News and events
Welcome to Illinois Carp Fishing News!
Welcome! This website is dedicated to providing current information about organized carp fishing and catch-and-release carp fishing events in Illinois. I will be happy to include news and announcements about all carping endeavors, including 
events sponsored by CAG, the WCCL, the MWCL, the JTF40CL, the MCAA, and any others. I will also post news of individual carp fishing achievements. Just e-mail me, or PM me on the Illinois Carp Fishing NEWS message board or on the CAG site. I look forward to hearing from you, and I am pleased to have the opportunity to share with you Illinois carp fishing news. --Dr. Frank Rink
Click here for past, archived editions of Illinois Carp Fishing NEWS!
Click here for results and photos from Illinois and Midwest carp fishing events since 2007!
Weather causes slow start for February version of Midwest Online Carp Contest
Winter finally arrived in the midwest in February, and the carp submissions have been fewer in the first third of the month. That should pick up substantially as forecasts are showing temperatures to be in the high 30's and low 40's for much of the remaining days of February.
Still, Andy Burnagiel has put on a show so far with over 90 pounds for his Big Four and a 31 pound, 6 ounce monster (pictured below) to lead the pack in the Big Fish division!
New participants are always welcome. The entry fee is only $10 total for all four contests. Money should never be a big incentive for entering a carp fishing contest, but the $10 will provide some small prizes for the winners ($50 for 1st, $30 for 2nd, $20 for third each month). $50 will be awarded for overall big fish; plus, the 2nd through 5th big fish anglers will win Wacker bait tackle. Rules, prize descrpitions,standings and photos of all captured fish are on our contest website!
You can submit your entry to me via paypal, regular mail, or in person. All money from entries will be used for prizes. I will not keep any of it for "administrative" fees. Prizes will be distributed promptly to the winners! Good luck! --F. Rink
Click here for pics of every carp submitted for the contest and for up-to-the-minute contest standings.
Group A tightly packed at Milwaukee on February 5th
Three of the four anglers participating in the February 5th Group B session of the Midwest Winter Carp League at Milwaukee caught three fish. At the 3:00 p.m. ending bell, all three had 31 to 36 pounds!
Ed Montgomery (pictured below) led the way from peg 2 with 36-4, taking the five points for the day's session. 
Henryk Burza was close from peg 1 and finished second with 33+. Andy Burnagiel, at peg 5, took third with 31-4, and Mattew Bryza was fourth with one fish weighing 16+ pounds from peg 3. Rodolfo Garcia did not show.
For wahtever it's worth, it appears as if pegs 2, 3, and 5 are toss-ups as far as preference is concerned. Peg 1 still leads the pack relative to productivity, but it's no longer a given that one will win the day from peg 1. Below is a summary of peg performance at the 2012 Winter Carp League to date.—F. Rink
Click here for a bigger, more readable chart.
Click here for the Midwest Winter Carp League website and more information!
January Big 4 results for Midwest Winter Online Carp Contest!
Congratulations to John Cachel (1st with 96 lbs., 14 oz.. and pictured below), Marcin Szydlowski (2nd with 85-14), and Tracy Jourdan (3rd with 82-13) who took the prizes in January's Midwest Winter Online Contest! Nearly 1,000 pounds of fish represented Big 4 entries. --F. Rink 
Are we back to hoping for end pegs at Milwaukee? January 29 results
Ask most tournament anglers which peg position would be their preference, and you invariably get “an end” as an answer. Milwaukee may be getting back to that trend following several weeks of peg one being preferred followed by a progression of remaining pegs from west to east.
Mike Olinger (pictured below at FFF 2012) made a shambles of the west to east hierarchy at the January 29 Group D session of the Winter Carp League in Milwaukee.
Fishing from peg 5, Mike captured eight fish totaling well over 75 pounds and totally dominated the field.
Ioan “Jacob” Iacob pulled in four fish and 43 pounds from peg 3 for second place and four points. Kris Motwicki took third on the day with a lone 14 pounder from peg 2. Rafal Stec, fishing from peg 1, is still looking for his first fish in the league series. D.J. Messman was a no-show yet again, so it looks as if Group D will be fishing with four anglers or fewer for the remainder of the series.
With half the series completed, the overall standings show three anglers in first with 13 points, separated only by average weight: Kris Motwicki, Marcin Szydlowski, and Mike Olinger.
Click here for the Midwest Winter Carp League website and more information!
Milwaukee finally lives up to expectations on January 22
Although no really big fish were caught, the four anglers representing Group C at the January 22, 2012 Midwest Winter Carp League captured 21 fish weighing nearly 230 pounds.
Every participant caught at least four fish. Mirek Malej from peg 1 recorded seven carp weighing 78-9 for five points and first place on the day. Marcin Szydlowski was close behind from peg 5 with 6 carp at 68-15 and the session’s big fish at 16-2. Frank Rink (41-13 total weight at peg 2) and Ernest Kolodziejczyk (40-3 total weight at peg 3) each had four fish for 3rd and 4th place. Luke Wegiel was a no-show.
Around noon, all four anglers had a fish on the line at the same time, and all four carp were landed (see photo below).
Group D will finish out the first half of the League on January 29th. Perhaps, Milwaukee is finally “heating up.” Below in a summary of peg performance at the 2012 Winter Carp League to date.—F. Rink
Click here for Midwest Winter Carp League website and more information!
Dr. Paul Pezalla featured in Sun-Times article
Illinois' and, probably, the country's pre-eminent carp angler, Dr. Paul Pezalla, was recenty featured in a January 18th Chicago Sun-Times article written by outdoor editor Dale Bowman!
Paul's recent accomplishment of maintaining a streak of 12 years (144 straight months) of catching a carp in the Chicago area was highlighted, and specifics were shared about his January 2012 catch under the constraints of undergoing rotator cuff surgery.
Congratulations, Paul! Your persistence, commitment, and dedication to carp angling and your continual support of activities and events throughout the country are truly admirable. Thank you for all you do! --F. Rink
Click here to access the article
Milwaukee gets slightly better on January 15
The quality increased although quantity was still disappointing at the January 15th session involving Group B of the Midwest Winter Carp League at Milwaukee. Only seven fish were caught, but they exceeded 111 pounds.
Peg 1 continued to be the place to be as Tracy Jourdan caught three fish averaging 20 pounds each and easily took the five points for the session.
Greg Zaliszewski (peg 4) and Slawek Babiarz (peg 5) waged a tough battle. Each caught two fish and both had about 25 pounds. Greg, however (pictured below with a nice 16-14 mirror), edged out Slawek for the 2nd place honors by a few ounces. Tom F. blanked from a difficult peg 2.
Peg performance at Milwaukee continues to be somewhat consistent (consistently bad for some) with few exceptions. Peg 1 is the "honeyhole," for it has produced the session winner for six of the ten outings, and it was not utilized for one of those ten sessions. Peg 2 can tout the other four session winners, but it has produced blank sessions at two of its last three sessions. Peg 3 has become better than it was in the past, but it has been tough to catch anything there over 10 pounds. Peg 4 has the distinction of serving up the most blank sessions (5 of the 8 times it was fished), although it has produced three carp in the last two sessions. Peg 5 is hit and miss, and if one does catch, he can usually count on one or two fish in the 10 to 12 pounds range. --F. Rink
Click here for Midwest Winter Carp League website and more information!