Post by yihunt on Aug 17, 2009 13:17:13 GMT -4
gaining ground in United States
Buzz up!By Bob Frye, TRIBUNE-REVIEW OUTDOORS
The Forrest Wood Cup bass fishing tournament that recently was staged in Pittsburgh might be considered a series of short sprints.
Anglers launched at 7 a.m. each day, raced upriver — literally, in boats powered by 225 horsepower or bigger engines — fished hard for a few hours, then raced back by 3 p.m. to make the weigh-ins.
It was hectic, high-intensity, explosive angling.
That's not what Chris Jackson does.
He, too, competes against some of the best anglers in the world, using very specialized equipment — like 12- to 15-foot rods — in tournaments that stretch over multiple days.
But where the bass boys dash, he grinds.
Jackson, who lives in Hopwood, competes in carp fishing tournaments. They're the ultra-marathons of the competitive angling world, requiring anglers to stay awake and fish for as many as 50 or 72 hours straight.
"You have to really love it to tournament fish for carp," Jackson said.
He does, and he's got the wins to prove it. Most recently, Jackson, fishing with his cousin and fishing partner, Paul Jackson of Beckley, W.Va., took first place at the fourth annual St. Lawrence International Carp Challenge in July on the St. Lawrence River in New York.
Chris Jackson won it last year, too, albeit with a different partner.
It took a massive amount of fish to claim victory in both cases. Whereas Greg Hackney won the Forrest Wood Cup with less than 30 pounds of bass, the Jacksons won the Challenge with 996 pounds of carp.
And that was down significantly from a year ago. In 2008, Chris Jackson and a different partner needed 1,886 pounds, 10 ounces of fish in 72 hours to win.
Amazing as it sounds, that's not an unusually high figure, given that staying in contention in any carp tournament means landing lots of big fish, said Paul Jackson.
"You can get some really big carp, ones that might go 30 pounds or more, but you've got to be consistent in catching fish in the 10- to 20-pound range," he said.
"Sometimes, the fish move in. Sometimes, they move out. Sometimes, they go deep. Sometimes, they go shallow. You just have to figure out where they are and catch as many of them as you can before they're gone."
Anglers can't move around in a carp tournament — they draw for particular spots along shore, then fish from that one place — so they have to bring the carp to them, Chris Jackson said. That means chumming the water with enough bait — sometimes 300 pounds over three days — to draw in fish that graze like cows.
But if all goes right, the fishing can be dynamic.
"There have been times when I've had 15 or 20 fish in sacks in the water waiting to be weighed, and another two or three fish on the line. And they're all just so strong the way they run," Chris Jackson said. "It gets crazy."
Comparatively few people realize that, though.
In this country, where bass are king, the Forrest Wood Cup pays out up to $1 million to its winner, who is crowned in an arena in front of thousands of fans and amidst confetti showers and laser light shows.
The winners of carp tournaments in Europe, where the fish have long been a sensation, get similar amounts of attention. But that's not the case here, and the tournaments reflect that. The Carp Challenge paid $10,000 to the winners in a ceremony held in a local park.
That's why someone as accomplished as Chris Jackson can go so unnoticed.
"He's been interviewed by magazines from Europe and been on TV because carp fishing is such a big deal over there, but nobody local has been paying attention," said his boss, Phil Mahoney, director of the street department for the City of Uniontown.
That's slowly changing, Paul Jackson said.
Whereas there was one big-time carp tournament in the United States five years ago, there are now eight or 10.
"It's growing, it's growing," he said. "It's still not as big as other kinds of tournament fishing, but people are learning. People are coming around."
Chris Jackson agreed. It may be some time before competitive carp anglers are accorded the star status bass professionals get, and it may take a long while yet before tournament prizes reach even the $100,000 common in some European events.
But he'll have lots of fun catching carp in the meantime.
"It's a different kind of fishing, but I really love it," he said. "There's nothing else like it, really."
Trophy fish hooked Jackson's interest
Ask Chris and Paul Jackson separately how they got into competitive carp fishing and they tell the same story.
They were fishing Seghi's Five Lakes, a pay-lake operation in Smithfield, when Chris hooked a 21-pound carp. That won him the week's competition for the heaviest carp and, with it, $300.
"I brought it in and (Paul) went into the water and scooped it up and carried it to the bank," Chris Jackson said. "For a kid, that $300 was something. After that day, I just loved it."
"He's been fishing for carp ever since," said Paul Jackson. "Eventually, I came around and we've doing pretty good."
Their next big goal is to win the Carp Angling World Championship when it's held on the St. Lawrence River in 2011. That event has traditionally drawn teams from the United States, England, France, Holland, Germany, Russia, Poland, Czech Republic, Hungary, Canada, South Africa, Romania, Japan, Ukraine and Bosnia.
Buzz up!By Bob Frye, TRIBUNE-REVIEW OUTDOORS
The Forrest Wood Cup bass fishing tournament that recently was staged in Pittsburgh might be considered a series of short sprints.
Anglers launched at 7 a.m. each day, raced upriver — literally, in boats powered by 225 horsepower or bigger engines — fished hard for a few hours, then raced back by 3 p.m. to make the weigh-ins.
It was hectic, high-intensity, explosive angling.
That's not what Chris Jackson does.
He, too, competes against some of the best anglers in the world, using very specialized equipment — like 12- to 15-foot rods — in tournaments that stretch over multiple days.
But where the bass boys dash, he grinds.
Jackson, who lives in Hopwood, competes in carp fishing tournaments. They're the ultra-marathons of the competitive angling world, requiring anglers to stay awake and fish for as many as 50 or 72 hours straight.
"You have to really love it to tournament fish for carp," Jackson said.
He does, and he's got the wins to prove it. Most recently, Jackson, fishing with his cousin and fishing partner, Paul Jackson of Beckley, W.Va., took first place at the fourth annual St. Lawrence International Carp Challenge in July on the St. Lawrence River in New York.
Chris Jackson won it last year, too, albeit with a different partner.
It took a massive amount of fish to claim victory in both cases. Whereas Greg Hackney won the Forrest Wood Cup with less than 30 pounds of bass, the Jacksons won the Challenge with 996 pounds of carp.
And that was down significantly from a year ago. In 2008, Chris Jackson and a different partner needed 1,886 pounds, 10 ounces of fish in 72 hours to win.
Amazing as it sounds, that's not an unusually high figure, given that staying in contention in any carp tournament means landing lots of big fish, said Paul Jackson.
"You can get some really big carp, ones that might go 30 pounds or more, but you've got to be consistent in catching fish in the 10- to 20-pound range," he said.
"Sometimes, the fish move in. Sometimes, they move out. Sometimes, they go deep. Sometimes, they go shallow. You just have to figure out where they are and catch as many of them as you can before they're gone."
Anglers can't move around in a carp tournament — they draw for particular spots along shore, then fish from that one place — so they have to bring the carp to them, Chris Jackson said. That means chumming the water with enough bait — sometimes 300 pounds over three days — to draw in fish that graze like cows.
But if all goes right, the fishing can be dynamic.
"There have been times when I've had 15 or 20 fish in sacks in the water waiting to be weighed, and another two or three fish on the line. And they're all just so strong the way they run," Chris Jackson said. "It gets crazy."
Comparatively few people realize that, though.
In this country, where bass are king, the Forrest Wood Cup pays out up to $1 million to its winner, who is crowned in an arena in front of thousands of fans and amidst confetti showers and laser light shows.
The winners of carp tournaments in Europe, where the fish have long been a sensation, get similar amounts of attention. But that's not the case here, and the tournaments reflect that. The Carp Challenge paid $10,000 to the winners in a ceremony held in a local park.
That's why someone as accomplished as Chris Jackson can go so unnoticed.
"He's been interviewed by magazines from Europe and been on TV because carp fishing is such a big deal over there, but nobody local has been paying attention," said his boss, Phil Mahoney, director of the street department for the City of Uniontown.
That's slowly changing, Paul Jackson said.
Whereas there was one big-time carp tournament in the United States five years ago, there are now eight or 10.
"It's growing, it's growing," he said. "It's still not as big as other kinds of tournament fishing, but people are learning. People are coming around."
Chris Jackson agreed. It may be some time before competitive carp anglers are accorded the star status bass professionals get, and it may take a long while yet before tournament prizes reach even the $100,000 common in some European events.
But he'll have lots of fun catching carp in the meantime.
"It's a different kind of fishing, but I really love it," he said. "There's nothing else like it, really."
Trophy fish hooked Jackson's interest
Ask Chris and Paul Jackson separately how they got into competitive carp fishing and they tell the same story.
They were fishing Seghi's Five Lakes, a pay-lake operation in Smithfield, when Chris hooked a 21-pound carp. That won him the week's competition for the heaviest carp and, with it, $300.
"I brought it in and (Paul) went into the water and scooped it up and carried it to the bank," Chris Jackson said. "For a kid, that $300 was something. After that day, I just loved it."
"He's been fishing for carp ever since," said Paul Jackson. "Eventually, I came around and we've doing pretty good."
Their next big goal is to win the Carp Angling World Championship when it's held on the St. Lawrence River in 2011. That event has traditionally drawn teams from the United States, England, France, Holland, Germany, Russia, Poland, Czech Republic, Hungary, Canada, South Africa, Romania, Japan, Ukraine and Bosnia.