Wild Carp Club Tournaments

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Wild Carp Club of Central New York to host two annual carp tournaments

Thanks to the success of the inaugural Ed French Open, the Wild Carp Club of Central New York, whose membership is based in and around Baldwinsville, has agreed to host two annual, professional-grade carp tournaments.

 

 

 

BALDWINSVILLE, NY – The membership of the Wild Carp Club of Central New York (WCC of CNY) held a meeting Thursday, December 4, 2014 in Clay, NY to discuss plans to host two professional-grade carp tournaments every year on the Seneca River. The members in attendance all enthusiastically agreed to do so and to begin planning for it immediately.

 

A decision to host two events stems from the successful completion of the Ed French Open on the Seneca River October 10-12, 2014. The club banded together to form a committee that welcomed 32 teams from all over the United States—from as far South as Georgia and as far West as Illinois. Three teams were comprised of WCC of CNY members; two of the teams even managed a top 5 finish. Overall, the attendees were very pleased with club’s handling of the event.

 

Another factor influencing the club’s decision is the previous success of professional carp angling events on the Seneca River. From 2007-10, CARP Tournament Series hosted an annual team-based tournament in the spring. From 2011-13, Wild Carp Companies hosted spring and fall team and singles tournaments. In 2014, the duties were shared between local angler Tamas Vegvari, who hosted the spring tournament, and the WCC of CNY, which handled the fall.

 

“Professional-grade tournaments have been taking place in Baldwinsville for 8 years now, and the fishing has been a tremendous success. Literally, hundreds of thousands of pounds have been caught, recorded and released during the course of 8 years, with most fish coming in the teens to low-20s and a high of 40 pounds,” said Jason Bernhardt, Wild Carp Companies tournament director and founding member of the WCC of CNY.

 

WCC of CNY member Bill Markle agrees with Bernhardt. “I don’t know of any events in the world as populated with carp and with as successful of a catch rate as the Seneca River. That’s why people keep coming back to Baldwinsville every year,” he said.

 

The WCC of CNY plans to host two tournaments in perpetuity. They have not yet finalized the details of each event, but are scheduled to meet again in January and are targeting January 19 as the first day of registration for the spring tournament.

 

“We haven’t decided whether or not to update the name of the spring event, but we’ll let everyone know when we open registration in January. We intend to keep everything very similar to what everyone has become accustomed to,” added club member Kent Appleby.

 

Club member Matt Broekhuizen is looking forward to reprising his role as head marshal of the Ed French Open for the spring event. “We received feedback from the angler surveys given at our last event and are working to give anglers a format they’ll enjoy and improve our marshal coverage.”

The club has confirmed on its Facebook page that the spring tournament will take place along the Seneca River in Baldwinsville and Liverpool from May 14-17, 2015. The Ed French Open will take place again in October, but that date has yet to be released.

 

For more information, request membership on the Wild Carp Club of Central New York Facebook page or visit the Wild Carp Companies website.