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.

River Carping in Michigan

Rivers offer a wide variety of carp fishing opportunities. There are big rivers, small rivers and every size in between. Quick running rivers are more challenging for carp fishing. When the water runs fast, it's best to find a current break like a dike, a boat, a bridge, pier, etc. that might provide the fish some relief from the strong current.

As a general rule, the wider and deeper rivers are difficult because they are just so darned big. The potential for big carp is present in rivers like Missouri, Mississippi, Ohio, St. Clair and Detroit, but the same benefits also make it difficult to find the fish. Sight fishing on those big rivers is nearly impossible without a boat. Smaller rivers like Saginaw, Huron, Rouge, Ecorse or Raisin make it easier, but success is often coupled with the specific time of year. Timing plays a big part. The ability to access the water is also important. There is a lot to be said for owning a pontoon boat, jon boat or kayak.

If the carp won't come to you, then you must go to the carp if you want to catch them.

Here are a few pictures from early in the fall of 2017.

I plan to spend some more time fishing the local rivers in 2018. Hopefully I can get on some fish on a more consistent basis.

More Saginaw River Pictures from 2017

I found a few more pictures on another camera from the Saginaw River trip. Between phones, cameras and Go Pro I sometimes forget to download them all.

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

Mirror Carp

I was lucky enough to catch this very nice mirror carp this past weekend in the Saginaw River.

Mirror carp

I am going to post some other pictures from the Carp Anglers Group Midwest Regional tournament in the following days.

The 2017 event is definitely my favorite so far.

2017 champions

18 Pound Common Carp Video

This video of an 18 pound common carp landed in Bigelow Park on the Saginaw River was taken by my wife during the 2016 Carp Anglers Group Midwestern Regional fishing tournament.

Carp Fishing Video from Saginaw

 

 

A little video my wife filmed last Friday. This fish weighed 15 pounds and was my second fish that day.

Pictures from the CAG Midwestern Regional at Saginaw River

I look forward to attending the Carp Anglers Group Midwestern Regional each year. I have been making plans to attend the 2016 event since late 2015, so Friday morning I headed out early for the trip to Saginaw as a member of Team Michigan.

On Friday I fished a new area of the river (for me) and within 30 minutes of casting out I landed the first fish – a small 10 pounder.

It took several more hours to land a second fish, at 15 pounds, which was unfortunately my last fish for the day.

 

10 pounds

15 pounds and then some

Saturday morning we arrived at the peg draw anticipating a day filled with carp fishing and hoping for high quantities of high quality fish topping the 20 pound mark, which on the Saginaw River is fairly common.

I landed a 13 pounder very early on and a nice channel catfish later in the day, but unfortunately carp were regretfully absent from my swim the remainder of the day on Saturday.

13.1 pounds



Team Michigan was in second place heading into Sunday. My teammates started landing fish early in the day, but unfortunately my luck was running cold for the first few hours. I was fishing my particular spot in Bigelow Park peg for the first time. Heavy winds impacted my casting and prevented me from putting the bait in the proper zone. Teammates were landing fish closer to shore, so I tried that awhile. But I kept trying my preferred spot off and on with little success.

The winds subsided in the late afternoon. Casting and current improved substantially as a weather front approached. The skies turned dark blue and it looked like rain was imminent. I commented to my wife that all heck was going to break loose at any minute. Sitting back in the sport umbrella out of the wind, she asked why and I explained that it was likely to start raining hard soon and I had a feeling the fish were about to start feeding heavily.

14 pounder

16 pounder

18 pounder

25 pounds 9 ounces

It turns out I was incorrect about the weather, but right about the fish. After a tough day playing the waiting game on Saturday afternoon, these fish were a welcome arrival. Just when it seemed like they'd never come, things turned around.

This was my third time fishing the regional. I think this year's conditions offered the biggest challenges (at least for me), but a tweak here and there; and suffering through a pity party or two paid off with some nice fish at long last.

4th consecutive Team Michigan victory

Carp Fishing in Bay City Michigan

Here is another video from our weekend fishing the Saginaw River near Bay City, Michigan.

Saginaw River Carp Fishing

My wife shot this video last weekend during the Carp Anglers Group Midwest Regional Tournament.

 

This is a video of me fighting and landing a 16 pound river carp in high winds and moderately heavy current. Some people wonder I why I enjoy carp fishing so much. I offer this video as an example.



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

Saginaw River 2015 Midwest Regional Carp Anglers Group Event

We headed up to Bay City on Friday afternoon. Arriving at 3 p.m., it was a little too late to fish so Linda and I headed to the hotel for check-in; and then to downtown Bay City. We walked around downtown checking out the shops and visited 5 or 6 different antique shops.

After eating at the buffet at Bay City's most popular Polish buffet restaurant, we turned in early.

Saturday morning we headed to the peg draw and the to Veteran's Park for day #1 of the tournament. I spent the morning passing time by watching my rods. In the early afternoon the alarm on my middle rod screamed.



13 pounder



 

Then it got very quiet for 5 hours. Until shortly before time ran out my right rod screamed.

 

Carp fighting pose

 

 



17 pounds 14 ounces

It was a long time coming, but this fish was worth the wait. I landed the fish and snapped this picture with less than 15 minutes remaining in the Saturday session.

Day two on Sunday was not very productive for me except for a small channel catfish. I had a good spot on the bank that held a lot of fish just a few weeks ago at the pre-tournament fish-in, but someone forgot to tell the fish.

The fish were AWOL from near shore and those to the right and left of me were catching fish farther out near the main channel. I was unable to cast the 100 yards out to the channel and did not catch any carp. There is nothing worse in carp fishing than your friends and neighbors catching loads and loads of carp; and you not catching any.