Redneck Fishing Tournament Videos

If you haven’t read Ian Frazier’s story about Asian Carp in this week’s New Yorker yet, you should. (You’ll have to pay cash, but that’s okay.

) It’s an excellent piece about a serious subject, but it also entertains — as any story about fish that jump out of the air and into people’s boats is liable to. The most entertaining part, I thought, was Frazier’s account of the 2010 Redneck Fishing Tournament, an annual event held along the Illinois River in Bath, Illinois.

“Prizes are given for the most fish and best costumes. This year, a hundred and five boats (at a fifty-dollar entry fee apiece) competed before a crowd of about two thousand in the events two days. The method of fishing was straightforward: flush the carp from the water with boat engines and snatch them from the air with nets. There was also barbecuing, beer drinking, karaoke singing, games for children and teenagers, bluegrass bands, booths selling T-shirts, etc. Among the crowd, T-shirt adages were on the order of ‘Friends Don’t Let Friends Fish Sober’ and ‘What Happens in the Barn Stays in the Barn.’”

Here are some YouTube videos people made at this year’s tournament.