American Carp Diary

AMERICAN FISHING HOLIDAYS ..................... NEW FEATURE ...................... PLEASE CLICK ON LINK BELOW !!!

June 2006

So, just 10 days to go before we leave.

We had an interesting chat with the airline, American Airways, about transporting all the gear and they were really helpful. Most stuff seems ok but boilies are discouraged in favour of flavourings which could make life a bit difficult as we use behavioural triggers which are hard to acquire let alone make, still, we'll get over it. If we get stopped by US customs and they open the containers it should provoke an interesting response !

The biggest shock was the parking fees to stash the vehicles for 3 weeks, need a damn mortgage to pay for it. Packing all the tackle up to avoid it being destroyed is also a problem, you know what its like, loads of personal stuff that has a mind of its own in the tackle boxes. The baggage allowance is really good though, 2 cases up to 70lbs each per person plus hand luggage of 35lb with no objection to laptops etc.

Providing we don't get seated within screaming range of the inevitable 6 year old monster that seems to be standard equipment on any long haul flight we should be ok.
More soon.
Steve

July 15th

Just over a week to go and deciding what tackle to take is a nightmare. We decided to pack the rods in bubble wrap and put them in tubes of polymer drainage pipe before placing them in the rod bags. Seems to work ok. As for the rest of the stuff we have used Fox zip ups with loads of extra pockets. Expensive but from experience at least the plastic sleeves seem stronger than most other brands. So all is well so far, mind you, I dread to think what the DEA will think of our bait liquids.

We are gradually getting some info about the venue via local tackle stores and chat lines, forums and such, but there is little help when it comes to Carp as no-one seems to fish for them. The main quarry out there appears to be Catfish, Stripeys and wide mouth Bass, in fact the Catfish record has just gone at over 92 lbs ! One guy regularly sees big Carp rising but has never managed to connect. The problem is the sheer size of the place which it is difficult to comprehend. 60,000+ acres and over 800 miles of bankside,.............. sounds more like an inland sea and we thought Loch Lomond was big !!! The surface temperature at present is 80 degrees but with around 100ft of depth in places there will obviously be plenty of variation. Air temperature is 95 degrees and rising so at least there shouldn't be any need for the usual 'all season' sleeping bags.

July 20th

Just three days to go and chaos reigns. Don't quite know why as we have made many such trips but this is the first to the States, other than general visits. Most of the tackle is now stashed and packed but we are still waiting to hear the best way of packing the baits which are in liquid form. The actual boilies can be made up on-site as things like Ground Rice and Yellow Semolina are readily available. We have e-mailed the DTI ect for advice but no-one seems willing to respond, guess we'll have to play it by ear.

The flight leaves for Raleigh at the civilised time of 1.00pm but due to the ever present terrorist precautions the check in time is three hours before. Bit of a drag but better than being blown up. To help overcome the inevitable onset of boredom we thought of doing some Cod fishing whilst over the Atlantic, you know, dangle a spinner down the toilet outlet or through one of the portholes but none of us have big enough spools so I guess its the in-flight entertainment or nothing. Probably only catch a Cornish fisherman or lone yachtsman anyway as there doesn't seem to be anything else stupid enough to be out there now days. Having battered, fried or tinned just about everything with fins the oceans seem a bit barren. Perhaps we could try frying the fishermen ......................

Many thanks to Bobby by the way, he's been really helpful regarding the Carp in Kerr lake and we hope to meet up with him whilst we're there. Carp anglers in the States are a very rare breed. My wife Jean and our daughter Kelly, (almost 18 and astonishingly sane considering the fact that she was home educated with a heavy influence from yours truly ), are also coming out. Jean asked " You won't be fishing ALL the time will you ?"

Silly woman.

Ps ................... many thanks also to Ron Martin, he has helped correct some of the information that wasn't accurate and we really look forward to having a chat with him. Local knowledge is scarce on Carp and some time spent with Ron and Bobby could be really helpful.

July 22nd and just a few hours to go

We still haven't had any response from the DTI ect re our bait liquids so I guess we'll just keep our fingers crossed. It's funny how any contact with the government, any government, seems to wane until just before an election. Mid term nobody gives a sh**.

Apart from the inevitable last minute panics everything seems ok so the first full report, photo's etc will go live in a day or so when the link appears below. Thanks for visiting Supafish.com and keep coming back to the site for updates ............... should be interesting. If you would like to contact us in the States and talk to the team direct you can email us via steve@mobileone.fsworld.co.uk, we'd be happy to respond.

Steve.

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