Fishing Rods

When I started fishing for carp earlier this year I didn't have an appropriate rod for the task. I had an inexpensive light action rod similar to one used for blue gill and crappie fishing. Then I loaded it up with a 2 1/2 ounce weight and topped it off with another 1/2 or 3/4 ounces of method mix. Next I headed out to Belleville Lake and fished with it for a few hours. I casted it out as far as I could - 40 to 50 yards each time. I didn't know any better.

It's really a wonder I didn't hurt myself, my wife who was with me, or any of the other anglers in the nearby vicinity. Hopefully by posting this I can save you the potential risk involved in making these same mistakes based on a lack of knowledge and information.

Here's an article about test curve for fishing rods that I wish I'd seen before I started fishing for carp. The article explains a lot of the considerations and even touches on the affordability factor.

I have a medium heavy action rod that I purchased for $29.99 from Cabela's that actually works quite well if that's all you have available. I have a couple of real carp rods too that were donated to me to use while learning. I didn't know it when I purchased the King Kat rod at Cabela's, but I could have spent roughly the same at BankFishingSystems.com on a rod purpose built for heavier fish like this Black Phantom.

You can spend hundreds of dollars on fishing rods for carp fishing, but you can catch carp with affordable rods too. I decided to get my feet wet at an affordable price and then purchase better equipment later once my familiarity increases. Some would argue that I should have spent a little more up front to prevent a later expense, but I wanted make sure it was something I'd actually enjoy before sinking big bucks into the carp fishing hobby.

But if you can't already tell...now I'm hooked on fishing for carp!

Here's a picture of the first carp I caught on the King Kat:



First Carp caught in July 2013 at Ford Lake in Ypsilanti, MI

Here's a video from Shimano that addresses test curves to provide some more information for consideration when you are shopping for your first real carp rod.

Carp Fishing Goals for 2014

As I reflect back on my carp fishing progress in 2013 I am satisfied. I went from never having fished for carp; to catching a carp here and there for a couple of months; to catching multiple fish during several of my last few sessions.

I learned a lot in the last 6 months of 2013, but as I look forward to 2014 I find myself with a few goals in mind. Here are some of them:

• I would like to help someone else who has never fished for carp get started. Someone helped me, and now I would like to pay it forward.
• I hope to catch 50 or more carp in 2014 (o.k. you caught me, I'd really like to shoot for 100+).
• I hope to catch multiple fish weighing more than 20 pounds, which would give me a new personal best.
• Dare I saw it out loud, but I would also like to catch a fish tipping the scales at more than 30 pounds.
• I would like to fish at least 4 times per month starting in March and ending in November. That's 36 chances at a 30+ pound fish.
• I hope to develop the blog to the point that people enjoy reading what I write, looking at the pictures I post and just hanging out reading about carp fishing.
• I hope to raise awareness and some money for the Lupus Foundation.

I am guessing that those goals might be adjusted a few times before my first day of fishing in 2014, but you know what they say, "Unless a goal is written down it's just a dream."

So there you have it...I've written them down. Now I have a framework for building some monthly, weekly and even daily goals to progress to the point of achieving them.

Braided Fishing Line or Monofilament

For as long as I can remember, I have used Stren brand fishing line when fishing for bluegill, crappie, and bass. So when I decided to try carp fishing last summer I purchased the heaviest Stren fishing line I could find locally, which happened to be a 300 yard roll of 14 pound test monofilament at K-Mart.



Photo credit: Amazon.com

That worked fine for my first few trips to local carp fishing spots at Ford Lake, Belleville Lake and the Huron River near Ann Arbor. But as my familiarity with carp fishing increased and I actually started getting bites, runs and landing a few carp in the 10 - 12 pound range I decided a change was in order.

For every carp I landed, I probably had at least 2 or 3 break offs. I had a very good trip to Ann Arbor where I was catching carp left and right, but my day would have been so much better if I had landed the ones which broke off before I got them to the bank.

I suspected my knots were the weak point at first, but after concentrating on tying the Palomar knot with purpose I realized that I wasn't losing fish to weak knots. I was losing them to abrasions and snags. Fish are actually pretty smart once they are hooked. They head to the nearest available cover in an attempt to "get away" and that usually takes them over some rough patches hidden to the eye. Submerged tree branches, tree stumps, rocks, boulders, concrete, etc. are likely candidates depending on the body of water. Many of those submerged obstacles are covered with zebra mussels, which will slice through monofilament fishing line like butter.

A fishing buddy suggested that I try spooling my reels with Power Pro braided fishing line to remedy the problem. I headed to Dick's Sporting Goods and purchased 300 yards of 50 pound line.



Photo credit: Amazon.com

It's available in the "slick" or the standard.

Photo credit: Amazon.com

I loaded two my reels with braided line and left one with the monofilament as a test comparison. Since that time I have had a lot fewer break offs and lost fish. I can't say it's entirely a result of the braided line though because I have caught an equal amount of fish on the inexpensive monofilament.

It could be that now I have a little more experience fighting the carp, my skills have improved, and I'm not "man handling" the fish as much causing stress on the line and contributing to the breaks myself.

At any rate, the braided line hasn't hurt anything either. In fact, over the winter I am going to spool my reels with some fresh Power Pro. I found it on sale yesterday for a buy one, get one 50% off at Dick's. They only had two packets of the green 50 pound left on the shelf or I would have picked up a few more packs. I'll stick to the standard stuff for now.

And I'll offer this disclaimer for anyone who reads this and feels that I am endorsing one brand over another...My personal best common carp (17.0 pounds) was actually caught on monofilament. It's the fish in the header photo at the top of this blog page.

Here's a picture of another nice fish I caught at the Detroit River in October; also on monofilament.

Detroit River common carp

Fly Fishing for Carp

Carp Anglers Group

When I started researching "how to fish for carp" on Google, it didn't take long to find the CAG website. CAG stands for Carp Anglers Group. It's a membership organization that promotes carp fishing and information. There is a forum for beginners and also a members section.


I started posting on the beginner forum and within a few hours I had established several local contacts in the Detroit area to help answer my questions about equipment, bait, tackle, rigs, etc. There is also a section on the forum specific to Michigan carp fishing information with sources of information about local fishing spots, social gathering aka "fish ins", etc.

I have met many local carp fisherman via the CAG website and have fished with the group having learned lots and lots just by observing. I have found everyone to be very friendly and willing to help. I'd recommend the site to anyone who is interested in carp fishing.

Here's a link to the Michigan section of the CAG forum:
Michigan Meet Greet & Questions, Fish-ins, and Social Events

Here's a link to the Facebook page:
CAG on Facebook

Big Lake - Oakland County Michigan

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Big Lake is approximately 215 acres, 14 feet at it's deepest point and is located in Oakland County Michigan. According to reports available via AdvantageOakland.com the lake has a fishable population of carp present in the lake.

Whether or not there is significant boat traffic on this lake is unknown to me. A couple of websites I found stated there is no public boating access, but other sites state that the boat ramp is "pay-for-access". I could find nothing via the Michigan DNR to confirm it one way or another. If anyone knows for sure, please post a comment below. I find jet ski traffic frustrating when I'm fishing. I've had some past experiences with jet skis running over my lines requiring a re-cast or severing my lines completely.

I haven't yet talked to anyone who fishes this lake regularly for carp, but when the weather begins to turn I plan to put it on my places of future carp fishing spots.



Places to Catch Carp

According to the Michigan Department of Natural Resources website the following lakes in Oakland County Michigan are lakes known to have high concentrations of common carp.

•             Big Lake

•             Big Seven Lake

•             Cass Lake

•             Cedar Island Lake

•             Crystal Lake

•             Heron Lake

•             Kent Lake

•             Lake Oakland

•             Lake Orion

•             Middle Straits Lake

•             Pontiac Lake

•             Proud Lake (upper & lower)

•             Stony Creek Lake

•             Upper Silver Lake

•             Valley Lake

•             White Lake

•             Wildwood Lake

•             Wolverine Lake

I've never fished any of those lakes to this point, but I plan to them on my "to fish" list for 2014. It makes sense that if you want to catch carp regularly, then fishing areas known to have high concentrations of carp should increase the odds.

Here's a video I found from carp being caught at Kent Lake:

 

The Ohio DNR also has some information available to help improve carp fishing skills for the beginner (like me). This information sheds light on some key traits and characteristics of carp behavior throughout the year.

Fishing for Carp

I started fishing for carp in July of 2013. I had never tried it before, seen it done before, or even thought about it before seeing some YouTube videos about it earlier in the spring.

After watching a few of the videos, I got excited about giving it a try. If you haven't fished for carp before or are just beginning to learn about the possibilities, maybe these videos will help you gain confidence and encourage you to move forward with a carp fishing plan.

Here are three videos from catfishmania, Bill Wazelle and fitzz1971.



I had fished for bass, bluegill, perch and catfish before, but I had never seen fish of the average sized carp landed from the shoreline. So I headed out to Ford Lake on a Sunday morning in July to give it a try for the first time.

I had a very vague idea about how to carp fish using a hair rig. I learned how to tie a hair rig by watching other YouTube videos.

As luck would have it, Bill Wazelle was at the lake that morning and gave me several pointers that helped a lot. I didn't catch anything the first time out on my own rig, but Bill let me reel one of his in to get a feel for it. It happened to be a 16 pound mirror! From then on, I've been hooked on carp fishing.