Pier Fishing Michigan Website

I found a tool today that helps anglers find pier and shoreline access sites. Here's a video regarding an access site in Monroe. I'll definitely be checking this out. It's been my experience that where there are catfish, there are often carp as well.

The site in the video is a "no fee site" with plenty of parking, restrooms, paved walkways with shore and pier fishing access.

 

I can't believe it's taken me two years to find this site. It definitely looks promising.

 

Anyone else use this site/tool to find shore access fishing spots in Michigan?

A Sunday Fishing Session at Sterling State Park

I spent the day on the bank fishing for some carp.

Shorting after getting lines in the water at 6:45 a.m. I starting getting action. Lucky for me the action ranged from fast and furious to slow and steady throughout the day.

My first 3 carp were lost to hook pulls and a snag. The fourth fish was a catfish. Numbers five through fifteen were carp of small size. What they lacked in size they more than made up for in feistiness. I didn't weigh all the fish, so the pounds in the captions are estimates.

Here are some pictures from this very successful session.

3 pound catfish

8 pound common carp

9 pounds

8 pounds

Roughly 6 pounds

On Memorial Day I caught the end of the spawning season and the carp were much bigger and more impressive on camera.

A few of these fish surprised me because they fought a lot bigger than their actual size. One in particular just about dragged my entire rod, rod holder, and alarm into the lake. I caught it in the nick of time.

I christened the new carp rods in style! Small or big, I'll take them all.

My ultimate goal of catching my first buffalo wasn't recognized, but my fishing partners caught 3 (one was around 16 pounds.).

Sterling State Park

My original plan today was to take a short drive to Ann Arbor to fish at the Huron River Bridge Park off of Barton Drive, but I got a better offer.

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So I decided to join my friend Bill and headed down to Monroe and spent the day fishing at Sterling State Park.

Today had the best fishing weather in Michigan so far in 2014. I couldn't wait to get everything set up and start fishing.

 

 

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I arrived at 7:30 a.m. and picked my spot near the parking lot. I like Sterling because you can fish 10 feet away from your vehicle. Instead of unpacking all the equipment, you can leave it in the vehicle until it's needed.

I started getting activity on the rods within about 90 minutes. They were mini runs for awhile and then there was a screamer that starting ripping off line! I had the drag very loose so when I started reeling, the fish kept gaining. But a small adjustment to tighten the drag evened everything out quite nicely and I started gaining ground.

Bill helped with netting and we snapped a couple of pictures before returning the fish to the water.

First common carp in 2014

And I wasn't even wearing my lucky shirt!

I didn't weigh the fish, but I'd estimate it would have weighed in the 11 - 12 pound range. In my experience at Sterling, that is a smallish sized common carp. There have been a lot of 17 - 20 pound carp landed from that location.