Lake Erie Season Opener Fish In

Here are some pictures from this past weekend's carp fishing event hosted by the Michigan Carp Anglers. The cold temperatures and overcast skies slowed down the bite a lot. More periods of sunshine throughout the day would have definitely added to the total fish count. 

I feel very fortunate to have caught the lone fish during the event.

Thanks to the carp fishermen who participated and others who stopped by the say hello. It's always good to put a face and meet our fishing friends from the Michigan Carp Anglers Facebook group.

Lake Erie Metro Park Carp Fishing

Lake Erie is a great carp fishing resource. Although commercial fishing for carp has impacted the numbers of large fish being caught, the Metro Park is still a nice place to catch a few common carp.

Access to the shoreline is tricky at the Metro Park. The efforts to prevent shoreline erosion have made it challenging to land fish. It's a little dangerous in fact. The big boulders provide very few level footholds. If you do fish there, be careful.

I caught a nice fish with near perfect scales there recently. 

It took awhile to turn on a bite, but I got two before the cold front turned it back off quickly.

I had an hook pull in the early afternoon that I chalked up to being a little rusty from not fishing over the winter. The fish ran like freight train and in an effort to slow him down I over tightened the drag one click too many.

11 Tips for Catching Smallmouth Buffalo

Where I live, it's fairly rare to catch a smallmouth buffalo. Although Lake Erie does have a population of the fish, we haven't been able to catch them with regularity like we have carp and catfish, so when a smallmouth buffalo shows up in the net it's always a treat.

A recent small-mouth buffalo I caught

In this post I'd like to share some tips that I have learned that I feel help increase the odds of catching them.

How to catch more small-mouth buffalo

• Target bodies of water with confirmed populations of fish.
• Use baits with "hot" characteristics such as chili powder, hot pepper, hot sauce, etc.
• Make some boilies from habernero, jalapeno or serrano peppers.
• Watch your rods closely.
• Let me repeat....watch your rods closely.
• Buffalo bite very, very lightly on the bait, so you have to detect bites when they occur.
• Buffalo very seldom ever take a bait and run with it, so you usually have to "set the hook".
• Buffalo sometimes "mouth" a bait for 10, 15 or even 30 minutes.
• It may seem like a fish is "bumping" the pack bait, but in reality it may be a small-mouth buffalo "mouthing" the bait.
• It's quite possible that the fish is hooked, but still sitting there content to "hold" the bait.
• I feel the longer they hold it without a hook set, the more chances they will "leave" without being caught.

I don't usually grab the rod and set the hook with every little bump, but if I have watched for a while and notice the line tightening and loosening 2 or 3 times in a short period I try to pick up the rod and reel in some line. Most of the time I find a smallmouth buffalo on the hook.

When I first started catching them it was quite accidental. I caught them in spite of myself. I've heard people say it's bad luck to watch the rods while bottom fishing for carp, but I'm someone who likes to watch my rods and I feel it's helped put more small-mouth buffalo in the net as a result.

My niche in carp fishing seems to be catching small-mouth buffalo. Some people catch a lot of mirrors. Some catch a lot of two-tones. I seem to catch a higher number of buffalo. And I'm not complaining. I will continue to experiment and find new ways to swing the odds in my favor while bank fishing.

Lake Erie

Update 12/4/17: After some additional research online, I'm beginning to think the fish in the picture below is not 100% small mouth buffalo. It looks to be a hybrid of some type. Black buffalo / Small-Mouth, Big Mouth / Small-Mouth, or something like that. Either way it's still a cool fish.

My favorite carp fishing spot over the years, which is near my home, easily accessed and a consistent producer did not let me down last weekend. I fished 7 1/2 hours with two bites and nothing landed, but as I started to pack up and head home I heard a few "beeps" on the alarm.

I picked up the rod and reeled gently and soon realized "fish on".

Very careful not to lose the fish, I kept the drag fairly loose. The fish started far right and ended up far left with the loose drag. I loosened it even more as the fish neared the net to be doubly sure there wouldn't be a hook pull once I say it was a very nigh small-mouth buffalo.

It turned out not to be a new personal best for me, but does rank 3rd on my largest small-mouth buffalo catches in the last 3 years.

This rig did not catch anything for me this time out,
but many people catch carp on similar rigs.

My personal best small-mouth buffalo is just over 21 pounds. This one was 20 pounds and a few ounces. It's a fish I am very
proud of. It saved a "blank" on a tough day of fishing and although you can't tell from the picture....it added a big smile
on my face when this fish was secured safely in the net.

Four Carp for Fall Weather Pattern

Fall fishing can be hit or miss. The cooler nights with temperatures nearing 32 degrees takes a toll on water temperature in local rivers and lakes sooner or later. The cool water slows down the fish, which slows down feeding and, therefore, eventually puts the brakes on fishing.

It's still possible to catch carp, but it takes considerably more effort, time and prior planning.

Yesterday weather yielded strong winds and temperatures in the mid-40's for a high with rain headed from west to east toward my fishing location. There were two very short periods of sunshine and the rest of the day was overcast.

My strategy for cooler weather is to use less bait, recast more often to keep fresh bait in the water, using brand new hooks for every session to increase the odds of hooking up and watching the rods very closely.

I have found that fish bite softer in cool weather, so a sharp hook helps a lot. If the fish are biting aggressively, you can get by with a hook that's been used for a session or two, but I prefer to increase the odds in my favor as much as possible. The cost of a hook runs me about $0.69 each for the Korda Wide Gap hooks I use. That seems like a small price to pay versus running the risk of a "blank" aka "not catching".

Here are some pictures:

This one's a little scrapper for sure. This little guy did not want to be captured in the net AT ALL.
It took a while to land him.

This carp was very healthy looking.

I love the scale pattern on this one.

I've actually caught this fish previously. I can only speculate, but the missing lip indicates to me that it may have been hooked before. It kind of looks like the upper lip may have been pulled off, which can happen if the drag on the reel is set too tight, if treble hooks are used, or for a variety of other possibilities.

This fish is built for future growth.

This fish has been through some challenges. The missing scales and overall condition of the fish indicates the fish has been in the thick of trouble in recent weeks or even days. While I can't say for sure what caused the scrapes and scale issues, I can say the fish was a healthy swimmer. I found the darker head coloration compared to the rest of the body scale colors fascinating.

Hopefully the weather will cooperate and I can get in one or two more days of fishing next weekend. If the high temperatures drop into the 30's this week, I may be out of luck for 2017. I'll be on the look out for a warm water discharge in the meantime to help extend my fishing into the winter if possible. If you know of a warm water discharge (a place where the river or lake doesn't freeze in winter), please let me know.

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.

Labor Day Weekend Carp Fishing

I headed out on Saturday for some carp fishing to get the weekend started - carp fishing style.

The results were a little less than I hoped for but it wasn't for a lack of trying. I ended with 2 carp and two catfish.

The alarms were silent after 1 p.m. so I finally threw in the towel at 4:30. Hopefully with fall approaching the carp will start packing on the pounds for winter preparations and the fishing will improve.

This carp is the first I've caught in a while now, so it was a welcome site in the net

Small and scrappy, but I'll take it 

A nice looking catfish, but not what we're after

And if the carp fishing doesn't pick up pretty soon, I'm tempted to finish out the season fishing for sturgeon. If I'm going to "blank", why not blank bigger?

Carp Fishing Near Lake Erie

After the fiasco in Davison MI on Friday, I headed back out on Saturday to drown my sorrows with some carp fishing at a local spot I know very well.

Here are some pictures:

My spot on Saturday taken about 8 a.m.

The first cap I landed at about 2:30 p.m.

I really liked the scales on this fish. The picture definitely do them justice.

An perfectly scale pattern on this fish

Two heads close-up (better than one)

The first fish on Saturday was a small catfish

The second fish on Sunday was another slightly bigger catfish

I hadn't been "finned" by a catfish in more than 20 years, but this one got me when I tried to hold him for a picture. I guess I got a little too familiar with holding him for the shot with one hand and snapping the picture with the other. Needless to say, I didn't end up getting a picture after all.

I did clean the puncture with some anti-bacterial wipes I keep on hand while fishing and my hand was fine in about 90 minutes. I didn't get any swelling or numbness at all. Cleaning the wound was a great idea, because the last time I got finned I remember my entire hand swelling up and it being sore for several days.

Independence Day Carp Fishing

I am always torn about fishing on July Fourth. The parks are usually very crowded and people who fish only occasionally usually decide to sit up right next to me on the bank, even though there may be plenty of space a little further down. But this year I couldn't resist the chance to go fishing and my wife tagged along to help with netting and photos.

Here are a few pictures from the day's activities.



The small mouth buffalo show a redness this time of year  for some reason.
I don't know if it is due to spawning activity or something else. But it seems
to show up in warm weather. This redness is not present in the cool weather months.



A second small mouth buffalo I caught

I'm not sure why I wasn't smiling. Catching this fish made me pretty happy.

What's up with the smiles? I need to work on my fishing facial expressions I think.

And here's the same fish after running the picture through a few minutes of lighting adjustments in a free photo filter software.

The picture is still backlit and not great, but the filter helps a lot. I used Repix for this one.

My rig and bait that produced very well

Early Summer Carp Fishing

We're beginning the summer slow down for carp fishing. In the spring time, carp begin to recover from the winter period when their metabolism slows down dramatically, so they come to life with the warmer water temperatures in spring (late April in Michigan this year).

When the spawn starts (mid to later in May in Michigan), fishing slows down for a couple of weeks (depending on the venue) and then picks back up slowly.

With the summer heat carp seem to move from the shallow water spots into deeper water. That leaves the carp fisherman with a few options:

• Fish venues with deeper water (near dams, in mill ponds, specific spots in rivers, deeper lakes)
• Cast further from show into deeper water (7 or 8 feet seems to be my sweet spot )
• Fish early mornings and later into the evenings (depends a little on the specific venue)

I typically try to do some of all three, but do seem to have more success fishing the spring venues and casting further from shore out into the deeper parts of the lake. I seems to catch most of my fish around 10 a.m. to noon and then from 2 p.m. to 4 p.m. or so at my favorite venue.

Here are a few pictures from last weekend's efforts:

Morning carp

Small mouth buffalo

Biggest common carp of the day in the mid teens

Early afternoon common carp

Small mouth buffalo weighing 17 pounds

Carp fishing action shot and the last fish of the day

Occasionally I catch carp like this one with the crooked tail, which seems to be a birth defect

In these pictures I wasn't wearing a hat. I took it off in an attempt at better photos and fewer shadows. I always wear a hat while outside in summer and apply sunscreen regularly. I urge you to do that same. Skin cancer is bad. It affects people of all ages and it does not discriminate (fair skin like mine or a full fledged sun tan, skin cancer doesn't seem to care one way or the other).

I wear SPF100 from Neutrogena in the "dry" formulation.

Scouting a New Spot

A couple of weeks ago I headed out to a new spot with high hopes. It was a river location that feeds into Lake Erie near the park where I decided to fish.

With the warmer weather and relatively shallow waters, the moss and weeds were very heavy. Although much heavier than I like, recent reports regarding state record fish being captured in this location convinced me that it was probably worth overlooking the weeds and giving a shot.

I started the day with rods casted near, far and medium distance. After an hour of no bites, I tried 3 in close. Then I followed that with two at far distance and one medium. Although I could see fish, the bites were non-existent. As luck would have it, I was seeing spawning fish just a few feet from the bank. They apparently had other things on their mind than eating my panko, field corn and butternut offerings.

Just I had almost packed up everything to leave, I had a nice run on my right rod. It also happened to be the rod farthest out in the river just past what I believe was the edge of a big bed of weeds.

I was rewarded with a fish weighing just under 20 pounds.

Caught on three pieces of flavored corn and a piece of fake orange maize.

I cropped this one a little tighter to show the size of the mouth a little better

I was casted out at least 70 - 80 yards in the river and although there was no current to speak of it still took quite a while to land this fish. An audience developed on shore consisting of several others who always hoped to catch a carp there, but never had the luck or skill. At least now they know there are some higher quality fish to be had from that river spot.

There was zero boat traffic while I was there. It probably had something to do with the 3 feet depths, which is pretty shallow for any motorized boats of size. I do think this spot is pretty popular with kayakers at various times of the year.

2nd Common Carp in 2017 - Lake Erie

It's been a strange spring this year. We had upper 60 degrees in February and 6 degrees in March. It's rained a bunch in April too, which has made fishing challenging.

I got my first fish in February, but didn't get the second until today. It was worth the wait I guess because it was a quality common weighing 22 lbs. 11 oz.

My 2nd carp for 2017

The fish was caught with panko pack bait with cream corn, chicken feed, peanut suet, a few chopped up homemade boilies with habernero and jalapeno and a couple of Hungarian paprika boilies, with anise hook bait, tipped with a pink piece of Enterprise fake corn.

Catch and release carp fishing