70 pound dry fly sippers, the IGFA, and the quest for world record immortality.

Weighed on a certified scale by a real, live postal inspector.  Why would I do this?  Read the blog!

50 inches, with a girth just under 32 inches 65 pound

I must admit, there were many things that were a bit shocking when I made my move from Wisconsin to Iowa.  My biggest shock came on one of my very first fishing forays, to Pleasant Creek Lake, not far from my home.  I was wading through the shallows, casting for largemouth bass, a familiar quarry from home, when three fish cruised by.  They were vaguely carp like, but they clearly weren't common carp.  And they were enormous.  Tarpon enormous.  They looked like they were between four and five feet long, and bigger around then my waist, and well over fifty pounds.  As someone firmly entrenched in the cult of the big fish, I immediately had lots of questions.  I asked everyone, starting with the few local fly fishermen I knew, and ending up with Iowa fisheries biologists.

What I found out was that the fish I was seeing were white amur, a vegetarian fish that was imported from the far east and used as sort of a biological weed control in ponds.  Commonly called grass carp here.  No one believed they could be could be caught on flies (keep in mind this was 18 years ago).  Everyone agreed they did get very large, the state record at the time was right around 70 pounds.  I read everything I could, and then grabbed a seven weight.  I never believed they couldn't be caught on fly, a fish that big has to be eating lots!  It was just a matter of figuring out how.

I quickly found out that grass carp were the most challenging creatures I had ever fished for in my life.  I'm a lot more traveled now than I was then, with many more salt and freshwater critters under my belt.  I will still stand by this.  Here is what I found out.  They are incredibly spooky.  It wasn't just a poor cast that will blow them up.  Sudden changes in wind direction will put them down.  A bird flying over head will put them down.  A loud misstep on the bank will put them down.  A kayak entering the cove a hundred yards away will certainly put them down.  Thinking bad thoughts about them will put them down.

They were very leader shy.  Once I found the fly they would respond to, a foam pattern actually cut to the shape of blades of grass, I found they would actually stick their heads part way out of the water, open their mouths, and then sink back under water right beside the fly when they rejected it.  They were maddening.  I experimented and found eight pound floro to be the ticket.

I found they had a preference for quiet coves, that my best shot at them was early in the spring, as the water was warming, but BEFORE it algae bloomed, which happens here mid to late May.  My window was really about a month long, between late April and late May.  I needed a day with light winds (they wouldn't rise in moderate to heavy winds) and sun, so I could spot them.  Eventually, an amazing thing happened.  I started to catch them.  I started to catch them on the regular!  It never got easy.  But if I got out at the right time and the right conditions, I could usually hit one or two.

Finally, I had a day where it all came together.  I was fishing Amber lake, and the grass carp were everywhere.  Working the banks, great shoals of fish cruising the flats, it was hard to find a spot where there weren't twenty to sixty pound fish actively feeding.  At the end of the day, I had hooked nine, and landed seven, including a spectacular eat where i was laying flat on the ground to hide myself from the approaching fish, I laid the fly out where I thought the fish would cruise under it, and I got a great dry fly eat from a thirty pound fish six feet from the rod tip.  The smallest of the seven fish landed was around twenty pounds and the biggest about thirty five.  Driving home, I was enjoying that wonderful, satisfying feeling you get when you have figured something out.

It was then that I started to think about IGFA world records.  The IGFA is the International Game Fish Association, and they are the governing body of fishing records.  I had never been particularly interested in world records, but suddenly I was.  I had put so much time into this little obsession, I thought it would be meaningful to set a world record.  I bought "the book" from the IGFA and found out the fly rod record, for eight pound tippet was roughly 25lbs.  I had already caught some fish in the mid thirties.  I decided to wait until I had a fifty pound fish, (double the record) and then keep the fish and go through the process.

Not long after this decision, I found myself on a sunny, mostly windless evening, at the back of quiet cove on Hannen Lake, a small man made lake about 30 miles from home.  Hannen Lake is known for bluegills, largemouth bass and catfish.  That's not why I was there.  Large grass carp were cruising the surface, dorsal fins and tail lobes out of the water, sucking vegetation off the surface.  Out of all the lakes I fished, Hannen had the largest, I routinely saw fish I was sure were well over seventy pounds.   I made a cast, a large soccer ball sized head rose out of the water, slowly opened it's mouth, I waited a couple of eternities, set the hook, and.....   Here's where I confess, grass carp are pretty poor fighters.  I know I'm supposed to say they are freshwater tarpon, and make the battle sound heroic.  I can't.  A few minutes later, I had the fish on it's side.  Easily the biggest I'd landed.   I quickly took measurements, ran it through the calculation Length times girth squared times 1.33, divided by 1000.  48 pounds!  Back in the water it went.  15 minutes for things to calm down.  I made my next cast.  Again the slow rise, the long wait, the hook set, and a bit more of a battle with this one.  Even saw backing.  But soon enough, this one was beached, and definitely bigger!  With the formula I used,  58 pounds!  I whacked him over the head with a rock so he wouldn't suffer, threw him in the trunk of my car, and headed home.

Then I learned some of the challenges with documenting a world record.  First, I needed it weighed on a certified scale.  I had a friend who worked in a grocery store, but their certified scale wasn't heavy enough.  I decided on the post office, but it was Saturday night, they wouldn't open until Monday.  My friend kindly allowed the fish, which wouldn't come close to fitting in my chest freezer, to be stored in their deep freezer.  Bright and early on Monday morning, I headed to the post office.  I walked in with a very large fish cradled in my arms, and patiently waited in line.  People, not surprisingly, had lots of questions.  I finally reached the head of the line (my arms were tired!), got the fish weighed, (it weighed 56lbs 11 ounces after 36 hours on ice and tons of fluid loss in my trunk), and then I went home and sent the documentation in to the IGFA, including signed witness statements and a sample of my tippet.  My tippet actually undertested, it broke at 6 pounds, so I had the new six pound tippet record, a record that at least as of last year, was
still standing seventeen years later.

I still love me some grass carp.  I only fish them a few days a year now, I try to pick the perfect day, on the lakes and ponds that only have the true giants.  It's been four years since I've even caught one, but that one, according to the magic formula was sixty five pounds.  No more world records for me though, he's still swimming!    Although I did pick one huge scale off his side, and had my extremely creative wife turn it in to a bracelet.  I'm sure the postmaster is happy about that choice.

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