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CanAm Carp Cup


MJL

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In February I was asked by Hammercarp and Jeff Vaughan of the Long Sault Motel to be a part of this year’s CanAm Carp cup team. Back in 2008, the idea of a Canada VS USA carp tournament was spawned by several people – Bob Giordano and Ed Sheffield of NY and Lorne Morely (Hammercarp) and Bryn Thomas of Hamilton (who sadly is no longer with us). From 2008, the tournament has been held in Waddington, NY (2008), Dunnville, ON (2009), Ogdensburg, NY (2010) and for 2011, it would be held in Long Sault, ON. This would be the 4th year in a row I have participated in the tournament (it would also be the 4th year that my dad would join me as a runner). Last year Canada lost to the Americans so it was time for some redemption and bring the plaque home to where it belongs.

 

Back in 2008 I got to keep the plaque for a year as top Canadian in the waddington tournament

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Thursday night the competitors met at Grumpies Bar in Long Sault. I was fortunate (or unfortunate depending on how you look at it) to be pegged with American carper Dave Moore. For most anglers, Dave Moore wouldn’t pop into mind when it comes to a celebrity angler. In the carping world, he is a master of the craft and a highly seasoned tournament angler who has competed internationally in France, Romania, Hungary, Canada and across the US. He was also rated by Outdoor Life magazine as one of the top 20 anglers on the planet…I certainly had some serious work ahead of me to be competitive.

 

Outdoor Life - Dave Moore

 

Friday morning, Dave and I made our way to peg 16 in an area known to locals as the Bird Sanctuary. It’s located on a beautiful section of river with some seriously gnarly current at times. My peg also had some serious weed to deal with as well.

 

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My setup

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Dave drew first blood 3 times at our peg before I had a run

 

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I lost the first fish which got into seriously thick weeds :(

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Baiting up. 40lbs of maize, 30lbs of boilies, 20lbs of groundbait/method mix and a bunch of other baits accompanied me on this trip.

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My style of tournament fishing is all about endurance – fish steady, fish hard, wait till the competitors tire and jump all over them when they least suspect it :ninja: . Through the night I managed to catch up to Dave’s 4 fish with 9 while he was napping. Unfortunately points-wise, we were still closely matched due to the smaller average size of my fish. The good news was at that point, the other Canadian anglers were doing great and we had a big lead on the Americans

 

Morning brought a beautiful sunrise and some nice fish. Dave and I got into a double header.

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The rest of the day was quite slow with only a few fish coming out between Dave and I. We did get into a double header though

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News that the Americans were catching up fast in the points was a little nerve racking. Would they come back from behind like how we Canadian’s did in 2008?

 

For the most part, the only way I could land fish was to wade out up past my waist and winch them out of the thick weeds that lined the deep channel drop-off.

 

Cautiously wading in the dark to find out how close I can get to the weeds. There was an annoying hatch of tiny white mayflies going on.

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Through the night I managed 3 carp and 2 channel cats (one of which was around 8lbs...Who knew catfish liked peanuts :dunno: . Dave skunked during the night on carp and landed 3 channel cats. Channel cats don’t count for this tourney.

 

In the morning I had the edge over Dave in the points. I widened the margin with a few extra fish. That Buff headwear scarf thing saved the skin of my face from the sun all weekend – No more sunscreen in the eyes anymore :thumbsup_anim:...With that said, I probably wouldn’t walk into a convenience store or a gas station booth wearing one.

 

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After 52 straight hours of fishing, the tournament ended. In the end, we got the news at Grumpies Bar that the Canadians just dominated :thumbsup_anim:. Canadians caught 174 fish (for 338 points) to USA’s total of 116 fish (for 224 points). Quite tired from having slept 15mins over 52 hours, but it was worth it. I didn’t make it in the top places this year with my 19 fish (the winner got 33 and the top 6 caught over 24 fish), but I did win an awesome rod bag in a raffle...I also beat Dave in terms of points which was so sweet after receiving some friendly smack-talk Thursday night :D. So far Canada has now won the event 3 times to their 1.

 

Team Canada photo

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A big thanks goes out to Jeff Vaughan for organizing and donating prizes. Simon Stewart of Carp Kit International and Len Perdic also donated amazing prizes as well. My dad has been my runner for 4 straight years and does all the things I don’t want to do while I’m fishing (like cooking breakfast, lunch and dinner, running to the tackle shop for more stuff and driving me home when it’s all done). Couldn’t have done it without him.

 

Some other pictures

 

Len Perdic and Bob Giordano were in peg 15 next to Dave and I.

 

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Raccoons were up to no good. They actually jumped into Bob’s Jeep and stole his Kiwis and Pop tarts

 

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Len is one of the carp consultants for Shimano Canada (He’s also been a guest on Bob Izumi’s Real Fishing Show and Fishin Canada with Pete Bowman). He gets to play with some VERY expensive toys.

 

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Hope you enjoyed

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Yep...When it comes to carp Mike...you da man...Great report !!!

 

Too bad Lindsay didn't produce the day we fished there but it was a day you could have used that face mask...I had to leave early as I was getting woozie from the sun...

 

See ya on the water Mate...

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That is truly hardcore, 52 hours straight!

 

Awesome work for your contribution to Team Canada's Carp win MJL, great team photo as well :)

 

The gentleman in the center of the team photo with the white t-shirt (Roger H) was the person who introduced me to Euro-style Carp fishing. I'll never forget my first time, and it was at Long Sault where the Carp addiction began. I'm glad to see he's still competing, and looking good for an old fart! thumbsup_anim.gif

 

Always enjoy your reports MJL, especially of these golden beasts from the St Lawrence.

 

Tony

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