tyler kross

Our angler of the month for January 2022 is young Tyler Kross, from Staten Island, New York! Introduced into the sport by his dad, Glenn, Tyler has quickly become addicted to the rush of the Carp and it has quickly become his target species. As most anglers will tell you, the thrill of catching another species, after hooking into your first decent size Carp as a youngster can diminish somewhat, but Tyler is still an all-around angler and is fascinated by all of the species that he pursues. He tries to spend as much time with his dad by the bank as he can…and it looks like Glenn has a fine young angler addicted to the sport!

Well done to both Glenn and Tyler on this wonderful Father/Son combination. You can check out Tyler’s Insta page here: @tyler_catches

Keep up the great work on the bank guys and continue to spread the American Carp Society message!

a young man’s love of carp fishing

I would tell myself, “Just stop thinking, Glenn, you have a big day tomorrow; just close your eyes and get to bed.” It was like the night before Christmas before every offshore fishing trip. But, like most anglers desperately searching for that trophy fish or the adrenalin that comes with it, I would always struggle to sleep the night before due to my excitement level. Whether landing a giant Bluefin Tuna or losing one 10’ below, I enjoyed all of the thrills, good or bad, and couldn’t get enough of it. I was part of a group of anglers that targeted large Tuna and other pelagic on light tackle for many years. Fast forward 15 years and those feelings are still there, but instead of me being the leading angler, I am now the mentor to my youngest son Tyler, and instead of chasing Tuna, we are chasing Carp.

Not much has changed, I still lay awake the night before a trip, but now all I can think about is making my son Tyler smile ear to ear on our next adventure. Tyler is my third and youngest son, and he is obsessed with Carp fishing. He is a gentle soul, which is perfect for Carp fishing as he is very engaged in taking proper care of the fish and releasing them happy and unharmed. On most occasions, you can hear him saying “goodbye Carp, see you again soon,” as he releases them. Tyler is only seven years old and although you may not notice it, he is also special needs. However, this small detail doesn’t stop him from excelling in the sport he loves like his brothers and father before him. Unlike other sports like football, wrestling, or lacrosse, fishing rewards those who put in the time, and it rewards anglers with great technique regardless of stature or athletic ability. Like most other children on the spectrum, Tyler struggled with eye contact, communicating, and even taking simple photos at an early age, but that’s all changed now. His mother and I have always pushed him to achieve his highest potential in everything he does, and the results have been amazing.

Fishing has helped him in countless ways. he is much more inquisitive as I involve him in unboxing gear, spooling reels, packing, making rigs and baiting. He asks questions about everything we do. We find new swims on google earth together while we plan the next new adventure. Instead of shying away from photographs, he now requests pictures with every fish proudly showing his excitement. His confidence level has grown exponentially, so much that he now lips large catfish and bass by had, along with holding Carp half his weight. Carp fishing has given us an outlet to expand this horizon without judgment; it also gives him a platform to work hard for something. It has taught him how to deal with life’s unexpected challenges, adversity, and disappointments head-on, which is a challenge for all children. I discovered that he loves to travel and explore new places through our Carp fishing adventures. Most of all, Carp fishing has given me another way to spend real quality time with my son and share a passion that will create a lifetime of memories for him.

Getting a young angler into this sport requires attention to detail on gear, as the process must be enjoyable. Many people ask me how a 7-year-old boy who barely weighs 46 pounds can catch these hard-fighting fish all by himself with no help. We work diligently on proper angling techniques coupled with utilizing advancements in gear. Instead of making hims struggle with typical 9’-12’ Carp rods, I bought him a whole set up of Nash 6’ 2 lb. T.C. Dwarf Stalking Rods. These rods are perfect for his height and allow him to fight fish using proper leverage. We also use Diana Black Widow reels as they are light and help get the maximum amount of line gained per crank. Utilizing a rod pod with bite alarms allows to hear the bite and react quicker than visually seeing or feeling the bite. There is nothing like watching him run back to the rods excited as the alarm screams. Passing the time between bites is easy because Tyler is incredibly patient; he would be happy just collecting rocks, exploring the area, or hanging out in a chair with dad while we wait. In his words, he loves fishing for Carp because “they are super big, they pull hard and are friendly” because they don’t have teeth, so he loves holding them. In my opinion, they are the freshwater, the ultimate fighter.

We have learned a lot through trial and error, especially about locations, while having a lot of fun along the way. We are lucky to live in the NY/NJ region, so we have a plethora of significant waterways like the Delaware River, which offer us the best chance at larger trophy fish. From a baiting perspective, we utilize everything from boils, pop-ups, tiger nuts, corn, and artificials, depending on where we are fishing. We are fishing pack baits in some locations and PVA bags and sticks in others. We spend a lot of time online learning from this great community to help maximize our success rate as there is no shortage of content. We hope to travel this year to do some tournaments together, constantly pushing the envelope and expanding our horizons. As he would say, he wants to catch a “huge” carp, so we are trying to get him a 30 pounder one day soon. To his credit, Tyler has been very successful with several Carp in the 20-pound range, including a gorgeous 17.5 Mirror, a beautiful Ghost Carp, a 21 pound Common, a 19 pound Channel Cat, and even a once in a lifetime 6.4 pound Largemouth Bass. He says he wants his own fishing show one day and who am I to tell him any different. Shoot for the stars.

It’s funny how life works; all this time, I thought I was just teaching him how to fish until I realized he was teaching me how valuable these tiny moments are in today’s crazy world. He is my hero, and I am more proud of him than words could explain. There is no better time than being on the banks catching Carp with my son.

Tight lines, well wishes, and Happy Holidays.

Glen & Tyler

Give him a follow on instagram: @tyler_catches

The sharp end : DON LOW

Carp are cold blooded. When the water cools down so does their metabolism. They eat less and move much more slowly. Often just halfheartedly picking up a bait instead of taking it with gusto and moving off positively, which means it’s more important than ever to ensure your hooks are very sharp.

Not all hooks are created equal, and I’m not just talking about differences between patterns or brands here. Even within the same packet there will be good hooks and bad ones. Out of that packet of 10 you just opened I’ll bet at least one is nowhere near as sharp, more likely 2 or 3. I test every hook in the lower part of my thumb. It needs to go in easily and if I shake my hand it needs to stay there. If it feels blunt or shakes loose then it will be either thrown out or, if it’s close but not quite there, I will sharpen it.

To be honest I’m not a huge fan of hand sharpening hooks. I think you can easily go too far and ruin a good hook. I prefer to ensure that I use the best ones straight out of the bag, and this is my tip for this month, but… if a hook is close to good enough and just needs touching up, or has become blunt during a session, then I will use a vice and file.

The vice I use is actually a wire twisting one from eBay, which costs about $5. The file is also a cheaper version. You can find them in Walmart. My eye glass is again a cheap jeweler’s version from eBay or Amazon. No point investing in top end gear if I rarely use it. In my opinion it’s more about technique than tools anyway.

Having the vice and eye glass makes all the difference. You won’t accurately sharpen a hook holding it in your fingers! There are plenty of YouTube videos on the techniques needed to sharpen hooks effectively and safely, so I won’t go into detail here, but the main principal is you’re looking to sharpen without shortening the overall length of the point. Curve shank hooks are the hardest to work with because you will tend to hit the eye as well as the point, so get some practice in with chod hooks or wide gaps first.

socal social events february 25th & 26th

ACS Tournaments Director, Richard Cervantes will be hosting the first ACS social for 2022 in Southern California. Richard puts on some incredible events for us and a good time is always had by all! Come down and meet some old friends…and make some new ones as well! Please contact Richard directly for all of the details. We know you will have an incredible time!

new membership kits

The new 2022 Membership kits are now being sent out to both our renewing and NEW 2022 MEMBERS! Featuring the new unreleased DESERT FRUIT™ flavor samples, new ACS Beanie, ACS Ring Swivels, ACS Pop-UP Corn, ACS Talon Hooks, as well as boil stops and the new 2022 sticker pack! Keep an eye out in the mail for yours that will be sent out on your annual renewal date…or immediately if you are a NEW MEMBER!

Don’t forget to tell your friends Bankside to join the movement and to tag us with #americancarpsociety and #jointheguiltyones and tag american_carp_society in your stories!

new desert fruit flavor

The new ‘Desert Fruit™’ flavor of ACS products is now available for our members! The entire range of Sprays, Glugs, Tigers, Boosted Baits are now available on the store and soon to follow will be the new Boilie range as well.

DESERT FRUIT™ is a highly flavorful citrus ester blend that we have been working on behind the scenes throughout 2021. Featuring some traditional notes, that will be quite familiar to the Carp angler, Desert Fruit also contains a special combination of flavors that has enabled us to combine a unique blend of citrus notes and overtones, full of amino acids, esters and naturally occurring stimulants for the fish’s daily nutritional requirements.

Whether used as a spray directly for your hook baits or a combination slug (One Shot)/Method mix enhancer, we know that it will be a staple each year for many Carp anglers here in the USA! Exclusively available to our members for the first quarter of 2022!

Congrats to our very own Richard Cervantes on what turned out to be a very special session on a recent visit to Texas to fish with Cesar Espinoza. The session featured a number of PB’s for Richard including a wonderful Smallmouth Buffalo.

If you want to catch up with all of the fish caught, take a look at the latest Youtube video below…Big congrats again to both Richard and Cesar for what ended up being a special session!