carp throwdown lake henshaw

meet and greet friday night hoedown, little max and the carp imperials. photo by michelle woo bowman

Group Shot at Lake Henshaw. Photo by Michelle Woo Bowman

Al Q & Conway Bowman surrounded by Yetis! photo by michelle woo bowman

The second annual carp throwdown this past weekend, hosted by Conway and yours truly was really a special one. We had a great meet and greet friday night, with live music, beer, barbecue and great friends. Everyone was on a high from the previous year when we timed the hopper catch perfectly. Most of the carp last year were caught sight fishing on the surface with hoppers. Saturday morning at early light, just before check-in, the entire lake was dimpling with carp, thousands of them. The fishing at the lake can be technical and the sharpies put some big numbers on the board. John Hendrickson and Dustin Sergent landed 27 in the boat division and scored a total of 102 points winning them two yeti coolers and first place trophies for their second year in a row. The ever so humble, Dave Wratchford won the wade division for the second year,  landing 14 fish and scoring a total of 97 points, winning him a Orvis Helios 2 – 6weight and a trophy. Big fish was  a tie between Orvis’s rod designer, Shawn Combs who flew in from Virginia to fish and Dylan Moore. Each had a 24 inch carp. We had a shoot out, by taking a stuffed kids shark toy, placing it 60 feet away and using the same rod and fly setup, each angler had three false casts and one lay down to come closest to the nose to the shark toy. Shawn was slightly closer but in good sportsmanship gave up the prize, a Abel custom 6n to Dylan. Great sportsmanship and very refreshing to see, way to go Shawn! Trash fish went to Wratchford with a 18 inch catfish, he got a Galvin reel. Everyone seemed to have a big smile on their faces after the event. Hope to see some new ones next year. Special thanks goes out to Bernard, Michelle, Max and all our great sponsors: Orvis, Abel, Howler, Yeti, Mustad, & Umpqua for making this event even better than last year… visit www.carpthrowdown.com for more updates on the tournament!