No Rods Allowed in Carp Tourney

Well, that’s one way to make lemonade outta some lemons. Bath, IL hosted the 7th Annual Redneck Fishing Tournament this past weekend on the Illinois River. The goal is to catch as many of those bizarre jumping Asian carp as you can, but it’s catch as in baseball, not fishing: no rods allowed.

Not sure they’d even work.

What’s pretty funny about the tourney is that participants dress up in bizarre costumes. The Peoria Journal Star said people were wearing everything from T-shirts that looked like bikinis on the front and back to Santa costumes and tutus (all girls in that boat).

That nuttiness and catching, whacking and otherwise killing these fish apparently amounts to enough fun that folks traveled from “as far away as Canada, Florida, Pennsylvania and California to participate,” stated the paper.

Crazy, huh? I’m thinking this’ll be the next big fishin’ reality TV craze, after the whole noodling thing runs its course.

Even more crazy (or maybe not) is that the fishermen/women are now starting to pattern these fish. Meaning even though all you really have to do is motor around and wait for the fish to jump, some folks have figured out that disturbing brushpiles by the shore works too.

I still wish there some safe way to blast these carp with a shotgun. Would be fun.

Wonder what bizarre fishing deal is next….