Grass carp, Dotty and her fish, tomorrow

It’s been an interesting three days. Kathryn Vallilee and I headed up to the IGFA to attend the awards dinner and lend some Angling Company support to Dotty Ballantyne, who received a lifetime achievement award in recognition of her capture of over 100 IGFA fly rod records. Needless to say, The Angling Company is beyond proud of Dotty for such an amazing display of angling skill and perseverance. Awesomely (though not surprisingly), Dotty fished the day after the awards dinner with Fitz and Doug Kilptrick. She was after the women’s 6lb tippet tarpon record, which currently stands at 17 pounds. Dotty hooked a large fish on 6, and fought it for four hours and 45 minutes (!). After beating the fish on 6, it was lost during an errant net deployment. The fish was estimated at 120 pounds by Fitz and Doug. Congratulations to Dotty for a great account from a talented fly fisherman and a tip of the hat to the tarpon that got away.
In other news, during the trip up to IGFA I was able to connect with Captain Steve Kantner, AKA the Land Captain, and enjoy what I think is one of the coolest things I’ve ever had the pleasure of doing with a fly rod: fishing for grass carp:

I caught a 19 pound fish,

one about the same size that we did’t weigh, and capped the day with a 22 pound fish on 6# tippet:

Kathryn came along, and she caught a nice peacock bass also:

There is another photo or two in the gallery that wouldn’t fit here since I’m limited to 4 photos per report.
Tomorrow I’m fishing with Drew Delashmit and Howard Davis, reports and photos to follow!

ncl