Brian Pearcy
-
Posts
151 -
Joined
-
Last visited
Content Type
Profiles
Articles
VIDEO'S & other MEDIA
Forums
Store
Downloads
Events
Gallery
Posts posted by Brian Pearcy
-
-
-
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 some 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:
-
It's a tough spot, but I am going to fish it a lot more.
-
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.
-
Hmmm...My experience has been different I guess.
-
In the first trip to this new spot, I fished in 6 feet of water. With the warmer weather this week I switched spots to a point that drops off rather steadily to 12 feet of depth within 50 or 60 feet from the bank. If the rain had held off for a few more hours I think this spot would have demonstrated it's true potential and hopefully proved out my theory that in hot weather carp like to hold up in deeper water.
I am confident there are some big carp in this lake, but in two trips I haven't found them yet. -
I fished a new venue 3 weeks ago for the first time. That day I caught one fish. My results today improved by 100% and I caught 2 fish.
I think I would have had a few more, but after dodging rain and overcast skies all day our luck ran out around 3:30 when the clouds rolled in and the wind picked up. Luckily I had most everything packed up before the bottom fell out of the cloud bank, but it resulted in a wet ride home.
Here are some of the pictures:
2nd fish today 
1st fish today 
This single digit carp hit the mat first today 
This was a nice carp in the 10 pound range All fish from this venue seem to be in pristine condition with perfect scales.
-
Hi Louie, You may want to post that question in the Beginner section or on the Facebook page so more people will see it. I am sorry I am not knowledgeable of Texas carping venues.
-
Thanks for reading and for the encouragement.
-
I have some "go to" carp fishing venues locally that produce carp fairly consistently. Over the years some have ebbed and flowed in their production for a variety of reasons ranging from algae blooms to lack of summer rainfall at optimal times, commercial fishing, the effects of bow fishing, over fishing by those who harvest fish to eat, excessive jet skis, power boating, etc.
So a wise carp fisherman must constantly be on the look out for potential new venues. Venues with upper teen to low twenty average size, easy access via public parks, and close to home. There are plenty of venues that have some of those characteristics or even all during certain seasons (fall or spring as examples). But the holy grail for carp fishing are venues that hit all three of those requirements consistently.At the current time, I don't have a venue like that close to home. I could drive 3 hours west and fish Lake Michigan where some of my carp fishing acquaintances have been landing 30 pound fish throughout much of the spring and summer. Unfortunately, the distance and driving time put that out of reach for a one day session with my current work schedule and family commitments.I have Lake Erie and the Detroit River nearby, but neither I nor anyone I know personally has been able to land quality fish consistently in the past two years from those locations fishing from a public access area like a pier or park. I suspect there are some high quality fish to be caught from a boat that can seek out the areas where carp are congregating during a particular month, week or day, but one of the reasons I find carp fishing so attractive is the low cost aspect that does not require a boat and the expenses that come with boat ownership.That leaves branching out north, south, east and west in search of new venues.Today, I headed south and fished a new lake that I've never visited before. I don't know anyone who has fished it for carp, but I made contact with someone who has caught multiple carp from this new-to-me location. So I pulled out of the drive way at 5 a.m. and arrived at 6:45 a.m.I was fishing by shortly after 8 a.m.Finding a location was a bit of a crap shoot because although I was able to find a map of the venue online, the spots I hoped to fish with the deeper water depths were inaccessible from the shoreline once I arrived and saw them up close. They had drop offs from 10 to 20 feet or more.I settled for the closest accessible area and set up there. Instead of the 12 foot water depths I hoped for, I fished in 6 feet of water.To make a long story short; I fished for 8 hours and finally got my first screaming carp run. Yes....8 hours of silence (not even catfish).Here are some pictures of the lone fish I landed:
The lonely loner I caught today 
The scales were in good condition and he had nice coloring 
Carp close-up 
Carp tail fin shot I am sure this lake holds carp in greater numbers than were indicated today. A local father and son team fishing for channel catfish provided some insight that I hope to act upon during my next visit. The trouble with a new lake is the time it takes to learn where the fish hold up during the various seasons, temperatures, and weather patterns.Some additional online scouting and research will probably pay dividends prior to my next visit. -
Yesterday I traveled to a new water for the first time and fished from 7 a.m. to 6 p.m. I fished a spot with no pre-baiting and no prior knowledge of carp being caught from that particular spot on the lake.
When I arrived the temperature gauge on my vehicle said it was 65 degrees, but today's session turned out to be my hottest day of fishing this year with temperatures hitting 99 degrees.
The view at "the spot" 
It took quite a while to get a fish on the bank, but I broke the ice with this nice looking channel catfish 
Another view of the channel catfish. I didn't weigh the catfish, but I am sure it exceeded 10 pounds As a member of a carp fishing club, I target carp exclusively and sometimes manage to catch some other nice fish like channel catfish or small mouth buffalo.
Other days I fish all day and struggle to catch the target fish no matter how long I fish, how much bait I use and what techniques or other rabbits I try to pull out of the hat to put a fish in the net.
Today definitely falls into one of the "other" day category.
My first fish sounded the alarms at about 8:30 a.m. and I managed to bring it to the bank in short order. But I do not have a picture of the fish because before I could bring it into the net, it managed to flip and flop a few times and perform a self-induced "quick release" technique preventing me from posing the fish and making it famous for a few minutes on my Facebook page and carp fishing blog.
Then the frustration really set in. I had a string of 8 consecutive carp runs and 8 consecutive hook pulls. I tried fighting the fish with a tight drag and then I tried a loose drag. I tried new hooks, although my original hooks were quite sharp and very adequate. Nothing worked to put some carp in the landing net.
I was beginning to think the "skunk" was on. And then it happened...another carp hit the end of the line slamming the alarm hard.
I tried the loose drag technique again, but the fish wouldn't give in. After a few minutes the carp managed to find the lily pads to the right of my swim and lodged himself there. He wouldn't budge.
One of my fishing friends, David, came to the rescue. He felt so bad for my carp skunk and run of bad luck that he waded into the water while I kept pressure on the fish. David found the fish in the lily pads and as he stood in chest deep water relieved the lily pad snag and the fish was swimming freely again.
I landed the small carp in the photo below a short while later, which I believe is the typical size in this particular body of water. I am sure there are some bigger fish to be caught and perhaps the hottest day of the year isn't the best day to fish this venue. Early fall or spring might produce very different results since the battle with weeds and lily pads would be reduced dramatically.
It was smaller than I hoped, but the scale and color patterns were flawless. Overall it was a hot day, frustrating at times, but rewarding at the end. David saved the day for me. That is one of the advantages of fishing with friends. We can bail each other out from time to time.
-
Today I returned to an old favorite location that I placed on hiatus for a while.
I hadn't fished this spot since early March and prior to that last August. It used to be a favorite spot that was very productive with fish in the 20+ pound range every time out. This particular spot provided a 30 pounder a few years ago, but those days are long gone after a commercial fisherman decimated this water last year. I stopped fishing here when that production slowed down significantly, but decided to give it another try today.
Here are some pictures:
.thumb.jpg.198cf34499570af808e033e84ca2c2db.jpg)
-
Here are a few more pictures from today.
-
The plan for this weekend was to fish a pier on Lake Erie that I have been looking forward to try for several weeks. The area is currently experiencing an algae bloom that has tinted the water in that area a very dark green color. Based on my experience in the past it's very tough to fish in those conditions, so we opted to try another location nearby. (I'll circle back to the pier in a couple of weeks.)
I have been unable to fish for a couple of weeks due to a nasty battle with walking pneumonia the past 10 days or so. It started as an allergy about 30 days ago, progressed to bronchitis a week later and kept getting worse until it started affecting my breathing. Today was great therapy and I am feeling much better now.
The decision to switch locations paid off. Here are a few pictures of the fish I landed today.My streak catching small mouth buffaloes continues. Despite handling the fish with great care, this time of year the small mouth buffaloes are always marked up quite a bit. I am guessing it's left over from spawning activity. To make this picture a little more palatable, I touched up a couple of the rough spots on this fish.
-
We are fishing in Saline tomorrow at Mill Pond if you are interested.
-
There are some very nice rods in those pictures . I didn't see any specific carp rods in those builds but I didn't look through them all. What would a 12 ft custom carp rod with Fuji guess and cork grips run with a custom blue color scheme approximately?
-
Kevin,
The spawn is in full swing but I did manage this one.
-
Thanks. My mailman reference is because lately we've had some crazy weather for this time of year. If we want to fish we have to endure some unpleasant conditions.
-
Welcome. There are lots of us in Metro Detroit. I fish every weekend rain or shine. Check out my blog about carp fishing for some Michigan information at www.michigancarpfishing.blogspot.com
-
I will be in Missouri the week prior to Memorial Day.
-
Hungry carp
-
We made plans last to fish a "numbers" venue today. The location is near my house and with rain showers and high winds in the forecast I thought staying closer to home was a smart move.
When I arrived at the venue about 6:15 I was greeted with a rowing regatta and hundreds of people. There was a long line of vehicles waiting for the park gates to open and there were hundreds of pedestrians, students, rowing teams, etc. We decided to go with plan B at an alternative location about 25 miles to the south.
Arriving at the alternate location about 7:00 and greeted by sunshine, calm winds and blue skies things were looking up. But unfortunately, the clouds, rain showers and high winds caught up to us at the new location.
Fishing started out very slow as the wind and rain settled in for a bit, but when conditions changed to sunny, but still windy the fishing picked up a little. A familiar pattern developed. When there was sunshine, there were bites. When the sunshine hid behind a cloud bank, we had no fish.
It was a "grind it out" kind of day, but ultimately the patience paid some nice dividends.
Here are some of the 11 fish landed by me with the largest weighing almost 19 pounds. Neither rain, wind, clouds or catfish can keep us from landing a few carp every now and then.
-
Great story. Thanks for sharing.
-
Here is another video my wife took last weekend during the Midwestern Regional. I didn't know she was filming this until she showed it to me a few days later.
The fish ended up weighing 18 pounds, but fought harder than the 25 pounder I landed a few minutes later.
The dog barking in the background was pretty excited with the entire process. I think the dog brought good luck with him because it had been pretty quiet until the dog stopped by to visit.
.jpg.3be2cfa9f9aaa30b48ab5d4279f63bb6.jpg)
Lake Erie
in Pictures, Stories & Video
Posted
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 my carp blog regarding the suitability of the Super G carp hook for carp fishing. I typically use Korda hooks, but the Gamakatsu's are a good substitute.