[ambient road hum]
- NARRATOR: Jason Johonnesson is at DFW airport to pick up
some international visitors.
- JASON: The Netherlands and Germany, Denmark.
Traveling thousands of miles away to catch fish
is not at all odd to them.
That's what they do.
- MIKE: Hello, Jason, how are you?
- JASON: Good.
Hello, Mike, Joanne.
Welcome to Texas.
- MIKE: Isn't it lovely out here?
A beautiful place.
- NARRATOR: Mike and Joanne have arrived from England
for one reason, they've come to Texas to catch fish.
- MIKE: We would like two tickets, um, fishing permits,
fishing license it would be.
- GREETER: Oh, I see, right over there at the counter.
- MIKE: At the counter.
That's me, yes.
It's a freshwater, obviously non-resident.
[typing]
[license printing]
- MIKE: Righty-o.
Great, thank you!
- SALES CLERK: You're looking for spinner baits?
- MIKE: Yes, sort of thing, yes.
Amazing, isn't it?
- NARRATOR: After a bit of looking around...
- MIKE: Looks like one, doesn't it?
Is that a buffalo?
- JOANNE: Oh it's beautiful.
- NARRATOR: They're soon off, to the legendary Lake Fork.
- JASON: People know of Lake Fork as one of the
world's premiere bass fisheries.
- MIKE: Stunning view, look at that!
- JASON: ...and rightfully so.
- NARRATOR: But Jason's clients don't come here for bass.
Mike and Joanne catch these.
- JOANNE: Lovely looking carp.
- NARRATOR: Fishing for carp is still fairly new in America,
and a bit puzzling to some of the locals.
- Well, it seems a little odd to us Texans.
- I'm not from Europe.
[laughs]
- Around here they're a trash fish, but I understand
carp fishing's very big in Europe.
- NARRATOR: If Jason's new guide service is any indication...
- JASON: I think you'll enjoy it.
- NARRATOR: ...some interest is beginning to cross the pond.
- MIKE: I am already I think.
[soft wind blows]
- NARRATOR: Before the sun goes down, the week-long session of
fishing has begun.
- JASON: All over Europe, primarily they go after carp.
- MIKE: If you're a carp fisherman you need
a bit more time.
You need to relax and enjoy it, you know?
[tea kettle whistles]
- JASON: Long session anglers basically set up camp
and live there for awhile.
[casting]
- MIKE: Right.
One more to do.
- JASON: It's fishing 24/7.
- MIKE: Ready to go.
[alarm beeps]
Get your rods all set up, get your alarms set up because
sometimes, obviously you could get a run at 3, 4 o'clock
in the morning.
[alarm sounds]
- JOANNE: It's big!
- NARRATOR: In the wee hours, Joanne's alarm signals the
first significant catch.
- MIKE: Oh, it's a common.
- NARRATOR: It's a common carp, an Asian fish, found across
Europe and North America.
- MIKE: Good start, isn't it?
- MIKE: Not bad at all.
- NARRATOR: Though Joanne and Mike are happy to catch it....
- MIKE: You okay?
- Yeah.
- NARRATOR: ...and they're sure to keep a few photos...
- MIKE: That's it.
- NARRATOR: ...these visitors have actually come to Texas
to catch a whole different animal.
- MIKE: Look at that, beautiful!
- Hopefully tonight we'll get a buffalo.
[buffalo snort]
- NARRATOR: No, not that kind...
...this kind, a smallmouth buffalo, it resembles a carp
but is actually a member of the sucker family.
- A lot of people think that a buffalo is a type of carp
and it's actually not related.
Uh, carp were introduced in the United States in 1870 or so.
Buffalo is a native species, and they get really big here.
They've been captured over 100 pounds.
- NARRATOR: It was in Austin in 2008 that Jason caught a
70-pound buffalo.
- JASON: It's a beautiful day.
- NARRATOR: So the call of the buffalo has drawn Jason
and a client from Germany
back to Lake Austin's Emma Long Park.
- I saw a picture in the Internet from Jason with
a 70-pound buffalo carp, and I thought,
"I have to catch those fish."
- JASON: Florian is a well-known and well-respected
fishing journalist in Germany.
He's been here to fish for alligator gar as well.
- FLORIAN: Nobody from Germany ever caught an alligator gar,
so I put it into magazines and uh many people said,
"Whoa, what is this?
What a fish!"
And now, it's the same with buffalo.
[camera clicks]
Okay, just a second.
- NARRATOR: After their first full day of fishing,
neighboring campers have caught buffalo,
but Florian and Jason have not.
- TRACY: Any more bites or anything?
- FLORIAN: No, nothing. Nothing.
- NARRATOR: Jason is keenly aware how far his client has
traveled to catch these fish.
- JASON: Yeah, always a lot of pressure.
[laughs]
- NARRATOR: They redouble their efforts to draw them in.
[casting line]
- JASON: You have to have a plan B and a plan C
and sometimes a plan D.
Sometimes being mobile and moving quickly is the key
to catching buffalo.
- NARRATOR: Eventually, Jason and Florian decide to move
their whole camp yards down the bank.
- FLORIAN: New place, hopefully better luck.
- NARRATOR: Their neighbors have enjoyed much more success,
using the same baits.
- JASON: Nice!
[cameras clicking]
[alarm beeping]
- NARRATOR: Within minutes,
their new location pays off.
- JASON: That didn't take long.
Yeah, let me get the net.
- FLORIAN: Yea!
That's fishing.
You never know.
It's unbelievable.
I've been all over the world and I've caught some very,
very nice and big fish.
[fish splashes into net]
- When he catches one over 40 pounds,
then I'll feel some relief!
- We don't have buffalos in Europe,
so it is a very good experience.
[slashing]
- JASON: They're magnificent fish.
- NARRATOR: Word is spreading that world-class buffalo
and carp fishing can be found on Lake Austin, and in the
middle of Austin on Ladybird Lake.
Just ask the Bates brothers.
- STEVEN BATES: This is one of the three best carp fishing
waters in the whole of America.
- NARRATOR: They are competing with 16 other teams in an
annual carp fishing tournament.
[water splash]
- This is the eighth annual Carp Anglers Group
Austin Team Championship.
Total team weight takes first prize.
- K.C. CRAWFORD: That's awesome.
Forty-three pounds, twelve ounces.
- NARRATOR: K.C. Crawford just boosted his team's standing
by catching a new state record carp.
[fish flops]
- K.C.: People ride around this, run around it, row in this lake
all the time, and never have any idea that there's something
that big under there.
I caught that one 10 foot off the bank, so your dog might
have been swimming next to it.
Bigger than your dog!
[laughs]
[smack]
He slapped the [bleep] out of me.
I guess I deserve it, I did have a hook in his mouth.
- EDMEN: This is a big fella.
- NARRATOR: Edmen Flores has gone carp fishing with his dad
for most of his life.
- EDMEN: Good one.
When I was, like, five, we got into a carp tournament
just for the heck of it.
[straining]
Today that's his second buffalo.
A beautiful 35-pound buff.
Bringing in something that big is a miracle.
My friend, he thinks a 12-pound fish is big.
We really need to take him fishing.
- STEVEN: We've got to get that one still.
Oh you take your reel off, huh?
We've been lucky today, we've caught about five right here.
The fishing was very good.
- NARRATOR: At the end of the day, the anglers meet
to share dinner...
- MAN: We missing anybody?
- NARRATOR: ...stories...
...and a few awards.
- CHAD: The Bates brothers with 550.69 pounds.
Congratulations on your A.T.C. victory.
[applause]
- STEVEN: We really never knew until right now.
We've had a second, a third, and a fourth in the other
three years, but um, first is much nicer.
We never got one of these for coming in second.
- NARRATOR: Those who caught the biggest fish even go home
with a little extra cash.
Including Edmen Flores, who wins the prize for
the largest buffalo.
- Congratulations.
Go buy a Nintendo.
[laughs]
- NARRATOR: In case you were wondering, Florian never
did catch a 70-pound buffalo, but he did go back to Germany
with plenty of stories.
- It's been absolutely brilliant.
- NARRATOR: Mike and Joanne returned to England
happy as well.
- We just love to travel for the carp to different countries.
And sometimes we do more camping than catching.
[laughs]
- NARRATOR: This trip, like all the best ones, had both.
- JOANNE: Yea!
- MIKE: That's it.
Perfect.
[laughs]
[splashing]
- JOANNE: You're always so close to nature, it's just lovely
to be outside.
Gorgeous isn't it?
That's a nice picture.
[camera shutter]
- MIKE: You couldn't ask for any better.
- JOANNE: It's definitely worthwhile.
- MIKE: First time in Texas.
I think we'll be coming back.
- MIKE: Beautiful!
[upbeat music]