Seventeen-year-old Abigail Backus reeled in a mighty 27.6-pound carp on Friday and was given a choice: Kiss the fish, or kiss the Englishman who helped her bring it to shore.

She did not hesitate. ''I'll kiss the fish,'' she said, as she bent down and puckered up.

The Englishman, Danny Henwood, could not have been more pleased. He was teaching her some of his country's customs in catching carp, an unusual-looking creature with a trunk-like mouth, which vacuums food from the river bottom.

It isn't enough to catch it, he said: you must soothe it, thank it and return it to the water with a kiss.

Mr. Henwood was one of the marshals in the only children's carp-fishing tournament in the world, which was held along a 45-mile stretch of the St. Lawrence River, at New York State's northern border, this weekend. It brought about 125 children from across America, Canada and England. Though many were inspired by the lure of reeling in a fish than can grow up to 85 pounds, tournament organizers said, and a combined $30,000 in cash and prizes, some hoped to catch only a glimpse of celebrity.