I just saw this on bassfan.com and thought it was interesting... There's some serious cash involved...

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Believe it. According to a story than ran in The Wall Street Journal yesterday, the World Carp Championship (no joke) will be held in the U.S. for the first time this year. It will be in June on a 40-mile stretch of the St. Lawrence River.

Here's how it works: 200 two-man teams from places like Europe, Russia and, of course, the U.S. will ante up a $2,500 entry fee (200 x $2,500 = $500,000) and fish around the clock for 115 hours (that's 4 1/2 days). The winning team wins 100 grand. But anyone who breaks the single-fish New York State carp record of 50-04 during the event wins $1 million -- paid out over 40 years.

This is no joke. People will actually be going to the St. Lawrence River, one of the best bass and muskie waters in the country, and will be completely ignoring fish with teeth in favor of fish that, well...suck.

I may have concidered it if it were like 25 bucks around here :+

Clear Lake has one of the biggest carp tournaments (not a catch-and-release one though) on the west coast--I think last year's was sponsored by Easton (you know, the aluminum arrow manufacturer) and had a Ranger boat for 1st place. It takes several hundred pounds just to place. The boats with specialized shooting platforms are pretty cool...

Why so down on carp? They fight a whole heckuva lot harder than any bass...