angler of the month
Our Angler of the month for July 2024 is Spencer Powell!
Spencer has been a passionate ACS member and carp angler for many years. He is a loving husband and father, whose entire family loves the outdoors and this great sport! A wonderful advocate, he’s always happy to share his passion for carp angling with others on the bank.
Big congrats to Spencer for his continued stewardship of the species and positive promotion of the sport of U.S carp fishing.
Check out Spencer’s instagram for more great fish.
NOtable captures
First off, a special shout out to Brian Santos for breaking the CT State record with the 45 lb 5 oz common that leads our gallery! Not only was this a great capture, it garnered a lot of general media coverage showing carp fishing in a very positive light. Times are changing. Great job Brian.
Depending on where you live, fishing in the summer heat for long sessions can be a real test. Shade, sunscreen, and plenty of water are mandatory. Or perhaps, now’s a good time to try night fishing if you haven’t before. Here are some other familiar and not so familiar names and catches that beat the heat and reaped the rewards in June.
We greatly appreciate all your tags and mentions, and can’t wait to see what everyone is catching in July. Don’t forget to tag us #americancarpsociety #jointheguiltyones and tag american_carp_society in your stories! Keep ‘em coming!
At the American Carp Society it’s our goal to represent the very best of U.S carp angling to the rest of the world, through all forms of media. We try to shine a spotlight on those anglers who, through their photography, angling skills, and advocacy of the sport, are changing the way carp and carp fishing is perceived in the US.
CARPology, based in the UK, is the biggest print and online carp media platform in the world, so it was a real achievement for them to run a detailed article about the ACS that highlighted several of our outstanding members. Things like this are only possible because of the great carp photography ACS members make available to the group. So a big thank you and hats off to everyone who made this possible.
Full article can be found at Born to Run - Carp Fishing in the USA.
the 2024 mill cup
It’s Back! The Premier Carp Angling Tournament of the Year brought to you by the American Carp Society - America’s Carp Angling Organization and Online Community.
Please join us November 6th – 9th for 4 days (Wednesday - Saturday) of carpy competition and camaraderie. On those dates, America’s finest carp anglers from around this great country will converge once again on Mill Creek Lake in Canton, TX for a carp fishing battle-royal in this 2-person Team Fishing Event.
Admission is $275 per angler. We will have a limit of 40 anglers (20 teams).
WE ALREADY HAVE 18 TEAMS SIGNED UP! JUST 2 TEAM SPOTS LEFT!
A Special Social event will be held at BCT’s new HQ with thousands of $$ of carp tackle to be given away, and plenty of chances of actually handle and look over all that new tackle you have your eye on. Registered anglers automatically receive 5 prize draw tickets, plus an additional ticket for every $10 spent at BCT between now and the event!
There will be Cash Prize payouts, plus section prize winners that will be updated monthly before the event.
ALL DETAILS OF THE 2024 MCC & REGISTRATION CAN BE FOUND AT THE ACC STORE!
NEW & INCREASED SPONSORSHIP
In addition to all the prizes listed on the store from brands such as Solar, Sonik, Deeper, Delkim, and BCT, we now have additional CARPY COMMANDO kit for the raffle all attendees are automatically entered into, and $500 from them for the largest mirror caught!
WEST COAST BAIT BOATS
We also have confirmation of a new BIG FISH SECTION WINNER PRIZE from WEST COAST BAIT BOATS.
The Sidekick Boat $1,650.00
This is a serious bit of kit. The Sidekick offers catamaran configuration with two hoppers in the center of the boat, and a unique third hopper in the back of the boat, which allows for an easy rig drop. Fishing with pack bait? That third hopper was built for you. Comes with the same fully integrated system as the Big Daddy Boat, with the full digital handset integrating sonar/fishfinder/GPS and optional underwater camera system. It’s fast, maneuverable, quiet, and easy to use. This boat is a great addition to any carp anglers armor.
Boat: ABS catamaran 650*440*320 mm
Weight: 5 kg
Sailing speed: 1-2 m/s
Double motor, each 4000 rpm
Loading bait weight:5 kg
Bait box: 2 hoppers separately controllable in the middle and 1 bait door in the rear with hull rig release system (magnetic release)
Auto Bait Drop. Boat autopilot to POINT and drops both hoppers and hook release, then returns HOME automatically
Boat colors: black, camo and carbon
Carry bag and tripod for handset
Optional underwater-camera
GPS: memory 900 pcs target points
Sonar: color, detect underwater depth, fish finder, max depth 30 meters
ANGLER’S INSIDER
The Angler’s Insider member newsletter will be moving to a new format in the coming months, away from the monthly publication release schedule. This is due to an increased workload for ACS staffers engaged in new projects over the summer. We greatly appreciate all the support. More details to follow!
These were a few of the more creative photos that caught our eye last month. Clearly some people have no problem seeing beauty in all aspects of being on the bank, from graffiti to fishing tackle to scale patterns on big fish and little rascals. Many thanks to:
GALLERY
Our fly members delivered the goods last month with some very cool, very golden images, plus one seriously hooped fiberglass fly rod! Check out their instagrams and give them a follow - you’ll find some really talented and inspirational accounts.
luke wilson - around the bend
What do I love about carp? Many things. To start, they are sizable, hard fighting fish. Who doesn’t love a big fish with some serious brute force behind it? There are few fish that can take an 8wt to its backing in freshwater, carp being one of them. Targeting them on the fly rod involves the challenging task of sight fishing, a unique way to pursue your target species that isn’t really all too common inland.
Carp eat a wide variety of meals, meaning you can catch them on dry flies or sinking flies, or just about any kind of fly as long as it’s part of their food source - you have a large range of flies to experiment with.
Every now and again you may catch a mirror carp, which is like hitting an unexpected jackpot that only a small amount of fisherman can say they've accomplished. But, an often overlooked aspect of carp is the widespread area these fish cover, meaning they are most likely right around the bend.
This is because these are versatile, hardy fish. They can survive the heat, and the cold. They can live in fresh clean water, and yet can still thrive in polluted urban environments. They are adaptive, which allows them to call almost any place home.
In an age where polluted waters are extremely prevalent, they are some of the few durable fish that can live in these waters. That doesn’t make them any less valuable though. Carp have taken the spot for my top fish to target because of how available they are and how exotic it feels to fly fish for them. I get to pretend I’m fishing for bones on a flat, or reds in the marsh all within minutes from my house.
Whether you're fishing in the backwoods, places untouched by man’s polluting hand, or the neighborhood creek that runs through town, and carries its runoff away, carp will be available to catch almost anywhere you go.
There are days where I get a small window at the end of the day to go fishing after all my work is done. Of course I don’t want to waste my time driving places so I like to walk to the park and fish the small creek. I am lucky enough to have that kind of water nearby, and I know that’s not always the case. But, you’d be surprised how carp can manage in even a small creek like this.
My brother met me at the park and there were some youth baseball games going on. Kids filled the multiple fields, and siblings who got sick of watching played at the playground. We passed by and got feelings of nostalgia when we looked at the fields we used to play on. It was only going to be a short trip so I wasn’t expecting much of it, but it did turn into a fun time and a well spent night.
The air was hot and sticky, the moving water felt so cooling as it passed by our feet, only reaching our shins in depth. We spotted no carp for quite some time but just being out and in the water was soothing after a hot day at work. Every now and again we'd pass by a pool deeper than normal and sit for a minute or two looking for a carp. In the meantime we’d pitch our flies into the hole and catch rock bass. Trash often was piled up along the banks, either from being washed in by the rain or tossed over the edge from the side of the road.
Keeping waters clean and healthy really is important to me, so it was a disappointing sight. We came along a part of the creek that was near some houses and Josh spotted the only carp we would catch that evening. It was a big fish though. The creek is only about fifteen to twenty feet wide at most, and besides a few holes here and there only about two feet or less on average. So when Josh layed out a decent cast, nearly stretching across the whole creek, we watched as the carp picked up his fly.
The size of the creek did not match the size of the fight in this fish. In seconds splashing ensued and the top of the fish was cutting through the surface of the water leaving an intense wake behind it. With all the commotion, one of the people who lived in the house nearby came out to look. He watched for a while as we struggled to bring in the fish. That carp managed to take out quite a bit of line despite half of its body being out of the water, and when it hit the current it began fighting even harder.
It was clear to both of us that this fish wasn't coming all the way back upstream so I ran down along the edge and waited with the net. Josh slowly brought the line in enough to match where I was downstream and persuaded it to the side so I could net it.
The man, still standing there, asked what it was. We get that quite a bit. It's not very often people go fly fishing right in town and even less common to bring something this big in, so onlookers are pretty intrigued to see what it is. The best part is the shock after they see it was a carp we landed on the fly rod. We conversed with the man standing in his yard and he had said he didn't know there were any fish that big in the creek. He usually told anyone who asked that there simply were only minnows in there. We held it up for him one last time before letting it go and continuing down the creek. He wished us good luck and we thanked him.
Reflecting on the trip now, I was disappointed in how much garbage had accumulated over the years and how much of a footprint we as people had left in that small creek. Even so, there are still spots where we stopped to take in the beauty. There was a family of ducks that tried hiding from us, and two fawns further upstream from them. Flowers still bloomed along the banks. The most eye-catching sight, in my opinion, was the tunnel from the railroad tracks over the creek. Despite all the garbage, beauty was still everywhere. I find it fitting for the carp, who are so often referred to as trash fish, but there is still beauty to be found in these fish despite the title they’ve been given.
Carp are nearly everywhere, They are in all of the lower 48 states, and almost any body of water within those states. Just look around and see what you can find. A great way to scout out a body of water is to bait fish first. That will help determine if they are carp in the body of water. If you want to fly fish for them, walk the banks and see if you can spot any. If you're looking for a great, durable fish to catch and don't know where to start, chances are they are right around the bend.
