even seasoned veterans succumbed......

Alex’s 27 lber from the Dam

The ducks had quickly worked out that this nice red boat was a huge feeding station, even the odd few gains of corn thrown in would result in a pack of hungry ducks diving for the wonderful food, scoop after scoop from 5 gallon buckets resulted in this....

Pat with a nice 27 lb common

commons seemed to prefer that part of the point more.

Having caught this nice 2 tone 23lb common.....

It was a hard night!!

Stewart’s 23lb 2-tone common

The Pied Piper of Lake Orange!

Thankfully the geese were on the nearby fields all day long so the fish got some bait.

Having baited the point enroute to the dam, Roman and myself returned to find the fish biting again ... 2 rods out, 2 takes... huge smile...

Stewart called it quits on Saturday evening. His place was quickly filled by a late arriving Marc Snr, from Charlottesville, VA, who had a feeble excuse of spending the morning in casualty, Marc Jnr had discovered football was not as safe as fishing, hopefully the plaster cast will be off before the fish decide to take their Christmas vacation.... we all wish him a speedy recovery.

Marc cast his first rod in, having given a few local cat fishermen the low down on his tackle and immediately had a crowd descend upon him to find

Last to show up was Christian, from Chesapeake Beach, MD, I'm guessing, via France, ;-) ...arrived early Sunday morning, by this time the fishing had slowed to a more normal pace.

Breakfast was cooking, Frisbee throwing and the odd rod bass fishing, had set in... Christian was quickly asleep under his brolly but thankfully the fish obliged and he caught both a grass carp, "oh dear, another net bites the dust" and a nice 20+ common before heading back to Maryland.

All in all things went really well, 7 happy anglers, 4 had stayed the

Christian with a 20+ common

distance, 50 plus carp on the bank in 48 hrs and very few under 20lbs.

Sorry for those of you who couldn't make it, hopefully it will be repeated next spring. Trust we will get a few more faces next time.....

Double Take! 32 lb grass carp, 22 lb common

Pat, from DC, Via New York, ;-) was keeping up the pace and the

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Marc Sr. with a 27 after only 30 minutes!

Phil, VA Chair, Essex, England.

Annandale VA, via

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Real Fishermen Article by: Todd Perdue Took the gang to a small reservoir close to home one Sunday for a little picnic/fishing trip. After a good meal we set up on the small fishing pier the state built adjacent to the boat ramp. The pier is an “L” shape made of two sections that are only 25’ in length each. My family of four and one very kind old black gentleman had the place to our selves. The other 15-20 people fishing the lake were scattered about the shore all around. Two and a half hours of fishing had produced no more than enough bream to keep the kids happy and the opportunity to explain my strange methods to the old gentleman sharing the pier with us. I had just dipped into the cooler for another cold DP when the right

alarm goes full screamer mode. I leaned back on a good fish and the kids went into their usual loud chorus of “Daddy’s got a big one Mom!” The standard little group of onlookers gathered as I moved with my rod off the pier and down to the shore to bank a nice 16lbr, take a quick pic and turn it loose again and thought nothing of it.

HOWEVER, by the time I quit answering questions and returned to the little pier the rails were lined with rods! I mean four feet apart all the way around! People were moving in a steady procession to relocate their chairs, coolers and whatnot to cram their way on to the once deserted pier. My children had been shuffled literally under my rod tips by the rude b*st*rds. Upon surveying the situation I decided discretion was the

2002 CAG Jr. Big Fish Award Article by: Dave Munsie To CAG, I just wanted to say a big “Thank You” for awarding my son the “2002 CAG Jr. Big Fish Award”. From the moment he first set the hook on that magnificent species (37lbs), his smile never let up. It was a long battle. I wanted to help him land the fish but he kept saying,“NO DAD! This is the biggest fish of my life and I want to land it all by myself.” Some 20 minutes later, a gorgeous 37lb common was in the net.The experience of baiting, chumming, casting, catching, landing, photographing and releasing this fish has remained an expereince my son will never forget. It’s funny how his whole outlook on carp fishing, or for matter, fishing for any species has changed. He now fully understands the importance of catch and release, especially the bigger fish. He now considers any fish under 20 lbs a small fish. :) And what better way for my son to

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remember this experience than by winning the 2002 CAG Jr. Big Fish Award.

Incredible! He can’t wait to bring it to school and show it off to his friends. He has already picked a spot on his wall to hang it. It’s a very beautiful award, designed very well. My son thanks you, and I thank you very much. Of course after seeing this award, he’s dying to go fishing this coming weekend.“Maybe I can catch a bigger fish!” Indeed, and he has plenty of time to do it. Thank you, very, very much. - Dave Munsie

Mike Munsie with his Junior Big Fish winner

better part of it and loaded the family back in the car to go home. I intentionally left the cooler for the last, returned and with the children out of earshot proceeded to chastise and curse the entire group, much to the delight of the older man who was also packing up by this time. We walked back to the parking lot together as the old man tried to calm me down some. He told the boys he enjoyed their company as he gave each one a candy bar from the cooler in his truck and told them, “Them ain’t real fishermen boys, real fishermen like your dad n me don’t act that a way.”

I’ll take fishing amongst the carp haters over the “desperate to catch anything” crowd any day! :-) Todd Perdue.

2002 CAG Sr. Big Fish Award We’d also like to congratulate Al St. Cyr for catching this new Texas State record carp at 46 lb 14 oz from none other than Town Lake, Austin.

This was the biggest carp caught by a CAG member this year and picks up the 2002 CAG Big Fish Award.

When will this guy stop catching whackers!! Well done Al.

Al St. Cyr’s Texas Record carp

North American Carp Angler

Tackle Review - Magic Pod from FLM Article by: Scott Osmond .Well, it came to the point finally. I absolutely HAD to get a rodpod, but the typical pod design isn’t suited for a lot of places I fish. Since I do a lot of carp fishing from diverse conditions, I needed a pod that can be used effectively everywhere from steep slopes, vegetation laced shores, hard rocky shore, rock platforms with fencing around (similiar to Joliett) and everything in between. It had to be able to get my rods as high as possibe for a lot of rivers I fish or be able to get the rod tips down low to the water for high winds, boats, etc. On top of this it needed to be rock sturdy solid. So where to go?

Ive seen the Amiaud Peche in carp mags, and thought “this is it, perfect design for me”. However, I saw one being used at the St Lawrence by another angler and noticed a couple things I didn’t care for. Overall, it did have the versitility I needed, but was super heavy (near 20lbs!) and wasn’t very sturdy. I kept looking. A couple months back, I came upon Becky Byla’s ad on the CAG site and pestered her about my demands of a pod. She politely answered honestly, so I decided to give the FLM pod a try. The package covered the 1800 miles within 2 days, talk about service!!! I immediately noticed there were no set-up instructions, but after only 5 minutes was able to easily figure how to set it up. It’s much simpler than the Amiauds! A definate plus.

seasons of rugged use, so I can’t comment on how durable it is.

BUT, it does seem to be very well made. I’m sure to have lots of fun “researching” how tough it really is though! The buzzers fit standard alarms, heads, and butt grips, although Fox’s Rod Loks are perfect for this design. I must say that I’m very pleased with the pod, from the service to the pod itself. It will definately enable me to effectively fish from wherever I fish, and however I fish. The price ($275) may seem a bit high compared to your run-of-the-mill pod, but considering the versitilty and craftmanship you get with this pod, it’s well worth it.The price is lower than your average carp rod/reel combo after all, and is certainly lower than the Amiauds!

A happy, Scott Osmond - MA.(contact Becky Byla, the only FLM pod distributer in the US at W8191 Clover Valley Road, Whitewater,WI, 53190 or byla@calshp.cals.wisc.edu)

After about a dozen sessions in varied conditions with the pod, I must say I’m very pleased with it. It is very sturdy (even teetering on large boulders with screaming runs), and lighter than the Amiauds (just under 8 lbs), not to mention more versitile than I (or any other angler), will ever need. The pod however doesn’t come with a pod bag, but this can be made up for with a trip to your Sports Authority. It folds up to about 26” long, so a Schug bag about 30” long with a large shoulder strap is all you need. The 3-rod aluminum buzz bars (included) do seem to be a bit wide for normal buzzer-bags, but I’m sure I can search one big enough out. I haven’t put it through several

Carpcanada Come Carp fishing in the Kawarthas Canada.

Packages for both self catering and fully inclusive available.

Bookings are now being taken for 2003

Tel: 1-705-652-7616 www.carpcanada.com North American Carp Angler

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The 2002 World Carp Cup Final Results

The World Carp Cup 2002 was held September 15th – 21st at Lake Sarulesti (aka Lake Raduta) Romania. Thirty nations were represented including Team USA. Our competitors expected not much of the US, as they had all heard that carp fishing was not very popular in America. Six CAG ambassadors did their best to change that impression.Team USA was made up of three pairs: Tim Boyle / Al St Cyr, Julian Campbell /

Mike Winstone, and David Moore / Brian Nordberg. Fishing in what the Europeans term an “Enduro”, each of the three US pairs along with nearly 110 other pairs fished non-stop for 115 hours. In the final analysis, Team USA did quite well. Tim and Al placed 5th overall, which earned them nearly $8,000 plus another $2000 apiece in tackle. David and Brian placed 23rd, which was out of the money

Country Swim # Caught Biggest lb. Total lb.

1 2 3 4 5 23 52

Austria Austria Italy UK USA USA USA

67 22 21 85 75 51b 33b

22 25 16 19 12 9 3

Brian draws the peg..... Peg 51b

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very unfortunate swim.

Nonetheless, it must be noted that all three pairs from Team USA place in the top half of the nearly 110 pairs. In fact the combined pairs scores place Team USA at 5th overall. Not bad for a country where carp are “not all that popular”, yet!

but still ahead of some of the

Place Team Grabmayer / Pfeffer Zaderer / Angerer Pasini / Bertoni Chilcott / Jenkins Boyle / St. Cyr Moore / Nordberg Winstone / Campbell

better-known anglers. Julian and Mike placed 52nd after drawing a

51.4 30.9 42.3 33.5 42.3 24.7 23.8

519.2 485.5 394.4 359.1 257.7 134.9 46.7

Dave Moore playing his first Raduta carp

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Moore & Nordberg..... and 2 Lake Raduta commons

Hotel Raduta

Peg 51...The Island Swim

Jules points out where all the fish are going to be!!

Making rigs... and waiting for fish

Mike Winstone searching for signs of fish

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Tim’s View on the WCC Article by: Tim Boyle A few months back Sponge Dave Square Pants asked Al StCyr and myself if we wanted to go fish in the Carp World Cup at lake Raduta in Romania, we both jumped at the chance. On to September and we were at a hotel in Bucarest at the draw for the swims, the atmosphere was electric, when our names were called I wandered up to the stage and drew peg 75. As it turned out just about everyone we asked said peg 75 was a good’un, definitely in with a chance of winning something.

Pointing to Peg number 75

Late next morning we were on a boat with all our gear, on our way to number 75. It had been an interesting morning watching all the teams, of course the Germans were the first up and out to there swims, the English team arrived last, looking a little the worse for wear!. I’d say at this point we (team USA) were considered a bit of novelty act, everyone new we had a good swim, but how would we reach the fish with those 6 foot bass rods. The weather was great and we had a good look at the lake, it’s a big place but kind of intimate as it has plenty of features and is quite narrow . As we pulled into the swim the first thing we noticed was a grave stone on the bank, more of that later!. We unloaded our stuff and started to take in the surroundings, the swim definitely looked the business with plenty of snags out about 100 –150 yards. As it turned out there were

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snags all over the place and this was what probably what attracted the fish, trees, buildings and more of those grave stones all coated with zebra mussels. A bit of plumbing around then the horn sounded and the competition started, we cast out a couple of rods each and continued setting up. We were still messing around when I had a run!!!!, the fish quickly snagged itself and escaped leaving a shredded hooklink. It was a bit of a disappointment, but the good news was we were on some fish.

For the equipment buffs our gear consisted of 12 and 13foot Nick Buss carp rods with 4lb test curves we had picked up in England. Reels were Diawa infinities and emblems and we used 15 and 25lb Berkley big game with 65lb powerpro leaders. With this gear we were able to fish out to about 150 yards with 5oz leads, this turned out to be necessary as the fish were clearly spooked by all the activity and could be seen moving around in the snags out about 120 yards or more. We used boilies, a fishmeal given to us by Knockout Baits, a Nick Buss birdfood rolled by Premier and Mainline’sNRG.

A regular afternoon at Lake Raduta!

Anyway back to the action, I have another run and our first fish is on the bank. Off the mark but what, it looks all of 7lbs!!!, I guess not all the fish in the lake are monsters. During the night Al had a 23lb fish that made us rethink our rigs, we were just sitting there when there was a single bleep as the line came out of the clip

on one of the rods.We went over to have look, no more bleeps but we could see the rod tip twitching as a carp tried to eject the bait. Al struck and sure enough there was the fish on the end of the line. The next morning we changed over from out basic hair rigs to blow back or D loop rigs with long shrink tube line aligners giving a bent hook effect as we felt this would up our chances of hooking what were clearly educated carp.

Next morning we met Massimo our weigh in official, what a character, he could hardly believe team USA had caught fish, he looked out in the water and saw not 1 but 2 sacks.

Before he weighed the fish he enquired at length all about American girls but eventually got around to weighing the fish, as it turned out not many had been caught and we were doing well. He checked out our setups and I think he decided we were not completely clueless. Not long after he had gone Al was in again and a nice looking 19lb mirror was in the net. Things then went quiet over night but some of the main contenders emerged with the Austrian, English and Italian teams starting to catch plenty of fish. We were a bit down as we lost a few more fish and moved down the leader board.

With it being a bit slow we had time to take in the surroundings. As it turned out the right side of the swim was a flooded graveyard and bank erosion had resulted in some human bones being washed up on the shore.

It was a bit creepy especially when the bones seemed to move around, but as it turned out I think this was down to a friendly dog from a nearby farmhouse.

The next day our luck changed, when one of Al’s rods was away, Al grabbed hold of the reel spool and walked backwards attempting to stop the fish from reaching some snags. The rod

North American Carp Angler

took up the strain and an obviously big fish boiled on the surface. Off out into the lake with the net and I can see the fish is now kiting towards a tree about 50 yards out, luckily I beat the fish to the tree, there it was just under the surface, I’m up to my chest in water, definitely a lump and then in the net!!!!!. It took a while to make it back to the bank. Al looked at his fish and started to smile, I think he was still smiling the last time I saw him. It had to be over 40, Al cast back out and caught another!!, pretty much a repeat performance only the fish was about 20lbs.

By the last night we were sleeping out by the rods, we were miles behind the leaders but it was looking good for 5th or 6th place. The local shepherd’s dog we had befriended slept out by the rods after a good meal of boilies. As the sun went down it was one of those surreal moments, there we were in Romania, fishing in a graveyard, human bones lying along the shore, Al still smiling, me drinking a bottle of genuine Romanian “Vampire” wine and smoking a cigar. The next morning the horn sounded and we packed up, we both fancied staying another week.

Al’s monster 42 lb 4 oz whacker!!!!

Tim and Al collecting their awards

Along comes Massimo and he can’t believe it, we show him the fish and he calls in the TV crew. While we are waiting Massimo passes the time making further enquiries about American girls. The TV cameras witness the weigh in, the fish was a little over 42lbs and we appear on TV.That was probably the turning point for us and we steadily caught fish for the next few days moving up to 5th on the leader board. Each time we hooked a fish we would hold the spool and walk back while the net man went out into the lake, sometimes at night!!!!.Al caught a few more 20’s, I had a 36 and caught my first grassy.

We spent the day drinking beer with Austrian and England teams back at the boat dock. The awards were a bit of a stuffy affair at the parliament building with the prime minister present. We got plenty of cheers when we went up for our 5th place prizes, there was tremendous goodwill between teams, a good balance between wanting to win but also happy to see others do well. I like to think we earned some respect for team USA.

Tim’s fabulous 36 pound Raduta common

What a team!!! TEAM USA

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That not so winning season Article by: Ed Wagner That not so winning season, and how to deal with it.Those days you’re 5-10 feet from your buddy as he gets run after run and you sit idle. Indicators not moving, silent alarms, and become (as we call it),”net boy / girl” It is a most frustrating situation; one that truly tries ones soul! Especially that you have to keep that happy face for your buddy for all the fish that he’s catching and taking all those pictures. Personally I don’t find it such a warm and fuzzy feeling. But if you keep the most important thing in mind, carp fishing is a love, intense, somewhat magical, with always the chance as the lotteries say “you never know!” experience.And for me, that’s what keeps me coming back regardless of blank after blank.

I must say that on these days it’s easy to slack off, especially when 1/2 the day is over and no hope seems to be

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in sight. But now is the most of important of times to dig back deep into that bag of tricks, or to start observing what is going on around you and try to recoup. Start looking at the water, maybe a move a little left or right may help. Look at that end tackle of your buddy’s. Notice the length of their hook link, the angle of the hair if they using one, the distance from the bank in comparison to your own approach.And above all don’t sit there with that magical bait that always has worked in the past for you, as you must come to realize that today is not its day. Sometimes just returning to the basics is all that is required to turn that day around. I have had a horrendous year but sometimes try money baits as I call them, sweet corn and bread. I have turned some days totally around with these simple baits! What I’m trying to say is, if you lose you edge, then you might as well just sit back, smile, compliment, and net the fish of your comrades. But I would rather say I

tried all I could today and nothing worked. And with that I think you’ll be prepared for that next session, come what may. Because sometimes you can use the same bait and the exact end tackle within a few feet of others that are catching and still come up empty handed!

It’s October and there’s still time to turn around this most disappointing season, if I can’t then most definitely I’ll be planning throughout the winter what my tactics for next season will be. I’m packed and ready to do another session tomorrow and you know what? I’m going to have a banner day and you know what else?

I really don’t care if I catch a fish. I’ll be with my buddies and we’ll have a great time as usual.You know that net boy / girl situation, well even though I’m going to kick butt, just in case “That not so winning season “ is still not over for me I WILL NOT NET THEIR FISH! ED Wagner, NY chairmen

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Ever heard of the Austin Team Championship? …seems like everyone else has too!!!…

Due to the overwhelming popularity this event has received from both here in the States and abroad, we are expanding the amount of teams allowed from 25 to 50. The downside is to accommodate this many teams the deadline for entry has been moved up to 12/31/02 so all the groundwork can be done in time.

Here’s a few photos from last years event to jog your memory...

The ATC event will be used as a qualifier for the ICFA World Carp Cup being held Syracuse, NY on May 27th-29th, 2003.

The entry fee for the World Carp Cup held there would be in the neighborhood of $1,000 per team. Prize money already committed is in the $1,000’s and more is expected. Details on this event will follow in the next NACA. The USA has been granted at least 20 teams to represented out of the 120 from around the world. The top 10(maybe more) placing US teams in the ATC will automatically qualify for the Syracuse event. Committee will choose the remaining openings.

Austin Team Championship 2003 - March 28th & 29th Name(s): ______________________________________________ Enclose $75 for team ATC entry Address: ______________________________________________ CAG membership dues per person or household City/state/zip: __________________________________________ $20 1 yr __ $35 2 yr __ $35 yr Phone number: _________________________________________ $_______ total enclosed Email: _________________________________________________ This event is limited to 50 teams and is offered on a first come first serve basis. All entry forms and fees must be received no later then 12/31/02. There will be no exceptions.Those entry fees not accepted if the 50 places are filled will be refunded. Make checks payable to CAG and mail to: CAG, PO Box 1502, Bartlesville, OK 74005-1502

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Tips & Innovations Article by: Becky Byla Bruce Mitchell and Norman Phillips of Bloomington, Il have a great feeder / sinker system.They use the flat pear shaped sinkers (mostly 3 oz), that they pour themselves, add rubber tubing through the center and wrap electric fence wire from top to bottom, spring-like. They then apply their packbait to the sinker / feeder and cast away.Very nice and very easy method feeder.

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Chris Harris of Milwaukee,WI is very into fly fishing for carp and has come up with a Bread Fly. He uses ram’s wool, sews a little brown line to simulate bread crust and attaches this to a number 8 or 10 hook. He coats the fly lightly with fly-float, casts it out amongst dried bread crumbs the size of croutons.

Don’t have PVA bags or another way of getting your bigger groundbaits around / near your hookbait? Get

you to the mini mart and pick up the softest, whitest bread you can find.

Put the bread on one side of the sinker, add boilies, corn, whatever you’re using as a hookbait and squeeze the bread around the sinker.

(You may need 2 slices if you’re trying to get boilies out there.) The bread stays together well on the cast and falls apart fairly quickly once it’s under water. Fine for lake or river situations.

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Available from:

Paul Pezalla Wacker Baits, 339 Harrison Street, Oak Park, IL 60304 Tel/Fax: 001 708 660 0866 Email: ppezalla@wackerbaits.com North American Carp Angler

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The Carp Anglers Group PO Box 1502 Bartlesville, OK 74005-1502 Ph# (918)335-3062 e-Fax#(702)975-5686

Return Service Requested

North American Carp Angler The Newsletter of the Carp Anglers Group October/November/December 2002

7-year-old, Spencer Bates.

With a personal best of 14lb 2oz using Pescaviva on a hair with a bolt rig. He reels in his own fish and is now learning the landing net ins and outs.