2nd Annual GFO/CAG NW Ohio Carp In

East Harbor State Park, Port Clinton, OH
April 11-13, 2003

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North American Carp Angler

HEY, HEY, HEY....it was a great Day (weekend) !!! I just want to start off with a BIG thanks to all who attended in making this a great kick off for the 2003 Ohio carping year: we had 29 carp anglers show up that fished 3 different sections of East Harbor State Park....that's just plain fantastic guys and gals....I'm truly a "Happy Carper." To my knowledge this is the largest gathering to date for any state "non-competitive" carping event with the exception of the Annual Washington DC one. Super job folks....definately enjoyed seeing you again and meeting some of y'all for the first time...I'll post a roster of attendees in a seperate post.

Buckeye Bob with a 17 - shows a good background shot of the area we were fishing

Anywho....as I was pulling out the driveway on friday my cell phone goes off and it's OhioIceman (Brian) and he says he's already caught 3 and there's tail's all over ....it was a LONG 3 hour drive to say the least. We had been a bit concerned that since the water had blown out from the strong southerly winds...that when it returned with the north winds it would be too cold...water temps ran an avg of 47* for the weekend in the harbor.....last year they were 57*.....the harbor usually runs about 10 to 15* warmer than the main lake due to shallowness/color. It slowed the fishing some...but the carpers perservered/adapted and I came up with a rough count of 75 - 80 carp caught for the weekend. The 20 lb fish were absent this year due to this...but, ya can't do anything about the weather OhioIceman had caught several 20's in the couple weeks prior to the water blowing out.

Before going any further (as I know he's about to explode).... Catking (Rick) caught the largest fish of the weekend at 18 lb 4...no make that 14 oz and CW, his lifelong fishing partner, was the "hotrod" with 9 or 10 fish for the weekend with a couple of 18 lbrs in there too. PVA bags with his whole rig inside with his packbait/groundbait did the trick. Don't know which packbait/groundbait was working best...but I saw an oat one and a millet one...chic peas I think were their hookbaits. Congrats guys....you're great ambassadors for GFO, CAG, and carping/angling. And before he gets a chance to say it....Catking has caught the biggest carp in two Carp In's now....he may only catch one a weekend...but it's been the biggest He's gonna be unbearable on the ride back from DC if it happens there too.

Biggest fish for the Weekend
Catking with an 18 lb 4 oz East Harbor Carp

CW with one of 9 or 10 caught for the weekend

The best bites seemed to come late afternoon/early evening...then again from 2:30 - 4:30 am....they just seemed to shutdown considerably once the sun came up. As far as best locations to fish???? if you ever go up there...that's up for grabs, the hotspots last year were slow this year...and the spots where fish were caught this year yielded no fish last year. Daytime temps this year were in the low 50's...night time dropping down to the mid to upper 20's. For the conditions given...you folks did a fantastic job in landing the number of fish that were caught....VERY respectable. BTW.....Carpless (Mike)...isn't carpless anymore !!!!!

Miso with a nice carp on an ultra lite. Sorry for the shadow

Shawn Tpet with a nice carp..

Past having such a great showing and great company to pass the weekend with the other two highlights of the weekend were...(not necessarily in order)...were the lunch and flyfishing demo. Lunch on saturday was fantastic....deep fried turkey and deep fried hotwings...compliments of Tpet (Shawn), Johnstown Jon (Jon) and Miso_Ohio (Sean)....thanks guys it was fantastic. The other was the "carp on the fly" presentation given by Jeff Tate...great job and most enjoyable....he brings another great aspect to carping and showed his effectiveness too in landing two carp...largest 15 lbs....with his techniques. Oarfish even broke out a flyrod to fish the late afternoon with him...and managed a nice bowfin. Thanks Tpet, Johnstown Jon, Miso_Ohio and Jeff....your extra efforts really contributed to a fantastic weekend.

Tpet carving the turkey - vultures gathering in the area ;)

Jeff Tate with a nice 15 lbr caught on a fly in the flats/weeds...good show Jeff

I'd also like to mention that GFO and CAG members OhioIceman (Brian) and Fishpro (Paul) have volunteered to be the CAG/GFO NW Ohio Regional Chairs and will be looking for even possibly better spots and hosting next year's event for us up there. Thanks guys, for the efforts in growing our carping community. Same to our two NE Ohio Regional Chairs, Richie and Dick who will be hosting this year's NE get together.

15 lbr I caught around 2:30 a.m., air temps low 30's

Bobs bivy..

Anywho....another big thanks to all for the great weekend. I've got a few pics that I'll post up that will complete the story, but we were pretty spread out (had folks fishing all 3 harbors) and will be adding to the "scrapbook" as pics come in...(hint, hint)

GREAT time guys....see ya on the bank.

Buckeye Bob