An Overview of Carp-ocalypse 2012

A HUGE thanks goes out to Adam McNamara from Orvis out in Portand, Oregon for not only putting together such an amazing event but for finding time to give us this write up for Carp Week! Adam is the owner of Castaway Guide Service and was the brain behind Carp-ocalypse. Heres what he had to say about the awesome event...

So here it is; the official rundown of the first annual Carp-pocalypse. Held at Banks Lake in Washington State on the 11^th and 12^th of August of 2012. It was the culmination of a plan hatched long before during the rainy days of the previousOregon winter. Now I will admit up front that I was a longtime detractor of the lowly Carp, having spent most of the previous decade chasing chrome as a full time Salmon and Steelhead guide but I had undergone a recent career change and as the fly fishing manager of the Portland Orvis store I met a true Carp fanatic; John Montana. His enthusiasm convinced me to give the lowly Carp a shot and after a summer of chasing tailing fish I was hooked, so as the winter rains (and cabin fever) set in the seed for Carp-ocalypse was planted.

     Fast forward a almost a year, tons of hard work, a ridiculous amount of time on the phone, and one hell of a long drive through the desert and Carp-ocalypse was finally happening. We had a great group of sponsors; Orvis, Idylwilde Flies, and Ninkasi brewing were on board. We had a great reason to be there with the Native Fish Society, and fly anglers from all over Oregon, Washington, California, Montana, and Vermont had shown up, now all we needed were fish. Unfortunately as we met Saturday morning we were greeted by howling winds and whitecaps on the lake. Worse yet, Banks is a shallow sandy lake so even though the winds died down before noon they left the shallows muddy and churned up; the worst possible scenario for spotting tailing fish.

     The mosquitoes were fierce and the fish made themselves scarce, most of the field returned to the meeting place licking their wounds having never even had the chance at a fish all day. Worse yet the few who found fish had more tales of woe. Tangled lines, missed fish and heavy handed tactics that ended with broken leaders were the order of the day. With only two small fish brought to hand it was looking like they might win it all. Thankfully we had two full kegs of delicious Ninkasi beer to drown our sorrows and plan for bigger and better things the next day.

     Sunday was an entirely different story. Greeted by sunshine and calm winds the next morning the day the water had settled out and conditions were perfect. While not everyone managed to land fish (we were Carp fishing after all) there were plenty of fish to make for a good wrap up. One of the high lights was that Mike Gamby caught his first ever Carp that just happened to win him a brand new Orvis Helios. The complete list of winners-

Smallest Carp was an 18-incher, caught by Mike Gamby, who won an 8-weight Helios Rod.
Runner Up was 20 inches, for which John Montana won an 8-weight Access Rod.

Ugliest Carp was caught by David Nakamoto, who got a Hydros IV Reel.
Runner Up was John Montana, who was awarded an Access Mid Arbor IV Reel.

Team Winner, with 120 inches of carp, was "Got Backing." They'll get to go on a guided Oregon coast steelhead trip for four with Castaway Guide Service.

Single Largest Carp was landed by multi-winner John Montana. The winning fish was 25 inches, small by John's standards, for which he was awarded a bunch of Idylwilde swag.

    So what’s the final verdict? It was great; we focused on the fun aspect of Carping, gave away some awesome prizes, and hung out with some really great people. Look for Carp-ocalypse 2013 to blow this first year out of the water.

Thanks again Adam for everything and if you guys are interested in going to Carp-ocalypse next year, keep an eye on the blog for updates in a couple of months!

Boom...Morgan