BLIND CLEAN

Fishing for Buffalo: A Guide to the Pursuit and Cuisine of Carp, Suckers, Eelpout, Gar, and Other Rough Fish

Is a carpsucker a carp or a sucker? Where can you find the largest eelpout in the United States? Can you catch creek chubs and fry them for supper?

These questions and more are answered within the pages of Fishing for Buffalo. Rob Buffler and Tom Dickson dispel myths and rumors about rough fish with credible biological information while also demonstrating the joy of angling for nontraditional fish. The wealth of information within qualifies this book as a fishing bible for the growing number of rough fishing enthusiasts in the United States and makes it easy to identify the rough fish you may catch. It even includes a sampling of Dickson and Buffler’s favorite recipes, such as Burbot Boulangere and Deviled Grilled Cisco.

Rough fish may be a lot of things—ugly, unruly, or elusive—but they are definitely not boring.

Midway I (paylake)
April 2006
Kings Mountain NC
Nestled in the hills of the Carolinas lies a carp fishing culture that is a mystery to most. Many of us have heard stories about it and have opinions of it, but few have actually seen it. I was fortunate enough catch up with CAG Member Tom Brooks and experience some true “Pay Lakin’”.
I first met Tom at the Ohio CAGI last year. A mutual friend in Indianapolis, Charley Napier, had told me a lot of interesting things about Tom so I was excited to meet him. We shared some stories and I was intrigued by the "paylaking" methods and techniques. While making plans for a fishing trip to a few of the Southern States in May of this year, I discovered Tom was going to attend the TN Fish In, an event I planned on attending during my trip. I contacted him and we made plans for me to follow him home to NC after the Fish In and he would "show me the ropes" at a pay lake or two.
While following Tom from TN to NC I had some time to think about the past few days at the TN Fish In where Wayne Trapp, John Abrams and the guys put on a great event. They really did their homework on the venue and spent plenty of time chumming it up so we could all be on fish. Tom was on top of his game, he and his grandson easily out caught everyone else. Tom showed us all how to make some “Grits Pack” and before the weekend was over we were all fishing, and catching, with it on at least one rod. This gave me even more reason to be excited about the upcoming days at the Pay Lakes.
After a good night sleep we were up bright and early to head to “MIDWAY I”. As we drove down the road towards the lakes I was impressed with how well kept the area was. There are 3 lakes, 2 for carp and one for catfish. The whole place has a park like atmosphere; somewhere you would take your family fishing. This is one of two locations run by the Crawford brothers Keith and Tony. These guys take a lot of pride in running good clean family oriented facilities. They got their start from their Dad who passed away last year shortly after the 20th anniversary of the lake. Other than Keith, Tony and a few of their crew members nobody else was around. The lake is closed on Mondays so they can do maintenance and prepare for the upcoming week of events. I was in for a real treat not only were they going to let us fish, they also invited a few of the local anglers to give me a taste of pay lake gear and techniques.
Nelson Ervin runs the “Carp Shack” at MIDWAY I and gave us the grand tour. This shack is equipped with everything from rods, reels and terminal tackle to custom made rod holders. The basics/staples of pack baits; Grits, Oats, Soybean meal and Millet were also available along with a most impressive flavor selection, over 300 of which are from R&W Carp Juice. Some had easily recognizable names such as TUTTI FRUTTI and BANANA while others had quite unique names such as KRYPTONITE, LINE STRETCHER AND LIP LOCK. Anything and everything you would need to fish at the pay lake is right at your fingertips.Also inside the shack are the pegs used for the peg draw before a competition. Once everyone pays their fee for the day’s competition your name is drawn and assigned to a number. You then take the peg with the corresponding number on it and place it on the lake map board where you chose to fish for the day.
Some of the local anglers started to arrive and it was time to fish. I wanted to see how my “Euro” gear would fair so I set up as I normally would. Side hooked sweet corn on one rod and artificial corn on a hair dipped in flavoring on the other, method mix and bolt rigs on both. Tom used some grits pack he showed me how to make earlier with a flavored “puff” on the hook as a “pick up”. The rest of the local folks used similar set ups. It didn’t take long for Tom and some of the others to get into some fish while I watched my alarms lay silent. This gave me ample time to talk to everyone and satisfy some of my curiosity about pay lakes. A typical set up consists of bait casters, monofilament line and 7’ rods place in rod holders specifically designed for the pay lakes. Everyone was very friendly and as interested in my gear and bait as I was in theirs. Nelson invited me into the Carp Shack to show me how he makes ketchup/rice pack. He then came down to the lake set up next to me and promptly started catching fish. I then decided it was time to switch tactics and soon after I was into fish as well. Nelson offered me the opportunity to angle with a few fish using his gear as well. It was quite different but I got the hang of it and was able to put a fish or two on the bank.
What struck me most about the things I had learned about pay lake methods today was not how different it is than “euro” methods but the similarities between the two; Pack-baits and Method mix, Pick-ups and Hook-baits, Rod Holders w/alarms and Rod Pods w/alarms. Each method has been tuned to use under certain circumstances. As aftern

Maybe taking photo of this is possible too.

Then we today, tried to video it with our tiny digital camera, which has 2 min or so of small video recording capcity. Above image is a crop from that video footages.

+Yesterday's spot was taken over by kids today, so we couldn't go.

+It seems around noon fish aren't hungry much, but still we were able to find a spot where fish gathers (around feet...)

+We wondered how much this is known. (Neither of us is really native here.)

+Looked around and wondered how being surronded by this kind of nature - is not really reflecting back into American culture and life style.

+This is more closer to what we saw in the video - NHK's BS? - about Satoyama thing. Carp is kept to clean up the water coming out of washing sink.

+Next time, calculate the footage length, during that remain silent, and angle and lighting - best way. Pay attention to those and then upload to YouTube.

+Fish's kind - is probably Lake Chub, Couesius plumbeus.

–Historical Background of Koi
–The Anatomy and Physiology of Koi
–Goldfish and Koi: Understanding the Difference
–Koi Varieties
–Starting a Koi Hobby
–Building the Koi Pond
–Pond Maintenance
–Preparation for the Homecoming
–Food and Feeding
–Diseases and Treatments
–Fundamental in Koi Fish Breeding
–Creating a Koi Collection

–Historical Background of Koi
–The Anatomy and Physiology of Koi
–Goldfish and Koi: Understanding the Difference
–Koi Varieties
–Starting a Koi Hobby
–Building the Koi Pond
–Pond Maintenance
–Preparation for the Homecoming
–Food and Feeding
–Diseases and Treatments
–Fundamental in Koi Fish Breeding
–Creating a Koi Collection