Indigo Guide Service

This article by Brandon Butler of Driftwood Outdoors appeared in Eastern Fly Fishing in the January/February 2010 Issue.  This article does a great job of describing what Great Lakes carp and smallmouth bass fishing is like and also describes the islands many qualities very well.

Beaver Island, MI.
Northern Island Angling Paradise

By: Brandon Butler

I will post a copy of the article on the site after their next issue comes out.  For now you can purchase a hard copy or download a free pdf of the issue from their site… click here to download the pdf from their site.

This short blog post "Mega Carp in Michigan appeared on the acs-thefishdog.blogspot.com site on July 30th, 2009.  You can click here to go to the acs-blog for the original post.

Bob Story of Feather Craft Fly Fishing displays a hefty carp taken on the flats off Lake Michigan’s Beaver Island. Frequent wind and rain hampered sight fishing opportunities, but there were enough breaks in the weather to get some shots at monster carp cruising the flats. Carp are extremely wary when in the shallows. Careful stalking and accurate casting are needed to tempt them on a fly. Crayfish are one of their favorite foods and a matching pattern crawled on the bottom is favored. bob was fishing with Capt. Kevin Morlock of Indigo Guide Service.
Beaver Island is the largest island in Lake Michigan and has a colorful history of settlement. It lies 32 miles from the city of Charlevoix and is reachable only by air or boat.

The article "Carp Of Beaver Island… Champagne dreams on a beer budget!" by Brandon Butler (Driftwood Outdoors) appeared in the Woods-N-Water News in July 2009.  You can view the article on the Woods-N-Water News web site here.

 

Carp Of Beaver Island… Champagne dreams on a beer budget!

Settling into my seat on the Emerald Isle, anticipation gave way to acceptance. Month after month had been crossed off my calendar as I awaited the arrival of this 4th of July expedition. In the back of my mind, I slightly questioned driving over 500 miles to fly fish for carp; the same rough fish that swim a stone’s throw from home. But I had been guaranteed by a fisherman I trust too well, that this experience would be one I would never forget. So as the ship’s engines began to rumble I took heart, yearning for the unknown.

As the two-hour, thirty-two mile ferry ride closed in on the tiny town of St. James, I realized all I knew about Great Lake Islands would not summarize this place. Beaver Island’s weathered old lighthouse greets travelers much like a great-grandparent too feeble to rise from his rocking chair, but happy to see you nonetheless. The harbor moors only a handful of boats and the pier at the marina looks as if Roosevelt commissioned the Civilian Conservation Corps to modernize the Island.

Kevin Morlock is a well known salmon and steelhead guide on the rivers of western Michigan. Kevin and I have fished together numerous times, and I have come to respect his wealth of knowledge, but when he told me he was designing a flats fishing boat to target carp around the islands of Michigan’s archipelago, I thought maybe he’d finally spent one two many days in the sun.

Keeping within the boundaries of simplicity I had elected to leave my tent at home in favor of a hammock. Hung between two trees where the wind would rock me to a serenade of waves. My weary fisherman’s body rested well at the end of a hard day’s night.

Carp fishing improves as the day grows warmer. There’s no reason to get up early, leaving plenty of time to lounge about sipping morning coffee. Making for a great start to a relaxing day.

With the sun high in the bluebird sky, Kevin and I launched his boat; a brand new, 17 ft. deep-v, with a 40 horse. The real kicker though, is the rear mounted platform and the twenty foot push pole. Like most of us who harbor champagne dreams on a beer budget, I have longed for the Caribbean since reading my first flats article, but have never come close to saving enough money to go. Diapers and milk, you know. So the idea of a steelheading maestro, perched atop a platform, pushing me around in search of tailing carp in the northern most reaches of America, was somewhat of an obscure realization of a dream come true.

We took off from the eastern shore of the island and headed for the southern tip. We wanted to go where the waves would push into small bays. The water temperature reading on the main lake was in the low sixties; a bit too cold for aggressive carp. Kevin knew the water would be warmer in the south bays, causing pods of carp to gather in the shallow water. I never anticipated this trip would change my perception of a species I knew so little about, but as we spotted carp after carp cruising the outer edge of the flats, I began to accept my new found respect for these fish. Many people back home shoot carp with bow and arrow and simply throw them to the wayside as if they are worth nothing more than a moment’s excitement. How the carp ever came to be such a disrespected game fish is beyond me, but I now believe the first time any consummate conservationist sees one of these finicky feeding, beautiful beasts cruising crystal clear water in search of forage, their perception will be forever changed.

We moored the boat in a few feet of water and began a stealthy approach to the shallows. The water temperature in the bay we were stalking was 75 degrees; perfect for feeding fish. Stalking fish with a fly rod, in essence allows me to combine two of my greatest passions; fishing and hunting. I slipped up behind a large boulder, positioning myself 50 feet or so from a small pod of a half-dozen carp. Fly placement is crucial when fishing carp. Their eyesight is poor and they’re not aggressive chasers. It’s essential to present your fly within an area the size of a basketball hoop in front of the fish you’re targeting.

Assumptions are always dangerous when lacking proper research. Based on sheer numbers alone, I figured these fish would be easy to catch, but they are not. I worked this little pod for nearly an hour, before finally, a fish took. The moment is still fresh in my mind. I was growing anxiously annoyed, when I targeted a carp on the outskirts of the pod. The cast was a few feet beyond the fish, perfect for allowing my goby imitation time to sink the necessary two feet. As I strip-strip-stripped the minnow along the bottom, allowing for a pause just in front of the fish’s face, I watched with amazement as its bugle-mouth opened and inhaled my fly. Somehow I kept my excitement in check and executed a solid hook set. The fight was on.

As the thirty-inch fish ran for deep water, I slightly tightened my drag. We struggled back and forth for a good fifteen minutes before I finally brought the fish to hand. As I cradled the

fish, I realized never before in nature had I physically experienced a lesson of ignorance so profound, so obviously wrong. Carp are amazing. I released the fish back into the aqua waters as carefully as I would have a 25 in. Au Sable "Holy Waters" brown trout.

A nearby boulder begged me to take a break. I saddled onto the rock, realizing that in no direction could I see the hand of man. The only sounds I could hear were the waves breaking on the shore behind, and the wind whipping across the endless water. In search of carp on a fly, I found a paradise on Beaver Island.

For more information regarding travel to Beaver Island, contact the Beaver island Chamber of Commerce at (231) 448-2505 or view their website www.beaverisland.org. Travel to beaver Island can be arranged through the Beaver Island Boat Company by calling 1-888-446-4095 or by visiting their website www.bibco.com.

Brandon Butler is a syndicated outdoor writer from Bloomington, Indiana. He may be contacted through his website www.driftwoodoutdoors.org.

***This article appeared in the Petoskey News Review on June 24, 2009.  Click here to go to the original article on the Petoskey News Review site… Sight-fishing for carp off Beaver Island by George Rowe.

A few years ago, ardent anglers from all over these United States and some foreign places traveled to Beaver Island for the fishing.

The fishing then was the best smallmouth bass fishing on the planet. The cormorants are generally credited for the demise of that fishing and it may be on the rebound despite the every-present cormorants.

Now, however, there is a new star of the islands around Beaver is it is the lowly carp. Steve West, the enthusiastic Chamber of Commerce guy of the island, calls the fish the “Golden Bones of Beaver Island,” comparing the carp of course to the bonefish of Florida and the Bahamas.

And, it isn’t a bad comparison.

This is why one might see in St. James harbor a strange looking skiff with a poling platform at the stern and a long push-pole lashed to the deck. This craft is used to move slowly along the shallow flats, searching for the fish

This fishing is really part hunting. First you find the fish, then you work to get in position for a cast then you try for the fish. The fish is apt to ignore your offering so you go in search of another fish. Fortunately, there are lots of fish so you will get another opportunity shortly.

When I heard about this fishing, I was anxious to try it. As one with a great deal of experience with bonefish in Florida and the Bahamas, it would be very interesting to sample some new flats fishing.

I did some weekend charters while in Florida fishing the upper Keys and visited many locations in the Bahamas for bonefishing. This is some of the finest fishing in the world. The skiff, set up to operate well in shallow water, is poled across the shallow flats, in gin-clear water no more than 15- 20 inches deep. The fish are often spotted “tailing”, showing their tails and dorsal fins as the root around in the soft bottom for crabs, shrimp and other tasty morsels.

You can also spot them just swimming along slowly, cruising and the fact that they are often in small schools helps in seeing them.  Sometimes, you first see a “mud” where the fish have been feeding and stirring up the bottom.

Fishing for the Beaver Island carp is exactly the same, except that the fish are easier to see. The carp are darker and larger, averaging perhaps 15-20 pounds while bonefish rarely get as large as 10 pounds.

Still, it is a good idea to wear polarized sunglasses, especially if the day is cloudy or if there is much of a chop on the water. Last Thursday, the sun was bright for much of the day and Lake Michigan was a placid as a mill pond so it was pretty easy to spot the fish.

The fish congregate in the shallows as soon as the water is nicely warm and this is when they get their spawning done. The best time is apparently from mid-June through August. The best fishing technique is to cast a fly that imitates a crayfish or some other small crustacean. The shrimp flies that are used for bonefish would probably serve just fine. 

When a fish is spotted, the boat handler maneuvers the skiff close enough so that the angler can reach the fish and drop the fly well in front of the fish. When the fish approaches the fly, the angler begins a hopping retrieve, right in front of the fish’s nose.

Hopefully, the fish will turn and pursue the fly, taking it in his mouth.  More often than not, however, the fish will ignore the offering and continue to cruise.

Sometimes, the fish will show some interest by turning after the fly and then turning away again.

Like bonfish, the carp are quite spooky and once they sense your presence, they are no longer catchable – as a matter of fact, they often scoot right out of sight. They don’t seem too sensitive to the waving of the rod or even the little splash when the fly hits the water.

They are very sensitive to sound, however, so if the boat handler makes too much noise with the pole or if a wader makes much noise with his feet, they will spook away quickly.

The tackle we used was sturdy fly-fishing gear – an eight-weight rod with a matching weight-forward or torpedo floating line. The leader was about five feet of 10-pound-test mono. The flies were large, mostly multi-colored, but dark and most were weighted slightly. One can expect to make a good cast to many a fish before hooking up.

Our guide says they are really poor predators and not very effective in chasing down prey. Apparently their vision is not great. When you do hook up, it is set the hook and hang on.

These fish will make great long runs and yet another long run after you battle them back to the boat. They are very large, of course, very strong and they have terrific stamina. The reels the guide uses are large with a good drag and there is ample backing behind the fly line and you will see it on virtually every fish. The fight is similar to that of a bonefish but more dogged.

The bonefish is all run and little else. The carp is run, run again and get sideways and resist all the way back to the boat. They are truly great fun to catch. Some of the reward is the setting – way back in some remote bay by Hog Island all by yourself in a pristine wilderness surrounded by crystal-clear water.

The cormorants are still very much in evidence, despite serious efforts to limit their impact on the area. They have created absolutely barren rocky ruins on some of the smaller islands where they have roosted, killing all the trees and other foliage with their droppings.

The new import — the goby — may have a good impact on the fishing.  The cormorants eat them and thus maybe eat fewer bass fry. The goby is also bass food.

The smallmouth bass fishery has apparently recovered somewhat – there is once again an open season for them, starting July 1 and you could sight-fish for them just as we did for carp. We spotted many smallmouths, including a few tagged fish, probably tagged by the CMU research vessel operating in the area. Until the smallmouth bass fishery has fully recovered, it might make sense to make the season for them all catch and release.

 If you want to try this fishing, contact Kevin Morlock who operates the Indigo Gide Service out of Walhalla. He also runs trout and salmon fishing charters on the major rivers that feed Lake Michigan, but he is on Beaver Island through August.

He is largely booked, but he may have a few days left in August. He is pleasant, competent, a willing teacher and very well equipped in every respect. Contact him at (231) 898-4320 or .  We stayed comfortably at the Erin Motel right downtown on the water and just a short walk from the ferry dock and some good restaurants.

Want to try sight-fishing for big, powerful fish in a beautiful setting?  Try those Beaver Island “golden bones."

Other Links:  Petoskey News Review, Sight-fishing for carp off Beaver Island by George Rowe (Petoskey News Review), Beaver Island Chamber of Commerce, Brandon Butler of Driftwood Outdoors, Central Michigan University – Beaver Island Biological Research Station, Kevin Morlock of Indigo Guide Service, Erin Motel of Beaver Island, Beaver Island Boat Company, Round Goby – Fish of the Great Lakes by University of Wisconsin Sea Grant, Kevin Morlock’s carp flies.

Related Articles and Videos:

Click here to visit the In-Fisherman site, it has an endless amount of top-notch information.

The article "Prime Time Carp" by Kevin Morlock appeared in the March 2009 issue of In-Fisherman.

Click here to see a pdf copy of Prime Time Carp by Kevin Morlock…