The DC fish-in started early again this year, on Friday the 24th of April 1998, in a new swim for the pre-event. The chosen venue this year was a place known as Gravelly Point (Airport Swim), which happens to be right at the foot of the runway of Reagan National Airport.
The venue was prebaited a couple of days before hand by Murphy and Mac M. (DC) (to whom I'm eternally grateful). I arrived with Nigel G. (CT) kind of (ahem) mid morningish to find 'Oatmeal' Jack B. (MD), Mike 'Manga' C. and his lovely girlfriend Darlene
(NY), Christain 'the chef' G. (VA), and Rabi 'I'm not fishing today' S. (DC) already fishing and having had a few fish (except for Rabi who wasn't fishing). Me and Nigel had a quick walk around to check out different swims and eventually found some space for us to slide in.
I was walking around and chewing the fat with the guys while Nigel set up, within what seemed like minutes Nigel was hooked up and the first 20+ of the event hit the bank.
We were later joined by Brian 'Carpoholic' N. (AZ) and Mac and Murphy M. Brian went over and mooched some boilies from Nigel and in less than an hour had a new PB on the bank, an awesome chunk of a common at 26lbs. A nice welcome to the East coast for Brian! We picked a few more fish with Brian taking another nice fish at 19+ when another PB fell, this one to Murphy M. at 20 and change. Highlight of the day was seeing Murphy at the right end of the camera with a smile big enough to strech from DC to Baltimore.
A great day despite the noise from the planes and the fact that me and Christain blanked!
We capped off the day with a barbecue and a few drinks back at my place, old memories were replayed and strategies for the coming weekend were discussed.
Sat. the day of the main event on the Tidal Basin. The Basin had been prebaited in advance by Rabi and Mac and Murphy (thanks guys!) and myself. The morning saw many carpers casting there lines out in anticipation, amongst those attending were 'Oatmeal' Jack B., Craig '25' S., Wesley 'didn't know they fought that hard' S., Andy D. (VA), Debbie 'forget bass' F. (MD), and her friends Jerry and Bonnie, Bob 'Doughnut' E., Joe 'little Joe' E., Oat's Dad (WV), 'Dundalk' Pat and son Stephen 'Sleepy' K. (MD); Christain 'the Chef' G., and David 'Surge' D. (VA); Rabi 'I'm not fishing today' and Ramesh S., Barry S., Fritz S., Mac and Murphy M., and myself (DC); Nick S. (DE); Scott 'Bread' O.(MA); Nigel
'Eurotackle' G. (CT); Flip S., Wayne M. and friend, and Bill D. (PA); Mike 'Manga' C. and Darlene (NY); Andy L. and Simon S. (UK); Ray and Steve 'Toddlin' Town' P. (IL); and Brian Carpoholic' N. (AZ). Also stopping by were media members Jim
Gilford and Martin Gary.
Most of the anglers were set up into the teeth of the wind at the outlet bridge while a few others elected to fish around the back at the inlet bridge. The fish seemed to show equally between the two swims. Despite seeminly great weather conditions, the fishing wasn't quite as awesome as it should be but still respectable. Amongst the notable fish taken were Dundalk Pat’s K. early morning 24, Joe E. 24, David Dicks' 25 (taken on Nigels rod!) and Nick S. low 20 from the inlet bridge.
Unlike the last couple of years we didn't fish overnight. Everybody scrambled back down on Sunday. There really didn't seem to be 'hot' swims this year, with the fish spread equally amongst the various anglers. Sunday seemed to be the more productive day. Barry, Flip, and Fritz really seemed on top of the fish, taking several 20's including a pair of 25's. Dundalk Pat K. caught his second carp of the event, this one a new PB at 28 (congrats!). A couple of mirrors showed, a lightly scaled deep mid-double for Nigel and a fully scaled for Wes. Ahhh Wes, a relative newcomer to fishing a real newcomer to carp, he only caught two fish over the weekend, the fully scaled and the biggest carp of the event at 31+. A huge congrats to Wes, well done. Wes really stuck it out and learned all he could and it payed off in a big way for him. A special thanks to Christain for really taking his time out and introducing Wes to some of
the finer points of carp fishing.
Everyone really seemed to enjoy themselves this year. We talked to inumerable spectators, which abound at the Tidal Basin. In addition, we had several interested anglers just show up after reading some great pre-fishin publicity by Gene Mueller of the Washington Times (thanks!). I'd like to give a special thanks to everyone who helped out and showed up, what a great bunch, hope to see you all next year.
