Grand Ledge: About 20 minute west of Lansing. An island park in town provides a comfortable, easy-access, family-friendly spot for Carp-fishing. It is tougher fishing than picnicing, though. Most of the water around the island is weed-ridden and VERY snaggy, especially when it is shallow, and the best fishing is very late afternoon, just before dark, in fact. Large school of Carp comes through on a regular schedule to pick up leftover white bread from kids feeding the ducks. Lots of big fish - VERY WARY! A serious challenge, but rewarding.

Eaton Rapids: About 30 minutes south of Lansing. Like Grand Ledge, Eaton Rapids boasts a family-friendly island park (with grills, picnic benches, playground, etc.), but the entire town is full of fishing spots, as the centre was once a mass of water-run mills. There are mill-races and coffer-dams all over the place. If you fish the island, try the down-stream end first, but be prepared for direct sun and muddy banks. There are no large trees on this end for shade. The mill-race on one side of the island (the parking-lot side) is FULL of Bullheads! There is a small ice-cream-and-hambuger joint on the main drag (I'll get the business and street names for you.), with a dirt parking lot behind and a great easy-access Smallmouth Bass "hole", as well as a small coffer dam where I have seen some impressive Carp rooting about along the bank. Just outside of Eaton Rapids (on Smithville Road, off of Plains Highway), find the Smithville Dam. It is a well-known fishery for Catfish, Smallmouth, and panfish, but should hold plenty of Carp as well, especially above the dam. I haven't fished it yet myself, but have scouted the place more than once, and it looks hot!

South Lansing: Near the Waverly Bridge in the south end of Lansing is an abandoned dentist's office with a long parking lot right on the river bank. Find a small "backwater" (very woody and snaggy) on one side of the building, where Carp occasionally congregate, and a large sandbar in the middle of the river - a more likely spot to find the fish. Must have a rod / rods capable of casting long distances, as the river is very wide here. Fish average 6-15 lbs with a relatively high catch rate. Corn is the most-often-used bait, but it has yet to be proven the best! The area is very popular with Crappie fishermen in boats, as well as Catfishermen off the bank, and you should get there early to get a spot on the bank. Watch out, too for speedboats. The deepest part of the river, unfortunately, is right along the bank, so all of the speedboats whiz through there. Morning is the best time to avoid speedboats; late-morning seems to produce the most fish. (I'll compare notes with a couple other guys who fish that spot all the time.)

Beside the Grand River itself, the Red Cedar and the Maple (2 local tributaries of the Grand) also have great Carp fiheries. The Red Cedar, though, is heavily privatized, therefore nearly impossible to fish without landowner permission or boat or waders. The Maple is almost completely rural, so is a nice change from "urban" fishing. Its water looks like coffee with lots of milk, yet it is one of the State's best fisheries for a number of species, including Catfish (Channel and Flathead!), Carp, Bowfin, Longnose Gar, suckers, Walleye, and bass. To fish the Maple, try the Elsie Dam (just outside of the little "burg" of Elsie) or Maple Rapids (north of Lansing). You're just as likely there to be alone in the wilderness! Be aware in both places of poison ivy and bugs, and be flexible about your set-up: Don't assume you can use your pod or big rods. It's backwoods fishing. The Elsie Dam is a bit more tame, but there is little room there for more than one or two fishermen, and the ground is very uneven. Fishing above the dam is very difficult because of weeds (though there are fine fish there!), so fishing below, on either side, is your best option. Very good chance of hooking into Bowfin and Pike there as well"