cagministrator
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Posts posted by cagministrator
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We also got together a couple of hours before the flight to spread out 44 lbs of dry mix and assorted other baits and tackle amongst our luggage to make sure each bag was inside of 50 lbs. Even at that we still had to shuffle a couple of pounds here and there at the airport – “sorry sir, that bag is 52 lbs.”
Finally landed in Austin after six, got the rental and first stopped by Paul’s friend and Austin resident Blair, as he had some corn soaking and the balance of a 50 lb sack waiting for us, as well as a couple of chairs. Then we stopped off at our home base, Paul’s sister’s place, dropped everything off and finally headed off to the Wellsley after eight. Said hello to some friendly faces and really felt like Johnny-come-lately – “You’re just getting here now?” We missed the flying monkeys and probably some other goodies too. Tired and needing to get our gear ready for day one, we picked up our order number for drawing in the morning and headed to Taco Cabana, and then back to the house. If there’s one regret it’s staying “off campus” as I’m sure we missed out on some of the ATC vibe. But we had free lodging and Paul needed to check on the house anyway.
Day one saw us running late, but not too late, so I thought. Louis greeted us with a smile and a “you’re in trouble man” as we missed our turn when called. Our peg was already drawn for us, glorious number one. That must be good, right? We found our way to the peg, guessing which roads to take, before we noticed the little blue piece of paper stapled in the corner. “Hey, these are directions here!” Made me realize how much planning and attention to detail Neil and his crew went through, and how, if one isn’t awake, he might miss that.
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This was my first ATC and also my first airline trip that required packing nearly all of my kit and bait to boot. Fortunately this was a team competition and the teamwork started way before arrival at the bank. The main thing I was stressed out about was how I was going to safely pack four 12 footers, a net, smartcast rod and long pod section into that now tight-looking rod tube. The answer was rod socks for each section – this way the blanks are protected from each other and the tube wall, and provided flexibility in meshing the guides within each other, making the bundle almost moldable into the tube.
This is where teammate Paul Dawidczyk came into play, with a big assist from his wife Angel. Since Angel got tired of fixing his boat covers, Paul’s been learning how to use the sewing machine and thought the rod socks would be a cinch, though he worked late into the night and had to wake her a couple of times – “hey, how do I put draw strings on one end?”
They came out great and worked like a charm – more important than the cool funky color was the material which was a pillowy flannel. It worked well in protecting the rods and filling any voids in the tube, keeping the package from any rattling.
All of this packed into this:
All that was left was sneaking the net handle down the center and it was good to go - but talk about putting all of your eggs in one basket
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Fran - what airlines is that from?Some of you guys think you can get your rods on the plane for free. Read the baggage info on the airlines web-site. MAXIMUM 64" L+W+H There'll be a $50 surcharge for anything larger than 64"..According to American Airlines their allowance for fishing items are as follows:
FishingAllowance/Requirements
Rods and reels contained in a case and one bag with fishing tackle, landing net, and fishing boots.
Cost
Two pieces - Fishing rod case and fishing equipment bag are free in place of one 62 inch bag
Maximum Size and Weight
Fishing rod case 50 lbs. 115 inches
Equipment bag 50 lbs. 62 inches
Additional Information
For purposes of excess baggage, two pieces count as 1 item
That 115 inches and 50 lbs should allow for a stretched and packed Bazuka tube
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Here's a follow up to the smallest fish article. For these "mine is smaller than yours" claims you need to hold the fish way BACK from the camera.
"...the male, for instance, has testes so huge they nearly fill his entire body cavity, crowding his other internal organs."
Oh dear God, what the heck would that feel like?!
"The female takes care of swimming, eating -- everything."
Okay, I married a liberated woman in the 70's, and in fact, I'm a liberated man. This doesn't sound to me like a fair division of labor. But I guess if your testes are so big they crowd everything else out you're not really equipped to do much of anything except the one thing you do.
http://www.uwnews.org/article.asp?articleID=22209
PS Talk about ugly...
Thanks for the link MrP, I didn't realize an anglerfish can get so small - those are the fish with the little lures on the top of their heads - the size of the fish they lure must be even smaller
One of the articles on the tiny cyprinid referred to the miniaturization of animals as a way to adapt to unique conditions, must be lots of relatively new species in little niche ecosystems
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More from the undersea world of Jerome Cousteau
The bottom hugger seems to be evolving into a land walker. Despite his slow and deliberate pace he appears to be keeping up with his crew.
Fascinating video Jerome
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fascinating new species discovered, a teeny tiny cyprinid
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Well done Ak, weren't you afraid you might sink that baby with that big carp lead
P.S. Those guys definitely appreciated your help
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Nice pictures Tommy, it is a whole 'nother realm fishing through ice. Below is my favorite pic from an outing a couple of weeks ago, a makeshift live well and cooler. Funny how you can adjust your expectations and standards based on the situation - I was thrilled to at least get some puny perch. More ice pics from that outing here.
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After reading about Amber's harrowing tale beneath the ice, here is an excellent video on how to survive falling through - the guy in the video actually puts himself in the water and narrates what is going on while he experiences the effects of the cold on his body. Kind of nutty but very effective
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Jim-
This is the same fish I caught Thanksgiving morning!!
Mike - if "denty" keeps showing up we should track how she grows
Rodman - nice Chicago pb
It's been years since I've been to the Shedd, I think it's time for a field trip. Below is a live pic of that fish, known as the Arapaima (courtesy of Francois from Fishing Adventures Thailand), estimated around 240 lbs. The odd thing about these fish (besides its prehistoric appearance) is the red edges around the scales on the lower half of the fish, including the fins and tail. Besides their size, they are supposed to be a great battling fish as well. Someday.. 
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Rod - it was good seeing you away from your "stinky swim."
Nice pictures, classic autumn shots. That water does stay warm doesn't it? Below is the 21, notice the big dent on the back - rear of the dorsal. Bill figured that it had a chance meeting with a big ol' barge. Also picked up a nine on the last rod right before packing up. It was good to see Bill doing well and no worse for wear - looked even better than before 
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RickyB,
Yes it was on the Wisconsin River in the Lake Wisconsin area. I would guess that the fish was a common redhorse sucker, which the river has in abundance.
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woops, forgot the pic..
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I just caught this little guy this past Sunday while sturgeon fishing in Wisconsin - several nightcrawlers on a 1/0 hook. Must have thought it was a plate of spaghetti
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Congratulations Robert and Fred - the pic does have to be downsized a bit - here it is
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Fished this past Wednesday with an 8 meter (~26 ft) take-apart pole, my first time with such a beast.
The pole belongs to Hahnz Teope, a Chicago-area match angler, who was fishing with a 10 meter pole (~33 ft). In a real match, you treat your swim like gold, as there is no moving from your peg. Though we were fishing for fun, we didn't have to move as the groundbait Hahnz was tossing brought bluegills, greenies and carp right in. For those not familiar with match fishing, all fish count equally, contributing to your total weight. Therefore the equipment is designed to catch as wide a variety of fish as possible, from "baitfish" to the bulkiest of carp or cats. In our case the line was 4 lb test with a super-sensitive float and a size 14 hook. The line was fairly heavily shotted leaving just the stem from the small float exposed, with the last shot just touching bottom, leaving a couple of inches for the hook bait to flutter along the bottom. Sometimes the action was quite fast, especially with the sunfish, which included some porky, intensely colored bluegills. The real fun was when waves of carp would come in, up to around five lbs. That's when the elastic finally got pulled out of the tip, making for a dramatic bungy effect. The equipment attracted a couple of onlookers, including an SUV with four guys - "hey, what is that thing-looks like a giant fishing pole."
We didn't sack any of the fish in a keepnet, as is usually done, but the schoolie carp and egg-laden and bull sunnies would have made an impressive bag. I had a carp rod out on bank sticks as well, rigged with maize at some range over some catapulted maize, but never heard more than a peep. Frankly I pretty much ignored that setup.
My thanks to Hahnz for a fun day, though now that 5 meter telescopic "whip" that I have won't quite cut it now.
Hahnz used to work for the now discontinued Aurora/Barrington line of tackle, the remnants of which he is now marketing here. Here's Hahnz battling a carp on the 10 meter pole - I needed to step way back to get it all in the frame - I should've paid more attention to the horizon, but hearing the fish jump made me snap away.
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And I'm not sure what this one means..
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Here are a couple of interesting signs from "Tucker" - he had problems uploading these, I'll let him comment on them afterwards..
..the town of Carp
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Hey, let's all send in versions
Kyle, nice fish, too bad about the rod. But at least you broke it on a fish and not a doorway
Here's my version, contrast tweaked a little. Set the size at 100x92 if you use this one
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Check out illustrated articles on rigging, methods, tackle and other topics here.
Included are the excellent series written by Sodbury Steve and a new interesting article on "Still Water Stratification" by Terry Mardell.
P.S. Steve, some of the graphics on your articles on the 'combi rig' and 'safety clip' rig aren't showing anymore - can you fix those or send them direct to me? Thanks (webmaster AT carpanglersgroup.com)
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Steve - those are great illustrated writeups and deserve spots in the articles section of the website, which I will get to soon. As far as pinning, maybe just one general pin with a link to the articles section, as pinning all of them would take up too much real estate I think
Thanks Steve for putting a visual to a lot of rigging terms bandied about here
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ANother great set of pics and another dedicated photo section is in order
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What a great group of pics, especially appropriate for now, since we're expecting snow tonight in Chicago. The picture from Pat is especially nice, of a stunning fish - a well-proportioned specimen, look at the beefy tail section.
Al, that was a fascinating and enlightening read
I think I'm going to have to organize the pics differently..
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Adding a Kid's Carp Gallery has been on my 'to do list' for some time. Todd Perdue will also be overseeing a section specially for and about young people and fishing. I think Brian might have added this thread to get things going
Below is my nephew and niece - she still absolutely refuses to hold any fish larger than a 3" bluegill. No matter how much I plead, just a resounding "NO!!"
My first ATC too..
in ATC 2010 and back...
Posted
I marked on this overhead satellite shot where we were set up, one on the main lake side and the other on the inlet side. The lake side had a wicked ankle-breaking slope with tangled brush – we had to cast from the top of the path. We didn’t know we could fish the inlet side as well until after we spoke with Tracy and Aimee, who were about a quarter of a mile away, at peg 2. We actually exchanged cell numbers as we could not even see or hear each other.
Setup on the mainlake side, with the water a good nine feet below
There was an underwater discharge right where the inlet ended - fishing this side was the way to go, though our only access was too close to the discharge itself. Still, we felt that if there are any biggies they’ll come from the mainlake side, so we kept one lonely pod setup there all day. Paul did manage to pull two fish out of the discharge side for a total of 33 lbs, taking the pressure off of us blanking. Tracy and Aimee did quite well with eight fish, though we only saw them twice throughout the day with our two fish, as they were much closer to the peg ahead of them.