The first few months of 2016 have seen record temperatures in most of the Northern States, with hardly any snow and relatively mild temperatures. This signals several things; winter fishing has been excellent with fish feeding consistently, less cabin fever and the usual onslaught on the forums and most importantly to me, an early start on my spring fishing. With no ice and snow melt the usual challenges of flood water will not be in play and with carp feeding all through the winter we will surely see weights up, although this might signal an earlier spawning season. Simply put, this could be a great spring for carp fishing. Looking back over the last few months we had some great entries for the First Fishing Follie (FFF) which was run exceptionally well by Frank Rink, who has taken over admirably from Jerome Moisand in the last few years. We also had a memorable ATC Tournament with a close run event being won by repeat Champions Christian Torres and Ceasar Espinoza; a fantastic achievement with such a strong and diverse field of competitors. We now look forward to some of our upcoming Regional Events; including the Mid-West Regional, the 5 Bridge’s Tournament, the Wooden Shoe Classic and a number of other events.
We also look forward to the Spring Big 4 event, which will no doubt see some big totals. At CAG we have many local, regional and national competitions and events running through the year, as well as an active online forum, access to this online NACA and exclusive access to a yearly printed NACA as well as a new regular Newsletter. This is all included for a small fee of $25. Why not join us and help grow the community which will ultimately help us protect the fish we all love, the carp. If you aren’t already a member what are you waiting for? Sign up here: Join CAG Now to this Edition of NACA; we have several feature articles including an Interview with the Two Time ATC Champions, an updated visit with Mark Watson from the CarpCast, an article from Marcin Szydlowski and Henryk Burza on the Chicago River, as well as a review of the FFF and ATC and a look forward at upcoming competitions and events. All this along with other CAG news and stories, which I hope you will all enjoy. Dean Brookes Editor In Chief