Sterling State Park

My original plan today was to take a short drive to Ann Arbor to fish at the Huron River Bridge Park off of Barton Drive, but I got a better offer.

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So I decided to join my friend Bill and headed down to Monroe and spent the day fishing at Sterling State Park.

Today had the best fishing weather in Michigan so far in 2014. I couldn't wait to get everything set up and start fishing.

 

 

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I arrived at 7:30 a.m. and picked my spot near the parking lot. I like Sterling because you can fish 10 feet away from your vehicle. Instead of unpacking all the equipment, you can leave it in the vehicle until it's needed.

I started getting activity on the rods within about 90 minutes. They were mini runs for awhile and then there was a screamer that starting ripping off line! I had the drag very loose so when I started reeling, the fish kept gaining. But a small adjustment to tighten the drag evened everything out quite nicely and I started gaining ground.

Bill helped with netting and we snapped a couple of pictures before returning the fish to the water.

First common carp in 2014

And I wasn't even wearing my lucky shirt!

I didn't weigh the fish, but I'd estimate it would have weighed in the 11 - 12 pound range. In my experience at Sterling, that is a smallish sized common carp. There have been a lot of 17 - 20 pound carp landed from that location.