mous Savay fishery . Mike asked me if I was interested in fishing the lake and of course , I said yes . There was , however , a bit of a catch . Savay was run by a general fishing club . At that time Carp Fishing was not what it is today and as such getting into a club just for the carp was not seen to be the done thing . I had to partake in all general fishing activities , so I didn ’ t seem to be joining just for the carp . Matches , coach trips , general get-togethers all had to be completed to prove I was an angler interested in the whole club . At that time I was also involved with a syndicate at the Craven Estate on the Kennet ( very famous in English angling )
fishing for the specimen Chub , Roach , and Barbel . So I got on to Savay and around that time we got to see the original hair rigs that were being used . I was only on Savay until about 1982 , but it certainly had my interest and grew my knowledge leaps and bounds . Iain has fished since that time on numbers of different waters for Carp and other species in England , Scotland , Wales , Eire , France , Holland , Italy , Romania , Germany , Australia , New Zealand , Mexico , Canada and the Caribbean .
So when did the USA Carp sessions start ?
Well , my wife and I moved to the USA in 1994 . I really didn ’ t have any drive to fish for Carp as , to be honest , I really didn ’ t know what was here . I certainly wasn ’ t aware of the numbers and the spread of Carp . It all started one day when I was driving along the Connecticut River in the fall of 1994 when I spotted a very European fishing umbrella erected on the bank . It was like a magnet , and I had to go and investigate . Behind the brolly was Nigel Griffin who at that time ran Euro Tackle . I very quickly grasped
that there were stocks of fish here that simply could not be replicated in the UK .
Meeting Nigel lead me to join the Carp Anglers Group in 1995 . Although the numbers fishing were not tremendous , we were able to get 2-3 fish-ins a year in DC and New York , and in 1996 the inaugural CCC was held in Chicago . I will not forget going to Chicago in my Subaru Turbo Wagon … me , Nigel and Patrick Kerwin and the whole of Nigel ’ s Euro Tackle shop / business . We had to have a complete pod on the roof which made the Wagon very unstable …… it made for an exciting ride to the CCC .
It amazes me now how we found anything out ! After all , we had a pretty basic Compu-Serve forum , and everything else was discussion and phone calls . This was only 25 years ago so thinking now how we have so much connectivity we have so many opportunities to take the sport to the levels it rightly deserves .
So now you are President of CAG , the group you joined back in 1996 , what is your vision for CAG ?
There are so many people who are becoming interested and who are hungry for knowledge . There is a massive amount of information out there and so many ways in which we can all connect however I think many of those opportunities have suffered from social media and it ’ s use . Social Media is good if used positively . Yet , we have seen how comments back and forth have driven some , if not many people , away from the group and possibly even carp fishing . I really believe that with the right focus and strategy CAG can deliver it ’ s four key objectives partially through the use of social media . What I really believe is that the strongest bonds will be created through meetings , fish-ins , competitions and groups at
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