Carp Fishing Mat Shots

Sooner or later us carp fishermen often find ourselves fishing alone without anyone to take a photo of our catches and we have to settle for an improvised photo.

Who says mat shots can't be cool in moderation? Sometimes they kind of break up the predictability of our regular "standard" poses when we present our catches.

Having something available to offer a sense of the fish's overall size is helpful. In this photo I used my Ranger landing net.

You can keep the photos interesting by featuring a particular fish feature like the mouth, fin, scale pattern, etc. In this photo I featured the magnificent golden tail.

Two Common Carp

2020 has been a rough year for carp fishing in Michigan.

By this time of the fishing season I would typically have caught at least 20 - 30 carp, but this year I've caught only 2 common carp and 2 big mouth buffalo.

This Detroit River fish was in pristine condition. The scales were perfect.

This fish was smaller than I hoped, but very welcome for my first carp of 2020.

I'm always on the look out for new fishing locations for carp fishing. Many of my typical go to spots are not producing fish consistently right now.

The lull at established spots creates a need to locate, scout and fish new place to catch carp. Being an effective scout for new carp swims pays dividends in the long run, but in the short term it can be pretty tough.

Some ideas for effective scouting:

• Michigan DNR website
• Recommendations from fellow fishermen 
• Carp fishing forums
• Facebook groups
• Google search
• Blogs
• Fishbrain
• And on and on...endless possibilities 

My New 2018 Personal Best at 37 Pounds and 7 Ounces

The local Michigan guys know that I've been hoping to catch a 30# fish for quite some time.

I think I might be one of the last of the local carp angling club crew who hadn't caught a fish of 30 pounds or greater. The absence of the magic 30# carp has much to do with the waters I fish as anything else. The convenient water near me just doesn't seem to produce many big fish at this point.

Four years ago I had one in sight but the net person zigged instead of zagged; and it literally became "the one that got away". I've had a 29# fish once since then. I was fortunate enough to improve upon that fish and increased my personal best by 8 pounds and change to a whopping 37 pounds and 7 ounces.

I could tell the fish was special when it was still 50 feet from the bank and knowing that; I got really nervous as it approached the net.

This water has produced some 30# fish in the past, but none in recent years. This fish was completely unexpected and much bigger than any fish I know of caught on this water in at least 2 years.

37 pounds and 7 ounces; my new personal best

Look at that tail. For reference the mat is 36 inches long.
I didn't have a tape measure, but I am guessing almost 40 inches.

What a tail span

This fish was very long and very dense

When I have more time, I may be able to adjust some of the over exposure in these photos to bring out more of the details in the fish. The trouble with fishing in bright sunlight is the difficulty taking pictures in bright sunlight. It's kind of a bummer when you catch the biggest fish of your life.

Posing a fish like this is also not easy. It was heavy to hold it up properly and kept wanting to lean backwards. I did manage a few shots to give the fish the justice it deserves.

Here's an example of how posing affects the pictures of the fish we capture. The fish is heavy and I'm having trouble keeping it perpendicular to the ground. It's tilting backwards about 60 degrees and compared to the picture above you can see how different the outcome is.

Small Mouth Buffalo, Channel Catfish, Bullhead Catfish and Common Carp

After blanking for 7 hours on Friday I decided to return to an old venue with mixed emotions. The old venue isn't what it used to be, but it's definitely better than blanking at a new spot.

I was targeting common carp obviously but I caught a little bit of several different species. The buffalo are cool, simply because they are relatively rare in the venues I have fished in Michigan. I have been fortunate enough to catch quite a few in the last couple of years. They rarely set off a bite alarm, but if you watch your rods closely and see the indicators bounce a couple of times chances are it's a small mouth buffalo at this venue. I've probably missed several others because if you are not watching your rods you may not know you need to set the hook.

I caught a total of 12 fish and at one point in the day just keeping 3 rods in the water was a challenge since I was fishing alone and trying to take a few pictures. My right arm is sore this morning from carrying fish in the net, but it's a good soreness for sure.

I'll rest up this week, pop a few Aleve and hope that my fishing sessions next weekend turn out well too.

None of these fish broke a personal best for any of these species, but almost all were high quality. When I saw the buffalo jump and splash as it neared the net I hoped briefly that it would be a new personal best but it missed that mark by about 15%.

The bite stopped after about 3 p.m. and I only managed a couple of runs (and hook pulls unfortunately) until 5 p.m. so I headed home.