Carlymoomoo

NICE! Still waiting to catch my first goldfish and koi.

I helped Neil Stern the last few years that he did the ATC. It's a lot of work, and takes time and a cultivating of relationships with both the City of Austin and the rowing club. You have to work closely with the city officials that control parking permits, coordinate with the rowing club for buoy placements, etc. Neil had to take several trips from here in Weatherford down to Austin (a 4 hour drive) to meet with city officials and hammer out details. I myself donated all the swim signs, score cards, lake maps showing swims and scale certification decals. There's a lot of expenses that people don't think about. The guys in Austin did an excellent job helping him the last few years that he put it on, even before they took it over. Ideally, we need to find someone who lives in or near Austin (preferably retired) who can continue working with the city and devote the time needed to make it a successful event. I know if Neil was doing better he'd be all over it. I hate to see it stop for any reason. It was a very good PR opportunity for the club. Just my two cents worth...

Your CAG forum name: CarlyMooMoo Your state of residence: Texas

Same lake as mine?

Neil and I recently hit a little lake we discovered several years ago in hopes of catching a few of the larger fish that we know inhabit it's depths. Having probably my best session ever, I landed 4 fish that totalled over 112 pounds! Two were commons and two were mirrors. The largest, at 34 pounds even, being a mirror to boot, is my new PB. My question is, what's the largest mirror caught here in Texas that anyone knows of? I just want to know how close I came.

My go-to rig. Size 6 or 8 Fox Wide Gape X hook tied on a short section of coated hooklink with a short piece of heat shrink tubing.

Your name: Carl Norris Your CAG forum name: CarlyMooMoo Your state or province of residence: Texas The state or province of your FFF 2017 fishing venue, if it differs from your residence: Texas

You know you're an addict when you have two refrigerators in your workshop just for storing corn, calf manna, layer mash, rabbit pellets, etc. You know you're an addict when you take a #2, and you pause and look back to see how long it takes to breaks down. Even worse, when you start wondering how you could alter your diet to slow down or speed up the breakdown. Of course, I've never done that... You know you're an addict when you're researching new waters, and you keep a browser window open with 4 tabs... One for a Google satellite view map, one with a Navionics water depth chart, one with your state's lake info listed, and one with a lake water level listing.

Carl Norris CarlyMooMoo Texas

Sorry. Haven't been on the forum in a while. It's been a zoo around our shop the last couple of weeks and I don't have Internet at home. Have to sneak on he forum when my wife's not looking... She's the boss. The cheapest way by far to print them is in black ink, meaning the photos will be grayscale. Color gets really expensive, as you know printing the NACA. Some people print newsletters in red or blue ink, but to me photos look better in grayscale than in a solid color. Either individual 8.5" x 11" 2-sided copies stapled together or 11" x 17" sheets folded in half will work great. The folded 11" x 17" is also cheaper than the individual sheets and no stapling is required. Unfortunately, I don't have a "mail merge" program for the addressing, as we don't do any bulk mailing. But usually you can find local printers or bulk mailing places that specialize in that. Turnaround time should be only 3 or 4 days.

I'll give you the two mirrors... but don't you want a koi too?

You don't have to hold it for me August. I have plenty of space at home for it. But I do appreciate the offer though.

Texas Brisket Platter for me. And a different sub for me each day. Can't wait!!!

Neil, my daughter Brittany and granddaughter Raelyn hit the bank in Austin Saturday and met up with Keith Thompson, Kevin Olivier and several other of the Austin Carp Angler boys. Had a great time, despite the cold and wind. Keith gave a seminar to everyone on how to catch buffs. My daughter Brittany broke her old buffalo PB which now stands at 45# even (blowing mine out of the water!). Can't wait 'til the Austin Team Championship in 3 weeks. I'll be fishing with Neil (who by the way has put the whole shin-dig on for 7 or 8 years but has never actually got to fish in it!) Hope to see everyone there.

Neil and I are having a little fish-in near Waco this weekend. Several people will be there. Place is loaded with nice buffs. PM me if you're interested. I know it would be a long drive, but just thought I'd offer. A lot of experienced people will be there that would love to teach a newcomer.

I've went fishing 95 times in 4 years... How long can I still keep using the "beginner's luck" thing?

Don't forget most of the carp here in the US don't know what boilies are. Sometimes some boiled deer corn on the hair does the trick, at least until the carp get used to boilies.

Welcome! A corn-acopia of knowledge on this site. Can't go wrong browsing the forum. Lots to learn.

Beautiful mirror!

Some of our larger Texas lakes are hard to figure. Gradually tapering depth with no drop-offs, no discernible vegetation or features and plain sandy or gravel bottoms. Sometimes it's a crap shoot. I usually fish three rods, one in the margins, one medium and one long. Whichever rod seems to get the most action, eventually all three rods end up near there. And our legendary winds keeps us from looking for bubbles. The price we pay for being able to fish all winter.

Again Josh, welcome to CAG. A better bunch of guys you'll never share the bank with.

Ditto. Buy the best you can afford and never look back. Doesn't mean you have to pay $150 or more apiece, just don't expect too much from a $10 alarm.

The puff will get soggy, but it'll stay on the hook as long as it isn't disturbed. If you pull in your rig after an hour or two, there probably wont' be a puff on it, but it most likely came off when you retrieved it. I've caught lots of fish on puffs that I swore were long gone.

Just a few pics from the Red River CAG Fish-In at Hominy, Oklahoma. A beautiful little lake and beautiful scenery. Before I forget it, a big thanks to David Moore from Big Carp Tackle for not only hosting the event but pre-baiting beforehand. And to Joshua's wife Melanie for making the Pizza run into town TWICE because we're pigs! We have a picture of Joshua demonstrating the latest Euro-style rod grip. Felt sorry for him though. Saturday morning he was sitting with Neil and I about 20 yards from his pod, which was just around the corner and over a small rise from ours. All the sudden he jumps up running because he had a screaming run. Following him over the rise, I get there just in time to see him stripping his shirt off, and in the lake he dives. I look out and sure enough, his rod is tearing off across the lake being pulled by what could only have been a huge fully-scaled linear leather mirror koi. Funny thing about his Black Phantom rods. They float! Having swam about 50 feet, he decides he's not winning this race before hypothermia sets in, so he swims back. Out in the middle of the lake his rod is still leaving a wake. About two-thirds of the way across, it stops and just starts to drift around with the wind. David got out a spare rod and almost succeeded in snagging it. That boy can cast, as the rod was almost 100 yards out. But he finally gave up as the wind made the rod drift til it pointed directly at us, impossible to snag. About 4 or 5 hours later, the rod was still there, which led me to believe the line and/or fish was snagged and couldn't go anywhere. About that time we manage to flag down someone in a boat, who is happy to take Joshua out to his rod. Sure enough, the fish is still on! After it getting free and snagged again, the line finally broke. But at least he had his rod back. We also see Neil's "Insectopod", his new 150# behemoth pod made from 1/8" plate steel. Very tarty though. Gloss black with purple accents. Also sporting the Flazjar, Faljar, Flaseree, Falgar... Those new SOLAR-POWERED bite alarms with the impossible-to-pronounce name. We also have Dave landing his 15.8# mirror and Neil hogging the spotlight. Neil's hoping the ability to catch a mirror will rub off on him. And I can't close this post without at least a couple of rod pod pics. Can't wait to do it again. Only next time maybe a little closer to the Red River! That 6 hour drive sucks.

Picture? Always love seeing those mirrors, even if not on the end of my line.