Andy klocek
Our Angler of the Month for December is Andy Klocek, from Illinois! A big congratulations to Andy for tempting this stunning 32 lb. 08oz. specimen in the 2022 Mill Creek Cup.
As many of you will know, Mill Creek Lake in Canton Texas is a notoriously hard lake to fish…It has decimated angler’s confidence in the past and is fast becoming a true test of perseverance, fortitude and commitment to any US Angler that wishes to prove themselves. There are the ever present catfish to contend with, an abundant food source and the fish are pretty picky in what they will eat.
In some pretty tough conditions, Andy and his partner Mirek Malej fished hard and consistently to place second overall with Andy taking Big Fish for the entire event! Congratulations Andy…top angling bud!
notable captures
We’re fortunate that we get to see the best carpy pictures from all over the USA from our members and friends. These photos below certainly caught our attention in the month of November. Congrats to everyone on the success of their angling sessions throughout this past year…We appreciate all of your tags and mentions, and can’t wait to see what you guys and gals catch in the year 2023! Don’t forget to tag us #americancarpsociety #jointheguiltyones and tag american_carp_society in your stories!
• Joe
2022 mill creek cup
November 10th-13th saw the fourth annual Mill Creek Cup tournament for The American Carp Society being held in Canton, TX and once again this great City over-delivered with great hospitality, local support and encouragement.
Fifty Anglers took it upon themselves to travel across the country to be involved in, what is fast becoming, an annual ‘calling’ for specimen catch and release Carp Anglers in the USA. Mill Creek Lake is home to some stunning fish and this year was no exception with a total of 545lb of fish being caught during the 75 hour event.
Mill Creek Lake in Canton Texas is a notoriously hard lake to fish…It has decimated Angler’s Confidence in the past and is fast becoming a true test of perseverance, fortitude and commitment to any US Angler that wishes to prove themselves.
The strain of carp in Mill creek are exceptionally pretty and are well known throughout the country with anglers traveling from New York, Illinois, Tennessee, Maryland, Washington, Ohio, Minnesota, Louisiana, California, Colorado, Oklahoma and of course Texas to participate in the tournament with a chance of catching one of the lakes residents.
With the start of the event being held outside at the Van Zandt Country Club the anglers got a chance to meet up, socialize and share stories before the commencement of the 75 hour long event. Local businesses stepped up and really supported the event this year and all of the Anglers involved were overwhelmed by the generous support of the sponsors. Each angler stated that ‘they wished their local city’s at home were as accommodating and supportive’. This is a testament to the great leadership in the City of Canton with everyone pulling together to make it happen each year from the Chamber of Commerce, Police and Fire departments and the City Workers who work tirelessly to prepare the lake for the anglers…we couldn’t do it without everyone and are very proud of the support that the City has shown us. Each year more Anglers get involved in the tournament and it’s profile grows as a specialist trophy Carp lake in the USA bringing more visitors to the City of Canton.
The fishing is continuous both day and night and is as much of a mental endurance contest as it is a physical one. The Angler’s sleep at the bank beside the rods as many of the larger fish will feed during the night hours and weigh marshals and photographers are on call throughout the event to document the fish. Once again this year the event was filmed and The American Carp Society will be releasing a documented film of the event in the coming months.
Teams were spread throughout the lake and the Texas weather didn’t disappoint our ‘out of state’ visitors with a swing of 80 degrees to 34 in just a few hours! The first place overall weight winner of 111lb’s went to Pieter Oberholzer and Donovan Rolaff of Texas. The second place team with an overall weight of 95lb 10 ounces went to Mirek Malej and Andy Klocek of Illinois and the third place team of 70lb’s 04 ounces went to Jeff Olinger and Vernon Carroll from Oklahoma and Louisiana respectively. The big fish for the event was a stunning 32lb 08oz specimen for Andy Klocek.
We would like to give a huge thanks to all of our local sponsors: Treaty Oak Whiskey, Pizza Hut, McDonalds, Taco Bell, Sonic, Burger King, Brookshire’s,
Walmart, Quality Inn, Tractor supply, Urban Angler’s USA and URent-it for all of their support and help and an extra special thanks to the City of Canton, Lonny Cluck, Chief Brad Alison and Matt Stroud and his team for always being so supportive and helpful….without you this would not be possible.
AMERICAN CARP TACKLE - krusher products
We are excited to release some new ‘ MADE IN THE USA’ products for our members!
Our boilie crushers and cutters are all fabricated and assembled in the USA and feature our ACS ‘Guilty’ logo and the black and orange colors of our ‘American Carp Tackle’ products range… they are both practical, stylish and built tough for bank-side use and will make short work of your boilies for stick mixes, PVA bag and groundbait additions.
The boilie cutters are available in single 16mm and 20mm sizes, as well as a double unit featuring both sizes for convenience all built into one.
The blades are easily accessible and can be replaced with new razors at any time.
The products are all made her in the USA from Poly Lactic Acid (PLA) which is a type of polyester made from fermented plant starch from corn, cassava, maize, sugarcane and beet pulp.
• MADE IN THE USA
• LIMITED QUANTITIES AVAILABLE
Available on the store in MONDAY DECEMBER 12th!
AMERICAN CARP TACKLE - PREMIER HOOK RANGE
Always wanting to enhance and improve on things for our members, we updated our range of hooks available on the store this past summer. Having sourced patterns from factories across the globe we found what was by far the strongest and sharpest hook available… and titled them our ‘PREMIER RANGE’.
Personally testing the hooks against every known brand available to carp Angler’s on the market today, they outshone every other manufacturer by far. We didn’t do much in the way of advertising at the time as we wanted some ‘in the field’ testing by someone other than Wayne, Clayton and myself who could verify their own individual results.
Who better than Carp and Buffs master James King down in Austin to do the business? James is used to hauling massive slabs over some pretty heavy weed conditions and is also known for his candor and forthrightness when it comes to tackle and bait, not pulling any punches and justifiably with his angling experience and numerous 50lb specimens under his belt. We sent him some hooks with a ‘Give these a try mate’ and didn’t hear anything until a post showed up on the official members group:
“ To kick off a new buff season here in Texas, I decided to give the ACS hooks a bash. I have not been disappointed. They are just as good as the big name brands I have used for years and I have every confidence in them now that I’ve dragged buffs to 52lbs through heavy weed!
I used a pack in September and then ordered another few packs for October. Had they have sucked, I would not post this….. they don’t! “ -James King
AMERICAN CARP TACKLE PRODUCTS -‘made in the usa’ COLLECTION
When we started designing our new bespoke range of ‘MADE IN THE USA’ products, we searched for the very highest quality materials that the USA had to offer. Having used products ourselves on the bank for many years, we wanted something special…something that would last and not let us down, something that wouldn’t need to be replaced every year and something that the US Carp Angler could proudly state was made here in the US…This was important to us.
Each product is individually handmade in Texas with our 1000 denier, high quality polyurethane coated nylon. It is 100% waterproof and assembled and fabricated by American Workers here in the USA.
When it came to materials, production and quality we didn’t compromise … wanting the very best representation of the very first ‘hand made’ products specifically designed in the USA for carp anglers, we had choices to make in both materials, labor and quality. Not only did we want the product hand made here by U.S workers, we also wanted to exclusively use American made materials in the fabrication as well and while this did effect our costs of wanting only the very highest quality and something that could put the US Carp community on the map, we found a quote by Benjamin Franklin that justified the decision for us:
‘The bitterness of poor quality is remembered long after the sweetness of low price is forgotten’ - Benjamin Franklin.
Carefully crafted and designed with the U.S Carper in mind the products are built tough to last a lifetime.
The American Carp Society’s ‘MADE IN THE USA’ line of products are part of a limited collection that we will be releasing in 2023 in very limited quantities.
The products will be limited to one item release per month of the collection in limited quantities. We will give everyone a heads up through the user groups and newsletter before we go live.
• ALL PRODUCTS HANDMADE IN THE USA.
• ALL MATERIALS MANUFACTURED IN THE USA.
• 1000 DENIER HIGH QUALITY POLYURETHANE COATED NYLON.
• 100% WATERPROOF.
• VERY LIMITED QUANTITIES WILL BE AVAILABLE.
BARNABY’S REVENGE - pure flavors
We have often been asked how we come up with the flavors for our range of bait products. As many of you will know they cannot be purchased anywhere else commercially, as they are all custom blended specifically per our specs and usage. We release just one flavor per year after extensive testing and research and make our decisions on that flavor release based upon a number of factors, including many years of research from those that have spent decades specifically in the field, professional flavorists and chemists that work within the industry and biologists and professional Angler’s that have a vast knowledge of the species and subject matter.
We do offer our custom sprays for direct usage on our hookbaits so that anglers can take the flavor in spray for to add it to their own choice of hookbaits, but have more recently been asked if our pure flavors would ever be available to anglers for their own personal use… for additives into their own mixes, boilie recipes and groundbaits.
Always wanting to support our members we decided to include new product into our range in 2023 ….the new ‘PURE’ flavors range.
The 2oz - 60ml bottles of pure flavor will be released in all of the Barnaby’s Revenge flavors:
ASTERBURY CREME
MANDALA GOLD
DESERT FRUIT
MAPEX
They will be packaged in dark green wide mouth containers that will allow a 24mm boilie to be directly dipped into the flavor for ultimate coverage with no waste.
Keep an eye out for the release of the new ‘PURE’ range of flavors in the coming weeks.
CARP ON THE DRY
BY: LUKE WILSON
November is the time of year in Western New York where winter normally starts to show its face. It has been a rather warm fall until recently. In two weeks we’ve gone from 50’s to high 20’S with lots of snow on the ground. Then it begins to teeter back from cool to cold until winter can no longer be withheld. November is also about the time when hindsight heightens, and I tell myself that I should've gone out more than I did. In reality, it's just the thought of the approaching winter threatening my chances of going out even more. The thought of the season really being over hurts even more when you've been too busy to take a chance and go out recently. Work and life add up. We need a break from the non-stop of it all. Normally fishing would be my piece of mind. When I can't go fishing, I tie flies. It keeps me in tune, and helps with my cabin fever and eagerness to get back out again. And just like what fishing does for me, tying flies allows me to control the tempo of my thoughts, and in turn, the world for a moment as I wrap thread around a hook.
Despite having the day off, I still got up around my normal hour. I had a lot to get done that day. Now that the weather has gotten colder, it was the perfect time for me to have plumbing issues of course. My dad and my brothers planned on coming over later in the day to help me finish everything up. When I was making my way out of the room my dog was waiting for me by the door. He was asking me, in his way, to take him out. Before I took him out I started brewing some coffee, that way by the time I came in it would be done. I could have a nice warm cup of coffee waiting for me. It was a cold morning. The sun was still very low in the sky. Our first bit of snow covered most of the grass but here and there a few tall blades poked out from the snow. The pale, orange light of a brisk morning shimmered off of these blades of grass. It seems like only yesterday that fall colors peaked and now as I look around most of the trees are bare. “When did that happen?” I asked myself. It seems like I’ve been working too much to even notice the change of the weather and the falling of the leaves. My dog and I walked back inside. The warm air of the house immediately fogged my glasses. I found myself staring at my tying desk when my vision was restored. With a sudden urge to pump out a few flies I grabbed my coffee, poured a bit of creamer inside and made my way over to the desk.
Being up so early in the cold mornings, everything seems so quiet. Besides my dog sitting next to me looking out the window, it hardly seemed like there’s any life at all. But in a beautiful way the silence is not unsettling, rather one of focus and concentration, the silence of thought. Besides the other animals of the world buzzing and humming, this is the same silence that I notice when fishing. I take a few sips of the hot coffee and pick out a hook.
Tying flies is a craft, an art, just like painting, sculpting, or writing. You are given an idea to strive for and must assemble the pieces. You are uncovering, or rather weaving together your masterpiece. For some people it comes naturally without thoughts occurring. Their hands seem to move on their own, letting the thread fly by its own accord. My brother is like that. He is the best flytier I know. On the other hand, I take my time processing each move. Calculating what will go where, how much to use. It all comes to him naturally. But just like the other arts that’s how it goes. Some people think about it and some people feel it. Instead of a painting being the product, we receive the fly.
I started off with a few simple flies, wiggle worms of three varying colors. I love how simple these flies are and they are one of my top performing flies! It's just chenille, dubbing, and the eyes. Boom, voila! You've got a killer carp fly. After my fingers had warmed up I moved on to a few more complex flies. But what I love about carp flies is that they never have to really be a complex fly to work. Most are rather simple. For these flies I used some more ingredients like rubber legs and marabou. One really important ingredient to look for with carp flies especially is the weight. A carp fly needs to be able sink to the desired depth within the desired time, all while remaining as inconspicuous as possible when it lands. A splash can ruin it for you and easily spook the fish away. For targeting fish that are deeper, or where sinking past a current is necessary, I usually go with size 5/32 eyes. They are small enough to not spook the fish away on the right fly, all while being able to sink relatively fast. For shallower water or for targeting subsurface carp, perhaps under a tree, bead chain eyes or even weightless flies are a good way to go. They make a much smaller splash but come with the price of sinking much slower so you'll have to keep that in mind. Then there are of course dry flies, or flys that remain on top of the water, for surface feeders.
The last step in tying my flies is always a check over. I imagine every fish that could be landed on this fly. Daydreaming about taking them out and trying them on the next trip. Each fly with its own scenario runs through my head and I imagine myself catching a fish. With each fly I’m satisfied with, I comment to myself, “that’ll work” and with that I’m done. I put my faith into the fly and it’s ready to go.
Simply tying those flies helped me forget about all the things that were stressing me out. I focused only on tying a fly for the moment, and before I knew it the company had arrived and the time had passed quickly. It gave me something similar to the satisfaction of fishing, despite never leaving the house. Of course it isn't fishing, but it is a part of the bigger whole, which is enough for me. Although I didn’t want to climb under my house in the cold, wet snow, for some reason tying these flies gave me the energy to do so. They helped me forget about the stress of the world. Landing a fish by itself feels great. Carp are tricky fish and you only get one good shot at fooling a carp when you cast to it. All your trust goes into that fly, hoping you did a good enough job to convince one to eat. When you see one of your flies, that you spend time crafting to perfection, hanging out of a golden ghost's mouth there’s a whole other feeling of accomplishment that goes along with it.
official hoodie and sweatpants pre-order
Been waiting to get your hands on one of our iconic ACS Member Hoodies? Wait no more...we are now taking pre-orders for the classic ACS Hoodie with the option for Sweatpants as well!
We have taken our super soft members ‘classic hoodie’ design and added a pairing of sweatpants for those of you that asked. Featuring the original ‘classic’ American Carp Society logo on both the front and back of the hoodie and also on the left leg of the sweatpants. These will be sure to keep you warm throughout the winter months. The hoodies are available in both pull over and zip up options!
PRE-ORDERS CLOSE DECEMBER 30th
$38 - SWEATPANTS
$52 - HOODIE (Zipper or Pullover)
Hoodies and sweatpants come in S / M / L / XL / 2XL / 3XL
Please submit your pre-order on the Official Store!
THANK YOU TO OUR MEMBERS
We wanted to take some time in this last newsletter of 2022 to personally thank all of you for your incredible support and encouragement over this last year.… your positive feedback, encouragement and interaction together, both with new members and lifelong friends on the FB page, goes into continuing to build the community and awareness of this great fish.
We often get asked by non members…’What do I get out of it?’…An understandable question when finances are involved and it’s something that you have to pay for.
Our honest response to this very common question is ‘What do you WANT to get out of it?’.
You see, ‘The American Carp Society’ is a blank sheet for any angler coming into it and it can be anything that you want it to be for you…yes, there are the yearly membership packages, tackle items, stickers and merchandise that are included that make it worth the monetary cost of $29 per year alone worth consideration….but it can also be much more.
Every Angler in the USA that has a passion for catching carp has one thing in common….that magic that keeps us coming back to the lake to try to outwit these stunning fish again and again. Your passion that had you pick up a rod in the first place is something that can be shared with someone else….whether you do it through posting your captures on your social media outlets, writing an article or a blog, creating short films or movies for YouTube or being involved in a podcast… there are massive opportunities here in the USA that are completely untouched.
Learning from other angler’s to improve your catch rate is something that we really encourage and it’s amazing to see the great responses to a new member asking questions in the FB group by many of the veterans, with both sound advice and encouragement. As we continue to see the interest in the fish and sport growing, we continue to see new angler’s with new talents and skills coming into the picture and coming to the forefront.
We want to take this time to encourage each and every one of you to write a blog, document your experience, make a short film or take someone else fishing…We’ll support your efforts in any way that we can here at The American Carp Society, we’ll promote your efforts and we will continue to help all of you that reach out and ask for that support….Remember this is YOUR American Carp Society…we’re just here to help.
You will be surprised what ‘you’ get out of ‘giving back’ to ‘someone else’….So in 2023 take some time to improve your catch rate, learn from others, improve on the quality of your photography or your film making….You’ll be glad that you did.
As part of the ‘giving back’ aspect of membership, please consider organizing a local American Carp Society fishing event in your area and invite not only your carp fishing friends but also others that may not be aware of our great sport…and we will support you in your efforts. Remember the more folks we can collectively introduce to the sport, the more ability we will have when interacting with State and Federal authorities on the subject.
Here’s wishing every one of you a very Merry Christmas and Happy Holiday season… with love and best wishes from us all here at The American Carp Society…and remember…enjoy those precious moments on the bank by the water’s edge in this New Year!