There seems to be more and more fish-in's in the CAG universe. If you haven't fished one yourself get out there and do it! There's fish to be caught, things to be learned, and people to be met. The mother of all CAG fish-ins, the CAG Chicago Carp Classic, is coming up, and I hope everyone is planning on being there.

I confess to thinking of fish-in's as mostly social affairs. It's not everyday that I get to fish with a bunch of carp-minded individuals. At every fish-in I've been to people are more than happy to talk, so don't be shy. If someone is using a technique your not familiar with they'll be more than happy to explain it to you.

The fishing aspect can be tough, typically you've got 20 or more anglers of varying skill levels plunked down on a bank, fishing right next to one another. In the case of the Chicago Carp Classic you can multiply by five! A change in tactics is in order, you might not be able to fish the way you normally do. I hope to give a few hints that might help you put a few extra fish on the bank.

Try to find out all you can about the venue in advance. If possible try to secure licenses, accomadations, bait, and the like before you arrive. The last thing you want to do is be driving around looking for a tackle store when you could be fishing! Find out about the water, is it still water or flowing, if flowing how much? What bait is being chummed with (if any), water clarity, hardness of banks (rod pod or banksticks), average size of fish, etc.. The more you know on arrival the better your chances of success.

If your fishing a single bank, try to fish near the ends. Typically the carp will move along the bank, but if your on the ends you've got a better chance of success. Alternatively, if there's bank access in other areas, you might want to try there to get away from the crowds. A number of people have tried this at the fish-in I organize on the Tidal Basin in Washington DC, and typically they do above average. Last years North American Carp Champion, Tom Warndoff, fished a peg closest to the locks. He exploited the peg to it's full potential by making sure any passing fish would have to run into his groundbait first.

Watch what others are doing. If someone near you is having success, jump on the bandwagon and do what he's doing! Alternatively, if people around you are fishing the same way you are, and not catching, it might be time to do something different. Local angler Christain Gautrois did this at the Tidal Basin a few years back, with everyone fishing at long range with maize he fished boilies at close range, which resulted in the biggest fish of the weekend.

You might want to consider scaling back on the groundbait. Typically the fish get skittish from getting caught, the noise on the bank, and the bombardment of lead. As a result they'll often move off a bed of bait before devouring it. A lightly baited area amongst heavily baited areas can pay off. In contrast, if you're lucky enough to have a spot on the edge of a group of people, you might want to consider piling it in.

In places with seawalls and deepwater margins (like the Chicago River and the Tidal Basin) try dropping a bait right near the wall during the quiet periods of the fish-in. This area usually gets heavily groundbaited even though anglers might not mean to do so! Knocked over cans of sweetcorn, misfired catapults, and bouncing boilies often end up here and if they haven't been fished here during the fish-in the carp can be very confident here.