TOURNAMENT
Notes From The Editor
Looking back over the years , one of the things I enjoyed was competing with other anglers in tournaments . This love began back to the year of 1972 at the ripe age of 10 years . My brother Tommy and I would work all week long chopping wood , bailing hay , mending fences , or whatever we could do to earn money for the upcoming weekend . You see fish were waiting to be caught at a beautiful tournament carp fishing lake called Joe ’ s Fishing Lake . This is where my carp fishing addiction began . This was introduced to me by a man who worked at my dad ’ s plumbing company SMC . Skelton Mechanical Contractors , a plumbing company , started by my dad George Moore Skelton and his brother Billy Skelton , specialized in design-build plumbing for large factories around new and additions around upstate South Carolina . Mr . Willie Richardson who had been with SMC from the beginning mid-1960 ’ s was the best backhoe operator ever seen in these parts . You see Mr . Richardson was also a fine carp angler plus a regular at all the carp lakes around . He came out to our property a lot working the land , digging up stumps , etc . for dad . This is where I met him and turned out to be a great friend and confidant of mine the rest of his life . You see I loved this old man who was a good positive influence on me . He would always be talking about fishing along with his latest conquest of a fish I had never seen much less caught . Carp ... Yes , carp a fish that had a majorly bad rap here in the south . So after learning how to make his bait of choice that was 5 pounds of soybean , 2 1 / 2 pounds chicken scratch , 1 / 2 pound flour , and two bottles of Superior Butternut . He used 2 Alt pretied Egle Claw hooks with a bead the size of my thumb back then as his pick up . He gave me a bucket of bait , hooks , and beads to start . With this new knowledge , my new bait , hooks , and beads my stepbrother Tommy Merritt and I were dropped off one summer morning at 5 am by my dad on his way to work . The gate that led to the lake was closed with people waiting in a car which we proceeded to meet while waiting . These two were a retired couple husband and wife Jim and Lula May Woodruff two more avid carp anglers . So there we sat on our buckets and cooler until the sun came up . That when we met the owner of the lake Mr . Joe Eubanks , who turned out to be another influence in my life . Weekdays he just opened up the gate and went off to work at his regular job . He still to the time to talk with us about the lake and fish and never stopped smiling . Before he left he sent us on down to the lake and said go ahead and fish Mrs . Snow will be here shortly to open the stand . Armed with Zebco ’ s and screwdrivers stuck in the ground between the line and reel for stands I caught my first carp . It wasn ’ t massive , but it was beautiful , and I promptly ran around the lake with the fish in the net to weigh it . You see my brother and I fish lakes around the house for bass and Brim , but I had never seen a fish this large much less catch it . That was it ! I was hooked for life . From then on until grown dad would drop Tommy and me , off at Joe ’ s Fishing lake in Sugar Tit SC every Friday morning on his way to work and pick us back up Sunday Night at 10 pm . Yes , we would fish all weekend , fish while sleeping in a lounge chair , wake up to runs , eat there on the bank while fishing , even played horseshoes during slow bite time while fishing . This was a passion that has never died in me . Even the years I was in the military when allowed leave I was there fishing , Upon the end of my Naval Career after Iraq , I found peace there . I raised my four children alone and guess what yes they were raised on a now called Pay Lake . It ’ s in my blood and always will be . Later on , I found that Wild Carp Fishing presented a new challenge and by 2010 was head over heels for this new European style of carp angling . Then my first tournament , Thrilling ! Carolina Cup , put on by Wild Carp Companies out of New York , headed by Jason Bernhardt . My first wild water tournament , Yes hooked again ! After that , I did not miss a tournament put on by Wild Carp Companies , Texas , New York spring and fall , and South Carolina . One by one they have fallen by the wayside , first Carolina Cup , then Texas , even another that I loved dearly The Connecticut Carp Open put on by Catch And Release Professional Series CARPS , David Moore , and Kathleen Kelly-Ori . All these tournaments were started by these two and more . One by one they died off after released to be run by others except for Wild Carp Club of New York Baldwinsville Wild Carp Classic and Ed French Open now headed up by Paul and Ginny Russell who like Jason do a fantastic job putting this these two tournaments on . Competitions like these bring publicity that brings positive attention to our sport . No social would ever bring the kind of attention that professional carp tournaments bring . The larger , the payout the more attention is given by newspapers , TV coverage and radio stations . These are desperately needed to gain attention and new anglers . My thoughts are the major carp clubs here in the USA , ( CAG , ACS ) need to band together and bring back the major carp tournaments . Look at Bass fishing as a whole . The tournaments are all people talk about ; professional anglers are looked up too by generations coming after them . Don ’ t get me wrong socials are great , and I look forward to putting on many more . but Professional Tournament Series is what we need to grow ! We need to establish by competition the top anglers in the USA . This alone will generate attention and create fans of the sport . Insurance payoffs for a record catch , during tournaments , raising the possible payout . Possibly getting the attention of major carp companies abroad to get involved boosting more coverage creating a snowball . I am sure this isn ’ t new to any of the big players in America . Please do not let professional tournament carp angling fall by the wayside . Thank God for the Baldwinsville Professional Carp Tournaments .
Just Saying Jeff Skelton
OF
DEATH
THE AMERICAN CARP
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