2023 Q1 North American Carp Angler Magazine

EDITOR IN-CHIEF ADDRESS

Dean Brookes

With summer fast approaching I hope you have all been able to get out carping and capture a few early season beauties. My fishing is very sporadic at the moment as work and family have become my main priority. However, I did manage to get out to Spain with the current CAG President, Iain Sorrell. We experienced 3 good days of fishing for Wells catfish, before heading to the Spanish carp mecca, Orellana.

On the trip we experienced lots of wildlife, great food and even a few fish. We also learnt a great deal on Orellana and will be re-visiting in the future to experience it’s vast waters. In this edition we have an article from one of our new friends, Edwin Wouts who lives and guides in the area. Edwin also guides for predator species and we managed a day out with him fishing for zander which were later cooked up to perfection.

In this edition we also have several guest articles featuring anglers for the US and overseas. As we look forward to the summer and Fall we’ll be working on the next printed edition of NACA, so if anyone has an interesting article please send them across.

As always we rely on our members contributions and I want to thank everyone; both past and present who has contributed to this magazine over the years. Without your input the magazine would cease to exist.

Hope you all enjoy this edition and as always, if anyone would like to contribute; please send any communications or materials to naca@carpanglersgroup.com

Dean Brookes

After some severe weather conditions in many regions the 2023 season is finally well underway for most anglers. Entries for the 2023 CAG Spring Big 4 grew this year with additional prizes on offer for Regional as well as the usual Big Fish and Big 4 awards. I’m sure we are going to see some impressive captures by the time the Big 4 ends on June 15th.

My own fishing here in SW Florida is focused primarily on inshore saltwater species but I did make a trip to Spain with Dean Brookes in late March. We went in search of big European ‘Wels’ catfish as well as some of the incredible wild carp that have hit the headlines in recent years. We’ll include details of our adventure in a later edition of the NACA but suffice to say we both want to go back again!

The CAG Facebook page continues to grow with well over 5,000 members. Our goal is to welcome newcomers to the sport and help them learn more about catch and release, fish care and the many ways to become better carp anglers. This is a private group and our moderators work hard to screen newcomers and keep the discussions positive.

htttps://www.facebook.com/groups/carpanglersgroup/members

If you are interested in getting more involved with CAG then please get in touch. We are always on the lookout for State Chairs as well as help with Social Media and Website support.

All the best,

Iain Sorrell

A 1/4 page advert starts from as little as $45 and includes a live link to your webpage or become a Business Supporter and get a Full Page advert in each NACA plus a web banner link on the CAG Website and Forums for only $300 / year.

For more information email us to naca@carpanglersgroup.com

EUREKA MOMENTS

Introduction by Iain Sorrell

The Greek mathematician, scientist & astronomer Archimedes who lived around 200 BC is famed for running naked down the street shouting ‘Eureka’ (‘I found it’) when he noticed how the water level rose as he lowered himself into the bath leading to his famed Archimedes Principle on displacement.

Frank Warwick stands out not only as extraordinary angler with an amazing tally of fish but also as a novel thinker and clever innovator. Many of the ideas he came up with the in 80’s and 90’s are still being used successfully today or in some instances even being hailed as new and novel ideas by the current generation of carp anglers. I consider myself very fortunate to have known Frank for many years and better still to be able to call him a great friend. What I can tell you is that Frank’s novel ‘Eureka’ moment ideas work just as effectively across this side of the pond in North American waters.

Enjoy reading the stories and outcomes of these Eureka moments by the man himself!

Eureka Moments with Frank Warwick

THE METHOD

Unlike the USA I hardly ever see carp anglers using the method in the UK. It’s really not very trendy or “Carpy” over here using what many consider primarily a match tactic. But to me I think it’s right up there with the best carp catching tactics of all time.

For many carp anglers their whole world revolves around boilies! They simply cannot imagine casting a rig out with an alternative bait on the end! Of course we all know carp eat boilies but I am sure as hell they stay on their guard much more when encountering boiled food.

I am fairly sure that if anything else is encountered it is viewed with less suspicion, with that in mind I made it my business in the mid to late 90s to really delve into how to get the best from method feeder fishing,

Over my extensive angling life there have been so many eureka moments that have made substantial differences to my results some obvious some not so obvious, but each having stuck in my mind for various reasons, I will share with you now some of the more memorable ones.

in fact I went into the subject in so much detail it became something of a voyage of discovery where I achieved what I can only describe as mind bending fishing results, it left me thinking, how could anything get any better?

My go to method feed started with a base of pellets, mostly 4 mm but I added 2 mm pellets at about 3 parts 4mm to 1 part 2 mm. Sweetcorn and its juices was also vital, the juice from the corn has that magnificent smell that is so unique, you quite simply cannot use that in any kind of PVA bag.

Canned tuna fish in Sun flour oil was also essential and an ingredient that I have used for as long as I can remember. I used as much as I could afford in the mix, then I would add Pidgeon feed in the form of aniseed flavoured mixed particles, crushed tigers and fermented maize all in moderation.

A mix of pellets, oils and sweetcorn juice

Pigeon Feed, tigers & fermented maize with Robin Red.

I would keep kneading the method mix in the bucket working it until it would bind enough to withstand a decent cast without breaking up on impact with the water.

I used it in conjunction with a 10 inch long rig made with coated braid where the last inch near the hook was peeled back to allow movement, a blow back rig with a hook bait of two or three pieces of maize with yellow rig foam sandwiched between the maize and carefully balanced to create a wafter.

Later on I used Enterprise Pop Up Large Sweetcorn to balance the maize.To make sure I was on the right path I experimented with all manner of hook baits, drilled pellets, various particles including tiger nuts, chopped Brazil nuts, maple peas, peanuts, and boilies both food baits and fluoros, consistently boilies used as hook bait on the method were slow as hell. At the time balanced maize was streets ahead of anything else so that was my choice.

Maize balanced with an Enterprise Large Pop-Up Sweetcorn imitation bait. From trials I found Spombing over the top of the cast out method slowed the takes and the same went for catapulting balls of method mix to the vicinity of my method ball - that was a washout! These test results were not what I had expected as I thought both options would work very well.

A single tennis sized method ball cast to showing fish or fizzers of any kind or to discoloured water proved devastating. It blew the other bait and wait approaches into the weeds, and it became apparent that a single method ball ticked all of the boxes. There was not much disturbance, you could be mobile and proactive casting to any signs of carp like you would with a single hook bait, and it appeared that once the method had broken down on the bottom that it was just enough food to get a bite without overfeeding the carp and giving them the option to be choosy. Plus I wasn’t forced to sit it out over a bed of bait, which could have been in the wrong spot from the start again reducing effectiveness.

The water I chose to use this approach on was Acton Burnell in Shropshire, a well stocked, big fish venue with carp to over 40lbs present. When I joined the syndicate and turned up for my first visit I had many well meaning members tell me it was an out and out boilie water and to fill it in with the going boilie and sit it out.

That was my idea of hell in fishing terms and the last thing I wanted, so I was rather pleased I had gone right the other way and chose my single method ball approach. I chose a swim based on activity and access to a lot of water so I could fully utilise my roaming approach, not knowing quite what to expect. But I needn’t have worried, it was electrifying really. In the first half hour I caught a 37 mirror quickly followed by two mid 20s and then 2 hours later I had a 40lb 9 oz mirror. It was ridiculous, better than I could ever have imagined, and the action continued.

I will cut a long story short, by saying no matter which part of the lake I used it on as long as I had got myself on the fish the method dramatically

smashed it! It was incredible, the people on boilies were both bemused and in shock about what was occurring, it became the talk of the place, on one crazy 24 hour spell I had 18 carp which included two 40s and the rest were mostly 30lbs to 39lbs, yet the lad next to me on boilies had just one carp in this period. I might add that I wound in the darkness as it was torrential rain and the lad and I were soaked from doing photos, and I’d had enough. As soon as daylight came I got up and cast the rods to signs of carp and had basically a double run with the remaining rod going during the photography.

Just as an experiment I tried solid bags and mesh bags with a dry mix of similar additives just to see if it made a difference. I needed to know, and neither were even remotely in the same league, which somewhat left me scratching my head.

I realised, after putting all 3 set ups in the water, what I thought was happening. On the method I was not tucking the hook link into the method ball with a short supple link like a match angler would do. I was using a long link with the hook covered by 2 PVA foam nuggets so the hook bait fell well away from the method ball. Over a 10 minute period the method would break down and spread out appetisingly with the hook bait looking like a safe bit of grub that had broken off. It had to be that that was fooling the carp.

Obviously solid bags and mesh bags or method balls with the hook bait buried in the ball were not doing. So that had to be the only reason. I carried on with the method until it got banned as I was deemed to be putting too much pressure on the carp in the lake…so not a bad advert for the method is it?

TIMING HOW LONG A BAIT HAS BEEN OUT FOR METHODICALLY

You can read all the articles you want and watch all the YouTube films you want but none of them can teach you how frequently you should re-cast as every situation and each water is unique, that’s a fact. Of course you can have a decent idea about productive times on your chosen water and make a call on whether to chance a recast or not.

Many anglers prefer to leave the rigs in position at first light as it’s a good time and they fear a re-cast would spook any feeding carp. I would suggest, however it is easy to slip into this type of pattern sometimes with not so much evidence that these types of things are the best option.

I decided a long time ago that guess work, no matter how experienced I am, is not acceptable. After a lot of thought I determined to do something to reduce any guess work to a bare minimum.

I decided scientific tests were required to work out once and for all if going on gut feeling and experience really was the best choice.

So I decided to time how long I would leave between recasts using alarm clocks (mobile phone countdown timers are great for this) and have a more methodical and scientific approach and perhaps learn more from conducting real live tests.

That one Eureka moment was going to be inspired let me tell you. From my extensive use of high attract bright single hook baits I knew only too well that bites on a freshly cast bait could often come really quickly, especially if you had got your location right and fish were in evidence in the swim upon arrival.

Sometimes the luxury of finding the fish was not an option as the lakes would quite often be very busy so it was quite often a case of “beggars can’t be choosers” and I would have to just take any swim available.

So lets assume you got a swim with no fish in the area or at least suspected the swim might well be devoid of fish do you bait up and wait on every rod or try something different on every rod?

Well what I tried was using something I knew would work on every rod but put the emphasis on when to re cast, so what I did was to use cheap pound shop alarm clocks which is sat under each rod, if I was using 3 rods I would set one alarm to go off every 20minutes, the next every hour and the 3rd every 4 hours, when each alarm went off

I would re-cast that particular rod and re set the alarm, same thing on each rod, keeping notes all the time of action and captures.

Using either solid PVA bags or mesh type bags or even methods on all 3 rods rod during timing experiments the sole aim was to see which rod would perform the best as only by doing these type of comparisons can you see if a pattern emerges so learning if it’s better to be actively recasting much more than normal for example every 20 minutes to an hour or the more conventional 4 hours plus.

To my surprise the 20 minute rod more often than not made the rods cast less often look stupid, totally out fishing them. It was rare to see the opposite result, the only time the 20 minute rod did

nothing was when all 3 rods did nothing usually signifying I had no fish in the swim or certainly nothing feeding in the swim.

The one water in particular where this rule of thumb became more obvious was Cuttle Mill near Birmingham. I would fish this water on purpose mainly in the colder months as it had a very decent head of carp in a moderately sized water that kept on feeding throughout winter. This was because it was quite shallow and busy with anglers so had plenty of bait going in to keep the fish interested.

What I quickly noticed on this water was you might get a number of liner type hits on the indicator soon after casting and many people would sit back and patiently wait for something to develop, more often than not it wouldn’t and an hour or two might easily pass before the decision was made to recast. One day I also noticed that newcomers to the lake tended to cast far less than regulars.

What I did by timing recasts was to establish fairly quickly that a bait without a bag or method had a peak active time and that was usually the first 10 to 15 minutes, more so with a bag of any kind.

If you had indicator activity that failed to developed into a run you quite simply had been ****ed over for want of a better term, and it was as though from that point on the hook bait had been marked or singled out as a problem or best avoided.

The

unique Delkim alarm vibration technology and tension indicators ensure Frank registers even the slightest movement

More often than not the old notion of leave it in place nice and undisturbed would result in the time ebbing away culminating in a blank on that rod. It was almost like a rat triggering a trap and rendering it useless. I think this is happening constantly on busy pressured waters but as I have found it happens on virtually every single water no matter how big or small or the stock levels.

So by timing the rods and experimenting on various waters I fish I can start getting a very clear picture of the best frequency to recast. Amazingly most waters are mostly what I call 20 minute waters some are even less. Some of you will no doubt disagree and that’s fine, each to their own.

Of course there are exceptions to this where it may be better to sit on your hands until the carp turn up but I guarantee that most anglers will be

super predictable, recasting late morning after the perceived morning feeding spell and then again in the evening before dark for the night. That’s totally predictable and you are not learning much from this. When you make more regular recasts and you take notes you can choose whatever time grabs you on each rod or even try every 20 minutes against for example 8 hours and 24 hours. As I say it gets very revealing when you start finding out more.

One thing I have found is that no matter where I have started timing rods from English runs waters to massive inland seas in Europe or North America a pattern emerges that is usually very different to the normal time I would normally have recast the rods.

Single Hook Baits

I make no apology for mentioning the old single hook baits as I guess their use has now accounted for millions of captures across the carp world.

I have been using them for 40 years now and am credited with the idea.

They are not as effective as they were back when I first used them as you can well imagine but incredibly they still keep tripping up carp everywhere time and time again, they will never stop working as if you think about it even a carp approaching a baited area will have to pick up one bait to start with and that in effect is only doing what a single is doing.

So unless carp stop eating boilies, which is not going to happen, carp will always fall to singles. When most anglers think of single hook baits they automatically think they must be brightly coloured over flavoured high attract types but to me this is just the tip of the iceberg let me explain A single item of food put in the right place is a blindingly simple approach.

So of course it makes sense to make it stand out both in both the visual aspect and attraction wise.

But after years of getting clonked by this type of hook bait don’t you think a more understated bait might be viewed with less suspicion? OK it might not stand out as much in the first instance but the trade-off might be worth it.

I realised this in 1982/3 when I was the first person to ever use white hook baits. Back then I worked with Duncan Kay at his bait factory in Wellingborough near Northampton.

Duncan asked me did I want anything for my own personal angling that he might be able to source.

I said I wanted white dye and bright fluorescent pink, he laughed and thought me a bit mad. But I explained how I had been using single hook baits that were quite visual and cleaning up I thought white and bright pink hook baits could take it to another level.

To my eternal gratitude Duncan obtained these two colours from a supplier in Germany. As soon as they arrived I got cracking and made the most glorious coloured hook baits with these unique dyes. Can you imagine having white singles when no one else in the world had any? I wasn’t to be disappointed.

When I tried them on Duncans Mid Northants syndicate lake for the first time I had 9 carp which I think blew Duncans mind, of course it eventually got out and my old mate Rod Hutchinson soon brought out Dayglow white dye in his Catchum range.

Very soon many anglers were using white singles particularly on my main water at that time Redesmere in Cheshire. But as amazing as the white was within 2 years bites on white singles had slowed down because of pressure.

So I added blue dye and made a pale blue single by adding the blue dye to the white, incredibly it was like throwing a switch and bites galore were forthcoming.

It was the same when I added green. But then get this jet black singles were also great and I was shocked at how quickly they worked, trouble is boys you can’t go in to the tackle shop and buy those can you.

You have to get off your arse and make your own. I mean just getting blue, green and black dyes to make these is not easy but well worth the effort. Then you need an open mind to use them.

They all work as the carp simply never see these colours and most certainly don’t associate them with danger.

Talking of singles carp won’t hesitate to pick up a single particle hook bait either, they never see this tactic ever. I had loads on single tiger nut hook baits blasted out in splendid isolation on two rods in 40 odd acres of water. They will find them don’t worry about that. I’ve also lost count of the hundreds of carp and some of them very big carp on single plastic corn hook baits, including 7 x 30s and a 40 in a single day once in early Spring

Suggested alternative single hook baits:

• Brazil nuts (cut in half)

• Tiger Nuts

• Peperami (the red spicy one)

• Sweet Lupins

• 20 ml Halibut pellet

• Lob worm

• Maggots - 20 on the rig

• Maize

• Plastic corn

• Peanuts

Contrasting home made hook baits in jet black and fluoro orange

WORMS

It’s far to easy to dismiss worms and make loads of excuses why they are not worth using and this is in my opinion a huge mistake.

In the right circumstances a worm is easily the best bait in the world. Carp are crazy about them and usually don’t hesitate to wolf them down once they locate them.

Many carp anglers are beat before they have started with worms as I have to admit they are a pain to use and are messy.

They are also prone to being nuisanced by other fish as they are attractive to everything that swims.

About 15 years ago my good mate Jonny Banister brought it home to me when he turned up on Hardwick Smiths with just two rods and a tub full of lobworms. The lake was in the doldrums and nothing had been out for days. It was high pressure, warm, no wind, and everyone was Spombing the place to death. Jon had no reservations and said the worm would smash it. All he did was string a single lobworm on a longish hair and fluoro carbon hook link, and a small mesh bag of 3 ml pallets to stop tangles. He then proceeded to catch carp constantly whilst all others on the lake blanked me included. I didn’t need a written invitation I had soon ponced some worms of Jon and it was instant like throwing a switch.

Of course, like many I had used worms before on the float for stalking carp but using them on conventional heavy leads on the bottom on carp rigs was not on my radar until that moment.

It very soon became my secret edge where I took it to a different level.

The kebab rig with several worms threaded on the hair & worms and soil moulded around the lead method style.

I adapted rigs and tactics to make presenting worms more efficient, using chopped worm, worm casts and soil to bait up with. I also used up to 5 whole worms on a single rig in chopped sections which I named my Kebab worm rig, it looks mad but my god they get the lot in and we have had tench over 10lbs on this set up.

My eldest sons UK PB mirror came on a worm rig I persuaded him to try, it was quite amusing as he put worm on one rod and had boilies on the other two. After a few hours of inactivity he came over and said “dad I’m taking the worm off and changing it to a boilie!” I said “why the boilie rods have done bugger all” as I said it the worm rod folded round as the alarm burst into life. The culprit was the big linear in Swan at Bluebell that I had always wanted to catch and it was magnificent.

On waters where I have had cannibalistic Perch and roach, Rudd etc. I have still persevered with worm. But in this instance I use a boilie, usually a wafter, and use worms as a topper so at least if the worms get stripped off you are still fishing. I can’t tell you how amazing my results have been on that one but suffice to say the addition of worms in combination with any hook bait makes that hook bait far more attractive.

PLASTIC HOOK BAITS

I well remember the first ever World Carp Classic match at Madine in France in 1998. Afterwards there was an award ceremony where every competitor was given a packet of this brand new product plastic sweetcorn from a company called Enterprise Tackle.

I can still remember the comments and scorn those products got many thought it was a joke at the time and many discarded their samples onto the floor, I had no such reservations and knew it was exactly what I had been looking for, so I happily picked up all of those dozens of discarded samples.

I recently tried the Fox Armamesh to great effect for chopped worm mesh bags on a water where small fish were stripping the hook bait of worms in seconds. I last used the same tactic about 12 years ago on another problem venue and just as it did back then it worked very well, I must say the phenomenal pulling power of these worms never ceases to amaze me.

At the time all were unflavoured I simply could hardly wait to try them as well as experiment with flavouring the golden grains.

I was not to be disappointed as we all know there is not a carp that swims that does not love sweetcorn. So at last I had a viable useable perfect hook bait for the job. Until that point I had had to use maize buoyed up with pieces of yellow rig foam that would lose buoyancy as they soaked up water and quite often the maize would stain black with use over the silty meres where I was predominantly fishing and take on the foul smelling scent of the lake bed - hardly what I needed.

The new plastic corn was a revelation right from the off and ticked all of the boxes and to my delight took on the smell of my chosen flavours beautifully.

A great many anglers even to this day cannot get their head around carp picking up fake baits and will avoid using them, as we know carp have no other way of testing baits other than by taking them into their mouth to sample them so the con trick works every time,

I have caught on both the flavoured and unflavoured corn but I much prefer the flavoured variety, these are certainly better for night time bites as you might expect and I found in winter the glow in the dark yellow maize has been nothing short of sensational. So there’s a good edge for you.

I think, if the truth was known, many of the captures credited to various companies’ boilies have in fact fell to plastic corn. I cannot imagine how many carp this simple but amazing bait has caught. Sadly there are some cheap plastic imitation baits appearing on the market which often smell very strange. I would certainly avoid using them and stick with the known brand names like the ones from Enterprise.

I hope you’ve enjoyed reading some of my Eureka moments and find them useful in your own fishing. Perhaps they will also help you discover your own Eureka moments but make sure you don’t run down the bank naked when you have one.

Imitation plastic pop-up corn over a bed of particles.

Carp Care – An Easy Guide

Carp are long lived creatures that while hardy can easily suffer damage from poor handling.

1. Landing a Carp

Carp fight long and hard. A good sized net with a small, soft mesh will help make landing your carp much easier. If your net mesh is too big then it can result in the carp’s fins being torn and damaged.

A carp’s dorsal fin has a sharp, stiff ray on the leading edge with barbs which can get caught in a net. If this happens do not pull on the net as you’ll cause more dam age. Simply ease the net material over the barbs to release it.

A long or telescoping handle helps when landing fish from wharfs or high banks. Carp are heavy so when you have the fish safely in the net don’t try and lift the fish with the handle. You can break the net! Simply slide the handle through your hand until you can grasp the net frame and the net material before lifting.

Once the carp is safely in the net the next step is to protect the fish.

2. Protect the fish

Unless you plan on weighing your fish then the best option is to keep the carp in the net in the water. Carefully remove the hook, make sure the carp has recovered sufficiently and then release it without the need to lift it or take it out of the water. A quick photo can also be taken and the fish released while still in the water.

If you want to weigh or photograph the fish then make sure you have everything ready BEFORE taking the fish out of the water. If you have to move or carry the fish then a weigh bag or retention sling will help. A heavy duty laundry or other bag that will not tear easily is an inexpensive option.

NEVER, NEVER, NEVER hold or carry a carp by placing your fingers in a carp’s gills, eyes, mouth or use a lip grip device such as a ‘Bogagrip’.

This can fatally injure a carp!

Always carry the fish low to the ground. Never stand up holding the fish as it could be fatally damaged if it jumps or wriggles out of your hands!

An area of level soft grass or better still a protective mat (see below) on level ground that will prevent the carp from flopping around on rocks or dirt is essential. The goal is to avoid the fish from losing its protective slime or scales.

A basic carp mat (left) costs around $10 – 15. More sophisticated mats and cradles will offer even better protection. Have a bucket of fresh, cool lake or river water ready. It is vital to wet & cool the protective mat before placing the fish on it, especially if it has been in the sun. Pour cool water over the fish to keep it from drying out or getting too hot.

A simple yoga mat, small tarp or baby changing mat is an inexpensive choice if you are getting started.

3. Weighing your Carp.

NEVER weigh a carp by hooking the weigh scales hook under the gills or holding it using a Boga-Grip!

Only lift-up & weigh the carp in the safety of a custom weigh or retention sling. Even a large laundry bag or a landing net can be used. Just make sure it cannot slide or fall out! Only lift the fish until it is just off the ground. And remember to zero your scales with the weight of the weigh sling, net or bag before placing the fish inside.

A tripod, weigh bar or weigh crook will make lifting your carp, especially if it is a trophy sized fish easier and safer.

4. Photographing your Carp

It is best to choose an area to take photos and have your camera set up and ready before you start fishing. That way you will be ready to photograph your fish and return it to the water as quickly as possible and with the least possible stress

Always kneel down to hold the fish for a photo. Avoid standing while holding the fish or carrying it back to the water in your arms. Always carry the fish in the net, a retainer or weigh bag as this prevents the fish accidentally falling and being critically injured.

Mobile phones offer a great way to capture a photo of you and your prize catch.

5. Releasing your Carp

When you are ready to release your fish hold it gently in the water until it has recovered sufficiently to swim away strongly.

Remember - Trophy sized carp can be decades old. So please handle them carefully and release them.

Champion of the Queen

Since its inception back in 1993, the Carp Anglers Group “Champion of the Queen” award (sometimes referred as “Protector of the Queen” award) has been used to acknowledge exceptional achievements in promoting CAG and carp angling in North America.

It is named after the description given by Sir Izaak Walton to the carp in his book the ‘Compleat Angler’ first published in 1653 “The Carp is the Queen of Rivers: a stately, good and very subtle fish”.

The Champion of the Queen is nominated by the CAG President and Vice-President and voted on by the CAG Directors. It is commemorated by an engraved presentation piece and a lifetime membership to CAG

Ed Wagner has been a dedicated member since the very early days of the Carp Anglers Group.

He was the NY State Chair starting in 2000 hosting fish-ins and helping many anglers new to

the sport catch their first carp. Over the years Ed has been a dedicated supporter of CAG notably helping Barry Howard (Membership and Store Director) and attending CAG events near and far including the annual Indy Chili Meet.

Over the years he’s successfully fished many carp tournaments and we hope to see him back on the bank after his recent back surgery. We are delighted to offer our appreciation to Ed Wagner by awarding him the Queen’s Award.

CAG Monthly Photographic Competition

‘The Essence of Carp Fishing in North America’

CAG members are invited to submit photographs that capture what is unique and exciting about carp fishing in North America.

Each month the winner will receive a special prize plus recognition for two runners up.

The photos do not have to be of someone holding a fish (this is NOT a Trophy fish competition) but they should be recognizable as being related to carp or buffalo fishing in North America and should reflect the capture of a special moment.

The ‘essence’ of carp fishing in North America might memorialize a remarkable scale pattern, someone’s first carp, a group of friends fishing together, a spectacular sunset, time of year or perhaps a dramatic background or landscape.

Each month we’ll announce a winner and Award a prize or voucher (worth $100) with the winning photo appearing in a forthcoming NACA magazine as well as the CAG Forum Site and Facebook page. The top 3 will also receive CAG Medals.

The Rules:

The entrant must be a Full CAG Member & the owner of any copyright to the photograph.

An entrant may submit a maximum of TWO photos only in each month.

The photograph must have been taken in the submission month (final date for submissions is 24 hours after the end of each month)

All fish photos must demonstrate appropriate carp care and catch & release

Each submission must include the following details:

1. The type of device (e.g. camera or phone) used.

2. The date the photo was taken.

3. Location (nearest Town and State).

4. Your Name

5. Photo Title (e.g. Mirror Magic, Waiting for the Bite etc)

Entries should be submitted to the “CAG Essence of Carping Competition” under the appropriate “Month” below. Entrants agree that CAG may use or display a submitted photo on the CAG website and Social Media resources.

First Annual First Annual CT Carp Cast Off

CT Carp Cast Off

Karl Pulaski recently took on the role as Connecticut State Chair and hosted his first event with THE FIRST ANNUAL CT CARP CAST OFF on Sunday April 20th. It was held at Union Pond which has plenty of carp in the 5 – 15lb range. The venue didn’t disappoint with RJ starting the day off catching a carp 10 minutes before the start.

We had a lot of fish showing when we got there but carp being like they are moved to the shallow end of the pond where there were a few smart anglers waiting to meet them. Here are the days highlights.

Heaviest fish went to Frankie Santos with a 10.03 lb common that earned him a Gold medal and a Sonik Cradle donated by carpanlger.com.

Kenneth Brogan took home 2nd place & a silver medal with an 8.13 lb fish while Norman Finke took home the bronze medal for 3d place with an 8.07 a mere ounce behind Kenny.

Overall weight went to Kristine Lovell with 5 carp for a combined weight of 29.01 lb. Kristine’s captures also landed her an invite to the FF3 CT River Shootout on the weekend of May 20th.

The smallest fish prize went to RJ earning him a 5lb bag of boilies donated by Lorenzo at Carp Bait USA. Thanks to all who attended especially Sam Williams (NY), Barry Howard (NY) and Jeffrey Pirog (NJ) for driving from far afield to join us.

Karl said they had quite a few people from the public show up bewildered by our beeping contraptions and he’s pretty sure we have a few new CAG members signing up. All in all it was a great day to catch up with everyone after a long dry winter and educate a few people on this fantastic sport.

Great job by Karl in organizing the event and putting together some great prizes and medals. Karl Pulaski says is looking forward to surprise everyone with new and innovative ways of holding events. That way we can draw even more people to catch and release carp fishing.

KCCA Harvest Moon Classic!

By Paul Scott

In 2021, the pandemic travel restrictions were finally lifted across the United States, so I had a chance to visit my family in Illinois. During my trip, I participated in a carp fishing tournament and won. After winning that tournament, I realized how much I missed and enjoyed the friendly competition and wanted to fish in another one in 2022. In the winter of 2021, I posted on the CAG Facebook Forum that I was interested in knowing if there were any carp fishing tournaments scheduled for 2022.

It was not long before people started to post about different tournaments being held at different venues across the United States. It seemed that almost everyone was ready to start fishing and competing again after the pandemic. Unfortunately, most of the events were far away from me out in the eastern part of the United States. I knew it would not be possible for me to travel that far by car and the total costs would be too great. As luck would have it, one person from the KCCA posted about the tournament they were going to be hosting in Missouri.

This carp fishing tournament was perfect for me because the entry fee was only $250 and the driving distance was reasonably close to Minot, North Dakota, where I live. It was a state championship of the team variety, so it is what I would consider a major or important tournament that usually draws the interest of top-level competition. It was also being held in a state where I had never competed before, and I thought if I could place, I would be able to add this state to my carp fishing tournament resume. So, I contacted the KCCA and received more information about the tournament.

The tournament was called the KCCA Harvest Moon Classic and was a two-person team-style event held Friday afternoon to Sunday morning. The venue, the Lawson City Park Lake, was located in Lawson, Missouri. Only twelve teams were permitted to compete because of the small size of the venue and the limited number of swims available. This would be the only major carp fishing tournament held in Missouri in 2022 and, possibly, ever.

I had won a similar team-style state championship carp tournament before, so this kind of event was nothing new for me.

As a member of Team Fish Fighters, I won one in Indiana with teammate James Sanders and finished second place in another one in Illinois with my wife, Dr. Laura Zucca-Scott. Both of these tournaments were called state championships and considered important or major carp fishing events.

I knew this tournament in Missouri would be no different as some of the best anglers would be there to fish the event. So, I contacted the KCCA and secured my spot for the event.

The next step was to find a teammate. Some of my oldest friends and fishing buddies back in Illinois have said they wanted to compete in a carp fishing tournament with me for years, so I contacted them. Unfortunately, everyone had prior commitments that weekend and could not fish the tournament.

North Dakota stays frozen until about May, then you start to see some open water. Carp fishing really does not start here until late May or early June because it is just too cold with water temperatures staying below 50 degrees. So, I knew practicing for this event was not going to be easy.

My first thought was to search the Internet and find out everything I could about the venue, especially how carp were caught from the lake. Although there were some photos taken by the KCCA, there was not much to go on the Internet.

The only information I could find was that standard carp fishing rigs caught at least one carp out of the lake, the lake was full of Channel Catfish, and the lake was very weedy.

The tournament was set for September, and competitors could not fish the lake a full month prior to the event. I was visiting my family in Illinois in early June and decided I would stop by at the lake and pre-fish it to get an idea of what I could expect since I had not been able to find any other information on the Internet about fishing this lake for carp.

As it turned out, some of the other anglers were having the same issue finding teammates so some of us decided to fish the tournament as solo-person teams. Ironically, three of us that did not have teammates ended up pegged side by side, and we collectively decided to help one another during the tournament with netting, but more on that later.

I drove to the lake and found that there was a paved path going around the lake for runners, which I used for scouting for carp. Unfortunately, I was not able to find any signs of carp activity during my exploration so decided to fish close to the parking lot and bathrooms for the rest of the day. The road leading to the lake was going to be closed off at night for road construction according to a sign, so I was only able to fish during the daytime and did not have a chance to fish the lake at night. June is often a warmer month and sometimes the carp switch to feeding at night, so it was not surprising when I did not catch a single carp during my twoday pre-fishing trip.

However, I did observe some carp activity. Two large carp surfaced near a corner swim which would later be named the “ACE peg” and three smaller carp surfaced together in front of an overhanging tree off a point between what would later be numbered pegs 7 and 8. However, I had a chance to talk to several of the locals but either they did not know anything about the carp in the lake or had conflicting information. For instance, some people said there were very few carp in the lake and others said there were lots of carp in the lake, but what they all seemed to agree on was that the lake contained carp and many of them were big fish. As I was packing to leave and go back to the hotel on the second day, I found a carp rig. It was a hair-rigged hook loaded with three pieces of plastic corn, so from this rig, I deduced that the carp anglers must be using method to fish the lake because tossing out plastic corn without a method ball is not very practical.

It was now the week prior to the Harvest Moon Classic and the KCCA had added video footage on their Facebook page with lots of details about each pegged swim. Some swims were adjacent to the old creek channels and others had some major underwater structures that carp liked to visit.

The wind was supposed to be blowing in the direction of pegs ACE through JACK during the two days of the tournament with the strongest winds blowing right at the ACE peg where I had seen those two large carp rolling during my pre-fishing trip to the lake. It seemed to me that the ACE peg would probably fish very well because it was an end peg back inside a lake corner next to the dam. It certainly had everything going for it, but I had my heart set on another peg.

Remember, I also saw three carp surface in front of that overhanging tree, which was located between pegs 7 and 8. Pegs 7 and 8 were located in the middle of the lake off a point. There was also a beach structure out in front of peg 8, which is often a great place to catch carp and catfish in small lakes like this, based on my experience.

The wind would be blowing across that point out in front of peg 7. The current would whip around the corner of that tree right in front of peg 8, so for those reasons, I decided the peg I wanted the most was peg 8. I also would have been happy with peg 7 and the ACE peg, if I did not get peg 8.

Now that I am older, I have trouble driving because my stomach gives me problems, so I have found I cannot eat or drink anything or stay on the road for more than eight hours at a time.

As a result, it took two days to reach the lake which was thirteen hours away. However, I timed it so I would have one full day to recover in a hotel room before heading to the lake to camp and compete. I spent that day walking the lake and checking out each swim to get some idea about what was going on with the lake and which pegs might be the best ones to get for the tournament.

Unfortunately, Peg 5 seemed to be the best peg, but it had been eliminated. I saw several large carp surface at this peg but was shocked to hear it had been removed along with pegs 6, 4, and 3 since some teams had withdrawn due to a scheduling conflict with another event.

This is why I think it is important that organizers talk to each other and try to schedule events far enough apart so that competitors have a chance to fish multiple events.

I also discovered that I had left my castable fish and depth finder at home, which I purchased specifically with this tournament in mind. Way to go Paul!

On the day of the tournament (Friday), I arrived early, but everyone was already there except for a few anglers. One team from Arizona had registered, but never showed up or canceled. However, everyone else was there, and the anglers were all very serious about winning this tournament.

The event started with a Q&A section where the rules were read and explained and then the anglers had a chance to ask for clarifications. For this tournament, the teams could only count their four largest carp towards their total weight. Teams did not have to catch all four carp to win a prize: They could win with fewer than four carp if their total weight was still the heaviest, but only each teams’ four largest carp would count.

This is a typical total weight carp fishing setup, but recent events had rules that saw anglers disqualified for not reaching the quota, so it was refreshing to hear that teams would not be penalized in that way for this tournament.

As it turned out, it was a good thing because only one team caught four carp, so everyone else would have been disqualified. I am a big fan of carp fish limits because weighing every carp puts stress on the fish and wears out the weighing stewards, but penalizing anglers for not reaching those limits despite them having caught the most weight with fewer carp is just counterintuitive in my opinion and goes against tradition.

We were all ready to start fishing, and it was time to collect fees from any team that had not yet fully paid. I did not have to worry about that because I had already fully paid back in February. The entry fee was $250, and the winning team would win $1200. There was a $20 side pot for the largest carp prize, which all of us ended up entering, adding another $200 plus cash prize that everyone had a chance to win.

There was also a side pot to win a new net for whoever caught the largest catfish of the tournament. The double-blind peg-draw followed, and, to my amazement, I got Peg 8, and I knew I had a chance to place, which is all I wanted from this tournament.

Soon we were all at our pegs with plenty of time to set up camp and get our rods ready for fishing. At peg 7 was Isaac Rojas the nicest person you could ever meet. And at peg 9 was Dr. Mike Bold, who would end up netting two of my carp and pulling a hook out of my finger during the tournament. I will be forever thankful for the best neighbors an angler could hope for. After I got my tent set up and my campsite squared away, I got all the fishing equipment into place. I had mixed up my pack bait before the peg draw, and it was ready to go so at least in that way I was ahead.

I had some issues with some of the rigs and had to tie a few before the tournament started, but luckily got them tied just before the horn sounded and the tournament began. Missouri allows the use of three rods, so I cast out my rod limit and sat back to wait for some action while I observed everything out in front of me for clues on where to fish.

Some carp anglers drag a weight on the bottom and check for changes in substrate, depth changes, and snags, but I just did not have time to do any of that, and I did not want to scare away any feeding carp out of my swim before I had a chance to catch them with all the extra casting. However, the castable depth and fish finder would have worked great right about now... Paul! I imagined my invisible teammate giving me lip about it.

Isaac came over to me briefly and said that Mike and he had agreed that, since all three of us did not have a teammate, we should help each other with netting.

I agreed, but, unfortunately, the spot was shallow next to the bank and only Mike had a pair of waders. I had not brought my knee-high boots for fear of wearing them too much and having problems with my toes going numb, which had happened to me in the past.

Most of the banks had reasonable depth, but our location seemed to be a bit shallow in close, compared with most other pegged swims. I figured Mike would probably be the one netting most of my carp if I caught any.

Right away I noticed activity on the surface out in front of my pegged swim. There was some kind of large size fish that was schooled up and mouthing the surface, and it was definitely not shad. They seemed to be feeding and kept splashing when one of them would get out of formation. I tried casting a float out to them but quickly realized that these fish were not carp. I never did get a close enough view to determine what species of fish they were exactly, but my guess was small size Bigmouth Buf-

falo Suckers. However, sometimes other fish species, such as carp, feed under fish like these, so I cast out towards them on the bottom. Not long afterward, my rod started to get knocks and the line was going in and out slowly. I thought it could be line bites, so I waited patiently. After a few minutes of this activity, the rod took off with the baitrunner sounding. Then it stopped suddenly, and the line went slack.

“It is a Channel Catfish,” I said to myself.

I know the difference between a carp run and a small catfish run, and this seemed to match up with a run made by a small catfish. Moments later, I netted a Channel Catfish. Because I had no idea if any other catfish would be caught, I called for the weighing crew on the walkie-talkie that each competitor was given to use for this event.

The crew of two people came over and everyone gave a guess of what the weight might be before we weighed the fish. I blurted out that it would weigh 1 Lb. 7 oz. I had caught thousands of Channel Catfish back in the days while fishing my local sportsman club lake, and I just about could guess any weight for catfish based on just looking at it.

Sure enough, the scales read 1 Lb. 7 oz., a small Channel Catfish. Well, at least I knew the scales were accurate, I thought. After all, a catfish that big was not going to win the side pot. I had landed one weighing over 4 pounds on my pre-fishing trip (the only fish I managed to catch), so I figured it would take a much bigger one to win the big catfish prize. Soon after, my rod was back in the spot in hopes of catching a carp.

I do not have accurate data on when the carp I caught were landed because I lost my binder which had all of that information, so I will do my best here to explain when I caught fish. All I can tell you is a few minutes later one of my other rods took off, the one I had been using with a float. I had taken off the float, but, when I use floats, I typically do not use any weights. I had rigged the rod up with a dough-ball-bait-rig and was using a special bait that I had taken from the recipe in a book I wrote about shoreline fishing.

The bait at first was way too hard because I changed the recipe by adding more hardening ingredients to it to keep it from getting too soft from the heat. Normally, you would keep the bait cold on ice and use it that way, but, because we were camping, I knew I could not keep ice long enough to keep the bait cold, so I had to alter the recipe. Luckily, I was able to use water to make it soft enough to put it on the bead, and, to my delight, it worked well.

I was able to cast the dough ball bait out without a sinker, which is how I often like to fish when using dough baits. Well, that rod got rocked and the baitrunner sounded. BZZZZZZ….

To my horror, the fish came off immediately before I could lift the rod, which sometimes happens when you do not use a lead while using a baitrunner. A huge wake could be seen out in front of me, and I knew it had to have been a big fish, possibly a carp. Way to go Paul!

I could hear my invisible teammate shouting at me. Losing even one carp could cost you the tournament, so this was not a great way to start off. I decided I had to stand the rod up higher and turn off the baitrunner, so I got out my trusty spring-style rod holder and fished that rod the way I used to fish back in the days before my knowledge of European carp fishing tactics. With the bait back out in the same spot, it was time to wait and hope.

A few minutes passed, and a large fish seemed to swim back to the area where I had just cast out that dough ball. Then a large carp splashed out in front of me and several more carp were also seen splashing out in front of several other anglers all over the lake.

“It must be feeding time!” Someone yelled loudly across the lake from the other side.

Suddenly, the rod with the dough ball bent down in front of me.

“I got you now!” I thought.

Yep, I had a big fish tugging on the other end. Mike saw me struggling with a fish and yelled over to ask if I wanted him to put on his waders and get the net.

I yelled back, “YES! Please!”

Moments later the fish seemed to stop fighting hard, and I was just pulling it in like a log, so I wondered if it had gotten off and I was hauling in a snag. Mike was out in front of me with the net and soon the fish surfaced.

“Wow! It is a big fish!” shouted Mike.

The carp was tangled heavily into the line, but you could clearly see the hook was in its mouth. Mike netted the big carp and walked up to the shoreline where I helped him move the net to my unhooking cradle.

Mike used his net to land the carp, and it had the typical carp netting with small holes. My net is knotless but was made for Blue Catfish tournaments where knotless nets are also required, but the holes in the netting are way larger.

I like this kind of netting because it does not catch the current when I fish rivers, and the carp do not get their fins, especially that spiny top fin, stuck in the netting. Unfortunately, the smaller size holes allowed for my bead on my rig to get snagged up and the carp pulled the hook out of its mouth while it was thrashing.

As I grabbed the rig and attempted to free it from the netting to get it out of the way, the fish suddenly

rolled, and the hook was immediately pulled deep into my pointer finger on my right hand.

“Yowwww!!!!!!!!” I screamed!

That hurt! The hook was now buried into my finger. Soon the weighing crew showed up, and I explained to them what had happened.

Steven Pflugradt, the director of the tournament, was with the weighing crew and he weighed the carp himself.

It tipped the scales at 26 Lbs. and 14 oz. and was the first carp landed in the tournament. It was also the largest carp ever caught at this lake to the knowledge of the KCCA. Isaac then held my fish for me for the photo because I could not, due to the hook in my finger.

Now what to do about this hook in my finger?

Well, before the weighing crew could leave, another one of my rods, which I was using to fish on the bottom with the method feeder, got a run.

BZZZZZZZZ….

“Oh great, how do I do this!” I said out loud.

I grabbed the rod and tried to keep the bead hanging from my finger from catching into the reel spool as it was turning. I could tell right away it was another nice size fish, but not as big as the one I had just landed. But it got snagged onto something, and I could not get it free.

“Way to go Paul!” “What a rookie!” I thought. The crew was soon back over with all kinds of disinfectants to help with the problem of a hook buried deep in my finger.

Luckily for me, Mike was a doctor. He said that normally he removed hooks like this one by pushing the barb back through the skin and cutting it off. However, that was not looking like it would be the path to take to get rid of this hook considering we had nothing to numb my finger with, and the cutters might not get the job done. So, Mike got me to turn away and popped the hook out. Luckily, I was using a micro-barbed hook, else this would have been even worse according to Mike.

Then we dumped every disinfectant on the wound available and covered it up. Yep, that is how you get a hook out in the middle of nowhere while fishing a tournament, good thing nobody panicked.

After I lost the second fish to the snag, my activity died down. However, Isaac had fallen asleep in his chair, and when I walked over to see if he was awake, I noticed his pod was knocked over.

“Isaac wake up, you might have a fish, buddy,” I said loudly.

Isaac woke up and was almost in a state of panic as he grabbed the rod that had been pulled partially into the lake and was luckily caught on some weeds on the shoreline. He then set into a carp and started to fight it.

Unfortunately, it had gone around that overhanging tree and was snagged up near the bank. The fish surfaced and before we could get the net over to it, the carp popped off. However, Isaac did not have a chance to think about losing that carp because one of his other rods took off and he was immediately into another fish. Moments later, I netted Isaac’s first carp of the tournament, which weighed in at 16 Lbs. 6 oz. After that fish, nobody on our side of the lake got any more good runs nor caught any fish the rest of the night.

Even though we did not catch anything that first night, I did not get much sleep. My alarms kept sounding, and at one point I got up and decided to watch my rods. Some kind of fish would grab the bait and make a short run then would let go.

I never did hook any of these fish, so I never found out what kind of fish was hitting so softly. My guess was it was Buffalo Suckers, small Channel Catfish, or very small carp. On the other side of the lake, I heard some screamer runs, but by morning it was clear nobody had taken the lead away from me and most of the fish landed had been catfish. Because I was far from the leaderboard, and I never ventured to the other side of the lake, I had no idea what had been caught and by whom until the end of the tournament. All I knew in the morning of the next day was that I still had the lead according to the weighing crew who occasionally walked by to check up on us.

A few carp crashed on the surface during the morning and someone had a run across the lake

from us along that wind-swept bank, but nobody seemed to be catching much of anything other than someone had reported catching numerous Channel Catfish. The afternoon was very warm, but it was welcoming to me because I hate being cold. I realized it was about 2:00 in the afternoon, and I decided to move my third rod around.

I often use one rod as a searcher tossing out baits to different areas in hopes of finding some active fish. The carp also started to flop out in front of me and moments later my baitrunner sounded.

BZZZZZZ….

I grabbed the rod and made contact with another nice fish. Mike and Isaac had gone over to visit with the others on the other side of the lake, and I was left alone to land this one. After a good fight, I pulled the fish into the shoreline and managed to net it.

Soon the weighing crew, Mike, and Isaac were back over to see my second carp landed. This one was a smaller size carp and only tipped the scales at 9 Lbs. 15 oz.

I thought after I caught this carp, I would be landing a mess of them, but no more bites came until it got dark. During the night, Mike caught a carp that weighed in at 12 Lbs. even,

Isaac landed one that was 12 Lbs. 2 oz., and I landed a funny looking carp that I nicknamed Lumpy Stumpy that tipped the scales at 10 Lbs. 10 oz.

The carp bite ended just as soon as it started, and the rest of the night was calm with very little activity for me or the guys fishing around me. However, there was some excitement at peg 10 that woke me up in the middle of the night. Cory Bohmann landed a carp that tipped the scales at 17 Lbs. 2 oz.

“Way to go Cory!” I said loudly.

I have known Cory and Chad Bettisch (Carpe Diem Illinois on Facebook) his teammate for some time now having fished in several Illinois events with them. Both are very talented high-level carp anglers who just like to have fun fishing for carp rather it be in a tournament or not.

It was now morning and the sun had just come up. The tournament was winding down and would be over soon. I was still in the lead, but no lead is ever safe as many tournaments are decided in the final minutes. I got another run, and I hooked into a carp.

I fought the fish and got it into the shoreline just out of reach of my net when the hook popped loose and the fish was lost.

“Oh…. No….” I yelped.

I felt my heart pounding in my chest and felt like I had lost the tournament.

I needed one more carp to reach the four carp limit and this would have been a nice fish to have landed to add to my total weight.

“Paul, get the net!” Yelled Isaac.

Isaac horsed in his third carp of the tournament and it was his largest fish caught at 17 Lbs. 10 oz.

Isaac was now one fish away from his fourth carp, and my lead had shrunk to about 1 pound. Now I was running the risk of losing the tournament because I had lost that carp.

Bzzzzzzzz….

My middle rod took off, and I knew it had to be a carp. I grabbed it and set into a nice fish with about 45 minutes to go in the tournament. Mike put on his waders and was getting ready to help net the fish when suddenly it was stuck, and it was not moving.

“No!!!!” I sighed.

Mike reached out as far as he could with the net to see if he could get the fish to pop loose from the snag, but it did not work. Mike then came back to the shore so he could get back to his rods. Steven Pflugradt was talking with Isaac and was close by when suddenly my snagged carp suddenly was free.

The fish had its head down in the weeds and finally had given up the position and made its way to the surface. Suddenly, the fight was back on, and I knew I had to get this fish in close, or I risked losing it.

“Hey guys, can you help me with the net,” I yelled out.

Mike soon was out in front of me with his net and moments later he netted the fish, but he was blocking the view of it from me with his body.

“Sorry, it is a big catfish,” said Mike.

“Well, maybe I can win the net prize then, it must be huge to have put up that kind of fight,” I yelled back.

Then Mike brought the fish to the shoreline, and it was a carp.

I laughed, “You had me, man!” “I really, thought it was a catfish.”

We hoisted the fish up the bank and put it into the unhooking cradle. Steven Pflugradt was right there ready to weigh the fish.

It was not as big as it seemed considering it had given me the best fight of any of the fish that I landed, but it was still a very important fish to me.

I was the first angler to catch a carp, first to two carp, first to three carp, and the only one to reach the big four mark. The carp tipped the scales at 12 Lbs. 12 oz.

And as my last carp was being weighed, the tournament ended.

And the winners are…drum roll please… three solo-angler teams take home the glory. Fishing from the JACK peg, landing a 20 Lbs. 1 oz. carp giving him enough total weight to claim third place was Aniq Sajjad from Minnesota.

Aniq won the 2019 Austin Team Championship fishing with teammate Jaffar Syed and is a highlevel carp angler. Fishing from Peg 7 landing a total of three carp was second place finisher Isaac Rojas with a total weight of 46 Lbs. 2 oz., a local angler.

And your winner is Paul Scott (hey, that is me) who was fishing at Peg 8 and finished with four carp landed totaling 60 Lbs. 3 oz. of weight.

I also landed the largest carp of the tournament good for that side pot prize of just over $200 with a Common Carp that weighed in at 26 Lbs. 14 oz.

The team at the Queen peg (Dave Marceau and Brent Hammond) landed a 4 Lbs. 11 oz. Channel Catfish to win the biggest catfish prize: a new carp net.

Dave Marceau and Brent Hammond caught a lot of catfish during the tournament and lost a least one carp too. They finished the tournament with one carp landed that weighed 17 Lbs. 5 oz. and landed the largest catfish of the tournament to win the net.

I have fished many carp tournaments against Dave and can tell you he is one gifted carp angler. The last event I fished against Dave was in Illinois and, in that tournament, he landed a Common Carp that was nearly 20 pounds and won the big fish prize of more than $200.

The leaders’ board shows all the teams who caught carp.

It was a tough tournament with teams having very few chances to catch carp. Runs were often far between and if you missed bites or lost any fish, then it cost you dearly. The bottom is full of thick weeds and some snags, so it was not easy to land any of these fish for anyone.

Most of the teams who did not catch fish reported losing one or two carp to snags and weeds. Although it was difficult to get bites and land the carp, it also allowed any team to have a chance to win the tournament.

Yes, it was a tough tournament, but certainly one that was fun to fish with lots of exciting moments, including that battle between Isaac and me right at the end.

I would like to give a special thanks to Mariah Woods and Megan Pflugradt who picked up a pizza for my day 1 dinner. A huge thank you to Dr. Mike Bold (Peg 9) who got that hook out of my finger and netted two of my fish.

Thank you to all the KCCA members who weighed our fish and hosted this tournament: Kenny Pflugradt, Eris Pflugradt, Kevin Zirjacks, Loren Walters, Jason Angel, Colin Gerringer, Mariah Woods, Megan Pflugradt, and Steve Pflugradt (The Organizer and President of the KCCA).

Also thank you to the wonderful city of Lawson, Missouri, that allowed us to have this tournament on their beautiful city lake.

And thank you to all the professional carp anglers who competed in this tournament with me. God bless everyone and let us hope we get to compete in many more tournaments for many more years together. You can also watch my video summary of this tournament on YouTube at https://youtu.be/thfybu98ChI under Paul Scott or find it on my Facebook page under the name Paul ZuccaScott.

Also, check out this YouTube video : https://youtu.be/ iBeKfrk9AR8 put up by YouTuber Carp Angler “Shtarker Fishing” (Shtarker GarBones)

whose team fished from the KING peg and included teammate Max Boltman Jr.

Shtarker (Left) and Boltman Jr. (right) at PEG KING. (10 Lbs. 14 oz.)

And a final note to all who missed this tournament, you will have another chance to fish it in 2023. Steve Pflugradt plans to host another KCCA Harvest Moon Classic Team Carp Tournament in Lawson, Missouri with an entry fee of $300 and a grand prize of $1500 going to the winning team.

“Fish…On!”

Paul Scott

The KING Peg with a visit from the local game warden who was checking all our Fishing Licenses.

St. Lawrence International Jr. Carp Tournament Grand Marshal Announcement!

Celebrating 20 years! The 20th Annual St. Lawrence International Jr. Carp Tournament will be held on August 3 – 5, 2023, along the shores of the St. Lawrence River from Ogdensburg to Massena.

To commemorate this milestone, organizers are planning some fun things; to include inviting all Grand Champions to return, along with many others who were instrumental in its popularity and success throughout the years, beginning in 2003.

To kick things off, we’re pleased to announce this year’s Grand Marshals. And, because of the milestone anniversary, there are four in honor of the ‘future and the past’!

Honoring the ‘Future’, will be Potsdam resident, Kaylee Green, and Norwood resident, Jaron Belmore!

Both participated in the tournament as soon as they were eligible, and fished each year afterwards until they aged out at 18. They each won numerous awards over the years, but most notably Jaron was named Grand Champion in 2019, and Kaylee took 2nd place in her division during her first (2015) and last (2022) years in the tournament! When asked to share their experience while in the tournament, they had similar responses.

Kaylee said, “my favorite part is the family atmosphere”, and “catching a big fish is the best but you don’t have to win to have a great time”. Jaron stated it “helped him get outside his comfort zone, while meeting new people and building new relationships” and “reeling in a Carp is exhilarating”!

They will visit each of the fishing sites throughout the tournament to mentor and assist the kids.

Honoring the ‘Past’, will be Potsdam resident, Abby McNamara, and Clarksville, NY resident, Austin Delosh.

These two favorites have been regulars at the annual tournament, with Abby planning, organizing and stepping in as Weigh Master, when needed, and Austin with participating himself for 8 years, and then marshaling and mentoring.

Long-time organizer of the tournament, Jo Ann Roberts, said “we’re very proud of this milestone anniversary, but even more excited to celebrate those years by highlighting the people, experiences and memorable moments that span 20 years”.

The tournament was started in 2003 by the St. Lawrence County Chamber of Commerce, and is now hosted by the Carp Anglers Group; a national organization with many of their members volunteering during the event.

We’d like to encourage anyone who loves fishing, the outdoors and a family-friendly event to join us this year! Equipment and sponsorships are limited but available, and the experts will teach you the rest!

Those interested in sponsoring or donating toward the event, or to receive a Registration packet, contact Jo Ann Roberts at 315 244-1909 or by email to jrcarptournament@gmail.com

Kids 11 – 18 years of age are eligible to participate, as well as adults who would like to fish with their kids. Deadline for registration is July 31st.

All those ‘from the past’ are invited and welcome. Please contact tournament organizers with your contact information.

Further details:

https://www.fishcap.net/events/2023-junior-international-junior-carp-tournament

Fishing beyond Casting Range Fishing beyond Casting Range

By Edwin Wout

Introduction

Dean Brookes and myself recently returned from a trip to Spain chasing European Wels catfish and carp. While we were staying with our good friend Ardy Veltkamp at his ‘Carp Casa’ on the mighty Orellana Reservoir he introduced us to Edwin & Ressie Wout.

Like Ardy they are from Holland and also have a home by the water. Edwin and Ressie run the Angling Escapes company

(www.anglingescapes.co.uk or www.anglingescapes.nl) for bookings on some of the best carp lakes across Europe. Orellana, like many North American waters, is big, challenging and home to some very big wild carp including commons to 79 lb and Mirrors to 77 lb. Feature finding and fishing beyond normal casting range are key components to consistent results on Orellana and Edwin’s experience I’m sure will be helpful to anyone who wants to try such tactics here in North America.

Let me start with a small introduction; My name is Edwin Wout and I was born in 1967 in Holland. I started fishing for carp the aged of 12 so you can say I have been carp fishing for a few years, 42 actually. Of course, I started with the many small lakes and canals around my city.

But very soon I found that with a small boat, you could go to areas that nobody else was fishing, or you could even bring your lines and rigs to spots that were beyond casting range. This started to bring me way more fish.

But the road to fishing at such long distances was a long learning process.

You must overcome many problems. How to detect the bites on your alarms, how to avoid problems with other boats, how to avoid big bows of line when taking your lines out and doing all of this while making it safe for the fish.

In this article I hope I can give you some tips and tricks that will help you fish at these long distances with fewer problems.

First of all it is always better and easier to fish as close as possible. There are often more fish close in or within easy casting range so why would someone fish far out? But now and then it can bring you more fish if you know how to do it.

As a young kid I did not have the money to buy all expensive gear. So, most of my money went into my boat and fish finder because that opened my world. A fish finder for me is the most important tool when you want to fish further out. Because close by you can find out depths and bottom structure with a rod and a maker float.

But as soon its beyond casting distance, you need to know what happens down there as well. Why would I fish 300 yards out if I don’t know anything about depths and bottom structure? It’s always about what is down there. Is there a plateau where fish would pass or go over.

Does it have mussel beds or weed beds where fish can find food or shelter. Does it have differences in bottom structure that can lead the fish that way. Just dumping bait on a spot where fish never come will not bring fish. But putting food on spots the fish is naturally attracted to makes them eager to take your bait instead of what they normally eat.

But then again, this elasticity will also give you more problems of getting a signal on your bite alarm. And the tighter you have your clutch the more elasticity it takes to get a signal at your alarms. So, this means the fish can move further without you knowing.

In the beginning I used heavy hangers because people said it takes out a lot of the slack at long distance. But because of the weight of the hangers you had to make your bait runner drag more tight. And because of that you could reel in the next day and find out there had been a take and the fish had found her freedom in a snag.

So always keep your clutch loose for quicker response by a take. I would never fish close to obstacles or snags at long distance! It’s not about getting a take; it’s about landing a fish safely!

In the beginning I fished with mono. These are perfect lines to use with a small wallet and by people with not that much experience. Mono has elasticity, so it forgives you when you make mistakes in playing the fish. You won’t have hook pulls just because of the brute strength you put on the hook and the softer mouth.

The problem in having your clutch loose is that the fish will not easily self-hook on the resistance of the line so this brings you to fishing heavier leads.

I was once fishing a France lake and getting a few short runs that stopped before I pick up my rod. It made me wonder but after seeing all the crayfish in the lake as their natural food I found out their mouths where as hard as leather!

So, in addition to having the sharpest hooks I could find, I also went up with the lead weights from 2.5 oz (70 grams) to 4.5 oz (120 grams). Now every pickup was a run and a fish. Small changes can lead to success.

When I was more experienced, and my wallet was a little bigger because I was working, I bought my first braided lines. This opened a completely new world for me. Fishing with braid you get a way quicker bite indication, picking up your rod you have a lot more feeling of where the fish is, what the fish does and how you can steer the fish.

Also, with weed beds the braid cuts through the weeds and plants. But because it has no stretch it also has no forgiveness. So the pressure you put on your rod goes directly to the hook and mouth of the fish so you must adjust how you play your fish to avoid hook pulls.

Braid has a lot of direct strength for its small diameter, but at snags a mono line is a lot better.

Imagine it like a t shirt, if you just pull at it, it is difficult to tear, but when you make s mall cut in the shirt, you easily rip it apart. It is the same with braid, if it is not damaged its very strong, but as soon as it rubs along a stone or a mussel it soon cuts through.

So by using a mono leader of 40 – 80lb, 2 or 3 rod lengths long you have the best of both worlds.

You have the mono on the bottom that will slide along stones and snags way better, and you have the strength of the braid playing the fish and feeling what the fish does and when the fish is closer in you still have some elasticity of the mono that prevents hook pulls. I also use more supple rods when I don’t have to cast and I always have my clutch a little smoother when I fish with braid.

In the beginning I always fished with a friend who would hold my rods while I took my rig out in the boat to the spot I wanted to fish. If it was just a little bit windy it would create a big loop in the line.

I had to shout to him to reel in as much as possible and then clamp the line as quick as possible. In the meantime, I dropped the lead and put some bait out in that area. But because of the lead falling back on the tight line I often fished much shorter than I had planned. And when the wind was blowing hard it was nearly impossible. And often the shouting did not work as well as hoped over the noise of the wind. I then learned to take the rod with me in the boat. I go to my spot and put the back of the boat into the wind. Now I go slowly backwards till I have the same speed as the wind blows. I am still on top of the spot and because the engine is pulling, the boat handles a lot better.

The wind cannot change my position like it can do with the bow of the boat pointing into the wind. Now I set my reel so I can reel backwards and slowly lower my rig and lead to the bottom. I can also feel what kind of bottom it is. I then quickly lift the lead a little in the direction of my rod pod.

Now my rig is on the opposite side of the lead to the rod pod. Because I can see the line entering the water I know exactly where to spread my bait around and then I go with a little curve against the wind back to my rod pod. As soon as I step out, I hold my rod tip up in the air. Now the wind is blowing against the line and pushes the curve I made, out of the line.

This is the easiest way to get your rig on the best spot. It also avoids having to ‘pull’ your line straight from the bank which could move your rig off the baited area or make your hook pick up some debris.

When I was fishing a big lake in Italy in wintertime there was sun all day on the reeds at the opposite bank. It was freezing in the night so a couple of degrees more water temperature could make the fish just a little more active.

There was no way that we could sit on the sunny side by the reeds so we chose the opposite bank and put our rigs at all different depths, but we placed 1 rod close to the reeds on the opposite bank. This was more then 500 meters / yards out!!

As soon as the sun went down below the horizon the net was frozen to the boat, but we also had our first run. No surprise it was on the rod with the rig by the reeds on the opposite bank and after 2 days almost all rods were placed at this long range. The trick was not to let the fish go into the reeds.

So, we just built up some tension with the rod by slowly walking backwards. As soon as the fish was safely away from the shallow bank, I jumped into the boat and played the fish close to the reed bank.

I could easily land the fish in the boat and if it was a good fish then I would put it on the unhooking mat in the boat. After removing the hook, I would quickly put on a new, ready baited rig, that I already had in the boat.

Then it was quickly back to the spot, drop the rig and some more bait before heading straight back to my own bank for photos. This way I only had to use the electric engine once for each fish and that saved a lot of time and batteries!

When we fished the world Cup (WCC) in the Czech Republic at lake Novomlynska we found ourselves with another problem. In front of us there where loads of bushes on the bottom which we had to fish over but it was not possible to use floating lines because of the boating on the lake.

Our only option was to put the bait where we expected the fish and set the clutch and bait runner as light as possible. As soon as we had a take we jumped in the boat with the absolute minimum pressure on the rod/line. This made sure that the line would not get pulled down into the bushes.

If, as sometimes happened, we found a spot where the line was stuck in the bushes we simply lowered a small anchor behind the snag. Then when we found the line we pulled it up and continued.

If it was not possible to release the line from the snag like this, we cut the line holding the part that went to the fish and held on it. Then we pulled the other end of the line out of the snag which is easy when nothing is attached. Then we tied the two pieces of line back to each other and continued our quest, landing the fish.

You had to be with 2 people in the boat but when you have the hang of it its easy to do. I think we had the most fish of any team during that WCC, but because only the 3 biggest where counting we did not make it in the top 5. Loads of fish but unfortunately not the biggest ones.

At this moment I live on lake Orellana in Spain. A 5,000 hectare / 12,500 acre reservoir that was a valley and dammed in 1931 to provide a supply of drinking and irrigation water as well as electricity.

In front of my house the lake is about 2 kilometer / 1.25 miles wide and in total its 30 kilometer / 18.5 miles long. I have a nice bay in front of my house that slowly goes down to 24 meters / 80 feet deep. At 400 meters out there is a big plateau but I learned long ago the fish don’t go over the plateau but around the plateau. At this spot the fish come by at about 10 meters / 30 feet depth.

Because I have a lot of free space I often fish 1 rod to the left at a distance of 150 meters, 1 rod in front at about 90 meters and 1 rod to the right at about 120 meters.

Orellana can often have some rocks on the bottom so it’s important not to pick up your rod straight away. If you just let it go for about a minute, the fish starts swimming and so the line is pulled upwards away from the rocks and is soon in free water. In this swim there are no obstacles in front so the fish can keep going as they wish without any problems. I use a lead of 6.5 oz (180 grams) to 8oz (230 grams) and don’t fish with very tight lines so have the last meters / yards with a little slack line laying on the bottom. My house is about 80 - 100 meters from the bank.

And although I have a caravan at the bank that I rent out now and then, I myself prefer to sleep next to my wife in the same bed. Call me crazy, but I would say it’s the best of both worlds. I use the Nash Siren 4 alarms and they go easy to a distance of 600 meters. So my receiver is next to my bed.

As soon as I have a take, my wife hits the light switch and continues sleeping. I then jump into my clothes and run out the door and down to my rods. In the meantime, the fish has lifted the line from the bottom and I can easily and safely play the fish from the bank. The size of the lake means there is very little pressure. But I have found out from experience that it is mainly the anglers’ lines that scare the fish away. As soon as a Spanish angler sits to my left (and they like to boat out their lines more than 500 meters to the top of the plateau) my left rod will not produce any fish.

The result of all these lines (there are usually a minimum of 2 anglers, each with 3 rods and sometimes an illegal extra one as well) means the fish will not pass through the channel that is between the bank and the plateau.

These anglers also like to fish with mono lines. So, these thick lines fished straight and tight to the lead will sing like a tight line in the wind. This noise spooks the fish, and they now go around the other far side of the plateau.

I might catch on my middle, but most likely I catch on my right-hand rod. And when these locals also go on my right-hand side as well it kills the bite completely! The fish are still there and sometimes they will continue to jump but they just will not eat anymore until the anglers on the left- or right-hand side stop fishing and go home.

When the Spanish boat out their lines at long range they often start cleaning the boat and put it away while they are getting ready to pack up. When they are ready to leave, they try to reel in without the boat and often the hook or the lead will stick behind a rock. Then they just put their hand on the reel and start walking back till the line breaks.

So please, if you think you need to fish far out, do it wisely. Always make sure the boat is always available till you stop fishing and bring your lines in. If the line gets stuck, then jump in boat and go out to where it is stuck and most times it can be freed easily.

If there are a few hundred metres / yards of line left in the water, then an animal can get trapped in it and drown or a carp can still pick up the rig and is then trailing several 100 meters line. We all know that never ends well.

A trolling motor is easier than rowing but always have oars just in case the battery dies. If you are fishing for a few days bring a spare battery.

A fish finder makes sure you can learn the bottom features not just where you put your bait but also the structure all the way back to your rods.

That way you know it is a safe spot without any snags or problems. It is about the catching and not about the runs. A small anchor in the boat will help to free a line from the snags and you can use it when your battery dies to stay in place.

An H-Block marker in the boat is always handy, to mark your spot when you’re putting your rigs out but take it in when you are fishing. The fish can go through that line and cut you off.

Also, if you ever lose a fish it can be handy to mark that spot with an H-Block and later find out why it happened. A small box with a pair of scissors and some rig materials can be handy.

The scissors or a knife is important when you pick up another line or you get a line tangled in your prop. Carry some extra baited rigs so you can change them on the spot.

Extra hook baits plus some boilie stops, boilie needle etc is handy when you accidentally step on your boilie. It is much easier to change it near your spot instead of going all the way back!

Keep the landing net in the boat so you don’t forget it. I also like to have an unhooking mat in the boat. You can put the fish in the boat for easy unhooking and cover the fish, so he keeps calm when you boat back.

Also keeping the fish in the net on the side of the boat makes the boat way less controllable.

It is important to have your boat well organized. Always have a lifejacket in the boat and always wear it. You only have one life and that is worth more than even the biggest fish.

A very important tool to bring with you is a fish finder with GPS on it and always a compass (a real one not the one on your phone!)

As soon as you arrive at the lake put in your bankside location point in the GPS and check your compass to know in what direction you are so you can always get back. I know that everybody uses there phones nowadays for finding the way, but I never leave my phone in the boat at night.

And when I have a run, I must wake up while my alarm is screaming so I don’t think of my phone as I rush into my boat on my way to the fish. And although it seems okay when you start, sometimes after a good battle with the fish that has made your boat spin several times you might find yourself lost in dense fog as thick as pea soup.

This happened to me in Italy on another big lake. Because it was the last night, I decided to take most of my gear back to the car.

This included my box with scissors, boilie needle and of course my compass. In the early morning I had a screaming take. My mate and I rushed into the boat and after the fish. It was a little foggy, but we could easily see 200 meters / yards or more.

After a 20-minute battle I landed the fish and my mate and I were looking around but could see nothing! I said: “I think we have to go to the left”. “You’re stupid” my mate said, “we have to go to the right”.

Luckily, we heard a voice far away... “Hollandaaaaa, Hollandaaa”. We searched for the voice and and luckily, we found our Italian neighbor who was fishing 500 meters / yards further away.

He saw us going into the boat, but he never saw us coming back.

He was worried and decided to come search for us in his boat, bringing a compass.

And thank goodness he found us and pointed us in the right direction because we would never have found the bank by ourselves. In dense fog you quickly lose all reality of direction and you cannot hear anything. It is very scary.

We finally ended 500 meters from our rods but at least we landed at the right bank and I could make some nice photos of a big common before we headed back to Holland.

I hope I gave you some guidelines to help you fish beyond normal casting range. I wish you all great catches and one day I hope to come fish with you in North America. Until then tight lines and good luck.

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