Improved Second Time Results at New Venue

I fished a new venue 3 weeks ago for the first time. That day I caught one fish. My results today improved by 100% and I caught 2 fish.

I think I would have had a few more, but after dodging rain and overcast skies all day our luck ran out around 3:30 when the clouds rolled in and the wind picked up. Luckily I had most everything packed up before the bottom fell out of the cloud bank, but it resulted in a wet ride home.

Here are some of the pictures:

2nd fish today

1st fish today

This single digit carp hit the mat first today

This was a nice carp in the 10 pound range

All  fish from this venue seem to be in pristine condition with perfect scales.

In the first trip to this new spot, I fished in 6 feet of water. With the warmer weather this week I switched spots to a point that drops off rather steadily to 12 feet of depth within 50 or 60 feet from the bank. If the rain had held off for a few more hours I think this spot would have demonstrated it's true potential and hopefully proved out my theory that in hot weather carp like to hold up in deeper water.

I am confident there are some big carp in this lake, but in two trips I haven't found them yet.

Places to Catch Carp

According to the Michigan Department of Natural Resources website the following lakes in Oakland County Michigan are lakes known to have high concentrations of common carp.

•             Big Lake

•             Big Seven Lake

•             Cass Lake

•             Cedar Island Lake

•             Crystal Lake

•             Heron Lake

•             Kent Lake

•             Lake Oakland

•             Lake Orion

•             Middle Straits Lake

•             Pontiac Lake

•             Proud Lake (upper & lower)

•             Stony Creek Lake

•             Upper Silver Lake

•             Valley Lake

•             White Lake

•             Wildwood Lake

•             Wolverine Lake

I've never fished any of those lakes to this point, but I plan to them on my "to fish" list for 2014. It makes sense that if you want to catch carp regularly, then fishing areas known to have high concentrations of carp should increase the odds.

Here's a video I found from carp being caught at Kent Lake:

 

The Ohio DNR also has some information available to help improve carp fishing skills for the beginner (like me). This information sheds light on some key traits and characteristics of carp behavior throughout the year.