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A sample of the advertising flyer for the beginning carping seminar conducted by Andy and his carp fishing buddy, Drew.
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An article in the Detroit Free Press describes a May 2009 carp fishing weeking in Saginaw. Contact ERIC SHARP: 313-222-2511 or esharp@freepress.com.
Despite Poor Weather, Carp Anglers Prevail
by Eric Sharp * Free Press Columnist * May 7, 2009
SAGINAW -- Fishing tournament venues can be a lot like children. Just when you want them to amaze visitors with their charm, they act up. It happened last weekend when rain and a cold front with 20-30 knot winds put a damper on the first Major League Carp Tournament on the
Still, 31 teams of anglers from around the country fished for 39 hours straight and pulled off what tournament director Mark Reece of Suffield, Ohio, said was "an event that had everything--controversy, drama, challenge and huge fish."
Each team paid $400 to enter the Major League event, held along a 2-mile stretch of the southeast bank of the Saginaw downstream from the Zilwakee Bridge on I-75.
Fish under 10 pounds didn't count; the teams counted the top four fish caught, and the winning team prize was $5,000.
Anglers drew lots for swims -- 20-yard-long chunks of shoreline from which they were required to fish -- and the teams stayed at those swims night and day from 6pm Friday until 9am Sunday, cooking on camp stoves and taking turns sleeping in tents.
The swims were spray-painted on the road shoulder in flourescent orange, and cars passing on State Road 13 often slowed to stare at the competitors camped out along the shoreline.
The high water and wind upset the game plan that Drew Gadd of Farmington Hills and Andy Solomon of Pinckney had worked out beforehand. They had fished the Saginaw River Numerous times.
"But the river being up so high has srewed up everything," Gadd said. "It's really made it the same for everybody, and local knowledge isn't helping. The current is so fast you can't keep a lead (sinker) on the bottom in front of our swim. I threw a bait out with a 4-ounce sinker and it rolled down the river.
Accents were evidence of anglers' birthplaces in Great Britain or Europe, where carp are among the most revered of game fish and anglilng for them is a fine art.
Two expatriate Polish carpers, Marcin Szydlowski and Adam Holodok from Chicago, drew one of the worst swims, exposed to wind and current, and were almost fishless until the wind dropped after dark on the final night.
"Then the rest of the river shut down, and their swim turned on. They were catching a carp every 3 minutes all night long. People were lined up behind them to watch," Reece said.
Szydlowski and Holodok earned the $5,000 first prize with four carp that totaled 95 pounds, 15 ounces.
Tom Falaszewski and Greg Zaliszewski, also Poles from Chicago, were second at 94 pounds, 2 ounces and wond a set of Sonic SK III specialized carp rods worth about $600 from Wacker Baits of Chicago and U.S. Carp Pro magazine. Frank Rink of Bolingbrook, Ill., won the $1,500 prize for the largest fish by landing a 37-pound, 2-ounce golden torpedo that was his personal best by nearly 10 pounds. He and partner Mike Olinger of Plainfield, Ill., finished third with a total of 88 pounds, 5 ounces.
Reece, an English immigant who started the Major League circuit with Ray Corcoran of Fredericktown, Pa., thinks there is an enormous potential for tournament carp fishing throughout North America, which has some of the biggest carp in the world. "This is going to grow big in America eventually," he said.
Most anglers in the Saginaw event were using 12-13 foot European carp rods that cost $300 - $600 and specialized carp tackle such as rod pods to support the fishing rods and electronic bite alarms that let out a screech when an angler got a bite and the fish ran with the bait.
"But you don't have to spend that much to get started. You can buy a pretty good rod for $100, and all of the specialized tackle and baits are available now from a bunch of Internet suppliers in this country," Corcoran said. "You can set yourself up as a tournament carp angler for $500 - $1,000. That's a big difference from spending $50,000 for a bass or walleye boat."
http://www.freep.com/article/20090507/SPORTS10/905070681/
