We just returned from competing in the Wooden Shoe Carp Classic on May 17-18 on Lake Macatawa, which connects to Lake Michigan. The lake produced some common carp in the 27 pound range this weekend, which is a little lower than the upper 30’s range achieved in the 2013 event.
Koellen Park is a fabulous venue for fishing with plentiful bank space, good parking areas, good lighting and very clean rest rooms. Lake Macatawa flows from Lake Michigan toward downtown Holland, MI. Located in the southeast corner of the lake, Koellen park has a walkway spanning more than a quarter mile with direct access to the water. For landing larger carp or catfish, a substantial net with a long handle is a requirement. From the railing to the water is at least 4 feet depending on the lake levels.
Hotels are plentiful in Holland.
Hampton Inn,
Holiday Inn Express,
Days Inn and others are within reasonable distance to the park. We stayed at the
Days Inn for $99 a night. It was no frills accommodations, but the front desk staff were very friendly and efficient. The décor in the rooms was a little dated, but clean. We had two double beds, a refrigerator, microwave and coffee maker.
On Saturday, I had the first pick in the peg draw. Since it was my first time at the event, I relied on input and advice from a few others as we gathered for the drawing. I picked peg 11. On Saturday that peg along with 12 and 13 were pretty poor producers. We fished from 7 a.m. until 6 p.m. and my peg produced exactly zero fish, runs or even bites.
The weather was on the cool side for May with temperatures in the mid-30's when we arrived at 6 o'clock. At mid-day the wind picked up with 10 -15 mph gusts and conditions remained challenging for the remainder of the day. High temperatures on Saturday topped out in the mid-50's.
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| Peg 11 shortly after arrival. |
Carp fishing can be a brutal mistress sometimes. Some days your catch so many carp you get tired fighting and landing them. And on other days (like Saturday), you wonder if all the carp in the lake went on vacation because bites and runs are no where to be found. That's just a part of fishing. Sometimes you're the windshield and sometimes your the bug.
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| My neighbor's pod at peg 12 |
On Sunday, I had the last pick and selected peg 21. My peg on Saturday was in a clump of other anglers so I had a change of strategy and picked a peg located away from the thick of things on the outer edge of the venue. My results improved significantly with 3 catfish and 4 common carp.
My first carp weighed in at 15 lbs.
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| Early morning carp |
The second weighed 10 lbs.
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| Mid morning carp |
The third weighed 8 lbs.
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| Afternoon carp |
I hooked two other fish in the after that I lost due to hook pulls. The biggest was a real nice one that I fought for 2 or 3 minutes. I may have gotten a little aggressive playing the fish and as the fish surfaced I had a hook pull. The fish was looking right up at me and then…wham...that was it…gone. Over. Done.
My fourth fish weighed 12 lbs. (if I remember it correctly, give or take a few ounces). I had to turn in the score sheet, so I might be a little low or a few ounces too high.
The rules allowed us to double the weigh on one fish upon landing it. Luckily I chose to double my first fish, so it scored 30 lbs. toward my total of 61 lbs. for the two day contest.
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| Last carp of the day |
I did not win Big Fish or Total Weight awards, but had a lot of fun. I’m a competitive person so the challenge of proving I could actually catch and land fish on day two was fulfilling. With gusting winds, rough water with white caps and waves in the 1' - 2' range from time to time, peg 21 at the far end of the fishing area was intimidating at first but after I started catching fish my confidence improved.
My first 2 catfish and largest carp fell to a hair rig of pineapple maize and fake maize soaked in pineapple flavoring, but the other three carp were caught on a pineapple boilie topped with a piece of orange colored fake maize.
When fishing for carp, sometimes catfish find your bait and cause a little aggravation for anglers. After my drought on Saturday, the catfish didn't really bother me. I just wanted to catch fish at that point. Here are a few catfish pictures.
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| My first catfish weighed 9 lbs. |
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| I caught two other smaller catfish at 5 - 6 lbs. |
We met several guys who fish that spot for catfish on a regular basis. One guy told me that he had been fishing that spot for 8 years and never caught a carp after hundreds of casts. Hearing him say that, I groaned a little and had resigned myself to catching a lot of catfish to fill the time. Casts to the right of the red buoy yielded catfish and casts at the buoy or slightly left yielded carp. So I dialed in on a spot about 20 feet left of the buoy and 50 feet from the walkway.
I had trouble near the end of the day getting my panko to hold together during casts so fixing that with a firmer "pack" slowed the breakdown and delayed the bites. I am sure that a couple more hours of fishing time would have yielded at least a few more carp. If the event is held again next year, maybe I'll try that spot again.
Here is a link to some pictures taken by Dave Mull during the last hour of the event on Saturday:
