Fall Carping in Michigan

I have been fishing for carp almost 4 years at this point and fall arrives each year with mixed emotions for me. On one hand it signals winter's pending arrival. On the other hand I got my personal best 26+ pound common a couple of years ago in October, so it can be a good thing too.

I had a vacation day on Friday and decided to head out to a local spot and spend the day fishing for carp and small mouth buffalo.

I arrived to my spot and got set up for fishing only to realize that
I left my alarms and bite indicators at home sitting on my garage
floor. I had to transfer my gear from one vehicle to another and
didn't get everything transferred. I fished old school style for a couple
of hours until my wife brought the alarms and indicators later.
 

There are realistically only 3 weeks or so remaining before I will be out of fishing season for a few months. I don't ice fish at all so we're in the home stretch for 2016. Here are some pictures from Friday's efforts. There were 3 catfish and 6 carp landed ranging from 3 pounds to 24 pounds.

I was fishing alone and had no one to snap pictures of my catches. So I posed the camera and took some test shots using the timer on my cell phone. I prefer someone else to take the pictures so I can get the fish posed properly, but self-pictures work in a pinch. I took several pictures to judge the distance and lighting and settled on this spot. Luckily I had fish to pose later.

 The day started out with 3 channel catfish. Even though I was primarily targeting common carp, I really don't mind catfish too much because it does help pass the time until the carp start feeding.


This was my first carp of the day. I took a little extra time reeling this one in because when I picked up the rod from the cradle I sensed this fish was very high quality. I turns out I was right. The fish weighed a few ounces over 24 pounds. I wish I could have gotten a better close up to show the size, but it's hard to judge the distance using my cell phone.

That fish was caught on plum/berry flavored corn with a butternut flavored pack bait.


This was the second fish of the day caught a short while later.

Third carp (6th fish of the day)



The 4th carp was uniquely shaped. I think this fish has the potential to be a lot bigger some day soon.
Although shorter and stocky, this was a very dense fish. I hope I get a chance to catch this fish again when it finally "grows into" that long and slender tail section.

I took this picture during one of the releases

Pardon my pose. The camera fell a little low on the tripod and I was trying to ensure I got the fish in the shot. Taking self-photos can be tricky at times when you're catching fish every 5 or 10 minutes in succession.

Little guy that actually jumped out of the net twice before I got him corralled for the final time.
I wish I had it on video because it was very funny to see.

Here's a picture of the 24 pounder being released back into the lake. Hopefully he'll be back to be caught another day (or by someone else who appreciates carp fishing like I do).

I took a short video to go along with the release picture above. It's not great, but this is on the side of a 3 foot bank that drops down into the water with one hand on the carry sling and one hand holding the camera and me trying not to fall or slip into the water.

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.

Trying Another New Carp Fishing Spot

When it comes to carp fishing I am lucky to live in Michigan, a state with hundreds if not thousands of public lakes, rivers, creeks and ponds that have a strong population of common carp. Friday and Saturday I decided to try out  a new spot and expand my carp fishing horizons a little more.

I waited all week with anticipation of fishing on Friday afternoon. It rained almost daily last week so fishing on Friday required a willingness to get a little wet. But with some preparation rain can be your friend. The spot we fished normally has tons of boat traffic and tons of other fishermen to contend with. With the chances of rain at 100% and some of it quite heavy, we had the venue to ourselves.

We weren't able to pull any fish from the spot on Friday, but it was nice to check it out and get a feeling for it in preparations of returning on Saturday morning.

As you can see from this picture, fall has arrived and the leaves are beginning to turn. In years past that has improved chances to catch some very high quality carp in October. Hopefully that trend will also hold in 2016.

I had to improvise a spot to mount the alarms, but using a couple of Zip Ties did the trick.

We arrived at 7 a.m. and were set up and fishing by 8 a.m. I had a fish on by 8:30 a.m., but suffered a hook pull. It was a welcome hook pull this time because it meant there were carp in the swim.

A short while later I caught my first carp for the day during a period of cloud cover.

When the weather turned toward sunshine and the wind died down the carp activity increased significantly. In a period of 2 hours there were 7 or 8 carp caught in succession between my fishing partner and I.

Those last two pictures are the same fish posed slightly differently in an attempt to best show the quality of this highly typical Lake Erie carp.

We fished until 3:15 p.m. and the bite slowed significantly, but time was spent educating many, many visitors and site seekers about the tackle, rigs, hooks and baits we used to catch carp. I was very happy about the level of interest from the public and see it as an encouraging sign for the future. The more interest developed for carp fishing, the better it is for carp fishermen.

Carp Fishing Video

This video shows what carp fishing is all about.

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.