Bay City, Michigan 48706
Front Page 04/18/2024 21:12 About us
www.mybaycity.com June 16, 2004
(Prior Story)   Outdoors ArTicle 459   (Next Story)

"CarpMaster" Oversees 18th Bay City Carp Off

June 16, 2004       Leave a Comment
By: Stephen Kent

Printer Friendly Story View


It's interesting what one can find on Bay City's river front and Middle Grounds island. While photographing the canoe races on the Middle Grounds Saturday, we came across what was obviously an organized fishing event. We had discovered the annual "CarpOff".

The "Carp Off" has been held for 18 years in Bay City on the DNR's "Free Fishing Weekend". On this one weekend, for two special days, all fishing license fees are waived, for residents and outstate visitors alike. The objective is to make it easy for one generation to pass the tradition of fishing on to another. Saturday's Carp Off was a great example of this as both kids and adults enjoyed the fishing.

Bay City's "Carp Off" is the brain child of Bill Retlewski, aka "The CarpMaster". Bill's been holding the event for 18 years and invites anyone to show up on the river and "wet a hook". He had a large box of prizes and a free t-shirt for each participant.

The objective of this contest is simple: Catch the largest carp. Bill gives prizes for carp but also for the largest other species. He says that folks generally catch carp, catfish and a few sheephead.

Carp are fairly easy to catch and you don't need fancy equipment. A pole will do but most folks had spin cast rods and reels. Bait can be a night crawler, a "gob-o-worm" or even whole kernel corn! Several people rigged a couple of hooks on the line with corn on one hook and worm on the other.

So it was a fun fishing weekend. Many of the participants were regulars who knew each other and all were having a great time. Best of all, Bill said that everyone gets a prize, regardless of what they catch.

Printer Friendly Story View
Prior Article

February 10, 2020
by: Rachel Reh
Family Winter Fun Fest is BACC Hot Spot for 2/10/2020
Next Article

February 2, 2020
by: Kathy Rupert-Mathews
MOVIE REVIEW: "Just Mercy" ... You Will Shed Tears, or at Least You Should
Agree? or Disagree?


Stephen Kent

Steve Kent and his family have lived in Bay City for 40 years. He is VP of Technical Services at MMCC which produces MyBayCity.Com. Kent is active in many Bay City civic organizations.

More from Stephen Kent

Send This Story to a Friend!       Letter to the editor       Link to this Story
Printer-Friendly Story View


--- Advertisments ---
     


0200 Nd: 04-14-2024 d 4 cpr 0






12/31/2020 P3v3-0200-Ad.cfm

SPONSORED LINKS



12/31/2020 drop ads P3v3-0200-Ad.cfm


Designed at OJ Advertising, Inc. (V3) (v3) Software by Mid-Michigan Computer Consultants
Bay City, Michigan USA
All Photographs and Content Copyright © 1998 - 2024 by OJA/MMCC. They may be used by permission only.
P3V3-0200 (1) 0   ID:Default   UserID:Default   Type:reader   R:x   PubID:mbC   NewspaperID:noPaperID
  pid:1560   pd:11-18-2012   nd:2024-04-14   ax:2024-04-18   Site:5   ArticleID:459   MaxA: 999999   MaxAA: 999999
claudebot