Big Carp Plans

I had big plans today. Then the weather forecasters had to go and mess it up. :-)

I was planning to fish a new (to me) body of water. But with the supposed rain, we stuck closer to home and fished a friendly venue where the vehicles can remain nearby.  I caught 11 carp and a decent looking catfish.

Once I dialed in on the proper casting distance, the fish "were on" (like Donkey Kong). The ground bait included prepared field corn, bird seed, cream corn, panko, peanut suet, and butternut flavoring. The hook baits included a piece of Enterprise buoyant fake corn soaked in Trilogy's bumbleberry flavor and two pieces of creamy butternut tournament corn from Trilogy. The catfish and one of the carp were caught on a pop up from World Classic Baits tipped with a piece of fake corn.

Lake Michigan Carp Fishing Video

I think these gentlemen are from Wisconsin. They have a nice fishing channel on YouTube and have some cool videos catching carp in Lake Michigan.

I'll also admit that I am extremely jealous that they have a fishing site that is so accessible. If that is a warm water discharge, I'm even more jealous because nearer Lake Erie I've not found a site like that after several years of searching.

Carp Fishing Friends

If you are interested in learning more about carp fishing, trying to catch some carp yourself, or are just interested in seeing it done and learning some techniques to try on your own, the Michigan Carp Anglers Facebook Group is available to help you.

A few of the fish caught at the recent Michigan Carp Anglers Fish In at Ford Lake

A member of Michigan Carp Anglers is available to help you learn to target and catch these exciting, powerful, sporting fish almost every weekend from April to late October. Post a comment below expressing your interest or visit the Facebook group to make contact with us.

If you have pictures of Michigan carp you've recently caught and would like to see them featured here, send me a note. I'm always looking for carp fishing pictures and stories.

Duck Video

Some ducks stopped by to visit on Friday while we waited for the next run. Ducks want to eat carp bait too I guess.

There was something peaceful about watching them.

First Time Carp Fisherman

My niece and her boyfriend have been visiting this week from Missouri. While the girls went shopping, the guys went fishing.

Zack is used to bass fishing, but did enjoy landing 3 carp in about 4 hours today.

Urban River Fishing

I got to fish one of my favorite spots from last year this morning. It's a very convenient spot as well. Unfortunately, it has stopped producing fish like it used to.

I landed a couple of fish early on with the largest being 17 pounds.

With 6 rods in the water, we could not buy a bite after 9 a.m. It made for a long day, but the weather was definitely one of the best days of the entire summer.

Increasing Your Carp Fishing Success Rate

Today I had an experience I would like to share. My goal is to help someone else who might experience the same issue in the past, present or in the future.

I prebaited a spot to fish on Saturday morning. Immediately upon casting I started getting runs.

The first run was a nice fish that ended up getting off after a fight and jumping out of the water. I landed the second fish, but then 4 more runs and all those fish got off after a short (or no) fight.

At that point, I decided to change strategy. These river fish today love to run downstream when hooked. They take a lot of line out fast.

Sometimes you can't get too rough with them or you start getting hook pulls. That was happening today, but I decided to just use my palm placed on the reel spool to slow down the fish instead of throwing the brakes on using the reel drag. This worked beautifully and I landed the next 10 fish.

I've been carp fishing seriously for 6 years and 85% of the time a stiffer drag will work to slow down fish. However, when what you're doing isn't working, you have to change. The alternative is a 6 carp day compared to a 14 carp day. I like 14 much better than 6.

Hot Weather; Hot Carp Bite

With a forecast high temperature of 88 degrees and 20% chance of rain I got out early, got lines in and guided 14 carp to the landing mat by 1 p.m.

At one point I was trying to eat a sandwich and everytime I tried to take a bite I got a carp run. Four carp later, I finished my lunch. :-)

I love days like today.

The carp from this venue are not big, but they are fiesty river runners that love to fight you every step of the way to the net.

I was fishing right in the middle of snags to the left, right and near side. I lost a couple early on, but dialed in the correct strategy by carp number four and had no further issues.

Creative Carp Photo Sharing

I started using Instagram's Layout app last year to organize my carp photos for online sharing. If you haven't tried it yet, here's some information from Google describing what's possible.

Layout from Instagram: Collage - Apps on Google Play

Here's how I used it recently for some carp I caught in Ann Arbor earlier in the summer.

July Carping

The hot weather adds an element of difficulty to mid-summer carp fishing. Heat, hot water and scorching sun do not always make it easy to catch carp.

But don't give up.

You never know when it will cloud up just prior to an unexpected rain shower. These are perfect times to catch few nice carp. You can also target deeper water or spots that offer shade in your favorite fishing spots. The shade provides some relief to fish in the summertime.

I caught this carp 3 years ago today
 during a period of cloud cover.

Small River; Hard Fighting Carp

I landed 6 hard fighting river fish today. The moss was deceiving and fish were escaping my grasp as the moss covered the hook at times preventing a good hook hold.

The fish from this venue are some of my favorites for colors and scale patterns. There are a lot of muddlers in this spot. I've never caught a mirror here, but the lake above the dam has a good supply of mirror carp.

The biggest fish today

A nice fish to break a lull around lunch time

I threw in that "euro pose" as an inside joke. My wife laughs when she see's those photos on Instagram. I have always preferred to look directly at the camera.

Beautiful White Koi

I love koi. At some future date I am going to build a koi pond at my house. They are so majestic and watching them glide through the water is very relaxing.

Detroit River carp

I caught a nice carp this morning in the Detroit River near Trenton.

I love shore fishing, but sometimes finding fishable shoreline access is easier said than done if trying to target a specific area of the river.

18 pounds

I'm searching for a good spot to catch sturgeon  from shore once the season opens up later this month.

Toledo Zoo Sturgeon

I enjoyed the sturgeon in the aquarium exhibit.

Pre-Holiday Carp

We spent the holiday in Toledo going to the zoo and watching fireworks,  but on Wednesday prior to the Mud Hens game, I caught some river carp.

2nd carp in the mid-teens

1st carp for the day 

These carp are typical size for the Detroit River at venues we fish.