Michigan Fall Carp Fishing

I have been looking forward to autumn for a few months. The leaves are turning, college football is in full swing, Thanksgiving is just around the corner and the chances of breaking by personal best weight for common carp increases to way above average. Last year I caught my current personal best of 26 pounds 10 ounces in October when the weather was very similar to our current temperatures, winds and cloud cover.

I left the house at 6:30 and arrived to my favorite fishing spot about 7:10 after a stop at the convenience store for snacks and soda to tide me over for the next 10 hours or more. With the thermometer registering 39 degrees, I was appropriately layered up, gloved up and wearing a stocking cap to keep my bald head warm.

I started out with peach flavor for my ground bait and peach flavored maize for my hook bait and had lines in by 7:35 and my hopes were high.

My strategy was to feed them and feed them some more and keep on feeding them until I landed a couple of carp. I had a 5 gallon bucket full of panko bread crumbs and lots of cream corn so the race was on.

I re-casted every 75 minutes until the first fish was landed and then backed off to every 90 minutes. With water levels lower than normal, I had to cast out 70 to 80 yards and started hooking fish shortly before lunch time.

I made a miss-cast one time and the bait landed about 15 feet from the bank. I decided to leave it and see what happened. Well guess what happened…20 minutes later I hooked a fish. Unfortunately I didn’t land that one due to a hook pull.

Overall it was a very good day of fishing. I hooked 12 fish, landed 10 and had 2 hook pulls. My second hook pull was a very good fish. I am kind of bummed about that one. I would have loved to see just how big it was. I am sure it wasn’t new PB material, but it was very likely the biggest fish I hooked today.

My smallest fish weighed 10 pounds and the largest tipped the scales at 19 pounds 5 ounces. The majority of the fish caught today weighed in the 16 to 18 pound range. The average size for this time of year is lower than in the two previous seasons. I am sure the commercial fisherman who cleaned out the lagoon back in June impacted the average size. It will take a while for bigger fish to move back into the lagoon from the main lake.

Here are some pictures I snapped during the session. My photographer had to work today, so I had to do my best with the 10 second timer function on my cell phone. It’s not perfect, but it’s better than nothing. Hopefully I’ll have my photographer back for the next session for some better snapshots.

 

Michigan Small River Carp Fishing

Since I started catching carp in 2013 I have been wondering about the possibilities for catching carp in a local river (really more like a creek compared to rivers where I grew up in Missouri), so I decided today was "the day" to try it out.

My day of carp pursuit started at 6:30 a.m. When I was in the U.S. Army my Sergeant Major had a saying for days like today - O Dark Thirty. Hey, that would make a nice title for a novel wouldn't it? If I ever give up carp fishing, maybe I'll give that a try (probably not).

The area of town has a shortage of street lights so I had to scout out the area in the dark and picked a spot. I got set up and rods out, but after sunrise doubt set in.



The spot was weedy, shallow and generally a "downer", but I stuck with it for awhile. I ended up catching a small catfish before deciding to try another spot 14 miles down the road to the west.



After a short drive to the second venue it didn't take long to put a fish on the bank. My fishing partner, Bill "Buffalo" Wazelle landed a nice 9 pound 11 ounce catfish.



A few minutes later I landed a nice fighting carp, which confirmed the decision to move had indeed been "wise".



It took a while to land the second one; so long in fact that my fishing partner had to leave before the "screamer" occurred. I landed the second fish and couldn't have been happier.



The fish hit the bait hard and headed for the hills before the drag got him under control and in the net. I didn't notice it until looking at the picture later on, but the fish had an interesting tail "notch".



I called it a day around 4 p.m., but regret it for not staying a little longer. I am confident I could have caught at least one more (if not two).

I am happy with my "discovery" today. It's a spot with good average size (so far) and I'll definitely go back there to fish another day.

Looking for Gold at a New Spot Close to Home

First fish weighing 10 pounds

Second fish 8 pounds

I love this close up of the scales on the 2nd fish

Small Mouth Buffalo, Common Carp and Catfish

I spent the Labor Day fishing.

Here are a few pictures.

After catching 4 catfish I broke through with this chunky common carp

A few minutes later I landed this small mouth buffalo

For some reason the small mouth buffalo I'm catching this time of year are little "beat up" looking. This one was no exception and looked like he'd done a few rounds with Mike Tyson in the prime of his career.

A Few Fish Pictures

Here are few pictures from last week and this week so far.

Four Carp and a Catfish

Today I returned to a venue that has been very good to me lately. The carp are not consistently large and range in the vicinity of 5 to 20 pounds with most in the lower teens with a small and large thrown in occasionally.

A couple of weeks ago at this venue I caught 15 carp. I was absolutely on fire that day and left with blisters on my fingers from fighting and landing so many carp.

Today my luck wasn't quite as good, but I landed some good fish nonetheless. Here are some pictures.

This fish weighed just over 20 pounds and was my big fish of the day

This was my fourth fish of the day and weighed in at a few ounces under 15 pounds

The second fish of the day was a scrapper

I even caught a nice sized catfish weighing somewhere between 5 and 6 pounds

I like the golden tint on the scales of this fish

I don't often catch silver colored carp at my normal venues so seeing this one hit the net was a real treat

The first two fish came early with the 20 pounder caught shortly after sunrise in the early morning. You can probably tell from the shadows and sunlight on the fish scales that the sun was still a very deep reddish orange, which brings out the nice golden shades on the fish.

My third fish was a unique silver color. The scales were nearly perfect and the silver shades are not that common in the waters I normally fish. Although I've caught much bigger fish here and other places I was pleased with the fish because it's not common to catch common carp with the lighter shades of green and silver.

A Carp and a Catfish

I headed out today hoping to continue my good carp fishing fortune from last weekend.

I arrived at 5:30, set-up and casted the 3 rods. Within 5 minutes, the BFS alarm nearest me was sounding off. I thought things were looking up for carp, but I soon learned that I had a channel catfish and not a carp after all.

I had to wait another 10 hours to land a carp. Unfortunately, there was a slight algae bloom and the water was stained a dark green.

Here are a few pictures from today's session:

My spot for the day

15 1/2 pound carp

Channel catfish

New Personal Best - 15 Carp in One Summer Fishing Session

Last Saturday I headed out to my favorite local carp fishing spot. I was on the bank by 5:30 and made my first cast shortly before 6:00. I had my first fish on the mat shortly after 7:00.

I ended up with 15 total fish ranging in size from about 4 pounds all the way up to 15 pounds. I landed two doubles (4 total fish) and those 15 fish in on session fishing completely by myself are a new personal best for me.

Here are a few pictures from the days activities:

If you get a chance, come fishing with me sometime. We may not catch anything, but getting outside in the sunshine and enjoying summer weather is its own reward.

B-I-G Fish = B-I-G Business

Reprinted from CarpAnglersGroup.com

Trophy fish of any species will attract anglers from far & wide. This means more license & tackle sales as well as travel, food and accommodation expenditure coming into the economy of the region. It is therefore vital to help educate more anglers toward the positive benefits of careful handling and the live release of trophy fish of ALL species.

This includes the catch and release of trophy common carp (Cyprinus carpio) that are increasingly sought after by top anglers visiting the St Lawrence river.  The presence of big trophy carp indicates a healthy environment that will also support trophy fish of other species. The killing of large carp (as well as native buffalo, muskie and gar) only serves to stimulate the rapid increase in smaller fish which can lead to negative impacts on the aquatic environment.

You cannot ‘un-kill’ a fish. The concept of catch & release, especially for trophy fish, is a win-win for everyone. When a trophy fish is killed anglers know that it is no longer there to be caught. But when a trophy fish is released it stands out as a beacon of hope for other anglers to come test their skills and maybe catch it at an even heavier weight.

The economic benefits that result from the ‘catch & release’ of trophy carp as well as other species will be a significant boost for the local community.

I wholeheartedly support the catch & release of trophy fish while allowing anglers to retain a limited number of smaller fish for the table.

Fourth of July Weekend Carp Fishing

I had Friday off from work and decided to head out early and spend the day carp fishing.

I took about 2 hours for the first one landed on my homemade habanero boilie and 2 more hours for the next one caught on two pieces of Trilogy Baits maize tipped with a piece of fluorescent pink plastic corn from Enterprise.

Got there early and set up in a spot that has produced commons, small mouth buffalo,
 mirror carp and s smattering of catfish

This one was a single digit fish

A little bit bigger

The biggest of the day in the mid teens

Second fish caught on the maize, my first caught on maize for several weeks