Occasionally a person needs to break out of the same old fishing routine and do something out of the ordinary. About five years ago a good friend introduced me to something new. Fishing carp on the rocky flats of the Great Lakes. He made me swear that I would not tell anyone where we were fishing. I thought I was going to have to wear a blind fold on the drive, but luckily I didn't. To this day my closest friends don't know where we where at.

The first one I landed was big. Still my biggest to date. It chased down my crayfish fly for about 25 feet as I was stripping it in like there was a pike in pursuit. It inhaled the fly and headed for the deep. Finally I did something right, I let it run. I had never caught a fish that took out line into the backing. I soon learned that you need a lot of it. The 14lb tippet held this time and when I got it to hand I realized that I had taken part in the most exciting fishing that I have ever done here in the Midwest. I'm addicted! I was fortunate to be able to cast for bonefish once in my life and found that there are many similarities. One thing the carp have over bonefish is that they come super sized.
If you spend some time on the water you will find the carp will offer you a variety of fishing experiences. Some days they will charge your fly and others they will not give it a look. I've seen them tailing in the shallows much like the fish of saltwater as they look for crayfish in the rocks. I've had them tip straight up and down in the water to take a fly that was directly underneath. There have been times when we'll walk the flats all day and see only a few fish. Sometimes you'll find hundreds of them lazing around in the sun just under the surface. You'll definitely see them crusing the drop off in search of warmer temps when the wind blows the warm water off shore. Luck be with you when that happens.

The carp in the waters near my home are quite sporting on the fly, but the Great Lakes carp are something else. Part of what makes them the sport fish that they are is the environment they are found in. When you hook them on a big shallow rock flat they are headed for deep water. There's no negotiating that.