Grand Chelem at the Austin Team Championship

Thirteen years ago, my first thirty pounder ever

Back in 2004, I went to the ATC for the first time. Carp fishing was still quite new to me, I only had a couple of years of experience and my first 20+ was a recent memory by then.  

We flew to Austin with Scott Osmond, we didn’t do too well during the event (usual excuse, bad pegs!) and I was very eager to go fish again the following day. At dawn, I dragged a very sleepy Scott to a nice swim where folks did good the day before. After a few hours of busy fishing, the seminal run happened and I had a 31lb new Personal Best in my hands, plus a mid 20 on my knees, as I had another run while playing and netting the biggie. The ATC delivered yet another PB to yet another angler. Oh, and ten minutes later, I landed a 29 pounder. No need to say that I was very impressed!

Twelve years ago, a mirror and two thirty pounders

I came back to the ATC in 2005, this time partnering with Iain Murray. Those were the days where the amazing Neil Stern (and his girlfriend Jackie) went out of their way in their efforts to make the ATC the main event of the carping season and succeeded with flying colors. During the tournament, our team highlight was Iain landing a very colorful 27lb beautiful mirror during an otherwise ‘dry net’ fishing day.

The day after, we picked a fairly similar swim near the warm water discharge and I spent the entire day weighing and recording fish for Jim Kirkman (up to a hefty 39 pounder!), learning in the process that those paylakers have some seriously impressive skills. Jim and his young partner ended up winning the tournament.

After the event, Iain and myself stayed a few more days, fishing a ‘secret’ swim that Matthias Baltin shared with us. Matthias had caught an incredible brace of 40 pounders in there, making us dream of what could happen.

Things turned out somewhat slow, except for a wonderful sequence of events which unfolded in less than 30 minutes. First, I landed my new PB common (35-8lb), a beautiful fish, quite thick. A few minutes after releasing it, my other rod started to sing and a good fight ensued. The fish behaved a little strangely close to net, I was wondering what was going on, it turned out to be a 32lb buffalo. A brace of thirty pounders, two different species, now that made for a VERY special moment.

In 2006, we came back with Iain and I believe he caught a 30+ after the event while I struggled to get a fish, any fish. Can't find the photo album, but... there wasn't much to record for posterity, I'm afraid! Town Lake (as it was known by then) can deliver big fish for sure, but this requires serious work AND some amount of luck, and lady luck can be quite capricious.

What about 2017… Third time is a charm?

Both Iain and myself fished numerous other venues since then, but somehow we never came back to fish the ATC. In the meantime, I beat my PB common a couple of times and caught a really big mirror, but never caught a bigger buffalo. Last year, while reading the reports about the ATC 2016 where things went really well, I became quite eager to do a comeback. Iain was game too and travel plans were made.

Fast forward to the first day of the competition. The peg draw was scheduled very early in the morning (urg) and we had an opportunity to choose Redbud (the dog park), which is actually close to the swim where I caught my brace of 30s in 2005. At the parking lot, I started to unpack my things (my rods were still in the ski tube I use to travel with my fishing gear!), then opened the bucket from the corn boil and… shoot, where is the maize? I called Kevin, rather puzzled, and he clarified that the corn boil was now just a social event, with no corn involved. Ah. Er, I like to fish with maize, I don’t like to use freaking boilies. I ended up fishing sweet corn and method balls for the duration of our stay. With a kernel of artificial corn, so that turtles and ducks would leave a pick up close to the hook if they start chewing around.

We set up at the end of the park, a very scenic swim. I quickly proceeded to catch a grass carp on the right side of the point. Very cool, they are beautiful fish in my opinion. The current was strong on the left side of the point, but my 3^rd rod delivered a couple of low 20s while fishing close to shore. And then the dogs and their owners started to invade us. Both Iain and myself are fairly patient people, but when four yuppies yapped and babbled for more than an hour, just a few yards from my rods, with their dogs running and splashing around, this became seriously annoying. Mid afternoon, it calmed down and Iain landed a nice 19 pounder. It was also good to have a long chat with Mukhtar Farooqi, a biologist with the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department who has been a strong local supporter over the years.

Before dusk, Iain landed a nice fish and I repositioned a rod close to him (team work!). Then I got a nice run and this fish stuck to the bottom and I just couldn't make it budge. It didn’t feel snagged, but just didn’t want to move. When we finally landed it, it turned out to be a nice buffalo (32lb), which tied my big buff PB from 2005. A marshal (Lee) came to witness it, went back, and… I had another run, a mid 20. We called Lee again and as luck would have it, I got one last run at 6:58pm (I swear!) before he arrived, my line ripped against rocks but held on and a 28lber emerged to nicely add up to our big-6 total. Having a sack handy (thank you, Mark and Keith!) proved quite crucial for this crazy finish.

Day 2, those ATC organizers have no mercy, another very early start. Iain picked the tokens for the two possible swims to choose from and this jolted me awake, it included the ball field swim where I got my first 30 back in 2004. Lucky draw! We proceeded out there, fish were happily jumping around and so was I! I started to fish with sweet corn and method at 50 yards or so, while Iain tried to prove that his precious boilies work better (yeah, right). I landed a nice grass carp while he was fumbling in the car. A bit later, I got a run, a sizable fish came close to shore and… my line snapped.  WTF? Darn… the rock from last night, I totally forgot to check my line, so stupid. Late morning, I played what felt like a really big fish and this time, the hook pulled. Hmpf, not a great start.

Early afternoon, things were slow, Iain was dozing on the shore (he was unfortunately quite under the weather for the entire day). I decided to spod more bait and then to do the paylaker thing of recasting every 20 minutes or so.  And I started to catch, including a nice 27lber. I finally got another big one and this time, it went into the net. We called Eric (next swim) to witness it and it turned out to be another thirty, an immaculate 34lb common.

I caught a few more fish, got to six 20+ commons total and we finished 4^th for the Big-6 total, just a few ounces behind the 3^rd team (the ever efficient Frank Rink and his partner Tracy Jourdan). And we also ranked nicely in the big common and the big buff category. If only I had checked my lines before fishing… If only Iain had been in better shape… Oh well, we did quite good overall, much better than in past years!

Overall, the ATC ran very smoothly, every team caught fish, and I was very glad to see Chad Edwards and his partner Jake Downing win the Big-6 and the big common (39lb, no less), while Keith Thompson (our carp sack savior) bagged a monster grass carp (54lb) and Jon Eisen landed a massive buff (58lb). Many thanks to the hard-working organizers (Chad, Kevin, Lindsey, Willem, etc.) and to the marshals (Bubba and Lee) for perpetuating the ATC tradition. And of course, to the various sponsors. Here is a link to a superb photo album assembled by Kevin: https://kophoto.client-gallery.com/#/2017-atc.

The best is yet to come...

The plan was of course to stay for a few more days after the event and fish some of the best swims. Iain was very keen on coming back to the warm water discharge where he caught his big mirror and where Jim did so good a decade ago and I was happy to follow.

After a coffee at Buzzmill (a colorful coffee shop near the lake), I opened the day with a new PB grass carp (26lb), beautiful fish, while Iain got his first buff (mid 20s). We got a couple more fish and then I got a big run and a long fight followed. After a while, a really big shape appeared, oh my. Those are the times where you’re happy to have such a big net. I went down to lift the fish, very aware of the fact that I’d better keep my back straight to not hurt myself. We put it on the mat, what a whale. We took some fun pictures with a group of young kids, and then I had to lift no less than 47-8 pounds of buffalo for a proper pic. Biggest freshwater fish of my life (yes, Olivier, not counting sturgeons!).

You would think this would be enough for a truly memorable day? We were just getting started… I had two rods towards the lake and another one on the other side of the path. I suddenly noticed that my line was completely slack on this 3^rd rod. So I reeled in and look what I landed. Not a PB snapping turtle, but still a nice one. For whatever reason, I always wanted to do the Southerner thing of lifting a big snapping turtle by its tail and here was my opportunity. Then I caught a small grass carp, released it and got another run right away. And here came a very long grassie, which clearly got in a fight with a boat and didn’t quite win (see the bump on its head and its spine?). Well, it wasn’t thick, but its length made up for it. I got yet another 30+ with yet another species, my new PB grass carp at 30lb even.

What about Iain, shall you ask? Do you remember his beautiful mirror from 2005? We were fishing 100 feet from the corresponding swim and of course, he found a way to land a stunning linear! Unbelievable.

Now comes the final part and you are not going to believe it, although it’s the truth, nothing but the truth, I swear. During this incredible day, we caught buffalos, grass carp, commons, a mirror and a snapping turtle. We wondered what else we could catch and I jokingly said “what about a ghostie” (we had discussed ghosties with Eric the 2^nd day of the ATC, he indicated that ghosties could indeed be found in this lake).

And I got a run. And I landed the mother of all ghosties, an incredibly beautiful fish. This was actually a brace because I caught a mid-20 common right after landing the ghostie. I still have to pinch myself to realize that this wasn’t a dream. Once or twice in a lifetime, the stars align to perfection.

The next two days paled in comparison, with a few more fish, but nothing special. I made friend with a nice couple (Fernando and Alexandra) during the ATC dinner; they were kind enough to bring us a picnic dinner while we were fishing late. This was extremely nice of them and we had a good time enjoying food and friendship with cheerful people on the shore of this wonderful venue. I couldn’t resist making some fun of Iain and showing them the picture of the species where he truly made a difference while fishing in the morning. Catching his PB duck with a perfect hook-up in the soft part of its beak.  Ok, I bow to the duck master and now understand (kinda) why he’s fishing with boilies…

To summarize…

First time at the ATC, I got my very first 30+ common. Second time at the ATC, I got a 35+ common and a 30+ buff, while Iain landed a wonderful mirror. We came back a decade later, did quite well at the tournament, then I got a 45+ buffalo, a 30+ common and a 30+ grassie! And Iain got a stunning mirror followed by this incredible ghostie of mine. Oh, and let’s not forget the snapping turtle and the boilie lover duck. And new friends too. You know what? We might come back next year…