A Carp Fishing Tale (or should I say tail?)

Before traveling to the 2018 Carp Anglers Group Midwest Regional event this year I followed the weather forecast closely for several days. With 2018 being my 5th annual trip to the event, it's something I look forward to for several months. But nothing could have prepared me for the 65 mph wind gusts and 2-3 foot waves rivaling the Gulf of Mexico in Bay City, Michigan on Friday during the afternoon "pre-fish" portion of the event.

I prepared two kinds of homemade boilies, flavored corn and birdseed with intentions of using it to pre-bait heavily on Friday in preparation for the Saturday morning starting time. I planned to pre-bait again on Saturday evening at 6:30 p.m. in preparation for the Sunday morning starting time.With the winds on Friday and the heavy boat traffic on Saturday afternoon/evening I changed plans; and there would be not pre-baiting. With the conditions on the river at the time, I considered it a waste of time, energy and resources.

Saturday's weather was nearly perfect to start and the river conditions correlated closely behind. The water had barely a ripple anywhere and as close to a "mirror" that a river likely ever gets in springtime. The wind and waves were only a memory.

I set-up and cast 3 rods at short distance. I noticed a small carp surface at first to the right side of my swim and a little while later I noticed my left rod was flickering. Experience told me that a carp or possibly a catfish was bumping my pack bait, which is a promising indicator of feeding carp and a reliable predictor of a future bite and a high probability of catching a fish in the near future.

The indicator would rise a little bit, and then fall. It was moving very slowly, but very deliberately. I kept watching and within a few minutes, I had a fish on the line.

I've noticed a trend locally that larger fish sometimes end up being lazy fish. As an example, my recent 37 pound personal best from a local lake made a couple of bob's and weave's at first when hooked, but ultimately gave up the fight early and was "dead weight" on 90% of the retrieve. But this river carp had other plans.

This fish made several runs straight away, but tired and I gained some line. Then as it neared the shoreline it darted hard to the right and after a while darted hard back to the left and toward the bank. There was a bunch of fallen tree limbs and submerged roots nearby. Ultimately, my adherence to patience and persistence corralled the 33 pound fish in the net with some assistance from Vinny in the swim to my left. (Thanks Vinny.)

33 pounds 2 ounces

I love it when careful planning, experience and luck join forces and result in catching fish. It's even better when the fish is the second largest fish you have ever caught.

In another "first" for me this year, this fish bent a size 4 hook at a 45 degree angle. In the end I was fortunate that I did not loose her to a hook pull. I've bent hooks on snags before, but never on a fish.

Carp Anglers Group 2017 Battle of the States Midwest Regional

I really enjoyed this year's event (my 4th). The rules were changed a little for 2017 and the change proved to be very popular with anglers.

In prior years, pre-fishing was allowed on Friday with a peg draw on Saturday and then a peg change on Sunday. This year the peg draw was on Friday and then anglers were allowed to fish their swim on Friday afternoon, fish it for the contest on Saturday and then again on Sunday. This allowed anglers to "build" their swim and learn all the in's and out's over the duration of the weekend event.

My two largest fish weighed 23 pounds 14 ounces and 24 pounds (although our scales registered 25 pounds 12 ounces). The variation in the larger fish was likely attributable to the wind gusts up to 20 mph we were experiencing making it challenging to "tare" the scales.

Here are some more pictures:

Upper teens

20 pounds

Look at that big tail

25 pounds

23 pounds

Saginaw River Carp Tournament

Some pictures from Saginaw River.

My view at the event on day one

My spot on day one of the event

Day one, first cast

A view on day two

Getting set up on Sunday

My spot on day 2 of the event

CAG Midwestern Regional - Saginaw River - Near Bay City

I just signed up for the CAG Midwestern Regional today. I enjoyed this team event last year. I hope the weather is a little better this time around.

We stayed in Bay City last year at the Doubletree and we plan to stay there again. It's a nice hotel within walking distance to downtown Bay City (as long as it's warm). Last year we had raging wind gusts of 30 - 35 mph for much of the weekend, but we still caught carp. For anyone who is planning to go in 2015 I'd encourage you to bring plenty of warm clothes along. You may not need them, but you'll be glad to have them if you do.

Here are a few pictures from last year's event:

Baiting up

My spot on day 1

This was the first fish caught in the tournament by the Michigan Team in 2014.
It only weighed 13 pounds, but at least I was on the board for a short time.

Our spot for day 2 of the event

I caught 4 fish on day 2, but for some off reason I didn't take a picture of the largest carp I caught all weekend. It only weighed a little over 15 pounds. By that time it took a 17 pounder to make it onto the team board.

My 4 fish on the second day, including the pike in the picture above, were caught in the last 90 minutes of fishing. It was quiet all day long and then bam, bam, bam, bam. It was an onslaught of small carp.

This is my favorite picture of the weekend taken on Linda's cell phone and featured in CAG's online magazine. Linda wasn't given credit for taking the photo in the magazine, but I'll give her credit here again.

The calm morning turned into a very, very windy afternoon on day 2.

Saginaw River C.A.G. Midwest Regional

Preparing for a Sunday session tomorrow near Lake Erie I pulled out my digital camera and video recorder today for charging. I the process I discovered some pictures on the digital camera that my wife took that I had forgotten about. I have attached a few of them below.

Bigelow Park near downtown Bay City, MI

A view from the gazebo at the rowing club

 

My rod pod at the water's edge

 

Baiting up the hair rig

We  needed the rain gear for most of the morning, but it did clear off later in the day



I hooked my first common carp a little before 9 a.m.

My first fish of the day and the 2nd fish our team caught in the tournament

Carp Fishing at Saginaw River



Last weekend we competed in the Carp Anglers Group Midwest Regional event on the Saginaw River. Michigan can not seem to jump into spring, so conditions at the event were tough to say the least. With wind gusts nearing 40 mph in the afternoons, sporadic rain and rough water, it was a challenging event. The fishing zone assignments were given at 6 a.m. daily and first cast at 7 a.m. so there was plenty of fishing.

We arrived in Bay City on Friday evening and stayed at the Doubletree Hotel. The route to the morning meeting was a short 6 or 7 miles from the hotel max.

On the first day, the Michigan Team drew Bigelow Park. The park is an island in the Saginaw River with plenty of bank space. We had part of the team near the rowing club and distributed at various locations nearer the "point".

View Larger Map

My bank mate for the day, landed a fish nearby and I was helping him with the landing net. As we moved from water's edge to the upper bank and headed toward the weighing station, I got a run on my left rod.  Depositing his net and fish in the grass I almost decapitated myself with his rod as I sprinted to my rod pod.  Luckily I made it to the rod in one piece and had an early success.  Here's a picture taken after the catch at 7:45 a.m.

Saginaw River, Bigelow Park

This event was a "Biggest 10 Fish" format, so my fish was caught early enough in the day to actually make it on the leaderboard for a few hours. At 13 1/2 pounds, it was a fat fish that weighed in a little less than I anticipated based on the thickness.  I caught him using a World Classic Bait pink pop-up dumbbell. These dumbbells have been my "go to" bait this spring.

It's hard to make out in the background, but Saturday morning arrived with a lot of rain showers that were very heavy at times. Luckily the rowing club had quite a bit of available shelter. The guys were very friendly and didn't mind us using the area to stay dry. They even gave some of the team a quick tour of the facility. I missed the tour unfortunately, but it was full of sculls. One bit of trivia I do recall is the $250 price tag for an oar.

Yikes.

We fished until 6 p.m. and then headed to Krzysiak's for dinner. The buffet had an extensive variety of choices including about 6 kinds of fish, salad and dessert bar. It was all you-can-eat and I think I ate my entire $19.95 on in my first plate full. The lemon crème pie was a very good choice for dessert.

After dinner we headed back to the Doubletree and I feel asleep in the chair, happy to "chill out" for a while. We were in bed by 10 p.m. and up again at 4:30 a.m. for another day of fishing.

Our zone for day 2 was near the boat docks on M-13 south of the airport.

Here's a wonderful picture of our spot on the bank following an early morning rain.

Our view for day 2 of the Saginaw event

I had my first run at 7:20 a.m. or so, but after a couple of minutes, the fish escaped to parts unknown. By all indications, it was a good sized fish. It was peeling off line to beat the band. It was katy-bar-the-door-type stuff. I have a bad habit of keeping my drag a little on the loose side -  ever afraid of pulling hooks. In this case I wish I'd kept the drag a little bit tighter.

The water remained calm early on, but by mid-morning the winds picked up and so did the white caps. Fortunately the sun also made an appearance occasionally and the reeds helped to make a bit of a windbreak.

We fished for 7 more hours without so much as a mini-run.

But as is usually the case persistence paid off and we started getting multiple runs shortly before 3 p.m.

Day 2, first fish

Close-up of the first fish

This fish was caught on World Classic Bait's pineapple flavored maize and a piece of orange "fake" maize.

 

I didn't get a picture of my second fish on Sunday. It took longer than expected to remove the hook and after getting a weight I returned the fish to the water quickly. It turned out to be my biggest fish I landed that day at 12 pounds.

 



Day 2, third fish

Within a matter of 3 or 4 minutes, we landed a third fish also on the pineapple flavored maize and "fake" maize.

 

Northern Pike

Nearing 4 p.m. and the end of the event I hooked my last carp. It managed to snag on a nearby good sized branch in the water I'd been trying to dodge all day, but on the retrieve this Northern Pike attacked my hair rig and hooked itself cleanly through the snout. It was a nice fish and the first pike I've caught. Although it was an accidental catch, I'll count it just the same. For anyone reading this story who attributes it to just another fish tale, I had witnesses who can vouch for it occurring exactly as described.

I can't wait to get back out on the bank.

Saginaw Carp Fishing This Weekend

This is a big week for my carp fishing hobby. On Friday we leave for a weekend trip to Saginaw, Michigan for the Midwest Regional carp fishing tournament on Saturday and Sunday. But perhaps best of all for me...is a chance to break my personal best! I have never fished the Saginaw River, but I have it on good authority that there are some B-I-G carp in there. And, I've seen the pictures to prove it.

So this week is all about preparing hooks, rigs, leads, method supplies, etc. for the trip. In a typical day, I use 3 lbs. of panko for my ground bait, but I am prepared to use 9 lbs. a day this weekend. I picked up an 18 lb. case from Gordon Food Service today.

I don't usually lose a lot of tackle here locally anymore, but I have pre-tied 18 hair rigs for this weekend in various hook sizes from 4 to 7 in several lengths.

I picked up a new collapsible wagon to transport gear from the vehicle to the fishing spot. It's got a 150 lb. payload and should work well for me.

My list for this week also includes picking up a case of cream corn and a 2 gallon plastic bucket with lid for mixing my ground bait.

Saginaw River - 2014 Midwest Regional - May 3 - 4

I made my hotel reservations for the 2014 Midwest Regional at the Saginaw River. This is going to be a big event this year.

I've never fished the Saginaw River before, but I'm looking forward to it in May. Let's hope the spring rains hold off until after the event.

Carp Fishing Tournaments - 2014

May 2014 is shaping up to be a very competitive month for carp fishing in Michigan.

C.A.G. is sponsoring a 2014 Midwest Regional tournament in Saginaw, Michigan on May 3rd and 4th. The event is open to participants from Michigan, Ohio, Indiana, and Illinois. The first 20 to sign up and pay the $15 entry fee from each of the eligible states will secure a place in the contest.

The Wooden Shoe Carp Classic will be held near Holland, Michigan on May 17th and 18th. At this point the field is basically set, but there may be a few spots that come available in the event that some registrants fail to pay their entry fee and send in the appropriate paperwork.

I have never fished a tournament before, so I am pretty humble in my expectations and will be happy just to participate, observe and learn from others during the events.