Increasing Your Carp Fishing Success Rate

Today I had an experience I would like to share. My goal is to help someone else who might experience the same issue in the past, present or in the future.

I prebaited a spot to fish on Saturday morning. Immediately upon casting I started getting runs.

The first run was a nice fish that ended up getting off after a fight and jumping out of the water. I landed the second fish, but then 4 more runs and all those fish got off after a short (or no) fight.

At that point, I decided to change strategy. These river fish today love to run downstream when hooked. They take a lot of line out fast.

Sometimes you can't get too rough with them or you start getting hook pulls. That was happening today, but I decided to just use my palm placed on the reel spool to slow down the fish instead of throwing the brakes on using the reel drag. This worked beautifully and I landed the next 10 fish.

I've been carp fishing seriously for 6 years and 85% of the time a stiffer drag will work to slow down fish. However, when what you're doing isn't working, you have to change. The alternative is a 6 carp day compared to a 14 carp day. I like 14 much better than 6.

Hot Weather; Hot Carp Bite

With a forecast high temperature of 88 degrees and 20% chance of rain I got out early, got lines in and guided 14 carp to the landing mat by 1 p.m.

At one point I was trying to eat a sandwich and everytime I tried to take a bite I got a carp run. Four carp later, I finished my lunch. :-)

I love days like today.

The carp from this venue are not big, but they are fiesty river runners that love to fight you every step of the way to the net.

I was fishing right in the middle of snags to the left, right and near side. I lost a couple early on, but dialed in the correct strategy by carp number four and had no further issues.

Creative Carp Photo Sharing

I started using Instagram's Layout app last year to organize my carp photos for online sharing. If you haven't tried it yet, here's some information from Google describing what's possible.

Layout from Instagram: Collage - Apps on Google Play

Here's how I used it recently for some carp I caught in Ann Arbor earlier in the summer.

July Carping

The hot weather adds an element of difficulty to mid-summer carp fishing. Heat, hot water and scorching sun do not always make it easy to catch carp.

But don't give up.

You never know when it will cloud up just prior to an unexpected rain shower. These are perfect times to catch few nice carp. You can also target deeper water or spots that offer shade in your favorite fishing spots. The shade provides some relief to fish in the summertime.

I caught this carp 3 years ago today
 during a period of cloud cover.

Small River; Hard Fighting Carp

I landed 6 hard fighting river fish today. The moss was deceiving and fish were escaping my grasp as the moss covered the hook at times preventing a good hook hold.

The fish from this venue are some of my favorites for colors and scale patterns. There are a lot of muddlers in this spot. I've never caught a mirror here, but the lake above the dam has a good supply of mirror carp.

The biggest fish today

A nice fish to break a lull around lunch time

I threw in that "euro pose" as an inside joke. My wife laughs when she see's those photos on Instagram. I have always preferred to look directly at the camera.

Beautiful White Koi

I love koi. At some future date I am going to build a koi pond at my house. They are so majestic and watching them glide through the water is very relaxing.

Detroit River carp

I caught a nice carp this morning in the Detroit River near Trenton.

I love shore fishing, but sometimes finding fishable shoreline access is easier said than done if trying to target a specific area of the river.

18 pounds

I'm searching for a good spot to catch sturgeon  from shore once the season opens up later this month.

Toledo Zoo Sturgeon

I enjoyed the sturgeon in the aquarium exhibit.

Pre-Holiday Carp

We spent the holiday in Toledo going to the zoo and watching fireworks,  but on Wednesday prior to the Mud Hens game, I caught some river carp.

2nd carp in the mid-teens

1st carp for the day 

These carp are typical size for the Detroit River at venues we fish.