How do you win a tournament and not catch a single fish?

You team up with master carpers like John Montana, David Nakamoto and Mr. P. The Carp-ocalypse was held August 11 and 12 at Banks Lake, WA which is well known for easily accessible carp flats. With that being the case, it is fished a lot and the carp are fewer and harder. Our team had a plan to split up with 2 guys heading to The Big C on Saturday and 2 staying at Banks. On Sunday we would all fish Banks.

On Saturday Mr. P and I walked amazingly carpy water on the Columbia but found no feeding fish; only surface cruisers in deep water. There were a ton of play-boaters around. Carp are skittish creatures and will flee the flats when there is a nearby disturbance. We got blanked. Except for the roadside PFD that Mr. P hooked. Very impressive casting! John caught one fish on Saturday at Banks making our team tied for first place. I was able soothe the wounds to my pride with delicious Ninkasi IPA at the end of the day though. Life is good!

P and the PFD

On Sunday P and I explored the carping possibilities in the Barker Canyon area on the northwest side of Banks. Not a fish was seen. So we tried another spot down lake that had seen little traffic that was adjacent to a spot that had been hammered in the last 2 days. Blanked again. However, John landed 5 and David got 1 putting us over the top in the team catagory. An excellent desription of the prizes and winners can be found at Carp on the Fly.

Basalt coulee walls east of Banks Lake

David Nakamoto gets nipples deep for carp

There were many great prizes given away from the awesome sponsors of the event. A huge thanks goes out to the Native Fish Society, Portland and Bellevue Orvis Stores (Mad props out to Adam and Leland!), Idylwilde and Ninkasi for putting on the first ever Carp-ocalypse! We all had a great time and I can't wait till next year!

Hangin' with Mr. P at the Carp Lodge