Born In The USA 5 - Austin Revisited Jon Greenwood

Expectations were high. Descending in to Austin Bergstrom airport, my pulse started to race as I glimpsed the familiar landmarks. Turning to Andy we both broke out into grins like Cheshire cats. Finally the river came into view, like a ribbon of glass cutting first through the arid scrub, then carving into the beautiful and cosmopolitan city of Austin , Texas .

I was here, leading a trip of a dozen other anglers, including my regular fishing partner Andy Dyson to take part in the annual Austin Team Championship, one of the highlights of the US carp fishing year.

After such a memorable trip last year, we were full of hope and anticipation as we pulled into the Wellesley Inn & Suites, our home for the duration of our stay. The focal point of all the visiting anglers, the Wellesley Inn is an ideal place to set up base camp. Despite filling our rooms with tackle and fermenting maize in our waste paper bins, they do make us feel incredibly welcome every time! American hospitality really is something to behold.

The Colorado River which runs through Austin is better known for the three huge ‘lakes’ formed where it is dammed. Town Lake is the main attraction. It’s the stretch that runs through the city, and boasts miles of stunning bank frontage, much of which is accessible from a huge network of public parks and jogging trails. Relatively little is known about Lake Travis but by comparison Lake Austin , much of which lies within Emma Long Metropolitan Park , is absolutely full of fish in the 15 - 30lb barrier and is popular because some of its areas can be night fished.

It was Town Lake that we were here to fish, but since it’s agreed to be off limits for the week leading up to the tournament once again we had decided to make our first trip out to Emma Long. Unlike last year where we filled our boots the fishing was a little slow, though myself and Andy did manage 3 low 20s. Satisfied that all was in order we headed back to the Wellesley for the pre-tournament “corn boil” and social gathering.

It’s the social and friendly nature of this competition that really makes it for me and the reason why so many people return year after year. It was great to meet up with so many friends from my previous trips. Everyone tries to make an effort to attend the ATC and this years turn out was excellent. A few beers (hic!) later we retired for a good nights rest, before the draw for the first days fishing at 6am .

Historically I don’t count myself as the luckiest person, so the following morning I let Andy do the honours at the draw, and he duly pulled peg 18, almost opposite the Wellesley . We had never fished this area before so were unsure what to expect. The carp on the lake are extremely nomadic and still have many of the traits of river fish. Although they certainly have rough patrol routes, it’s hard to tell whether they will play ball or not. In these circumstances in a new swim, all you can do is get out the marker rod and see what you can find. Unfortunately the story of the day was I failed to have a single bleep on all three rods. Andy managed 3 nice 20’s from a deep channel we found but nothing else.

Upon our return to the Wellesley we found that many carp shoals we getting ready to spawn and several areas, notably next a warm water outlet from the local power station, were absolutely fizzing with fish. Tournament organiser Brian Nordberg and his fishing partner Bill ‘Phone’ Warder had filled their boots. Brian alone, making a late start, managed over a dozen fish between 3 and 7pm ! Elsewhere on the lake some huge fish had been caught, including a stunning 45lb9oz common to Tommy Robinson from the swim by the 1st Street Bridge.

With hope of a better draw for the second day we had another early night. As one of the first to draw this time we quite obviously wanted to pull the swim by the warm water outlet but it was not to be. Instead I drew a peg right under the I35 bridge. Although it wasn’t a preferred choice I was not too upset as the bridges, which span the river, are known to be good structures and holders of carp.

When we arrived, getting access towards the bridge proved to be a little tight but we managed to squeeze onto a spot that stuck out into the main flow giving good access to the prime areas. We knew that fishing so close together was likely to cause problems yet we stuck with the plan.

At around 10am I struck into a powerful fish and it immediately wiped out all our other rods! After a lot of cursing I managed to get the fish to the bank and safely netted. Weighing 30lb she was absolutely full of spawn. I was pleased to finally have got off the mark.

After the chaos Andy decided to move out and further along the bank. Fish however were clearly still in my swim as within a few minutes of recasting the same rod went off again producing a nice upper 20. By lunchtime I had banked 3 more 20’s. Unfortunately I had also been cut off a couple of times, prompting an unscheduled re-spooling of each reel and the addition of 20m of 50lb braid leader.

The afternoon proved to be much quieter. Sometimes you just don’t have enough bait to keep the shoal in your swim. We had a welcome interruption when both myself and Andy hooked into 20’s at the same time, but when the bell chimed for 7 we reeled in quietly satisfied with our effort.

As it turned out we were a long way short. Brian and Phone had amazingly managed to draw the same swim by the warm water discharge. Once again they had hauled, amassing an amazing team total of 629lb and were by a 200lb margin the new and worthy champions.

Other UK anglers also represented themselves with merit. Joining us on the trip were James and Andrew Deeley. On the final day they drew the peg next to Brian and Phone and fished their heads off managing a fantastic team total of 409lb5oz taking them to second place. Both Andy and myself ended up doing better than we expected with 5 th position. We had put in a lot of effort and to come 5 th after being 3 rd the year before was really satisfying. We all had a great amount of fun and most people vowed to be back again next year.

Now the competition was over we were left with a few days of what promised to be quality fishing. We had the option of filling our boots with doubles and 20’s from the warm water outlet but Andy and myself along with our good friends Richard and Sheila really wanted bigger fish. Everything was now perfect, the weather had picked up, the fish were feeding and it just felt like things were going to happen.

Following a tip off from Phone we decided to spend some time in a new area of the lake to us down by the dam wall. Town Lake regular, current lake record holder (and all round good guy) Al St Cyr had also spotted some huge fish in this area below the island and with the wind blowing into the bank we felt that we had an excellent chance of success.

Prior to travelling from the UK I had purchased a GPS fish finder over the internet and arranged to have it delivered to the Wellesley . I had also decided to hire a boat for the rest of the trip and this was to prove to be a major advantage. We were now in the position that we could fish the swims we wanted with the knowledge that we could accurately put into place a large baiting campaign and attempt to draw in and hold some of the shoals of bigger carp we had encountered the year before.

Although there was a large area to fish in the swim we had chosen, getting access for 4 people was not that straight forward. I managed to drop into a swim next to Richard and Sheila, whilst Andy decided to fish into a small bay to their left. We were rapidly running short of bait so I left the others and with Andrew and James spent the morning up at a feed store out of town buying sacks of maize and pellet.

Upon our return I could see that Andy was already into a fish. From the excitement of the on-lookers we could tell it was a good one and leading him a right merry dance, staying low and hugging the bottom – unlike the bionic 20’s in Town Lake which tend to set off for the middle of the lake at 100mph. The water was clear as gin and as the fight drew to a close we could see it was indeed a good one, possibly a mid to upper 30.

Eventually the battle was won and the prize was a stunning faultless carp which had probably never graced the banks before. Up on the scales we delighted to see the dials spin right round and she became Andy’s second US 40lb common – a great achievement and not a bad for his first fish from the new area!

I was now keener than ever to get the rods in the water. Taking the boat out I could see that I was right in front of a nice looking plateau with 17ft water, dropping to 25ft to the left and back. It just screamed carp! From the boat I filled in two areas with about 15kg of pellet and Mainlines excellent High Leakage Pineapple boilies. I dropped all three rods onto the baited area and sat back in expectation.

It turned out to be the hottest day of the year with the temperatures up into the mid 90’s. There was little shade to be had so we spent most of our time shuffling round a small group of trees to stay more comfortable. Around 4pm I decided to go out and drop some more pellet onto the baited areas and had only just reached them when my middle rod went into melt down! Richard raced over and leant into the fish, and I broke the world record for the 100m canoe dash getting back!

Back on dry land Richard insisted on giving me the rod and it felt a nice fish. It certainly didn’t want to give in and repeatedly took line against a tight clutch. Being quite high above the water on the bank I could get the fish up fairly quickly and avoided some potentially tricky snags. Once in the margins we could see it was probably a 30+ common (there are very few mirror carp in Town Lake ). We managed to net her at the first attempt and on the scales she went 31lb exactly.

I was half way through photographs when my left hand rod burst into life. Leaving the first fish in the capable hands of our good friend Larry, the owner of “Austin Angler”, I sprinted back to the rods and after a short but tough fight had what I felt to be another 30 in the net. I was absolutely chuffed to bits when she too went 31lb.

Hopeful of more fish I quickly got the rods back in, but that was to be the last action of the day. We put some more pellet and boilies out and set plans to rendezvous back in the same place the next day.

After such a good sessions fishing we were really keen to find out how other people had been getting on. As we pulled into the Wellesley we could see our friends David Moore, Wayne Boon and Sean Manning from the American Carp Society unloading their kit. From the looks on their faces we could see they had done well but we could not have anticipated just how well. Fishing further up the lake in the other direction all three of them had participated in what is probably the best days fishing ever experienced on the lake.

Fishing to tightly baited marks on a combination of Mainline High Leakage Pineapple and pellets between them they had amassed a phenomenal hit of 20’s and 30’s, topped off by a stunning brace of commons weighing in at 44lb6oz and 46lb4oz to Sean. Dave Moore managed a very rare 34lb fully scaled mirror carp. It was an astonishing catch and one that really confirmed to me just how good the fishing on Town Lake was proving to be. I was so pleased for them because these guys have done so much to further the cause of American carp fishing and it was about time they got some pay back for all their efforts.

Buoyed by their success we eagerly anticipated getting back fishing. Unfortunately when we turned up in the morning we were surprised to find that someone was already set up in the pre-baited swim. Walking down I could see it was our friend Al St Cyr. As it turned out, Al had also been baiting the same swim as myself at night during the week so the fish were getting a double helping of everything – including the same Mainline boilies! Rather than overcrowd the area we decided to spend the time fishing further down the lake near the area of the big catch the day before.

The “Rocks” is a great swim to fish and has a pedigree of producing really big fish but it is very much hit and miss. The fish here have a large patrol route and can easily pass you by. Despite trying our very hardest we really struggled with my only reward being my smallest ever Austin carp at around the 4lb mark. It was a bit of a disappointment as the area had fished so well the day before but that’s fishing for you! We stopped by to speak to Richard and Sheila on the way home and it turned out the fishing had been good with Al having 3 x 30’s to 34lb.

We were determined to get back in the dam swim so were up bright and early the next morning. Getting down there at about 8:00am we had the place to ourselves. Our only companions were the carp – LOADS of them! The swims were alive with bubbling and crashing fish. It was absolutely incredible. With Richard and Sheila to my left, Andy decided to move out of the bay to my right where the water continued to shallow to about 14ft.

After baiting heavily we caught regularly through the day, Andy having fish to low 30s and I managed 2 high 20’s. Because we were tight for space both Andy and myself were forced into back-leading and reeling in when we got takes to prevent getting caught up with each other. We had succeeded with only one slight hiccup all day but at night it became a different story.

It had been quiet for several hours so I decided to take the boat out and drop my hook baits by hand. Having the use of a boat and echo sounder really can pay dividends – especially on new or unfamiliar waters. It’s quite surprising what you can find if you take your time and I found some really interesting changes in depth by the edge of the drop off. Each bait was accompanied by about a kilo of pellet and boilies and I was really confident at least one would go.

True to form about an hour later I had an absolute screamer from the left hand rod. We quickly got my other rods in but were not quick enough to prevent picking up Andy’s lines. The fish fought so incredibly hard – you just can’t stop these fish when they get going - and it had kited over 100 yards to my right in no time.

I knew it was a big fish from the start, staying deep and slow making no sudden moves or shakes of the head. It was typical lump behaviour. Added to my complications was that I was now pulling two of Andy’s rigs around with me and he unfortunately got all snagged up in the bushes between us.

Now that the fish was closer, in the light of my head torch and through the crystal clear water I could now see it was indeed a much better carp. My previous best from Austin had been just over 38lb and I was starting to think it would soon be beaten. With the assistance of the wonderful and patient Sheila I finally got my prize in the net – Andy’s rigs and all. Once on the mat we uncovered by a distance the longest carp I have ever caught – she was immense.

I had a pretty good feeling about the size already and was delighted when the scales shot round to the magical mark. We settled on a weight of 40lb4oz and a new personal best common. She behaved quite beautifully throughout the photographs and when returned swam away into the depths leaving me with a real sense of privilege. Its moments like these that inspire me to fish off the beaten track and those same moments that create the motivation to make the extra effort when easier options are the temptation.

From that point on the trip had been made for me, and I have to admit I was not overly concerned what else I managed to catch. I decided it was time for a well deserved night out to celebrate so Jason, Andrew, Scott Osmond any myself headed off to the world famous 6 th Street .

If you are into live music, good beer and a night out you will never forget, 6 th Street is the place to go. It’s absolutely alive with atmosphere and is the entertainment centre of the city. It’s just bar after bar each with it’s own live music. Whatever your music taste, from Jazz to Rock there will be something for you.

As always the end of the trip was upon us sooner than we would have wanted. We didn’t want to waste the final day so got up and hot footed it round to our swims. We were pleased to find them empty and set up with hopes of rounding off the trip in style.

Straight away we were back into the action, Andy notching up a string of nice 20’s, before the heavens opened. When it rains here it really rains, but the effect was the fish fed harder. Within a few minutes I had put a 20 and low 30 on the bank and Andy was had managed another one similar. We were now in the position where we expected the rods to blast off any second.

When my rods did go again, they did in quick succession, the end result being a brace of stunning fish weighing 34 and 34lb8oz – fantastic stuff! Andy continued to catch well, yet for some reason Richard and Sheila were not getting a sniff. The only reason I can think of was that they were to my left in the deeper water and the fish had moved onto the plateau to feed, a good example of how important it is to fish the right depth.

The action calmed down again after this and the skies cleared leaving us to try and dry our kit before the trip home. We were disappointed to have to leave but all good things must eventually come to an end. Tallying up the totals for the trip I managed 7 x 30’s and 1 x 40, fishing largely half day sessions. Andy did well too with 4 x 30’s and 1 x 40.

Elsewhere the fishing had been fantastic for all concerned. Many other people had stayed on after the competition and found the fish in generous moods. 11 x 40’s were caught in the 10 days around the competition and goodness knows how many 30’s. All this really goes to show just how good fishing in the USA is becoming.

Austin is only one example of what is on offer to the travelling angler and in the coming years I expect to see more and more venues hit the headlines. I really believe that soon an American venue is going to throw up another really big fish – a high 50 or 60. Maybe not from Austin , but from one of the other venues I know about with massive potential – we know they are out there, it’s just a case of someone being in the right place at the right time.

Who knows – it could be you!

For more information on fishing the Austin area and Town Lake I recommend taking a look at www.carpanglersgroup.com and www.americancarpsociety.com both have information on fishing not only this area but many of the others I will be covering in the articles to come. Also watch this space for exciting news from Angling Lines holidays who in conjunction with American Carp Society will be soon running organised trips to Austin .

Next month I’ll be bringing you the next in my look around the major carp fishing regions of the USA going into detail on California . Until next time - tight lines!

If you have information or news you would like to share with us on carp fishing around America , would like advice or have questions on what I have written we would really like to hear from you. Please feel welcome to give me a call on 01908 668107 or drop me an email to intcarper@ultimateangling.com

"First appeared in International Carper & reproduced here with their kind permission"