Carp Slam XV: Patrick Mapes
Photography: Jason Paez
Drone Footage: Omni Drone Operations

2021 marked the 15th year of Denver Trout Unlimited’s annual CARP SLAM, carp on the fly tournament. This fundraiser/fly-fishing tournament raises funds for the cleanup and restoration of the urban stretch of the South Platte River. Fifteen amateur competitors, “Slamateurs” are randomly paired with fifteen professionals (fishing guides) and assigned to fifteen sections of the DSP in pursuit of the elusive Golden Ghost of the South Platte. While there are plenty of carp to find in this urban environment, they are always a challenge to catch on a fly rod. This premier tournament puts some of the best fly carpers in the country head to head for a chance to raise money and awareness for this amazing urban fishery, and for the chance to hoist the Carp Slam Cup. To enter, contestants raise donations from friends, family, and other anglers, which DTU then uses for various restoration projects along the South Platte. From developing the Expanded Chatfield Environmental Pool for increased river flows, to R&D on the installation of Forever Access Points. With more than $36,000 raised in last two year’s alone, the tournament has become an important part of the restoration and transformation of this urban stretch of river over the last 15 years.

Carp Slam XV started off on Friday night with the tournament Team & Beat Draw Party at River North Brewery in the RiNo District of Denver, Colorado. This industrial/retro neighborhood of Denver is home to some of the best breweries in town and also happens to run along side one of the best urban carpin’ rivers in the country. All Carp Slam Slamateurs, Pros, & Controllers (team referees) hang out, have a few beers, go over event rules, and randomly draw our partners and assigned beats (sections of the river) for the competition. All event sponsors and any fishy folks are always welcome to join the festivities if interested in future events.

This was my first year competing in the Pro category and I was paired with Slamateur – Loren Lamb. We were randomly assigned a couple beats of the river in the southern section of the city. I was happy to draw these beats as I was more familiar with this stretch of the river. After a quick hi-five and handshake, I sat down with Loren to chat and found that while he was an avid fly fisherman, he had never caught a carp on the fly. That is an awesome aspect of the Carp Slam. The Slamateurs help raise funds for the future of the river to qualify, and they get a day out on the water with someone who can get help them learn the tricks of carp on the fly.

Saturday morning kicked off with a 7am meeting at Trouts Fly Fishing that is technically only required for the Controllers. Pros and Slamateurs can head directly to their assigned beats, but the Controllers meet up for another rules review and pick up the team lunches, net cradles, measuring tapes, and mud snail spray. With competitors switching sections in the morning and afternoon sessions, their equipment is sprayed down to reduce the spread of mud snails throughout the river system.

After a quick rules recap and collecting all equipment, teams can head out to their morning beat at 8am. Depending on what section they have and the heavy traffic, some competitors have further to go than others. The tournament covers a 25 mile stretch of the Denver South Platte. I headed South, but had plenty of time to prep & scout the river before fishing started at 9am.

I met up at the assigned parking spot with our controller, George, and my Slamateur, Loren. Torrence of @omnidroneoperations and Jason (@finsandtwins) also joined us to document the days events. We prepped our gear and started walking the river banks looking for fish to target once 9am hit. The Pro and Slamateur rotate fishing every 30mins unless a fish is caught, so I was up first. We spotted a large school of carp holding tight to the bank and spread along 100 yards of the river. We started by targeting the fish in the back of the pack, and I slowly made my way down the bank and through the brush to try for a mud marlin when my time started. In the first 30 mins I had two carp swim up and eat my fly, but my hookset pulled the fly out of their mouths. I could have screamed. With my time up, I suggested Loren sneak down into the same spot and be patient since fish were present and eating. He tried for the next 30 mins while I scouted fish.

As I made my way upstream, deciding where I target them next, I noticed that the fish feeding the hardest were at the front of the pack. Even though I risked spooking fish downstream, every fish counts in this tournament, so decided I would target these fish when my 30 mins started. After Loren’s time ended and I received the go ahead from our controller, I snuck out on one specific fish, and as soon as the fly sank down to the bottom, I saw this dumpster dolphin turn down and inhale it! I tried my best to keep him away from the rest of the fish, but he turned and swam down through all of them. After a good fight, Loren netted the carp and we had our first fish on the board. I was pumped to have a fish in the net, but looking back at it now, I feel this catch could have cost us the tournament, as it spooked every fish in the area for our morning session.

We tried to let the fish settle down after my catch, but did not have any luck for carp for the rest of our morning session. The thick clouds in the sky made it even harder to see any fish that might have been right in front of us. Both competitors are allowed to fish at the same time during the last hour of the morning session, and while Loren scouted upstream, I drifted a fly through some deep runs. I had a brown trout on that threw the hook on a jump, and landed a 12″ smallmouth that ended up being the biggest smallmouth of the tournament.

We were confident we could catch some more carp in our afternoon beat, and as the clock struck twelve, we had a quick lunch (provided by Denver Trout Unlimited) and headed to our next section of the river.

We spent the afternoon covering a decent amount of ground and trying to find fish that were accessible. A lot of the banks were very steep or completely overgrown in this stretch. I knew of a few spots where fish normally hold, but the competitors who fished this stretch in the morning seemed to spook them off from the normal spots. We finally settled on a stretch where we could perch up in a tree and try for the fish below, but after we each spent a half an hour trying to snipe them from above we moved down closer to the waters edge. We could see fish feeding across the deep channel on the opposite flats while we were high up on the bank, but as soon as we moved down to the river’s edge, the glare would completely erase the fish. My Slamateur (@spider_lamb) decided to cross the river and try his luck casting back towards the feeding fish. I made my way down to a large rock on the waters edge and hid there until it was my time to fish. The entire time I waited on that rock, there were feeding fish directly in front me. I was chomping at the bit to make a cast, and about 1 min before my time started, I heard “FISH ON!!!!!”

Loren had hooked into his first fish of the tournament and his very first carp on the fly! With the glare so bad at the water’s edge, he was blind casting out into the flats and listening to directions from our controller (who was viewing from above) of when to slow strip and when to let it sit. They finally dialed in their approach and this carp inhaled it! I waded out across the river to help him net it while passer-bys on the bike path cheered him on. He only told me a few times how bad his arms burned 🙂 as this fish kept running every time it got close. We eventually netted him, celebrated with a hi-five, and added another fish to our scorecard. We were hopeful that this would be enough to move us into the top three.

We headed back to Trouts Fly Fishing Shop for the Carp Slam XV awards ceremony. Trout’s was generous enough to donate their amazing back patio that overlooks the South Platte River. We all shuffled in, grabbed a few cold beers, and started trading fish stories. Some teams saw a lot of fish, some teams landed the only fish they saw all day. Some teams covered a ton of ground and some teams hunkered down. One team even accidentally landed another fish when it followed the hooked fish up to the net.

Mike Medina and Luis Bejarano ended up taking home first place in Carp Slam XV. Mike is the first competitor to win the tournament in both Slamateur and Pro categories. Luis ended up catching the first koi in tournament history! Sunny Sundgaard, who illustrated this year’s “Slam Can” art, won the $1000 Carp cash prize for biggest carp over 30″ by a Slamateur! He was also on the 3rd place team with Rick Mikesell and won our top fundraiser prize. Thanks so much to everyone who helped raise money this year and for participating in such a great event. 

At the end of the day @spider_lamb and I just missed 3rd place by a few inches. We saw the fish and had the opportunities to win the entire tournament if I could just connect on the takes that we had. We had a great day and amazing night with tons of prizes for everyone. I have to give a big thanks to all the amazing sponsors of the event. We could not do this without you.

CARP SLAM XV SPONSORS: Trouts Fly Fishing, Denver Trout Unlimited, Orvis, Mystic Fly Rods, Wandering Blue Lines, Fish Print Shop, River North Brewery, Western Medicine Spirits, Drag & Drop Fishing, Urban Anglers USA, Farmer’s Engraving, American Carp Society, Fly Trap Fly Holder, Nervous Water Flies, 3D Fly Reels, Avery Brewing, Denver Water, Abel Reels, Indy Ink, Ross Reels, Airflo Fly Lines,Costa,Echo Fly Rods,Molson Coors,Sage,Solitude Fly Company,Omni Drone Operations, Umqua, Rising Nets, Yeti, FishPond, RepYourWater