Lake Erie Carp Fishing

The carp fishing plan for yesterday included fishing at a new venue on Lake Erie that I have always wanted to try but never got around to it.

We arrived as dawn was arriving. Paid our $10 to park. And headed to the fishing spot. Once dawn was in full swing it became clear that we had our work cut out for us. The two foot ways and spray from Lake Erie made it challenging to have confidence that carp would be feeding.

Here's a picture of what I'm talking about:

A local arrived later on and after a short conversation he pointed out that most of the days this location has very calm waters and is a joy to fish. We were lucky enough to get around to fishing it on the worst day possible year-to-date.

So we decided to move to another location.

I caught a carp and a catfish at the second location, but left disappointed with the low production.

Mid teens common carp

Carp on the landing mat

This fish was caught on a Gamakatsu carp hook. I've written about my testing and experiences with Gamakatsu in this article and others on this carp blog regarding the suitability of the Super G carp hook for carp fishing.

I do recommend a size 4 hook if you decide to try Gamakatsu for carp. I used two pieces of corn for this fish, but 3 pieces will also catch fish if rigged properly. In my experience testing the Super G hooks they hold better if the hook has some room to "turn" and "hold" in the fishes mouth. If the corn rests snug against the hook when hanging freely on the hair rig, I have experienced more hook pulls and lost fish. I have found that an 1/8" gap works well for me.

If you are using Gamakatsu hooks for catching carp I would enjoy hearing your impressions of them in the comments below.

Carp Fishing Pet Peeves List

This post is going to be a running list of things that bug me about carp fishing. I will update it from time to time to amuse myself (and hopefully a few others who read it).

1. People aren't really very good at estimating distances

I read a post on another site recently that described a fish peeling off 100 yards of line. I read another about how someone casted 150 yards with enough accuracy to hit the exact same spot time and time again in the course of a 24 hour session.

I ran varsity track in high school and covered 100 yards in a range from 10.95 - 11.1 seconds at various times. I also played baseball for 12 years of Little League, Junior Babe Ruth and American Legion. My specialty was center field, but I also played catcher quite a bit. Fortunately, I was chosen to numerous all-star teams representing our district in numerous tournaments. I made the throw from deep center field to home plate many times and I'll tell you - It's a long w-a-a-a-y-s.

As a result I like to think I am a pretty good judge of exactly how far 100 yards actually is. When someone says they casted 100 yards my antennae goes up and when someone says they cast 150 yards over and over and over again with pinpoint accuracy during the course of a 24 hour session...let's just say I am skeptical.

2. Focusing too much on the weight of carp ruins the fun of fishing in the first place

I know a person or two that have grown so accustomed to catching big fish in the 30 pound plus range that they actually complain when catching huge numbers of 15 to 16 pound fish. Once when the alarm was going off on a run I heard another guy complaining in anticipation that the fish would be on the smaller side. Some people have developed such a strong focus on catching fish that weigh X amount that I'm afraid they have lost sight on why they fell in love with fishing to start with. As someone who hasn't yet caught a 30 pounder, it's pretty demoralizing to struggle to catch a few carp now and then - and then actually hear an elite carp fishermen complaining about catching too many carp. I see it on Facebook cap fishing groups and I see it in online forums where carp fishermen congregate. I think these types of tendencies and attitudes in the online carp fishing scene are making it difficult to attract new people to the sport. But far, far worse in my opinion - it's making it hard to keep them.

Michigan Carp Videos

Here are a couple of fun videos I shot of some fish caught recently. Sometimes I like to do stuff to break up the wait times on the bank, so I shoot a short video of the fish instead of snapping a photo.

That video won't win an Oscar I know, but it's not cinema; it's carp fishing. Wink! Wink!

I filmed it myself using the cell phone. Fishing alone it's sometimes difficult to channel Ron Howard, Martin Scorsese, Alfred Hitchcock, etc.

These are two of the videos I shot just goofing around trying to entertain myself between runs.

I ended up with 4 carp, 1 smallmouth buffalo and 7 catfish. The biggest catfish weighed 7 pounds and the biggest carp was in the low teens.

Late Summer Carp Fishing - Lake Erie

After a 3 week hiatus due to some traveling and family duties (including my nieces' wedding), I was able to get out for some carp fishing today.

The first several fish were catfish. For reason the catfish were h-u-n-g-r-y today. It took the carp a little while to warm up to my bait offerings, but I was able to land a few carp later in the day. Two of the carp fell for my homemade almond/vanilla/Southern Comfort flavored deer corn.

I caught 7 catfish, 4 carp and 1 small mouth buffalo. In case you are wondering that is more catfish than I have ever caught in one session before. Although it's not what I was hoping for, since I was targeting carp, it was kind of cool to set a new personal best for catfish.

The catfish were hitting everything I threw at them early on. Butternut flavored ground bait, wild cherry berry, bumble berry, sweet plum, anise, and peach hook baits. I switched out butternut ground bait for pineapple and finally broke the string of catfish. Then I landed a couple on my homemade almond/vanilla/Southern Comfort flavored deer corn as hook bait.

The carp did not look too healthy for some reason. Many of them were scared up more than usual with lots of redness that is not typical for this location near Lake Erie.

Here are a few pictures from today's session:

 

A little worn down looking, which is rare at this venue

Low teens carp

I have learned that a small amount of pressure on the fish when preparing for a picture
 helps them relax and they stop flopping around / risk hurting themselves

Mid teens small mouth buffalo

Ranger net

Low teens common

Detroit River Carping Spots

We investigated 3 more spots on the Detroit River last weekend.

The first spot was a wonderful looking pier accompanied by a half-mile of shoreline access. We decided not to fish that spot on Saturday due to the crazy amount of grass and moss floating in the water. It's a spot that we'll try earlier in spring and later in fall; after the vegetation subsides a little more.

We headed further south and tried Rotary Park for a few hours, but only managed a nice channel catfish.

This spot is full of snags. I managed to lose $25 or more worth of leads, hooks, swivels, etc. and decided to try another spot with fewer snags and hopefully more hungry carp.

The next spot was another pier a couple miles to the south. I really enjoyed fishing there, but the carp were non-existent on Saturday. The locals assured me that carp are caught quite often, but I had no success to the point when the thunderstorms and lightning literally rained on my carp fishing parade.

In the words of Arnold - "I'll be back."

Carp Fishing Supplies

Carp stuff fresh from a UPS delivery

This picture is a couple years old at this point, but it illustrates a point - carp fishing can be done on a budget.

I am holding 3 new NGT alarms that I purchased for $15.99 each. I still have all 3 of them and all 3 still work fine. You dont need to spend $100 or more each for alarms. It's simply unnecessary.

By saving some money on the alarms, I still had money left over to spend it on some high quality hooks. Those in the picture are Nash Fang Twisters.

I have since graduated to Korda Wide Gape hooks, which are a little less expensive and more readily available for me. Every time I try to order the Nash size 4's the vendors are always out of them. Korda hooks are highly respected and I have had good success using them.

I have also switched primary carp vendors for my purchases since this picture was taken. These purchases arrived from Big Carp Tackle, but all of my more recent purchases have been made at Carp Kit. And that will continue going forward. The selection and personal service from Carp Kit are great. I highly recommend them for purchasing you carp fishing supplies.

Detroit River Carp Fishing

I have lived in the Detroit Metropolitan Area for almost 8 years and have been carp fishing for almost 4 years. I have fished big lakes, small lakes, ponds, creeks, small rivers, medium rivers and everything else in between; but until today I hadn't spent much time fishing on the Detroit River that connects Lake Huron and Lake Erie with Lake St. Clair in the mix too.

This week I made plans to fish the Detroit River and head out to a place on the river that provides plenty of parking, plenty of bank space and some current break via an island that separates the spot from the main river channel with the primary ship traffic.

I switched out my normal 2 ounce leads and put on some 3 ounce on two rods and a 4 ounce on the third. Using some plum flavored corn dipped in some pineapple 3D powder I casted out about 7:45 and waited for some action.

I had a bite within 30 minutes, but that fish snagged up on some floating most and grass for a bit. Eventually the fish managed to get off the hook.

I casted all the rods again and waited. It didn't take long to get another screaming run. And with in a few seconds a second rod started screaming the adjacent alarm. Everything went from zero to a Detroit River Double Run in a few seconds flat.

The first fish was landed and then the second; and we knew immediately the second fish was more substantial. Both fish were hooked about 3 feet from the sea wall (a strategy I had to use today because the floating moss and grass was no match for a few ounces of lead) to help offset the massive current we were experiencing.

Here are some pictures of the spot and two fish.

Detroit River carp fishing spot

Detroit River Double Carp Run

19 pounder

15 pounder

The moss and floating bunches of grass turned out to be more than my patience would allow today and we packed it in after about 4 hours of fishing.

I will definitely be back to fish this spot again later in the fall and next spring. It was a nice surprise overall. A few folks mentioned that fish caught from this location tend toward the smallish side, but with the 19 pounder I am feeling this spot may hold a little promise than I gave it credit for. Time will tell once I put in a few more hours of fishing here.

Mixing Politics and Carp Fishing

I'll be glad when the election season is over. It's a necessary evil, but discussing politics is difficult because someone always leaves the conversation disappointed.

I commented on a Facebook thread discussing trickle down economics vs. tax increases a day or so ago. I thought I'd inject some actual facts into the conversation regarding Gross Domestic Product (GDP). My goal was to discuss economics. In no way at all did I plan to get pulled into a discussion of politics, but that is what happened.

Then the conversation turned back toward carp fishing as another response attempted to create an analogy between carp fishing and economic/political theory in response to an observation about current economic policy seemingly having a nice handle on modulating the up's and down's of the economy.

The analogy:

"I'd rather catch 30's on a regular basis, maybe a 40 or even a 50 along with blanking. Than set and catch 5 lbers all day long with no night fishing, and being told what to use as bait."

It's actually a very good analogy, regardless of what your personal political perspective is.

That analogy ties into carp fishing perfectly to illustrate the dilemma many carp fishermen are confronted with regularly: 

The goal to catch lots of carp  on a regular basis vs. the goal to catch a fish that increases your personal best weight.

It's kind of an elitist view compared to the viewpoint of the carp fishing novice toward fishing for trophy sized carp.

• The elitist has probably been fishing for carp for many years.
• The novice has probably been fishing for carp for less than 5 years.

• The elitist is likely to plan family vacations around carp fishing.
• The novice is likely to try to fit some carp fishing into a regular vacation.

• The elitist is willing to spare no expense in the search of big fish. Elitists might drive 3+ hours on Friday night after work, fish all day and night on Saturday and Sunday morning; and then drive back Sunday afternoon to prepare for work on Monday. And they do that week-in and week-out. They are willing to change their lifestyle for fishing, but forgoing family time for fishing time. Anything less than 20 pounds is an extreme disappointment.
• The novice must prioritize 6 or 8 hours on a Saturday and adjust their lifestyle just enough to fit some time in for fishing among the other responsibilities for work, family, church, civic group, children's activities, etc. A 3 hour drive is definitely out of the question (on a weekly basis) and fishing venues are usually within an hour's drive or less. The novice is willing to catch whatever is biting; whether 5 pounds, 15 pounds, or 25 pounds.

• The elitist carp fisherman has all the best equipment and spares no expense to pursue their fishing passion.
• The novice carp fisherman gets started on a budget and buys the minimum equipment to get started and adds to it as experience and budget allows.

True - a novice might one day become an elite carp angler, but a novice is much more likely to remain a novice indefinitely.

The point I am trying to make is that promoting carp fishing to the extent that there are millions of anglers actively and purposely fishing for carp on a weekly or semi-weekly basis requires a whole heck of a lot of novices. You don't go from not fishing for carp to elite carp angler landing 30+ pound fish week in and week out by accident. It takes time.

The carp fishing vendors, contest promoters, and clubs promoting carp fishing would do well to keep this in mind.

As J. Paul Getty once said:

"I'd rather have 1% of the efforts of 100 men, than 100% of my own efforts."

When promoting carp fishing, we can do more in large numbers than we can alone.

Improved Second Time Results at New Venue

I fished a new venue 3 weeks ago for the first time. That day I caught one fish. My results today improved by 100% and I caught 2 fish.

I think I would have had a few more, but after dodging rain and overcast skies all day our luck ran out around 3:30 when the clouds rolled in and the wind picked up. Luckily I had most everything packed up before the bottom fell out of the cloud bank, but it resulted in a wet ride home.

Here are some of the pictures:

2nd fish today

1st fish today

This single digit carp hit the mat first today

This was a nice carp in the 10 pound range

All  fish from this venue seem to be in pristine condition with perfect scales.

In the first trip to this new spot, I fished in 6 feet of water. With the warmer weather this week I switched spots to a point that drops off rather steadily to 12 feet of depth within 50 or 60 feet from the bank. If the rain had held off for a few more hours I think this spot would have demonstrated it's true potential and hopefully proved out my theory that in hot weather carp like to hold up in deeper water.

I am confident there are some big carp in this lake, but in two trips I haven't found them yet.

Solved My Hook Pull Problem

Question:  Why have I been having so many hook pulls?

Answer:  The length of my hair rig was too short.

I have been targeting carp in my fishing efforts for more than 3 years at this point and never in that time have I had so many hook pulls. In fact, I once went more than 6 months without a single hook pull.

During my session on Sunday I figured out a solution to the issue I have been experiencing.

I am very particular about my hooks. I like sharp, micro barbed hooks that are bronze in color and coated in the non-stick PTFE treatment. I change hooks every other session and sometimes in the middle of a session if I sense that my hook has become dull.

I tried sharpening them myself for a while, but tired of that quickly and decided to just buy hooks when they are on sale and change them out regularly. It's so difficult to catch nice sized carp consistently, I made a decision not to let the hook stand in the way of a new personal best catch.

I am also very particular about how I tie up my hair rigs and I often tie hair rigs in groups. I sit down with a goal to tie 5 or 6 at a time, which helps me have more uniformity in the rigs. I have found out this summer that uniformity can be a help or a hindrance. I have a bunch of consistently tied hooks, which is great, but I did not take into consideration that the most recent batch I tied up have a slightly shorter length for the hair.

I have discovered that it doesn't take much to throw a kink into things.

I have always tied my hair lengths at 3/4" and used 3 pieces of corn (1 fake and 2 flavored maize). After closely inspecting my current batch of rigs I discovered that my hair length is shorter than 3/4" and is actually closer to 1/2" or 5/8" on some of them.

That is a problem sometimes if you fish with 3 pieces of corn, as I have concluded after about 15 hooks pulls over a 3 session time period. Using 3 pieces causes the corn to rest too closely to the hook and impacts positive hook holds. If the hook hold is weak then the chances of a hook pull increase significantly; especially in summer when there are more weeds, moss and lily pads in the carp swims. But luckily it's an easy-to-fix problem that can be remedied by fishing with 2 pieces of corn (1 fake and one flavored maize). This adjustment caught 6 carp for me on the shorter hair rigs on Sunday.

With that knowledge I can now fish confidently with 2 pieces or 3 pieces of corn, depending on the length of the hair rigs I am using.

Several Carp and a Catfish: Dog Days of Summer

I headed out for a day session on Sunday and ended up with several nice carp and a channel catfish. The weather was warm, but luckily there was a gentle breeze that provided some relief.

I apologize in advance because some of the fish are properly posed and some pictures are "mat" pictures, but my photographer had to leave early. As you can see in the pictures these fish were in good condition with nice colors and scale patterns.

A few of them are on the smallish side, but I enjoyed every single one. I'm not particular. Some fish are much better than no fish at all.

As I started to pack up, I caught this little guy on a screaming run.

Late day carp 

Another late day carp

Ten pounder

Biggest fish of the day in the late morning weighing 13 pounds

1st fish of the day about 8 a.m.

Channel catfish

I loved the clouds on Sunday and just couldn't resist taking a picture of the swim.

I like to fish this venue at a medium range (40 yards or so), but the fish weren't biting in the 4 feet depths. When I concentrated on long range casts (near 100 yards), I started catching fish and it continued throughout the day. All fish were caught at 75 yards or greater distances.

My 299th Post on Blog About Carp Fishing in Michigan

I noticed today that my blog is nearing 300 posts. Not every single post is related specifically to catch and release carp fishing, but 95% or more of them probably are. And my plan is to keep it that way in the future.

Releasing a mid-teens fish earlier this spring

When I started the blog around the Christmas Holidays in late 2013 and early 2014 I had high hopes. I had visions that my site would become a popular spot for new comers to learn about and ask questions about carp fishing in Michigan. I had plans to include guest interviews, guest posts and that the blog would become a vehicle to improve the social aspects of fishing for carp in Michigan.

I have made more headway toward some of those goals compared to others. I will leave it up to the few regular readers who read my articles to draw their own conclusions about the good, the bad and the ugly in the blog's content. I write about my experiences with carp fishing and include my personal thoughts about it. I share tips that might help others shorten their learning curve and begin to enjoy more catches and reduce dreaded "blanks" and "skunks" aka "days with zero carp caught".

In the beginning my excitement for carp fishing was fueled by a local group of carp anglers who target common and mirror carp exclusively when they fish. Large catfish are greeted with disdain when they are hooked instead of carp; because they are not the fish being targeted (and because they do not fight like a big carp does).

I used to post about specific venues with pictures of my spots with excitement. My goal was to share my enjoyment for catch and release carp fishing with anyone who would listen. Some felt I was too generous with the information being shared and told me so. I received messages on Facebook and read references on other carp fishing sites about "freely" sharing fishing information, so I have dialed it back a little to maintain harmony. But I do still share information with those who ask me for help and I do still post pictures of my fish without blurring the backgrounds or using a photo editing software to completely change the backgrounds (yes, people actually do this). And in the interest of promoting catch and release carp fishing in Michigan; and encouraging others to do the same I will continue to do so in the future.



The morning view from a local venue

I don't fish for money, fame or sponsorships, but if any of the three came my way I would gladly accept it. However, I will not change my outlook about fishing. It's for everyone and not just a select few who "are in the know".

I fish for enjoyment. It's therapeutic in a way because I can get out of the house and enjoy the outdoors away from the internet, Facebook, discussion forms...and this time of year...away from all the negative "he said" / "she said" of the political election process.

I write for enjoyment and to help others learn. Along the way I hope a few people decide to give carp fishing a try because that is the only way negative attitudes about common carp, which have been naturalized in the United States for almost 150 years, will change.

For me carp fishing is a social experience and I plan to keep it that way.

To paraphrase novelist James Lee Burke:

If a person [fishes] for money or success, he will probably have neither. If he [fishes] for the love of his art and the world and humanity, money and success will find him down the line. In the meantime he must work everyday at his craft, either at his [fishing spot] or in his mind and sometimes in his sleep.

Exploring New Carp Fishing Venues

I have some "go to" carp fishing venues locally that produce carp fairly consistently. Over the years some have ebbed and flowed in their production for a variety of reasons ranging from algae blooms to lack of summer rainfall at optimal times, commercial fishing, the effects of bow fishing, over fishing by those who harvest fish to eat, excessive jet skis, power boating, etc.

So a wise carp fisherman must constantly be on the look out for potential new venues. Venues with upper teen to low twenty average size, easy access via public parks, and close to home. There are plenty of venues that have some of those characteristics or even all during certain seasons (fall or spring as examples). But the holy grail for carp fishing are venues that hit all three of those requirements consistently.

At the current time, I don't have a venue like that close to home. I could drive 3 hours west and fish Lake Michigan where some of my carp fishing acquaintances have been landing 30 pound fish throughout much of the spring and summer. Unfortunately, the distance and driving time put that out of reach for a one day session with my current work schedule and family commitments.

I have Lake Erie and the Detroit River nearby, but neither I nor anyone I know personally has been able to land quality fish consistently in the past two years from those locations fishing from a public access area like a pier or park. I suspect there are some high quality fish to be caught from a boat that can seek out the areas where carp are congregating during a particular month, week or day, but one of the reasons I find carp fishing so attractive is the low cost aspect that does not require a boat and the expenses that come with boat ownership.

That leaves me to branch out north, south, east and west in search of new venues.

Today, I headed south and fished a new lake that I've never visited before. I don't know anyone who has fished it for carp, but I made contact with someone who has caught multiple carp from this new-to-me location. So I pulled out of the drive way at 5 a.m. and arrived at 6:45 a.m. 

I was fishing by shortly after 8 a.m. 

Finding a location was a bit of a crap shoot because although I was able to find a map of the venue online, the spots I hoped to fish with the deeper water depths were inaccessible from the shoreline once I arrived and saw them up close. They had drop offs from 10 to 20 feet or more.

I settled for the closest accessible area and set up there. Instead of the 12 foot water depths I hoped for, I fished in 6 feet of water.

To make a long story short; I fished for 8 hours and finally got my first screaming carp run. Yes....8 hours of silence (not even catfish).

Here are some pictures of the lone fish I landed:

The lonely loner I caught today

The scales were in good condition and he had nice coloring

Carp close-up

Carp tail fin shot

I am sure this lake holds carp in greater numbers than were indicated today. A local father and son team fishing for channel catfish provided some insight that I hope to act upon during my next visit.

Some additional online scouting and research will probably pay dividends before my next visit.

Michigan Carp Anglers Group July Social Fish In

Today I traveled to a new water for the first time and fished from 7 a.m. to 6 p.m. I fished a spot with no pre-baiting and no prior knowledge of carp being caught from that particular spot on the lake.

When I arrived the temperature gauge on my vehicle said it was 65 degrees, but today's session turned out to be my hottest day of fishing this year with temperatures hitting 99 degrees.

The view at "the spot"

It took quite a while to get a fish on the bank, but I broke the ice with this nice looking channel catfish

Another view of the channel catfish. I didn't weigh the catfish, but I am sure it exceeded 10 pounds

As a member of a carp fishing club, I target carp exclusively and sometimes manage to catch some other nice fish like channel catfish or small mouth buffalo.

Other days I fish all day and struggle to catch the target fish no matter how long I fish, how much bait I use and what techniques or other rabbits I try to pull out of the hat to put a fish in the net.

Today definitely falls into one of the "other" day category.

My first fish sounded the alarms at about 8:30 a.m. and I managed to bring it to the bank in short order. But I do not have a picture of the fish because before I could bring it into the net, it managed to flip and flop a few times and perform a self-induced "quick release" technique preventing me from posing the fish and making it famous for a few minutes on my Facebook page and carp fishing blog.

Then the frustration really set in. I had a string of 8 consecutive carp runs and 8 consecutive hook pulls. I tried fighting the fish with a tight drag and then I tried a loose drag. I tried new hooks, although my original hooks were quite sharp and very adequate. Nothing worked to put some carp in the landing net.

I was beginning to think the "skunk" was on. And then it happened...another carp hit the end of the line slamming the alarm hard.

I tried the loose drag technique again, but the fish wouldn't give in. After a few minutes the carp managed to find the lily pads to the right of my swim and lodged himself there. He wouldn't budge.

One of my fishing friends, David, came to the rescue. He felt so bad for my carp skunk and run of bad luck that he waded into the water while I kept pressure on the fish. David found the fish in the lily pads and as he stood in chest deep water relieved the lily pad snag and the fish was swimming freely again.

I landed the small carp in the photo below a short while later. I am sure there are some bigger fish to be caught and perhaps the hottest day of the year isn't the best day to fish this venue. Early fall or spring might produce very different results since the battle with weeds and lily pads would be reduced dramatically.

It was smaller than I hoped, but the scale and color patterns were flawless.

Overall it was a hot day, frustrating at times, but rewarding at the end. David saved the day for me. That is one of the advantages of fishing with friends. We can bail each other out from time to time.

Ranger: The Affordable Landing Net for Trophy Carp Fishing

The picture above is of my American Made in the USA Tournament Series Landing Net by Detroit's very own Ranger Products.

I have tried a few other of the budget priced Euro style landing nets in my almost 4 year obsession with carp fishing and they have all fallen by the way side. I am not saying they were bad products at all. But I am saying they are only good to a point.

They are acceptable for landing a few small carp from time to time on waters with level bank areas and without any steep inclines that require a lot of leverage to lift carp up to 30 pounds 4 or 5 feet to the landing mat.

But if you want to purchase 1 landing net that will do the job, do it well, and not bend, break or warp when you need to lift fish up onto the bank, then you want a Ranger net.

The net in the picture above has a 48" extension handle, 30" hoop, and is very heavy duty. It is the flat bottom tournament series model 9855FB that is popular with muskie fishermen.

I purchased it for about $70 at Dick's Sporting Goods. I liked it so much that I bought another one recently. The knotless nets are rubber coated. I haven't had any trouble with the nets snagging carp fins, which is more than I can say for the Euro style nets I have owned.

The only downside to these nets is the heavier weight that makes it a little less convenient to land carp when fishing alone, but it's not a deal breaker by any means. I got the hang of landing carp within this net after catching a few fish.