If all you knew about Tony Davies-Patrick was that he travelled all over the globe to catch monster fish in order to publish his Globetrotter book, and then went to America to fish for huge 'virgin' carp, you could probably be forgiven for taking an instant dislike to the guy! There can't be many anglers who wouldn't be just slightly jealous. However, as soon as you put the first of his Carp Adventures USA DVD's into the player, you realise that he comes across as one of those blokes you instantly like.
Carp fishing in the USA is still a relatively small market. That said, the carp out there are bigger and wilder than any you'd see over here. Well, they would be, wouldn't they?! Catching a fish that has never been caught before usually results in a terrific fight and you witness this from the very start, when Tony fishes, quite literally, in the reeds for them. By 'literally', I mean that not only are the carp hiding in big reed beds, but Tony is wading in there amongst them, too! Seeing a carp grab his bait from just in front of him and tear off is quite exhilarating stuff and it's good to see that Tony loses his fair share of fish, just like anyone else, with these savage runs. It looks like a job in itself just to hold onto the rod!
The fishing in this double DVD set centres on the rivers and lakes between Massena and Niagra Falls in Upstate New York. I have to admit that I copied that bit from the cover, as my geography is atrocious! All I know is that there was quite a variety of venues, each seeming to hold a good head of large carp that put a serious bend in the rod. Fishing from a canoe for them looks fun and I'm sure it won't be long before the UK kayak anglers latch onto this method!
The focus of these DVD's doesn't seem to be on rigs and bait, although each are mentioned, and I assume that this may well be because the carp that are being caught have never been caught before and complex rigs are just unnecessary. In fact, free-lining a crayfish features quite a lot! Seeing how effective the method is, it's such a shame we can't use them as bait over here. The carp seem to love them and you can see why many fish in crayfish-infested waters seem to pile on the pounds!
Tony comes across as quite artistic in these DVD's, giving us an insight into the surrounding wildlife, as well as a good selection of underwater footage. Any angler who doesn't absorb the environment in which they fish is, in my opinion, missing a big part of angling. It's nice to see that Tony has captured some of this, without boring the viewer with too much of it. To understand American carp fishing, it's important that we get an idea of what the venues are like, as they do seem to be somewhat different to European carp fishing waters.
Tony is also particularly proud of the sound production of these DVD's (I assume he's been dismayed by some of the others on the market) and pointed out to me that, to get the most from these DVD's, they should be played on a good quality TV or PC, with sound set to stereo. If the sound is left on mono, you will not hear the correct level of full stereo background narrative.