Gerald Lee
Our angler of the month for July is Gerald Lee, from Ogden, Utah! One of the USA’s foremost Carp on the Fly Anglers, he can often be found catching beautiful mirrors along with his trusty dog Sage, in some of the coolest untapped remote lakes found in the USA today.
Gerald is a passionate angler and advocate of the species and has one of the most creative insta feeds we have come across. We are bias though, as Sage is featured prominently in many of his shots and we gotta say…we do love that dog! If you love mirrors or have an interest in catching our beloved species on the fly, it’s a must see!
Michael Miller
Michael Miller, American Carp Society Member and passionate angler for both Carp and Buff, has had a spellbinding month on his travels ticking off boxes in all three…Common, Mirror and Fantail! Congrats bro on your captures this past month…thanks so much for all of the tags and support!
We saw this shot and it just floored us! Everything about it works…the gold and blue colors that grab your attention are both offset by the focus on the scales on the back of the fish…a perfect composition captured by American Carp Society member Tyson Vineyard. Awesome job bro! A few special flies coming your way!
NOTABLE CAPTURES
June was a banner month for many of our members across the USA. With the Summer now officially upon us, we are seeing some glorious fish being captured. These photos below certainly caught our attention in the month of June. Congratulations to everyone on the success of their angling sessions this past month…We appreciate all of your tags and mentions, and can’t wait to see what everyone is catching over this next month! Don’t forget to tag us #americancarpsociety #jointheguiltyones.
THE 2021 MILL CREEK CUP
We will be hosting the 2021 Mill Creek Cup again this year in Canton, Texas from November 4th - 7th. Registration will be limited to 20 teams (40 anglers total) and details will go live Friday July 9th on the website and store.
American Carp Society members will have an exclusive time period to sign up before slots are open to the general public.
This year will see $3,000.00 in cash prizes as well as a set of ACS MK 3 rods for the biggest fish caught ($1,000.00 value). A complete set of American Carper Volumes 1-3 ($195 value) will be awarded for both the largest mirror and also the most unique fish, as judged by the ACS judges.
Each contestant will receive the following:
NEW UNRELEASED 2022 bait flavor package from the Barnaby’s Revenge bait range consisting of Boilies, Tigernuts and Spray.
American Carper Products: New Talon hooks, Sinking Grubs and Pop-Up Corn.
The Mill Creek Book.
ACS Leather Coaster.
ACS set of the ‘Old Skool’ DVD’s - ‘Town Lake’ and ‘Carp Angling 101’.
Exclusive set of stickers from our friends at Monkey Climber Magazine.
Other exclusive items to be announced!
More details will follow, but mark your calendars as this will be the US Carp Angling event of the year! We are looking forward to seeing everyone!
premier angler
Check out the latest feature from Wayne Boon and The American Carp Society on the Premier Angler Website: Using Poly Vinyl Alcohol (PVA) to Catch Carp
Shining a spotlight on PVA bags, mesh and their utilization in the world of carp angling, Wayne takes a look at this environmentally friendly product that is perfect to present a bait for those shy fish.
We see more enquiries and thoughtful questions from new anglers getting into the sport from this outreach that we are doing with traditional fishing sites and outlets. If you have a local store, news channel or fishing site that needs information on the species, don’t hesitate to reach out to us so that we can help educate the masses!
carp slam
Registration for CARP SLAM XV is now open! Amateur competitors, “Slamateurs,” compete in fundraising efforts to benefit the Denver South Platte River, then spend the day teamed up with a pro, targeting Carp on the fly in Colorado’s premier Carp on the fly tournament!
We are working closely with our friends at Denver Trout Unlimited to bring some more exposure to the great “Carp Slam’ Fly Fishing tournament that takes place later this year.
We are happy to announce that The American Carp Society will once again help to sponsor the event and bring awareness to the cause through raising funds…and we have some very cool prizes for those that contribute!
We are happy to announce that anyone who donates to this year’s CARP SLAM campaign will automatically be entered to win one of three prize packs for this year’s fundraiser raffle! Prizes include a custom, handcrafted leather American Carp Society fly wallet, containing Carp flies tied by Master Spanish fly angler Javier Pena, an Urban Anglers USA swag bag prize pack (Racket net, UA hat, UA logo shirt & UA artist edition CARP shirt) AND a CUSTOM ink drawing from American Carp Society member & Carp Slam XV competitor, Sunny Sundgaard! Sunny is a very talented sketch artist who designed the UA CARP shirt and contributed illustrations to this year’s Carp Slam XV. He will work directly with the winner to illustrate a carp/fish/pet image of their choice! Every donation of $25 or more is an additional entry to win. ($100 = 4 entries, etc.)
Simply click on the button below to donate and automatically be entered for the raffle! Please share this link on your social media pages and with your friends and fellow anglers. It’s a great cause!
semi running setup by: DON LOW
I wanted to talk about a semi running setup that I often use in my fishing as I use braided mainline and inline leads with some form of leader. The leader protects the carp from the mainline which can easily damage the fish’s flanks. If I’m fishing a running water, which means tightening down to the lead, then I use fluorocarbon as the leader material. Leadcore or lead-free leaders are too conspicuous for my liking in this situation. This, however, creates a potential issue and that’s joining the leader to the mainline with a reliable knot.
Maybe it’s me, but joining thin braided mainline to thick fluorocarbon with a grinner or uni-knot isn’t easy to tie and often falls when put under pressure.
My solution, and part of this month’s tip, is to use a figure of eight loop-to-loop knot. This is ultra reliable and allows for leaders to be very quickly changed. I use this method for all leaders now, and I can go from a river setup to a pond setup, like a chod rig or heli-leader with lead core or lead-free material in seconds.
The issue with the figure of eight loop is that the knot is very bulky on a fluorocarbon leader, and that can prevent the lead from passing safely over the knot in the event of breaking off. None of us should be fishing with an unsafe rig or lead setup. To counter the problem, I started to use my inline leads semi running. Tadpole beads are used in place of the lead’s insert.
There’s enough resistance to maintain a bolt effect, but it’s completely safe. The hole in the lead is plenty big enough to pass over the knot. An added benefit that I’ve found is it also provides instant bite detection, even from small catfish or other nuisances that can sometimes remain hooked but with little or no indication. Give it a try!
NOTABLE CAPTURES
June was a banner month for many of our carp on the fly members across the USA. With the Summer now officially upon us, we are seeing some glorious fish being captured. These photos below certainly caught our attention in the month of June. Congratulations to everyone on the success of their angling sessions this past month…We appreciate all of your tags and mentions, and can’t wait to see what everyone is catching over the next month! Don’t forget to tag us and spread the word! #americancarpsociety #jointheguiltyones
fly material spotlight: mini marabou
BY: BRANDON TOURIGNY
For those of you already struck with the fly tying sickness this may be no surprise to you, but for those of you new to the art I wanted to call out a material all carp tiers need, mini marabou. Mini marabou are the small under feathers on a chicken that act as the birds insulation. The smaller nature of these feathers, and fuzzy texture they posses makes them perfect for tying small aquatic insect patterns.
When tying small carp flies that imitate baby crayfish or damsel flies this material is a must. I personally discovered mini marabou when learning to tie the fly, the DamCraw. What attracted me to the material was the barred/rusty color I had found at my local fly shop. It perfectly matched the color of the local crayfish I was trying to imitate. It also was the perfect size to tie a small fly pattern with, without adding excess bulk to the fly. When left to sit in the water the material has a very fluid, yet subtle action, which creates the realistic look of a stationary crayfish making small movements to its claws, antennas, and legs.
I personally like the mini marabou distributed by the Montana Fly Co. in the colors sculpin olive and burnt orange. Use the olive colors for your lighter water flies that imitate damsel flies, and the burnt orange works well crayfish for imitations. Other fly patterns I recommend Mini Marabou for would be the Backstabber, Bellycrawler, and Carp Bitter. You can buy mini marabou on a number of online retailers, or at your local fly shop!
2021 Membership t
We are happy to announce that the design of the American Carp Society 2021 ‘Members Only’ T-shirt is now complete and will be available for pre-orders on the store Monday July 12th.
These olive double spun, soft cotton T-shirts are of the highest quality and are sure to be a members favorite in the years ahead. This is the very first T-shirt to feature ‘Barnaby’, our beloved mascot (and subtle message to all of those that don’t share our philosophy) on the back of the shirt with the ‘Guilty…’ wording and features our classic ‘American Carp Society’ Logo on the chest.
These T-shirts will be available only to our members to pre-order for the month of July. There will be no re-runs of this T!
american carper products new releases
HOOKS
We will be adding some select patterns to the already popular K9 American Carper Products hook range July 29th. Introducing Curveshank, Talon and Choddy to the family, we have personally strength tested these hooks against all commercial brands available on the market today…and the results were quite eye-opening! Many commercial brand hooks snap at pressure and some of the most well known brands didn’t hold up well at all. Suffice to say that we are extremely happy with the results of our hooks and feel confident when comparing the costing and quality against others…that the results will be obvious to the US angler as well. Available in Size 4 and 6 only, we have opted to focus on fewer patterns and sizes in order to cover all presentations of a rig needed in the modern world. Razor sharp straight out of the packet, we are confident that you will find a pattern here for every rig presentation that you could ever think of!
NEW CARP FLIES
July 15th will see the release of a number of new flies on the ACS store. Spanish Carp on the Fly Angler and good friend of the American Carp Society, Javier Pena, has kindly sent us some of his hand crafted carp flies for the US market. With 8 patterns in total, we know that you will find something for your local water that will turn that monster’s head!
American Carp Society member Josh Rock and his dad at Fin Feeder Flies have been tying some nymphs that have been taking their local waters apart…We managed to grab a few for the store…they will be in limited quantities.
Here are our youngest stars for the month of June! Congrats to all that got out there and wet a line with their families this past month! Encouraging your children to spend time by the water’s edge will be so very rewarding…Something to rest their minds from the technologies of today and to help encourage them to explore their imagination and wonder…create some magic for their future!
If you have a youngster that’s passionate about Carp fishing here in the USA, don’t forget to tag us #americancarpsociety and #jointheguiltyones for a chance to be featured in the Angler’s Insider!
pva
We released our new ACS Products PVA this month and can’t thank you enough for your support already! This all-weather hexamesh PVA is perfect for attracting those shy fish with a perfectly presented hook bait and table of free offerings. Now available on the store!
on sale!
We are having a sale for Summer on our ACS GUILTY OLIVE PAISLEY MESH TRUCKER HAT from $21.95 to $18.95…
And also on our ACS HOORAGS from $16.99 - $14.99. With just a few left….these will go fast!
