My Favorite Carp Juice Flavoring

I learned to fish for carp by packing oatmeal or panko bread crumbs around an inline 2 or 3 oz. lead. 

I mix in some cream corn that is flavored with a concentrated flavoring to help attract the attention of the fish. 

Last year I used pineapple exclusively. This year I am using butternut exclusively. The year is still young, but the butternut is edging in front of pineapple as my favorite flavoring.

We used to have a local fishing store in Flat Rock that carried R & W Carp Juice, but since it closed last year I've been getting my flavoring from ShopBettys.com. They have a wide selection of flavorings for carp fishing and shipping is fast and easy.



Saginaw River C.A.G. Midwest Regional

Preparing for a Sunday session tomorrow near Lake Erie I pulled out my digital camera and video recorder today for charging. I the process I discovered some pictures on the digital camera that my wife took that I had forgotten about. I have attached a few of them below.

Bigelow Park near downtown Bay City, MI

A view from the gazebo at the rowing club

 

My rod pod at the water's edge

 

Baiting up the hair rig

We  needed the rain gear for most of the morning, but it did clear off later in the day



I hooked my first common carp a little before 9 a.m.

My first fish of the day and the 2nd fish our team caught in the tournament

Carp Fishing at Saginaw River



Last weekend we competed in the Carp Anglers Group Midwest Regional event on the Saginaw River. Michigan can not seem to jump into spring, so conditions at the event were tough to say the least. With wind gusts nearing 40 mph in the afternoons, sporadic rain and rough water, it was a challenging event. The fishing zone assignments were given at 6 a.m. daily and first cast at 7 a.m. so there was plenty of fishing.

We arrived in Bay City on Friday evening and stayed at the Doubletree Hotel. The route to the morning meeting was a short 6 or 7 miles from the hotel max.

On the first day, the Michigan Team drew Bigelow Park. The park is an island in the Saginaw River with plenty of bank space. We had part of the team near the rowing club and distributed at various locations nearer the "point".

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My bank mate for the day, landed a fish nearby and I was helping him with the landing net. As we moved from water's edge to the upper bank and headed toward the weighing station, I got a run on my left rod.  Depositing his net and fish in the grass I almost decapitated myself with his rod as I sprinted to my rod pod.  Luckily I made it to the rod in one piece and had an early success.  Here's a picture taken after the catch at 7:45 a.m.

Saginaw River, Bigelow Park

This event was a "Biggest 10 Fish" format, so my fish was caught early enough in the day to actually make it on the leaderboard for a few hours. At 13 1/2 pounds, it was a fat fish that weighed in a little less than I anticipated based on the thickness.  I caught him using a World Classic Bait pink pop-up dumbbell. These dumbbells have been my "go to" bait this spring.

It's hard to make out in the background, but Saturday morning arrived with a lot of rain showers that were very heavy at times. Luckily the rowing club had quite a bit of available shelter. The guys were very friendly and didn't mind us using the area to stay dry. They even gave some of the team a quick tour of the facility. I missed the tour unfortunately, but it was full of sculls. One bit of trivia I do recall is the $250 price tag for an oar.

Yikes.

We fished until 6 p.m. and then headed to Krzysiak's for dinner. The buffet had an extensive variety of choices including about 6 kinds of fish, salad and dessert bar. It was all you-can-eat and I think I ate my entire $19.95 on in my first plate full. The lemon crème pie was a very good choice for dessert.

After dinner we headed back to the Doubletree and I feel asleep in the chair, happy to "chill out" for a while. We were in bed by 10 p.m. and up again at 4:30 a.m. for another day of fishing.

Our zone for day 2 was near the boat docks on M-13 south of the airport.

Here's a wonderful picture of our spot on the bank following an early morning rain.

Our view for day 2 of the Saginaw event

I had my first run at 7:20 a.m. or so, but after a couple of minutes, the fish escaped to parts unknown. By all indications, it was a good sized fish. It was peeling off line to beat the band. It was katy-bar-the-door-type stuff. I have a bad habit of keeping my drag a little on the loose side -  ever afraid of pulling hooks. In this case I wish I'd kept the drag a little bit tighter.

The water remained calm early on, but by mid-morning the winds picked up and so did the white caps. Fortunately the sun also made an appearance occasionally and the reeds helped to make a bit of a windbreak.

We fished for 7 more hours without so much as a mini-run.

But as is usually the case persistence paid off and we started getting multiple runs shortly before 3 p.m.

Day 2, first fish

Close-up of the first fish

This fish was caught on World Classic Bait's pineapple flavored maize and a piece of orange "fake" maize.

 

I didn't get a picture of my second fish on Sunday. It took longer than expected to remove the hook and after getting a weight I returned the fish to the water quickly. It turned out to be my biggest fish I landed that day at 12 pounds.

 



Day 2, third fish

Within a matter of 3 or 4 minutes, we landed a third fish also on the pineapple flavored maize and "fake" maize.

 

Northern Pike

Nearing 4 p.m. and the end of the event I hooked my last carp. It managed to snag on a nearby good sized branch in the water I'd been trying to dodge all day, but on the retrieve this Northern Pike attacked my hair rig and hooked itself cleanly through the snout. It was a nice fish and the first pike I've caught. Although it was an accidental catch, I'll count it just the same. For anyone reading this story who attributes it to just another fish tale, I had witnesses who can vouch for it occurring exactly as described.

I can't wait to get back out on the bank.

Saginaw Carp Fishing This Weekend

This is a big week for my carp fishing hobby. On Friday we leave for a weekend trip to Saginaw, Michigan for the Midwest Regional carp fishing tournament on Saturday and Sunday. But perhaps best of all for me...is a chance to break my personal best! I have never fished the Saginaw River, but I have it on good authority that there are some B-I-G carp in there. And, I've seen the pictures to prove it.

So this week is all about preparing hooks, rigs, leads, method supplies, etc. for the trip. In a typical day, I use 3 lbs. of panko for my ground bait, but I am prepared to use 9 lbs. a day this weekend. I picked up an 18 lb. case from Gordon Food Service today.

I don't usually lose a lot of tackle here locally anymore, but I have pre-tied 18 hair rigs for this weekend in various hook sizes from 4 to 7 in several lengths.

I picked up a new collapsible wagon to transport gear from the vehicle to the fishing spot. It's got a 150 lb. payload and should work well for me.

My list for this week also includes picking up a case of cream corn and a 2 gallon plastic bucket with lid for mixing my ground bait.

Hines Park Drive - Wayne County Michigan

Although I am relatively new to the pursuit, I enjoy fishing for carp. I also enjoy searching for new spots to fish for carp.

Today I headed out to Newburgh Lake on Hines Park Drive near Livonia, MI.

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We arrived at 8:15 a.m. and picked our spot at Sumac Point. The sun was rising and everything was looking up. But it didn't last long. Before long a couple of white ducks decided to enter the water near where we'd set up. It was kind of cute actually. They wouldn't go into the water more than a few feet, but deep enough to take a quick bath.

Then a few more white ducks appeared and headed toward the water. Before long it was a full on white duck party. There was frolic, havoc, and every other kind of duck-party-time right in front of my rod pod. It didn't take long for several of the ducks to wrap themselves in my braided fishing line. I was able to untangle things very quickly, but I had to recast all three rods.

Our spot at Newburgh Lake

My fishing partner thought it was pretty cold Sunday morning

Then the Canadian geese decided to join the party. They were dive bombing the water right in front the rod pod and managed to tangle themselves as well. Again, I had to untangle them and recast.

After this happened a third time, I had had more than enough. We left Newburgh Lake and headed to Nankin Lake a short distance away.

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Water levels on Nankin Lake are very low currently. Overall it's a smaller lake than Newburgh and not as deep. There are points on Nankin that I could have walked across with ease. I found some deeper water toward the spillway and cast all 3 rods.

It didn't take long for the first activity. Within 10 minutes the middle line alarm went off. I headed toward the rod pod to pick up the rod and fight my first Nankin Lake carp. But just as quickly, the alarm went silent - no fish.

I don't know for sure whether it was a carp, a catfish or something else, but it was definitely something. A fish thing.

Our set-up at Nankin Lake

We stayed at Nankin for another 3 hours. The sun hid behind the clouds for most of the time and wind blew at what seemed like supersonic speeds (well maybe not that fast) - enough to freeze my buns off. We decided to throw in the towel and call it a day.

North Hydro Park

I fished Hydro Park in Ypsilanti today for a few hours. Since inland season for walleye also opened today, that turned out to be a bad idea. There was way too much boat traffic for my tastes. Two boats actually snagged my lines. Several other boats had absolutely no concern for barreling up the river right over my lines. I am amazed that one boater in particular didn't snag me and pull all 3 of my rods in the river right along with the rod pod.

If you are a boater, please try to be aware of bank fisherman. We all need to share the water. A boat fisherman and a shore fisherman have an equal right to fish in my opinion.

After dodging the boaters for 3 hours I had to pack it in and live to fish for another day. Tomorrow I'm heading out the Nankin and/or Newburgh Lake. I think boaters will be few and far between in those locations (I hope).

Milan, Michigan - Nature Park and Wilson Park

All week long I planned to fish for carp in Milan. The Saline River forms Ford Lake near downtown Milan and it looks like a nice carp habitat above the dam. The downside though is that there is precious little bank space for fishing. The best place to fish I could find was nearly on the sidewalk. Besides that the best spots are in the VFW front yard, but I am sure that it out of bounds unless maybe you are a member. (and that may be stretching it).

Below the dam (in front of the police station) there is Wilson Park. I did not get out and walk around, but it does appear there is some open bank space for fishing. I didn't give it a try today, but I might make a trip back to Milan sometime in the upcoming weeks.

Tomorrow I've decided to try Nankin Lake or Newburgh Lake in the Rouge River chain of lakes. Wish me luck.

Milan Nature Park

I like to visit new areas and new places to fish. I'm putting Milan Nature Park on my list of future venues. I haven't been to this park, but based on the map there appears to be plenty of shoreline.

I have fished the Saline River in Saline, so I know there are carp here. I'm definitely going to be finding out. I'll let you know how it turns out.

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The Saline River has a reputation for having a higher than typical concentration of mirror carp. Since the lake in Milan was formed from constructing a dam on the river, there is a pretty good chance that Ford Lake in Milan Nature Park has it's share of mirror carp as well.

If things progress according to plan, I may find out this weekend.

Interesting fact about Milan and the lake:

Part of its present City Hall is the former Ford Power Plant used for the Village industries. Henry Ford built the power plant in 1937 when he dredged Ford Lake. He also used a former lumber yard garage as a factory to make engine ignition coils. Ford intended his factory to depend upon hydraulic power, which is why he built a very fine dam to power his plant. However, the water power was inadequate, and his "Ford Industries" actually ran on steam engines depending on coal.

Fly Fishing

 

I'm not a fly fisherman, but after watching videos like this one I am getting more and more interested.

Big Northeastern Carp

 

 

It's not Michigan, but the carp are big. I have in-law's relatives in this area. I need to take a fishing vacation to this area sometime.

Carp on the Fly Blog

There are hundreds of thousands of blogs on the internet. Some of them are better than others. Many of their authors started with the best of intentions, but later lost interest in writing articles on a regular basis. Some contain a lot of pictures and others are exclusively text on a white background. Some are personal blogs about one family, a profession, or a hobby. Others are a simply diary of whatever happened that day.

Blogs about fishing are a smaller subset and again, some are better (or worse) than others. One of my favorites that falls into the better - and some might argue best - category is Carp on the Fly.

As the name suggests, it's a blog about fly fishing for carp. Until I started fishing for carp, I never dreamed that someone would target carp exclusively with a fly rod, but after spending time reading Carp on the Fly I fully understand the allure.

The blog dates back to 2006 and is loaded with fly fishing tips and tons and tons of carp pictures. The photography has improved dramatically in more recent years.

Readers that visit the blog with hopes that the author might divulge actual locations for pursuing the fish - don't say I didn't warn you. The actual locations are a closely guarded secret. (The author lives in Oregon, so the Columbia River is obvious. It's a long river, so put on your walking shoes, boots...and waders.)

I'd like to try fly fishing for carp on the Huron River some day, but I've had surgery on both knees and walking the river presents a problem. For now, I'll just live vicariously by reading Carp on the Fly.

Carp Fishing Video Footage

I found this video on You Tube. I hope you enjoy it.

Loon Feather Point Park - Ford Lake - Ypsilanti, MI

I have been having some fun exploring new ideas for local places near by home for carp fishing. I plan to try my luck at Loon Feather Point Park in the future.

 

 

The internet can help with the research. It's a valuable tool, but there comes a time when you need to physically drive to the location and see it up close.

 

From the Google Map, Loon Feather Point Park looks very, very promising. It looks like there is lake access off of the main channel, but after driving out to the park for a look the location presents several challenges. The path to the water is pretty steep. It's wooded and from the shoreline there is a distinct possibility of falling into the water while landing a big carp. There are a couple of areas to cast a line from, but it's not really feasible.

 

The park has a hexagon shaped pier that sits on concrete pilings. It has an aluminum floor and metal railings, but it's pretty small. It would be challenging for more than 3 carp fishermen to operate from the pier simultaneously, so an early arrival to the venue would be necessary to guarantee a fishing spot.

 

In summary, what looked like a promising possibility from Google Maps turned out to be less than expected up close and in person. But under the right conditions, I'd give it a shot and through in a few lines.

Sunday Carp Fishing

The weather was perfect for carp fishing on Easter Sunday. There was a very light breeze, bright sunshine and I had 5 or 6 hours for fishing.

I decided to try a new spot today, so we headed out to North Hydro Park, which is located below the Ford Lake dam in Ypsilanti.



Hair rig with a boilie tipped with a piece of fake corn

Hair rig with 2 pieces of maize and a piece of fake corn

Hair rig with a pink pop-up dumbbell boilie

Hair rig with a pink pop-up boilie dumbbell tipped with a piece of fake corn

8.5 pounds

6 pounds

14 pounds

It was a fantastic day to be outside with temps nearing 70 degrees. This is a spot that I plan to return to again soon. It's got plenty of shoreline, plenty of shade, restrooms nearby, plenty of parking and it's only 4 miles form my house.

Here's a picture of my rod pod.

Good Friday Carp Fishing

The forecast for a 60% chance of rain didn’t deter me. I had Good Friday off from work and I took advantage of the opportunity and spent the day fishing for carp at Sterling State Park near Monroe, MI.

When I arrived, the wind was non-existent and the sunrise was beautiful. The water in the lagoon was smooth as glass. Those are my favorite conditions for landing some good sized carp.

Instead of maize, my go-to-carp-bait, I committed to using a pink pop-up dumbbell exclusively until I either caught a fish on one (or got bored trying). I have always wanted to fish with pop-up boilies, but my confidence in them is low. I saw an article in an online carp fishing magazine a few weeks ago touting the effectiveness of the color pink in attracting carp and decided to give it a try . I am so glad I did.

I use pack bait made from cream corn and panko with a hair rig on a #6 hook. I had no activity on the rods for 90 minutes, but patience paid off with a short run. Carp on!

A few minutes later I landed a 17 pound common carp as a reward making it my biggest fish in 2014.

Sterling State Park near Monroe, MI

Later in the day I landed another small common carp in the 5 - 6 pound range and a 2 pound bullhead catfish.

If the nice weather holds out, I might fish for a while tomorrow too. If I catch, I'll post some more pictures.

I think this picture turned out nicely so I wanted to share it.