A Point of Clarification

When people learn that I fish exclusively for common carp, they often levy criticism toward that activity. It's also one of the most frequent comments that I receive on this website from bow fishermen. I don't publish most of the comments because 99% of them are posted anonymously. I suspect that some folks are confused about what is and is not defined as "invasive species" here in Michigan as defined by the Michigan Department of Natural Resources.

I don't agree that common carp are an invasive species. Back in the 1800's when they were originally introduced to the United States, I might have considered them "invasive", but it's now 150 years later. At this point they are well-established throughout 48 states. I checked the Michigan DNR website to make sure "common" carp are not identified on the "invasive" list - they are not on the DNR list of "invasive" plants or animals. Here's a link to the page on the DNR site. That site does list various species of Asian carp that are considered invasive here in Michigan as follows:

•bighead carp (Hypophthalmichthys nobilis)
•black carp (Mylopharyngodon piceus)
•grass carp (Ctenopharyngodon idella)
•silver carp (Hypophthalmichthys molitrix)
•large-scale silver carp (Hypophthalmichthys harmandi)

Here is the link to that information.

The Michigan DNR actually tags and releases common carp back into Michigan waters while looking for Asian carp: Read about that activity here . While fishing on July 4th I had the opportunity to speak to a Michigan DNR officer about carp fishing, so I asked him whether they would expect common carp to be "destroyed" rather than returned to the water. He answered that returning common carp to the water is perfectly normal/acceptable. He spent 15 minutes asking questions about how we fish for carp and seemed to enjoy learning about carp fishing the way we do it. He agreed that more people should give common carp a chance as a sport fish.

Fishing for common carp is one of the fastest growing segments of sport fishing. If you want to catch big fish from the shoreline without a boat, give carp fishing a try.

When Asian carp are caught in Michigan, they should not be released back into the water. Read more at AsianCarp.us

What happens if I find an Asian carp?
Do not release the fish back into the water. If you catch or find an Asian carp in the Great Lakes or any of its tributaries, freeze the fish in a sealed plastic bag, note the date and location, and call your state or provincial natural resource agency. Note: if you are in Illinois on the Chicago Sanitary and Ship Canal, the above instructions pertain to any Asian carp found above the electric barrier.

I hope this helps add some clarity to what the DNR currently classifies as "invasive" in the State of Michigan.

Holiday Weekend Carp Fishing Plans

I am planning out my weekend fishing schedule. I love three-day weekends. If I am lucky I can get in two carp fishing sessions -- one on Friday afternoon and then another on Saturday.

I can't decide between Detroit River, Ford Lake, Belleville Lake, and Sterling State Park. Since it's a holiday weekend boat and jet ski traffic will be heavier than normal, so Ford Lake is probably not a good idea -- not at my regular spot anyway. Belleville would be a little better at certain locations, but in spots boat traffic can be annoying there as well for a shore fisherman. Sometimes boaters don't realize how far out we cast for carp. I can cast 70-80 yards without any trouble.

My best carp from the Detroit River weighed 12 pounds last year and I'm convinced that 30 pound carp are quite possible from the river. I definitely need to fish there more this summer.

Hopefully I'll post up some pictures of big carp later this weekend. Check back!

Carp in the News

There is a nice article about carp fishing in the online magazine Outdoorhub.com written by Dave Mull. Yours truly is even mentioned in the article.

A nice example for how we use hair rigs to fish for common carp as seen at Outdoorhub.com (photo by Dave Mull).

This article was written about the Wooden Shoe Carp Classic in Holland, Michigan earlier this year.

Funny Commercial

Update on Lupus Fundraising Effort

I have caught hundreds of pounds of carp this season. My goal to raise a dollar per pound got off to a slow start, but it is picking up steam.

My Adsense advertising is also progressing.  The Amazon affiliate links are getting views. Any earnings from affiliates on my carp fishing blog will be donated to the Lupus Foundation.

If you can help with my efforts by purchasing an item that you would normally purchase on Amazon.com using one of my affiliate links, I would appreciate it.

Carp Fishing Guide Service

I have never used a guide service or been fly fishing, but if I decided to do either and could get time away from work to travel to Traverse City, Michigan I would seriously consider Jon's Guide Service.

From his web page:

Grand Traverse Bay and the Traverse city area located in Michgan provide some of the best carp fishing on a fly in the World! Thousands of carp enter the shallow flats of Grand Traverse Bays (East Bay / West Bay) to feed, sun, and spawn during the early months of summer. Golden bones are what carp have been nicknamed by those looking to try and fool this smart and shy fish.

 

A picture from JonsGuideService.com
providing a sampling of fly fishing for carp on Grand Traverse Bay.

 

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.).

New Carp Fishing Rods

My new Resistance Tackle carp rods arrived this week. ResistanceTackle.com announced a buy-one-get-free sale on fishing rods in May and it was a deal too good to pass up.

I have been using Wychwood 2.75 and Black Widow 2.75 test curve rods, which work for carp fishing but were a little on the soft side for fighting some of the bigger carp I've been catching in recent weeks. I opted for the Resistance Tackle 12 ft. Hurricane 3.0 test curve rods. The Hurricanes were $275 for four rods. Compared to the 2.75 test curve rods, the additional stiffness should help.

Eventually I will be getting some new reels too, but those purchases will need to wait a while. Since I'm currently using Okuma Avengers I am hoping to upgrade to Okuma Epixor's or Coronado's.

Carp Fishing Pictures

Morning Carp Session

We spent the day fishing. We arrived at 6:01 a.m. and had lines in the water by 6:30 with the first fish on the landing mat about an hour later.

We spent the next 3 1/2  hours wondering if spending the day fishing was a good idea after all. Fish were jumping to the right, left and center. At times it seemed like they were laughing at us. They did everything but bite a hook.

We were using panko, cream corn and butternut flavoring. Occasionally I would mix up a batch of panko with pineapple flavoring. Today, the fish like pineapple better. The pineapple worked them up into a feasting frenzy.

At one point I was landing them on alternating rods every 10 minutes. I could barely land them, take a picture, get them back in the water and re-cast the rods fast enough. We even had a double run (see picture below).

20 pounds

I wore a blister on my left index finger from reeling so much today. That's a very nice problem to have in my book.

And for those more inclined to watch video, here are a few of today's catches in video format.

Carp Fishing Rods

I started fishing for carp using a King Cat medium action rod from Cabela's. It's designed for catfish, but at $29.99 it's acceptable for entry level carp fishing on a budget. The Ugly Stik would also be a worthy low budget rod, although it's more than twice the price.

After a few weeks a friend I met on the banks from Ford Lake in Ypsilanti loaned me 2 Wychwood Signature carp rods and 2 Black Phantom carp rods.

I am currently shopping for some new rods. I am considering the Daiwa Mad Dragon 12' / 3.00lb test curve. They are not really "cheap" rods, but they are what I consider to be a step up from the Black Phantoms.

At $59.99 they are affordable and provide the opportunity to have 3 matching rods to go along with the matching Okuma Coronado reels that I have on my shopping list. There is absolutely nothing wrong with my Okuma Avengers, but they don't really have enough torque and stopping power to feel in control of some of the larger carp I've been catching lately in the "screaming teens and twenties".

Update: I took advantage of the special buy-one-get-one-free promotion on ResistanceTackle.com last night and ordered 4 Hurricane Carp Rods.

The Hurricanes are perfect for the majority of situations. They are slim, light, responsive and have Fuji fittings throughout. They are an absolute pleasure to play fish on and that’s a fact! Their unique power progressive curve loads seamlessly along the rod length when casting and delivers a crisp tip recovery. This adds yards onto the casting abilities of the average angler. The action provides the right level of forgiveness under the rod tip that is a must today especially with braided mainlines. They have a very modern understated finish which adds beauty to a classic finish of the rod. A classic Fuji 20mm hooded reel seat allows for all reel sizes. They have top quality Fuji rod guides from 40mm, 30mm, 25mm, 16mm and 16mm tip ring. The tip ring diameter allows for effortless casting whilst using shock or snag leaders. No stone has been left unturned in this rod design and the hook retaining clip is another useful addition.

I chose the 3# test curve rods. They also offer a 3.5# rod, but since I've been fishing with 2.50# and 2.75# rods for the past year I was afraid the 3.5#'s might be a little too stiff for what I'm used to.

I can't wait until they arrive and try them out.

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.

A Few Pictures from Last Weekend's Holland Trip

This is a view from our Sunday position carp fishing on the east side of the Koellen Park waterfront walkway.

Those gentlemen in the background caught at least 20 catfish in the 1 1/2 - 2 pound range
 in about 5 hours of fishing using nightcrawlers as bait.

One four carp and 3 catfish I caught on Sunday

Koellen Park is an excellent venue for carp fishing. There is plenty of room. Clean restrooms, a playground for kids, close to downtown if your wife doesn't like to fish as much as you do, etc.

Daiwa Regal 5000 Baitrunner

4000 is pictured, but I've been seeing the 5000 being used a lot recently

Daiwa Emcast Spinning Reel Baitrunner

Daiwa Emcast BR5000

As I continue shopping for a new bait runner spinning reel, I keep finding new and interesting reels that I haven't seen locally such as this nice offering from Daiwa.