Carp Fishing is a $12 billion business across the world, but it’s just starting to take off in the U.S. The 2010 Wisconsin Carp Fishing Championship will be held in Two Rivers, WI for the second year in a row on June 5 and 6. Last year’s big fish tipped the scale at 33 pounds, 5 ounces (the fish at right weighed about 24 pounds).

This year, nearly 50 anglers are coming from the U.S., Poland, Romania, Germany, Thailand, Hungary, and Bosnia (not all registrations are in yet). There were 24 anglers last year.

Two Rivers became the official home of the Wisconsin Carp Fishing Championship last year because of the quality of the fishing. It was just coincidental that the city’s derisive nickname has been Carp Town since sometime in the 1940s (a name used mainly by those from nearby Skunk Hollow, also known as Manitowoc). Never one to miss an opportunity, the Two Rivers Business Association has organized the first Carp Fest with live music, children’s games, a smelt fry and fish boil – all held at the Rogers Street Fishing Village, which honors the city’s long history of Lake Michigan commercial fishing.

Contacts:

For information about carp fishing and the carp championship: Lee Young - 920-246-3434

For information about Carp Fest: Doug Day - 920-553-3329 (cell 920-323-7967)

See the Carp Fest schedule at www.trba.info