Showtime

It's that time of the year.  I've already been off and running with my winter seminars on striper and carp fishing. Next week brings me to the first big outdoor show of the season, the New England Fishing Expo in Boxborough, MA, right off Rt. 495. This show, located at the Boxboro Regency runs from Friday., Jan. 25 to Sunday, Jan. 27.  This is one of those up and coming shows that seems to get better and bigger every year. It has loads of booths and vendors about every type of fishing from fly fishing to freshwater bass to saltwater fishing and more.  This show also features an all star seminar line-up of some of the very best fishermen in the Northeast.
I will be there on both Saturday and Sunday.  On Saturday I will be running my new striper show of 2019 called "Stripers on Artificials". This will take place at 5:00 PM.  On Sunday I will run my new carp fishing show called "Understanding Carp Fishing". It will take place at 11:00 AM.
Hope to see many of you at the show. What better way to cure the winter doldrums than to attend one of these big shows.  And, by the way, this one includes free parking!
For more information, visit the website, https://nefishingexpo.com/

Photo of the Day.....Good Size Mirror on Artificial Corn

I landed this good size mirror on this chilly January day.  The fish feel
for just one kernel of white, artificial corn fished on the
hair rig (sticking out of the fish's mouth).

RI CAGers Clean Up in FFF Tournament

This was the most successful FFF (First Fishing Folly) tournament, held on Jan. 1, that I can ever remember for our RI CAG members. Five RI members scored in the "prize" categories, a fantastic result from our guys. Considering there were 83 carpers from all over the country out fishing on Jan 1 and competing, we did fantastic.
Here is a rundown of the winners:
Bob White had a 7th place Hall of Fame fish that was landed at 5:49 AM.  Bob joined 12 other fishermen who landed a fish before 6:00 AM on Jan. 1!
Sean Reed, our big winner in the fall combo tournament, scored 2nd place in the Scubadoc Mirror Award.  His mirror was 7 lbs., 3 oz.
Todd Richer, perennial winner in this event, placed 3rd place in the Scubadoc Mirror category with a 6 lb. 7 oz. mirror.  He also scored 3rd place in the Baby Award with a 2 lb., 7 oz. carp.
Jake Ayotte, one of our most successful carp anglers, scored 1st place in the Baby Award ( 1 lb., 9 lb.), 1st place in the Scubadoc Mirror category ( 7 lbs., 8 oz.) and 1st place in the Emperor Persistence category (most fish) with a total of 10 carp.
Finally, I scored the biggest carp (20 lbs.) in the Monster Award category.  I also ended up in 2nd place in the Emperor Persistence category with 8 carp.
Note that all of the RI guys were fishing in the northern division, basically the northern part of the US. There were two divisions in this event: North and South.
Those in the "prize" categories were awarded either gift certificates to the CAG store or gift certificates to Linear Bait Company. These were provided by CAG (Carp Anglers Group).

Catch of the Day

It's Jan. 5 but the fish are hitting as if it's April! This is the biggie of the day
sitting in the weigh sling and weighing in at 21 lbs. It was caught on sweet
corn fished on the hair rig. This warm and rainy weather has the carp
fishing action hot for January.

FANTASTIC FFF

My biggest carp in today's FFF was 20 lbs. This was the biggest
carp I have ever caught on Jan.1 in the FFF. I had 7 other decent
size ones to boot!

If today is any indication of what 2019 fishing will be like, I'm in for a real big year.
I fished today in CAG's FFF (First Fishing Folly).  This is a nationwide event in which anglers from all over the country go out and try to catch a carp on Jan. 1, a feat that is not easy to do. Some guys will hit the shores in tents at 12 midnight while others will go out at daybreak.  Some will sleep in and head out throughout the day. We have guys and gals doing this in New England, Texas, California, around the Great Lakes and in the Midwest just to name a few locations.  In all, 76 members signed up to fish this event this year.
I do this every year, and I go with the hopes of catching just one carp to start the year off. The best I have ever done was a few fish.  Most of the fish I have caught in the past have been small, under 10 lbs.
But, we never had a New Year's Day like this one.  It was a perfect set up.  It rained last night with quickly warming temperatures with near record temps around 57 degrees.  Now, that is carp weather in January. And, yes, the fish were ACTIVE.  After blanking at one location, I moved and took a chance and fished a spot in which I have never caught a carp in January. Call it luck.  I ended up with a whopping 8 fish with the biggest going 20 lbs. In fact, those 8 fish I landed were all decent with the total weight going 92 lbs., 4 oz. (average was over 11 lbs. a fish!).
All these fish were taken on sweet corn right from the can (bought at a supermarket) and fished on a hair rig on a small #10 hook.  I packed a method ball around my homemade 1 oz. no roll sinker.  That did it. I might also add that the carp were most active the last hour of the day, something I have seen a lot of in the past in the winter.