Carp Anglers Group Invitational

Guide for participants

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North American Carp Angler

1 Introduction & General Concept
The Carp Anglers Group Invitational (CAGI) was created in 2003 by David Moore, then CAG president. In June of 2003, 48 carp anglers fished in 5 venues across 5 states. In 2004, the CAGI second edition included 101 participants across 7 venues/states, institutionalizing the CAGI as a classic national carp angling event. In 2005, the 3rd edition included an impressive 185 participants across 10 venues/states. In 2006, the 4th edition included a fantastic 263 participants across 11 venues/states. And in 2007 we grew to 16 venues/states and 351 participants, largest CAG event ever.

The main concept is to have on the same day simultaneous fish-ins in multiple regional venues across North America, all following the same rules. This type of national event allows CAG members that could neither attend Austin (the ATC) or Chicago (the CCC) to participate in an “official CAG event”. A handicap system compensates for the different average sizes of carp being caught in the various waters, thus enabling national awards in addition to regional (per venue) awards. Young anglers are especially welcome, and can win junior awards.

In addition of being a friendly event with many participants across North America, the CAGI also offers a great opportunity to meet and fish with other CAG members.

The CAGI is scheduled end of June as a ten (10) hour fish-in. For 2008 this will be June 28 (mark your calendar!). Regional prizes are handed out right after the event. CAGI official results are published on the Internet in July and in the NACA early September. The CAGI national prizes are handed out during the CAG annual meeting in Washington DC end of September.

2 How to participate
To participate you must be a CAG member. Members may participate in any regional event, not necessarily the region where he/she resides.

CAG members must register for the event. A Web-based registration process is available on the CAG Web site, and is the preferred registration mechanism. Otherwise, please send an e-mail to the CAGI coordinator, David Moore

Registration Form

Registration needs to occur before the event; most venues have limited space, and it will greatly simplify the life of the regional organizer to know the number of participants in advance. Still, last-minute on-site registration may be accepted as space allows. Regional organizers are CAG volunteers taking care of the logistics of organizing the regional CAGI event in an appropriate venue. Be patient and display common courtesy, organizing such an event is a lot of work…

You can find the list of currently planned CAGI venues and corresponding regional organizers on the CAG Web site in the list of CAG fish-ins scheduled for end of June.

Fish Ins Page

You can also contact the CAGI coordinator, who will be happy to redirect you to the appropriate regional organizer and answer any question you might have about the CAGI. Contact David Moore.

A fee of $10 per CAG member is requested. The fee can be prepaid when registering online (via Paypal), or it can be paid on-site to the regional organizer.

3 Regional awards
Regional awards are based on weights of carp captured in a given regional event.

Regional winners are determined right after the end of the event, and prizes are handed out to first, second, and third place in each category. Depending on regional venues, a social event of some sort (e.g. dinner, picnic, outing, etc) may complement the “award ceremony”.

3.1 Regional “Total Weight” award
This award goes to the angler with the highest total weight of carp in the regional event.

Tiebreaker: largest carp, next largest, etc. If tie persists, time of capture of the largest carp (earliest wins).

3.2 Regional “Top 4” award

This award goes to the angler with the highest total weight of the four (4) biggest carp in the regional event.

Tiebreaker: largest carp, next largest, etc. If tie persists, time of capture of the largest carp (earliest wins).

3.3 Regional “Big Fish” award

This award goes to the angler with the largest carp in the regional event.

Tiebreaker: next largest carp, etc. If tie persists, time of capture of the largest carp (earliest wins).

4 National awards
National awards are based on the combined results of all regional events, using a handicap system to create a reasonable fairness between venues (not all waters have 30 or 40 pounders ready to be caught!). Special categories are defined for juniors (17 years-old or less), but they are also eligible to the “all ages” awards. National awards are reserved for CAG members and juniors.

National winners (first, second, and third place for each category) are determined by the CAGI coordinator after tallying the results of all regional events. National results will be published on the Internet (and communicated to regional organizers) as soon as possible in July.

A “CAGI national awards ceremony” will occur during the annual CAG meeting in Chicago, after the Chicago Carp Classic (CCC). CAGI winners are kindly invited to come to Chicago, but if they can’t come, we’ll make sure they receive their prizes. CCC organizers gracefully agreed to offer a free participation to the CCC for CAGI national winners (first places only).

4.1 Handicap system

To qualify for national awards, a regional venue must fulfill two criteria:
• At least 8 anglers must have participated
• More carp than anglers must have been caught

If a venue qualifies, a venue handicap is calculated for each category (total weight, top-4, big fish), based on the carp caught during the event:
Venue Handicap = Nation-wide average weight/Venue average weight

Based on such venue handicaps, adjusted weights are then calculated as:
Adjusted weight = Actual weight * Venue Handicap

4.2 National “Total Weight” award – Junior and All Ages

The award goes to the angler with the highest adjusted total weight of carp, across all venues.

Tiebreaker: largest carp (adjusted weight), next largest, etc. If tie persists, joint winners.

4.3 National “Top 4” award – Junior and All Ages

The award goes to the angler with the highest adjusted total weight of the four (4) biggest carp, across all venues.

Tiebreaker: largest carp (adjusted weight), next largest, etc. If tie persists, joint winners.

4.4 National “Big Fish” award – Junior and All Ages

The award goes to the angler with the largest carp (adjusted weight) across all venues.

Tiebreaker: next largest carp (adjusted weight), etc. If tie persists, joint winners.

4.5 National Best Picture/Story award
The award goes to the angler having submitted the best picture and/or story. The picture may or may not include a fish, but has to include the angler. A panel of judges (e.g. CAGI regional organizers, presided by the CAGI coordinator) will assess the quality of all submitted pictures, and will vote.

Pictures must stay in the realm of decency to be selected. Pictures must be sent to the CAGI coordinator by e-mail or postal mail and received no later than July 14th.

Tiebreaker: vote again. And again. Until we get a clear winner!

5 Logistics & Schedule
The fish-in itself will last 10 hours. The typical schedule will be the following (this may be changed by the regional organizer, so ask to be sure! Some venues may choose to have a 10 hours night-fishing session, for example):
• Participants gather around 6AM; take some time to explore the venue
• Participants fees are collected by the regional organizer
• Participants scales are checked for accuracy against a calibration weight
o Not everybody needs to bring a precise scale, one for 2 or 3 anglers is usually enough
• The peg draw occurs around 7AM; here is the typical procedure:
o Participants draw a peg
• Once the peg is known, participants get a scorecard, then can go to their peg right away and start plumbing or pre-baiting
• Fish-in from 8AM to 6PM (local time)
o From 8AM to 10AM, participants have to stay in their peg
o A participant has to stay at shouting distance from another participant
• Participants gather around 6:15PM to submit their scorecard with their results
o Please report it in any case, even if you didn’t catch anything
• A couple of group pictures of all participants are taken, plus pics of winners
• Regional results are computed by the regional organizer and double-checked by a participant/helper
• Regional awards ceremony occurs, possibly combined with a social event of some sort
• On Sunday, some regional organizers will have an informal fish-in (same venue or different venue) as an extra-activity for CAGI participants. Check on it!

6 More rules…
Regional organizers will be the judges if a participant breaks a rule or event class. If this happens, the participant may be disqualified for regional and national awards.

Every participant must follow the following set of rules:
• Two rods per angler
o An additional rod may be used for spodding
o Subject to local regulations (e.g. some states allow only one rod in the water)
• One hook per line, no double or treble hook
• Foul hooked fish will not count
o Hook needs to be within one inch from the mouth area
• Fish may be sacked if strictly necessary
• The carp has to be weighed by a witness, and related information reported on the scorecard. Neighbor participant or stewards (e.g. regional organizer or helper) can act as witness.
• Only Cyprinus Carpio counts (common, mirror, leather, koi). Catching buffalo carp, crucian carp, grass carp, silver carp, old tires, dirty shoes, birds, dogs or other anglers does NOT count.
• Smartcast, plumbing, bait boats and any fancy equipment or baiting method is allowed.
• Fishing has to be performed from shore, not from boats or any other floatation device. Wading in the water is ok.
• Participants should not interfere with each other. A good guideline is to restrict yourself to half way to the next peg or the opposing peg.
• A fish hooked before the end of the fish-in will be given 15 additional minutes to be landed.
• Please practice catch and release, and put back to the water an unharmed fish. Tires, shoes, etc do not have to be released.
• Please leave the peg/swim as clean (or cleaner) as you found it. No litter.

7 A few last recommendations

Regional organizers (and helpers) are encouraged to pre-bait the week before the event. It is kindly requested that no participant fishes the venue during the week before the event, unless agreed upon with the regional organizer.

Participants and regional organizer(s) should take as many pictures as possible, and send them by e-mail to the CAGI coordinator. Great stories should be documented, either by posting the story on the CAG Forum, or by writing an article for the NACA or any other angling publication.

Overall, do not take things too seriously. Have fun, enjoy the event, socialize, etc.