Monster Carp

Come on, yes!

That's a big buffalo.

The carps.

Oh, yes!

- This is no ordinary fish.

- That is 60 pounds, eight ounces.

- For thousands of years, they've existed in

waters across the planet.

From feeding the romans,

right through to pulling anglers' arms off.

They have grown to mythical sizes

that is the stuff of legend.

What is it?

- I'm fishing mad Ali hamidi.

And globe trotting with me as we search the planet

are close friends and top carp anglers Tom dove-

yes!

And Neil spooner.

Did you have fun, lads?

- On a journey of friendship, culture,

and most of all, adventure.

As we travel the world in pursuit of monster carp.

Release .

Tame success, guys, tame success.

- Look he doesn't even give me a high five, look.

You think you're a big boy catching buffalo,

but I'm busy breaking records down here, boy.

- This week's adventure takes us to the us of a

in the lone star state of Texas.

The famous home of the cowboy, where poking a cow

is a full time job, and not a crime.

First stop, the historical fort worth stockyard

on the outskirts of Dallas.

Ah, gentleman, the U.S. of a, Texas.

Well you know what they say,

everything is bigger here, isn't it?

The roads are bigger, the cars are bigger, and even

portion sizes are a lot bigger.

They are, mate, you're right.

Let's hope the carp are bigger as well, eh?

- I hope so. - Shall we have a walk?

- Let's have a walk. - Come on then.

- But we weren't here to round up cattle,

or have a hoe down.

We were here for one reason only, and that's catching

monster carp.

We're heading 200 miles south to the city of Austin,

on the hunt for a species of carp only found here

in the states, the buffalo carp.

Small mouths, jet black eyes, and powder white coloring

make these fish different from the king carp

we're so used to catching.

These beauties can grow to enormous sizes,

and because carp are low on the American angler's wishlist,

there should be plenty of them.

Yes, it's fair to say we cannot wait to do battle

with the mighty texan buffalo.

But before we got started, we're going to need to get

ourselves kitted out, texan style!

That looks just right for you.

Ali's is a bit-

sits on top of his head.

Can you steam it a bit bigger?

We're here to go fishing, what do you know about fishing?

What do I know about fishing?

I've been fishing all my life, honestly.

- Ah, it's all coming out now!

You've got a carp here that's like, famous,

that we don't get in Europe, called the buffalo carp.

What are the odds of that?

- Okay, buffalo, yeah, yeah, buffalo fish,

okay, I know what you're talking about.

So I'm hoping to ride.

They get pretty damn big.

Yeah, that's the plan!

So I need the hat, might even borrow your belt.

Even though we look damn sexy in these hats,

we're on a budget, so we headed for the sale rows.

Three cut price cowboys and one horse, coming up.

You look great, mate, you look wicked.

Calm down boy, whoa, this is an angry one.

With some choice cowboy garments,

we were ready to saddle up.

What do you reckon, then, lads?

- I feel the part. - We look the part.

Let's go play the part.

Before we get down to some serious carp action,

we wanted to test ourselves against america's

favorite fish, the bass.

Lovely lake.

- An American bass lake ready for an American style bass

competition, you up for it?

- Yeah, so I can beat you out in it.

I should take standard.

There's our boat, come on.

Our guide for the day is ray, a seasoned expert.

And what he didn't know about bass fishing

wasn't worth knowing.

- Every challenges we do in these things, Tom seems to win.

But I'll tell you what, bass fishing, fancy myself at that.

This has got my name all over it.

- Large mouth bass are often referred to as black bass

and are the largest of the bass family.

The world record is a little over 22 pounds,

and one of them will do me nicely.

Bass fishing is the fourth most popular sport in the U.S.,

televised comps pull in huge billion figures,

and top anglers are now household names.

The earnings, well let's just say,

there's a lot of bucks in bass.

- So is this sort of typical lure that you'd be using this

time of year, ray?

- Yeah, this time of year what's happening is

the shad are starting to migrate in the backs

of these pockets and creeks,

and the bass are following them.

And the primary forager we have in this lake is

threadfin shad, and this lure mimics that perfectly.

Steady retreat crank baits, cast and retrieve.

Yeah, so nice and slow.

- Nice and slow, just bring it in through the brush,

if you feel brush, you're in a high target area.

- Alright, and would you say for this time of year that's

the number one, for right now?

- Right now, this would be the number one lure.

That's number one, shocker.

- Bass fishing is all about teckel, spooner.

Just watch me, old China.

Right there boys, let's have it, come on!

Competition rules are simple, the biggest bass wins,

and the winner gets first choice of swim on the carp lake.

- Fish out of a fully rigged turn the bass boat-

yeah-

oh yeah, there we go!

Yeah!

Nice and easy, nice and easy.

- Shocked, he's caught the first one.

That's a good one.

- I don't think that's even big enough to weigh.

That's well done, bro.

Yeah, caught one!

I'll cast it again.

Eight ounces.

Eight ounces.

Put that on a wall.

- That's my first bass, I'm pleased with that.

- Good start, Tom. - Thanks lads.

I know you're hurting inside, but...

- I could bite your finger.

- So with Tom first off the Mark as usual,

we headed to a new spot.

The trick is to cast into the rocky and weedy margins

at the edges of the lake.

Yeah, oh, that's a good one!

That's a better fish.

That's the one I just hooked.

- Oh, nice and easy, nice and easy.

- And with it weighing in at 12 ounces,

it put spooner in the lead, but for how long?

- Nice and easy, nice and easy!

- Nice and easy, yes, yes, yes, yes.

- Please, no, come on! - Ease him over.

- You couldn't lift it up without asking him to come off it.

Yeah!

- That is one of the best fish I've ever caught, ray.

Awesome, awesome job.

Let's see what he weighs.

Three pounds-

Three pound, five.

That is a big bass, i'm so pleased with that.

- Fair play, dovey, can't argue with that.

What a bass, one for the photo album.

So dovey was back in the lead with spooner second,

and me still yet to get off the Mark.

- Hardly surprising though, eh al?

- Another location change, and spooner and dovey

are catching fish for fun.

This is starting to get embarrassing.

- Right lads, 30 minutes, so I've given you plenty of time

to get adjusted to this bass fishing,

so I'm gonna start now, alright?

With the competition drawing to a close and my reputation

in tatters, I needed to catch a bass badly.

- Oh, there you go, I knew it.

- Yes! - Oh, and it's a good one.

Oh, hallelu...

Oh, come on!

- Yep, that's definitely badly, al.

- Just my luck, but with me seemingly

in the right spot, surely I'd get another chance.

- If you could just hold the line.