8 Tips for Detroit River Carp Fishing

After a slow outing last weekend fishing from shore on the Detroit River, at a different spot, my expectations for today were hopeful but realistic. Luckily, things improved. 

On the hottest day of the year, so far, the carp bite also heated up. I ended a 7 hour session early with 13 fish and a new Detroit River personal best at 26 pounds. The better fish were in the first 45 minutes and they got smaller as the temps heated up.

The fish above is my new personal best from the Detroit River. At 26 pounds, I am very grateful to catch such an out-of-the-ordinary large carp from this river spot.

The fish had obvious signs of recent spawning activity with some redness, minor injuries and two missing scales. This river warrior was very leery of being netted as well and is one of the most difficult to net I have seen in several years of carp fishing.

The Detroit River provides many options for catching some large lifetime best sized fish from walleye, sturgeon, muskie, carp, sheephead, pike and more.

I'll also add some 8 tips and observations about fishing the Detroit River for carp to help make your carp fishing efforts more enjoyable and successful:

• Average size of Detroit River carp are not very large. 
• Based on my catches the past 6 years, 12 to 14 pounds is the average size for this area. 
• The river fish in this area will wreck you pretty quick if you're not paying attention. 
• There are snags and some decent current in this particular park. 
• Fishing the river requires an acknowledgement that some tackle will be lost and some hook pulls will occur.
• Some rookie fishermen will snag you because they try using 1/2 ounce leads and don't police their lines very well.
• I'd budget 15 bucks a session on lost hooks, leads, swivels, fake corn, etc.
• You use twice as much pack because to catch numbers you need to recast fresh pack every 25 to 30 minutes.