Nothing to Carp About

Several times over the Memorial Day weekend, I have hauled in some nice-sized carp: two here in the DeWitt area and one over in the Macatawa Channel at Holland State Park on  Lake Michigan. 

 

I saw several carp jumping at the Macatawa Channel, but I had been mostly catching white perch and I was surprised when my pole doubled over.  The carp, which is pictured below, probably weighed about 10 pounds, and I caught it on dropper rig with a base three-ounce sinker.  I did not have my net with me, and as I was fishing from the pier, and it would have been difficult to land the fish, given its size, so I released it in the water.  I was the only person on the pier that caught a carp while I was there, although other people were catching catfish and sheepshead.

 

 

 

 

Meanwhile, back in DeWitt, I was catching carp locally on gulp worms.  These carp put up a really good fight!  I'm still a pike fisherman and a bass fisherman first and foremost, but I really enjoyed the battles I had with these carp!

 



Whopper in the Pond!



May has been more successful than usual for me in the Lansing area when it comes to fishing for bass.  Many of the bass were big, they were on their beds and they put up good fights.

 

 



 

 

Most of my fishing in May was done at the Meridian Township park over behind the Meridian Mall.  Generally, I found that the fishing was better from the shore than from the fishing dock.  I have been catching the majority of my bass on wacky-rigged senkos in natural colors.

 

 

Some of the bass in the pond are real brutes!  I am a little concerned that the pond is getting a lot of pressure, maybe because I talk about it too much on this blog, and that the fishing experience is being diminished, however.  I'll be looking for new fishing locations around mid-Michigan in the summer!