5th First Fishing Folly Guide
January 1, 2008
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Are you a really obsessed carp angler? Are you crazy enough to go fishing on New Year’s Day? Snow, hail or rain are no excuses… If yes, you should really participate to the First Fishing Folly of the year, the FFF. Nothing to pay, this is entirely For Free and For Fun! A Friendly Fishing Fantasy between CAG members and their buddies. 1 How to participate To participate, first you need to register for the FFF. Beware, if you don’t register before the event, you will not qualify for any awards or prizes… So just fill this form before December 31st on the CAG Web site (or ask a friend to do it for you), and you’re done.Now here are the rules... quite simple... 1. Go through a tough negotiation with your significant other... whatever the outcome, decide to go fishing on Jan 1st. Don't forget to go home on Jan 2nd, your catches after midnight won't count... To count, a carp must be hooked and landed between 00:00 and 23:59. 2. Pick a good spot and go with at least another angler (or spouse or friend), so that he/she can witness your success (and bring you home if you become frozen solid). 3. You can fish the way you want, using as many rods as locally allowed, using whatever fancy gear, pre-bait the year before (!!), whatever you like, but please catch carp with a single hook and practice catch & release. 4. Record landing time & weight of all your captures, but also very importantly the water temperature (right after your catch). So don’t forget to bring a thermometer… 5. Only cyprinus carpio counts. Crucian carp, buffalo carp, grass carp, silver carp, dirty socks, frozen anglers and icebergs do not count. 6. All carp must be caught on Jan 1st and must be landed with a rod cast on Jan 1st. If you fish on New Year’s Eve, recast at midnight! 7. Carp anglers from any country, any age, and any gender are most welcome. The more participation, the better! Even aliens are welcome… Non-CAG members (guests) are welcome to participate as long as they go fishing with a CAG member. 2 Who are the winners You should really participate to the FFF for the challenge of catching a carp on New Year’s Day, but maybe will you actually win something, either on a regional basis or on a worldwide basis! Here are the awards you may win:1. The FFF First Carp Award: first carp of the year (time to be recorded = when the carp is landed; local time zone). Please send a picture of carp & angler. 2. The FFF Monster Phone Award: biggest carp caught during the FFF in a water under 50?F. Please send a picture of carp & angler and thermometer. 3. The FFF Baby Phone Award: smallest carp caught during the FFF in a water under 50?F. Please send a picture of carp & angler and thermometer. 4. The FFF Emperor Award: total weight of all carp caught by the angler. Please send a few pictures of the angler and some of the catches. Biggest score wins. 5. The FFF Prince Award: same principle as the Emperor Award, but only for juniors (17 or less). Note that juniors are eligible to all other awards. 6. The FFF Scubadoc Mirror Award: biggest mirror (or leather) carp caught during the FFF. Please send a picture of carp & angler, preferably one picture for each side of the fish. 7. The FFF Sunrise Award goes to the angler having submitted the best picture of the first sunrise of the year. The picture may or may not include a fish, but has to include at least one fishing rod. A vote will be organized on the Internet (CAG Forum) to select the best picture. 8. Also anybody crazy enough and skilled enough to catch a carp of any size on Jan 1st before 6AM (local time zone) will be entered in the very select FFF Hall of Fame. Please send a picture of carp & angler. Also various types of extraordinary achievements may qualify for entering the Hall of Fame (to be decided by the FFF coordinator). This is purely for glory, no prize to be expected, except a nice certificate of achievement. Only CAG members can enter the Hall of Fame. • In 2007, some special challenges worthy of the Hall of Fame will be to catch the first carp of the year on a fly, or to make the best snow-carp (sculpture of a carp with snow and ice). In general, pictures displaying the (local) time would be nice, otherwise we'll trust you (and the word of your witness)... 3 A bit of background One might ask why the FFF awards are defined this way. There are good reasons…• First, you have to understand that Bill “Phone” Warder, a very colorful CAG character, always claimed that carp don’t feed in water under 50° Fahrenheit. This topic became a recurring theme for good-hearted jokes on the CAG Forum (on the CAG Web site). This is where the Monster and Baby awards come from. • As to the First Carp award and the FFF Hall of Fame, this is pretty much self-explanatory. Still, let’s add that the FFF Hall of Fame is dedicated to Frank Walters, former CAG president, who caught the First Carp of the 3rd Millennium, on Jan 1st, 2001, six minutes past midnight! More about this great story if you can put your hands on the NACA Q1’01 edition, and read the article from Frank. • As to the Scubadoc award, anybody knowing the fabulous Neil Stern (aka Scubadoc) has heard about his intense frustration of never succeeding to catch a mirror carp. This is another classic on the CAG Forum for good-humored teasing of one of our most beloved members. Being as mean as we are, we certainly wish he’ll never get one, or we would lose all the fun! 
4 Sending and tallying the results You have to submit your results before Jan 10th midnight. Please submit your results on the FFF submission pagePreliminary results should be communicated the 2nd or 3rd week of January and final results will communicated by the end of the month. As to the prizes for winners… Sponsors are welcome to contribute… We will post pictures of FFF prizes on the CAG Web site in December in order to make you salivate a bit more. Any questions? Any suggestions? Send an e-mail to Mark Metzger 5 The last word Blithering idiots!
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