Carpe Carpio FISH Designs

The carp has been a subliminal influence on me since I was a child, when I would stare through my mother's glass display cabinet at the figurines depicting a battle between a young boy and a leaping gargantuan carp. This and other tales of carp lore have played a role in developing my fish psyche (whoa). Strangely enough, I don't pursue carp that often, having just discovered the joys of purposely pursuing them over the past few years. I prefer the artificial lure modus operandi instead (I'm too hyper). However, I am trying to hook into a reel screecher (20 lb.+) from my suburban shallow lake. The lake is over 20 years old with carp, channel cats, bass, sunnies and pike. There's GOT to be some porker carp in there, besides the 2 to 10 pounders I've seen. If anybody has any tips, I'd appreciate a note. I have rediscovered the joy of the slower methods of bait fishing as well as finessing small jigs, etc. ANYWAY, a word about my designs.

The making of ink impressions from real fish (Gyotaku) was one of my earliest introductions to fish art.

The resulting fossil-like images stirred my imagination, as I knew the print was from a real fish, yet the image was ghostly, like a death mask, but still alive. I had created two prints, one of a carp and the other a largemouth bass, converted them into silk screens, and introduced my first two t-shirt designs. I always liked drawing fish as a kid, and now I focus my graphics and cartooning skills to my favorite subject, FISH.

The name "Carpe Carpio" is a twisted Latin version of "seize the carp," where carpe means seize, and carpio is part of the species name for carp (cyprinus carpio).

As a fisherman, I don't have a favorite species, as I appreciate the different methods used and varying temperaments of all fish. The biggest fish I've caught was a 50+ pound lake sturgeon on a gob of nightcrawlers, a sort of ignominous use of my favorite musky outfit. The biggest THING I've hooked into was a 200 pound+ sea lion that nearly spooled me, off the coast of San Diego in a party boat. The best tasting fish I've had was grilled whitefish, jigged up from 40 feet of water in Canada. The worst experience I've had was turning green and blowing cookies in a party boat on a rocking and rolling sea off the coast of Long Island.

All of my favorite memories have to do with FISH. If you've read this far, then I should be required to hear what you have to say. Please visit our guest book, and share your stories, or thoughts about my designs, website, or anything else FISHY.

Where have I seen you're stuff before...?
Our original Carp hat was featured in the February '99 In-Fisherman, as seen here. The good people of the same magazine also featured our FLATHEAD cap in their sister publication, the Catfish In-Sider. Our catfish hat was pictured alongside the Catfish In-Sider hat with an article entitled, "Hottest Thing Happening," referring to the exploding popularity of the magazine, while reflecting the strong interest and enthusiasm for catfish fishing across North America. Kudos to an excellent new magazine.

Thanks for visiting.

Jim
February 1998

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