Common Carp and a Catfish

Today was one of the toughest days of fishing I've had in quite some time. It was especially difficult for me because I was getting a lot of bites and runs; but I only landed two small fish. I hooked 7 fish, but lost a bunch due to hook pulls. I was experimenting with shrink tube. My only logical conclusion is that the shrink tube was rigged incorrectly causing the hook pulls due to poor hook penetration.

I also snagged 5 times in one of my favorite spots on the lake. I have never snagged in that area before, so I was either lucky or something has been purposely submerged in that spot during the past week or two, since I last fished that particular spot.

This small 5 - 6 pound carp came early

 

 

This small channel catfish came later in the day

This guy's been playing in the mud

Pineapple Scopex Pink Pop Up Dumbbells

My wife is a reluctant carp fishing person. She tags along to provide moral support and take pictures a lot. She's been there through rain, sleet, light snow, wind, and freezing temps. A few months ago I twisted her arm and suggested that she also fish a little.

Today, I headed out early and fished a few hours before Linda arrived. Upon her arrival she asked me to bait up a rod with her favorite bait -- High Visual Neon pineapple scopex pink pop-up dumbbell. Within 30 minutes she had her first fish on the bank -- a small mouth buffalo.

Here I am posing with Linda's fish. (She doesn't like to hold them.)

I caught a fish that got away before I could get him in the net, but netted this little guy a little later on.

My first fish today weighing in at 8 - 9 pounds.

It didn't take long for Linda to hook another one, but that one got away. Then shortly after that she netted this one.

Linda's third fish in 45 minutes with me posing it for her, since she doesn't like to hold them.

She decided to leave shortly after that, saying that she needed to let me catch some. Ha. Ha.

It took a while, but I did hook a nice fish, but goofed up and tightened the drag too far when fighting the fish and pulled the hook.

With some dark looking rain clouds in the distance, I decided to start packing up just in case the forecasted 40% chance of rain decided to invade our fishing session.Luckily the rain skirted around us to the south.

I fished another 45 minutes and had just about decided to pack it in and head for the house. I was walking to my right rod to retrieve it and load up when I saw the line tighten. It was a windy day so I figured it was just a gust of wind tightening and contracting the line. Just as I bent over to pick up the rod, I got a screaming run!

I knew it felt big, but approaching the net I found a nice surprise on the line. I had actually packed up the scales already, but had to dig them out to weigh this very nice fish. It turned out to be the 2nd heaviest fish I've ever caught weighing in at 23 pounds 10 ounces.

23 pounds, 10 ounces of common carp goodness

Special thanks for Chuck for netting the fish for me and taking the picture.

Trying Out New Fishing Spots

I like to fish new spots every now and then, but it's not without a few risks in the process. But how do you know whether or not it's better than another spot unless you try it out?

This morning we tried a new spot at Sterling State Park. It's in the same lagoon we usually fish, but farther west. The plan was to fish a spot just off the walking trail, but finding a spot with room enough for two people proved difficult. That part of the shoreline is not maintained/mowed like the areas around the east parking lot, so we headed farther west and crossed the walking bridge to a floating fishing pier.

A view from the pier looking west

A view from the pier facing south

My spot fishing from the pier

We fished here until 10:45 a.m. and then decided to pack up and try another spot. I had no bites, no runs and no fish. My fishing partner caught 2 small carp below 5 pounds fishing from the opposite side of the pier.

The best part of fishing here was a very nice bald eagle that flew overhead around mid-morning real slow and slow cruising the lagoon looking for a few tasty morsels.

We walked more than a 1/2 mile back to the east parking lot and got set up a little before noon.

It doesn't look like much, but it's been a very successful spot for me this year.
I've caught more than 30 carp from this particular spot.

18 pounds

After 3 1/2 hours of silence at the new location, I landed this nice specimen within 20 minutes of putting my lines in the water at my normal spot. This one was a strong swimmer. I knew right away that it was a nice fish. It made three separate strong runs, but ultimately land in my net.

I caught another smaller carp later in the day, but didn't get a picture.

My lucky red carp fishing shirt was good for a quality fish today, but I can only imagine what might have been if we'd stuck to the original location early on in the morning instead of trying something new. But you know what they say, "Nothing ventured, nothing gained."

Rain, Thunderstorms - Catching Michigan Carp

We actually started off the morning hoping to fish at Crosswinds Marsh off of Haggerty Road in New Boston at 6:15 a.m. The site looks very "carpy", but this time of year it's very weedy. I'll be going back to that spot next spring to give it a try.

So we decided to drive down to Sterling State Park. Shortly after arriving at 7:30 a.m. the rain started.
Then the lightning started.

We hustled to get the lines in the water and then retreated to the vehicle to wait out the roughest part of the thunderstorm. I got a run and had to jump out of the truck to land it. As luck would have it, the rain slacked up a little so we could get a quick picture. That first fish was the smallest of the day.

Then it was back to the truck to stay dry, dodge more lightning bolts, and keep an eye on the weather radar on the Android Smartphone.

I seemed to build momentum as the day went by. It took a couple of hours for the first and then an hour and then the fish started to come 30 minutes apart. I wish I could have fished several more hours this afternoon, but that's always the case when the fish are biting well.

First fish of the day

12 pounds

Biggest fish of the day weighing 14 pounds and change.
I might need to check my scale because this fish felt bigger in the net.

10 pounds

9 pounds

12 pounds

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 Carp Fishing - 121 Pounds of Fish!

I had a great day of carp fishing at Sterling State Park today. The carp starting biting early and often. I arrived shortly after 6 a.m. and had lines in by 6:45. It didn't take long after that to land my first carp.

Sunrise near Lake Erie, 6 a.m

Here are some pictures from today's session. I caught 13 common carp and a catfish. I was holding out hope for a small mouth buffalo too, but luck was not with me today for that goal.



16 pounds



13 pounds

At one point, I had a double run. My #2 rod had a run and as I picked it up for retrieval, my #3 rod took off on a screaming run as well. This is the first time in the year or so that I've been fishing for carp that I experienced a double run.

I looked over at my wife sitting in a chair to my right and said, "You're going to need to grab that one." She goes fishing with me a lot, but yesterday was the first time she ever tried to land a fish. We did get her a fishing license earlier this year for just this type of scenario. When the bit is fast and furious, having an extra pair of hands available helps out a lot. (It also helps provide time for using the restroom if that is necessary. Previously I had to pull the rods out of the water.)



13 pounds

13 pounds

My wife helps with the netting and at one point I just couldn't seem to get the fish close enough to the bank and into the net. I tried moving right. I moved left. I walked backward up the bank, but the fish was determined to stay out of the net at all costs. And as expected, the length of time for netting resulted in the fish becoming unhooked.

It's easy to second guess that process of course and easy to blame the person doing the netting. In the end I just chalk it up to carp being strong fish and pretty smart too. They have strategies for "escape".  If they can't get away running north and south; they switch to east and west. Some will even try to fool you by running straight at you. More than once carp have fooled me into thinking the fish got away, but no sooner than I relax and continue the retrieve the action starts again.

16 pounds

16 pounds

A young kid nearby us was fishing with dead minnows and landed a very good sized gar pike. He and his grandfather stopped by to talk for a while wanting to learn how I was landing all those fish. They didn't stay around quite long enough though because my plan was to let them fight a fish or two to get the feel for fighting a carp.

18 pounds

When this fish hit the net I was sure it was the largest of the day, but after weighing the fish tipped the scales at 18 pounds. Those scales don't lie, but my eyesight sometimes does.

My largest fish today was 19 pounds

Judging from this picture, I must have had the fish tilted slightly backwards and away from the camera because it clearly weighed more than the other fish and ended up being my largest catch.

It's not a carp! Fishing for carp provides a few surprises from time to time.

 Some people I know would call this a "big" catfish, but fighting this catfish was a piece of cake compared to those mid-and-high-teens common carp.

 

Each and every carp caught today was released back into the water gently
 so that someone else has a chance to catch them again some day.

I call this one "Little Guy". Compared to the 16, 18 and 19 pounders, he was indeed "little".
He weighed in at 10 pounds.

Two More Common Carp

Here are the first 2 fish from Sunday's session. These were caught relatively close to shore within 30 minutes. I made a strategy adjustment and found some bigger fish, but I enjoyed catching these just the same.

9 pounds

I caught this 9 pound common carp on pineapple maize and fake maize on a hair rig and glugged. The 10 pound below was also caught on the maize and glugged.

 



10 pounds

Landed Two New Personal Best Common Carps Today

Spring weather finally arrived in Michigan this weekend. With temperatures in the 70's and sunny, I could not resist heading out for some carp fishing. I had a nice session hooking 5, landing 4 and achieving 2 personal bests within 45 minutes. I probably would have improved my personal best a third time today, but we lost a very large 3rd fish a mere inch or 2 from the net.

My wife did a great job capturing these pictures.

Sterling State Park, 8 a.m.

Another view

Baiting up

The first cast

Resistance Tackle sling with our 3rd catch of the day...a new personal best for me



20 pounder caught on maize and fake maize

Landing this hog was quite an adventure. After the initial runs and fighting for about 4 minutes the crank knob of my reel broke off. I was determined to land the fish, because by this time I knew it was pretty big. I kept the rod tip up and cranked the best I could with the remaining handle on the reel. It was slow going, but steady as the fish tired a little.



Fighting a big common carp



Metallica Net with another personal best

Second personal best in 45 minutes at 24 pounds 11 ounces

I caught this fish on a pink double pop-up dumbbell. Pink has been very good to me recently. I want to make sure I have plenty of these dumbbells for the tournament next week in Holland, MI.

Releasing the big boy to grow even bigger for someone else to enjoy catching later on

This picture turned out very well. I enjoy catching these big freshwater carp, but it's even more satisfying to snap a few pictures and then release them back for someone else to catch again. Who knows...it might even grow a bit more!

I don't know what it is with me an northern pike recently, but there were at least 15 to 20 small ones darting back and forth in front of me today and knocking into my lines a lot. It was fun watching them. We've even got some decent pictures of them.

I have two more pictures from today of some smaller 9 and 10 pound fish. Somehow it just doesn't seem right to post them in comparison to these beauties.

Good Friday Carp Fishing

The forecast for a 60% chance of rain didn’t deter me. I had Good Friday off from work and I took advantage of the opportunity and spent the day fishing for carp at Sterling State Park near Monroe, MI.

When I arrived, the wind was non-existent and the sunrise was beautiful. The water in the lagoon was smooth as glass. Those are my favorite conditions for landing some good sized carp.

Instead of maize, my go-to-carp-bait, I committed to using a pink pop-up dumbbell exclusively until I either caught a fish on one (or got bored trying). I have always wanted to fish with pop-up boilies, but my confidence in them is low. I saw an article in an online carp fishing magazine a few weeks ago touting the effectiveness of the color pink in attracting carp and decided to give it a try . I am so glad I did.

I use pack bait made from cream corn and panko with a hair rig on a #6 hook. I had no activity on the rods for 90 minutes, but patience paid off with a short run. Carp on!

A few minutes later I landed a 17 pound common carp as a reward making it my biggest fish in 2014.

Sterling State Park near Monroe, MI

Later in the day I landed another small common carp in the 5 - 6 pound range and a 2 pound bullhead catfish.

If the nice weather holds out, I might fish for a while tomorrow too. If I catch, I'll post some more pictures.

I think this picture turned out nicely so I wanted to share it.

Why I fish for carp

I spent yesterday fishing for carp at Sterling State Park near Monroe, MI from 7:45 a.m. until almost 4 p.m.

During the course of the day guys fishing to the right and to the left of me caught good sized and good fighting common carp on light tackle. The guy to the right was fishing for bullhead catfish (and caught 5 or 6), but in the process he caught a common carp that fought like no bullhead catfish would. The guy to the left was fishing for walleye, but caught a few freshwater drum and a common carp on very light tackle. The drum were in the 7 - 8 lb. range and fought well, but the common was a monster. I enjoyed watching the guy fight the carp for more than 10 minutes. At first I thought it was a lost cause, because the carp was wining (by a landslide), but even the light tackle (and perseverance) eventually wore the carp down.

These two examples illustrate why I fish for common carp exclusively now.

When was the last time someone caught a 20 lb. walleye or a 30 lb. bullhead catfish? Aside from the pending world record walleye caught recently in Lake Erie, the average size most people catch is closer to 5 or 6 lbs. As for bullhead, the average fish ranges somewhere between a pound or two; with the world record at 7 lbs. dating back to 2009. But at Sterling State Park, Detroit River, Ford Lake, and Belleville Lake where I live the average sized common carp is almost always above 10 lbs. and it's becoming quite common to catch them near 20 lbs. with regularity. My friends catch 30 lbs. + carp with regularity now, although I am still waiting for my first above twenty at this point.

I grew up catching perch, crappie, bluegill and bass in local farm ponds, but after becoming addicted to carp fishing I doubt I can ever go back to fishing for those smaller sized and lesser fighting fish. After all, I've never caught a 3 lb. bluegill, a 12 lb. bass, or 30 lb. crappie. :-)

Many people approach me and ask what I'm fishing for when I am out on the bank, but when I explain that I'm fishing for carp most folks turn up their nose at the thought. Carp are not an inferior fish. Common carp (introduced to U.S. from Germany a century or more ago) are here to stay. In fact, I'd argue that the common carp is a superior sport fish to any other common fresh water species I can think of readily accessible without a boat.

So if you are out fishing and run across someone fishing for carp, don't automatically dismiss the pursuit as inferior. Keep an open mind and observe. You might discover that you like the idea of catching stronger, faster, and tougher sport fish.

Please don't knock it until you've tried it! It might surprise you too.

Even the small ones are strong fighters