The average US or Canadian angler probably has no idea carp are an economic powerhouse for some of the best known tackle brands on the shelves of Bass Pro Shops or Cabela’s. Pure Fishing owns Chub, Greys, and JRC; Rapala is the parent of Dynamite Baits and Carp Spirit; and Lew’s/Strike King — by way of private equity firm BDT Capital Partners — now owns iconic carp brand Fox International. I like to imagine, somewhere in the canyons of Manhattan, a bunch of corporate bankers sitting around trying to figure out what a Spomb is, or a Carpmaster Air Mat.

Of course, these are all international brands: what about the scene here in the US and Canada? It did seem sometime before the economic downturn in 2008 that carp fishing was building commercial momentum, with high-profile carp tournaments on the St. Lawrence, St. Croix releasing the first production carp rod, and, of course, Al St. Cyr pocketing $250,000 for breaking the Texas state record during the ATC in 2006 — surely still the most valuable carp capture of all time, worldwide.

What happened after 2008 is that carp fishing never really did break through to a wider fishing public and entice US companies to launch their own carp ranges or promote the sport with marketing and PR dollars. In 2020, I can’t think of a single item of purpose-made carp tackle or bait produced by a large North American tackle company, other than a few over-flavored dough nuggets.

While that sounds like a negative, honestly, is it such a bad thing?

I love to read the fly fishing author John Gierach. He’s a master, and one of the best-selling fishing writers of all time. In his early book Another Lousy Day in Paradise, he actually mentions the CAG. Specifically, he pokes a little gentle fun at its organizing principle of promoting carp fishing to the greater public.

To paraphrase, he says why on earth would you want to ruin a good thing? If carp fishing’s your passion, why not just enjoy the near 100% lack of competition and indifference to the resource – just get out there and enjoy it. Imagine if you could road trip through Montana and not see another trout angler? Something to think about perhaps.

What we do have now and should be highly appreciative of, is a very small cottage industry of homegrown retailers, bait makers, and outfitters who between them offer a full range of tackle, bait, and guiding services to North American carp anglers. If this article has a theme, it’s that as we look down the barrel of another massive economic contraction, spare a thought for these US and Canadian businesses, and try and support them if you’re able.

What follows is a list, as of May 1st 2020, of active, established companies in retailing, bait, and guiding/outfitting. Please note, it probably isn’t completely comprehensive: my apologies to any company I missed – get in touch and I will try and rectify.

For any CAG members who don’t use facebook, you should probably start if you want to stay current on product offerings. The smaller bait companies in particular seem to establish themselves on social media first before they launch e-commerce sites. In addition, there are at least two facebook groups dedicated to buying and selling secondhand carp tackle in the US.

Retailers

In addition to Big Carp Tackle (see Dean Brookes’ profile), we’re lucky enough to have a handful of other established online retailers to shop from. These companies import tackle and bait from the UK, and sometimes supplement their offerings with their own custom ranges. Their names should be well familiar to CAG readers:

• Wacker Bait & Tackle, wackerbaits.com (USA)

• Fishin’ Factory 3, fishinfactory3.com (USA). Connecticut tackle shop for walk-in and phone orders.

• Carp Kit International, carpkit.com (CN). Along with BCT, it offers the most comprehensive range of carp tackle and bait available to North American anglers.

• Canadian Carp Club, canadiancarpclubshop.ca (CN)

• Monster Carp Tackle, monstercarptackle.com (CN)

• Mark’s Tackle Box, markstacklebox.ca (CN)

I checked in with Corey Tedesco at Wacker Bait & Tackle to see how his company is doing in the current climate. He pointed out that because fishing has been permitted in most areas business has been steady despite the lockdown. Since acquiring WB&T from Paul Pezalla in 2017 he’s noticed a steady increase in new customers. The focus of WB&T has, in fact, shifted to try and meet the demands of newcomers and others looking for reliable and good value terminal tackle and bait, “the bits on the end” rather than the whole gamut of UK rods, luggage, and hardware. As he says, “keeping things simple seems to appeal to many customers.”

Simon Stewart, if you like, takes the opposite approach: via carpkit.com he’s been offering a vast range of all things carpy to North American anglers for over ten years. In that decade there’s been consistent growth in the business despite a few ups and downs. The health crisis has meant customers can no longer walk into his physical store in Tiny, Ontario, close to Georgian Bay, but the backbone of the operation is the first class e-commerce site he runs. If he doesn’t stock it, honestly, you probably don’t need it.

Over the years he’s seen a noticeable shift in people’s perception of carp as a worthy quarry and thinks carp-related tourism within the domestic market can be a growth area for the sport, once we’ve passed the current crisis. In the meantime, he’s grateful for the continued support of old and new customers: “We have many plans going forward and will always reinvest to support our growth, but the main thing is everyone stays healthy and safe. We appreciate all the support we’ve received over the last years and hope to see you all on the other side of these crazy times.”

Bait

Legally importing and exporting carp bait is by all accounts an expensive and bureaucratic pain-in-the-neck, so we should give an extra shout-out to the retailers above that nonetheless supply us with Nashbait, Sticky, Dynamite, Mainline, CC Moore, and fill-in your favorite.

As good as those offerings are, a handful of small companies around the country offer homegrown boilies, particles, flavors and mixes, and are very worthy of support. They tend to sell direct to the public rather than through the retailers and, unfortunately, they tend to launch and shut up shop with some regularity. If Berkley can’t make money from selling boilies in Europe, you know it’s a tough business.

• Trilogy Carp Baits, trilogycarpbaits.com (USA). Also offers a range of end tackle and leads.      

• Wicked Carp Company, wickedcarpcompany.com (USA). One of the few carp companies that also sells on amazon.

• Carp Bait USA, carp-bait-usa.com (USA, with an Italian flavor).

• World Classic Baits, worldclassicbaits.com (USA). Likely the most established carp bait manufacturer in the USA, offering value-priced boilies, method mixes, particles, and flavors.

• Carp Maxx Baits (USA) – there’s a certain type of retailer that almost goes out of its way to stay on the QT. It’s off-putting initially but then you start to think, wow, they must be really, really good … You have to look pretty hard to find Carp Maxx unless you’re in-the-know, but I eventually found my way to the personal facebook page of its owner Tamas Vegvari, and, just between you and me, it looks like he’s still making really good carp bait.

• TrapOut Baits (USA) – for now, at least, a facebook-only venture, but this one is helmed by experienced bait-maker Joshua Leach, the former owner of Linear Baits.

In addition, Wacker Bait & Tackle, Canadian Carp Club, and Monster Carp Tackle all offer baits under their own in-house labels.

Lorenzo Rosaci at Carp Bait USA offered some thoughts on the current situation at his company and trends within the American carp scene. The lockdown has caused the price of some of his raw materials to shoot higher, eggs for example, and business has been hurt by the cancellation of organized events like this year’s North American Carp Conference and scheduled carp tournaments, but overall he is very positive about growth in the sport going forward.

He sees a lot of parallels here to how carp fishing developed in his native country:  “It’s awesome for me to relive this situation! I started carp fishing in Italy in the 90’s and experienced the same market demand changes over there … year after year more and more people realizing how fun the sport really is. When in the beginning I was selling more pop-ups and small packages, now people are ordering bigger boilie packs and realizing that you need a good amount to get the carp on them quickly. Heavy boilie users in the long run catch the most big fish.”

Guides/Outfitters/Tournaments

While tackle and bait companies have the benefit of selling online, the few holiday businesses and guides that cater to carp anglers are obviously going to be most directly impacted by the lockdown. Each of the companies listed below have well-maintained web sites – check for notices and updates about their services for the remainder of the year.

• Austin Carp Angler, austincarpangler.com (USA)

• CarpPro Texas Guide Service, carpprotexasguideservice.com (USA)

• Wild Carp Club, wildcarpclub.com (USA)

• Canadian Carpin’ Holidays, canadiancarpin.com (CN)

• Lakeside Cottages, lakeside-cottages.com/carp-fishing (CN)

Dale Hollow Carp Adventures RX, the outfitter that targeted that lake’s fabulous mirror carp fishery, ceased operating in early 2020.