River Carping in Michigan

Rivers offer a wide variety of carp fishing opportunities. There are big rivers, small rivers and every size in between. Quick running rivers are more challenging for carp fishing. When the water runs fast, it's best to find a current break like a dike, a boat, a bridge, pier, etc. that might provide the fish some relief from the strong current.

As a general rule, the wider and deeper rivers are difficult because they are just so darned big. The potential for big carp is present in rivers like Missouri, Mississippi, Ohio, St. Clair and Detroit, but the same benefits also make it difficult to find the fish. Sight fishing on those big rivers is nearly impossible without a boat. Smaller rivers like Saginaw, Huron, Rouge, Ecorse or Raisin make it easier, but success is often coupled with the specific time of year. Timing plays a big part. The ability to access the water is also important. There is a lot to be said for owning a pontoon boat, jon boat or kayak.

If the carp won't come to you, then you must go to the carp if you want to catch them.

Here are a few pictures from early in the fall of 2017.

I plan to spend some more time fishing the local rivers in 2018. Hopefully I can get on some fish on a more consistent basis.

Short Afternoon Carp Session

When I go carp fishing, I prefer to make a day out of it. It's been my experience that an hour or two is not enough time to catch carp and make it worthwhile to dig out all the equipment, drive to the spot, set up and fish. (There's something to be said for traveling light and I'm going to be working on a strategy for that over the winter months.) But yesterday I scheduled a vacation day in the afternoon and headed out anyway.

I got my first fish within 15 minutes of casting out and it took 3 1/2 hours to get 3 more (in a 20 minute span) for a total of 4 in a few minutes past 4 hours before I had to go and the rain rolled into the area. I would have stayed another 45 minutes or so, but I had an appointment and had to go.

Here are some pictures:

This one was kind of a blooper. A passer-by agreed to take some pictures for me, but the fish had other plans.

This is the same fish once I wrangled him into position.
I may have been the best dressed fisherman in America yesterday. As you can tell from my button down shirt, I came straight from work stopping just long enough to change shoes and pull on some rain pants to protect my pants.

The first fish caught me by surprise.
I hadn't finished setting up and as you can tell didn't have a good strategy for self-timer pictures yet either.

When fishing alone, sometimes you have to get creative with ways to take pictures.
I snapped this one in the net.

I'm not sure about the facial expression, but I enjoyed catching the fish.

Another fish; another picture in the net.

I am convinced that carp move around in shoals of 5 or 6 fish (maybe more). Many times I have waited hours for a fish and then caught multiple fish in short succession. When they do decide to move on the bait, it's game time.

Two of these fish never sounded the alarm, so it pays to watch the rods pretty close. Yesterday it may have made the difference between 2 fish and 4 fish. Sometimes it could mean the difference between no fish and a single fish. One's certainly better than none every day of the week and twice on Sunday.

Overall it was a good day. I'll take days like this as the season turns colder. Fishing days are going to end in a week or two for me.

I don't have any spots where the water stays warm. A warm water discharge would be nice. Drop me a note in the comments if you know of any warm water spots that have open water year-round.

Autumn Carp Fishing in Michigan

We've definitely been spoiled with some fantastic carp fishing weather recently; with only an occasional exception here and there. And you can be sure that I have taken advantage of this cold weather hiatus to get out on the bank and do some fishing.

On Saturday I decided to head to my favorite spot on Lake Erie. Things started out quickly, but instead of carp, it was a 2 pound channel catfish. I barely had a chance to sit down in my chair after casting before the alarms were ringing with the alert. It didn't take long to figure it out - Mr. Whiskers was hungry. The familiar thump-thump-thump as I retrieved the line gave it away.

Those who regularly fish for carp know that carp are more likely to 1) bolt away-from-the-bank and keep on going, 2) swim straight-at-the-bank with hopes of finding shallow water and rid themselves of the hook, or 3) swim sideways with the same goal.

Likewise I can usually tell the size of the fish with general accuracy based on the speed that the carp takes the bait. A blazing run usually indicates a small, but scrappy fish; while a slow-roller or intermittent speed that rises and falls usually indicates a bigger fish or sometimes a small-mouth buffalo depending on the venue. (Catfish will also sometimes take the slow-roller approach, but in the places I fish I catch more catfish than carp 99% of the time.)

Lucky for me I had a slow-roller, a fast-and-furious and a couple of straight-at-the-bank fish during the session.

Here are some pictures:

This is the typical size we've been catching this year

This 22 pound 6 ounce fish is my biggest carp since May 2017.

The shadow on this fish is not an indication of a two-tone color, but is a shadow from the person taking
the picture as the sun was behind the cameraman.

A quality fish

Safe return for someone else to catch in the future after the fish packs on a few more pounds.