The carp is the top gamefish in the world - more people rate the Carp as their most sought-after fish than any other. The Carp also exceeds all other fish in pounds eaten per year. The reasons that the Carp is the most popular fish to catch in the world are many. First and foremost, they are big, tough fish. Carp do not jump, nor are they blindingly fast. However, they are stronger, pound for pound, than any other fish, and will doggedly fight you to their last ounce of strength. In addition, Carp are found almost everywhere. Here, in the United States, most of our lakes and rivers have been stupidly polluted to the point where our prized native fishes cannot survive. The hardy carp hardly notices this, and thrives in waters where our native fishes cannot live, providing us with one of the greatest sportfishing opportunities that has ever existed. In Great Britain, Carp anglers will spend weeks stalking a single wary carp, while here in the US one can catch the fish of a lifetime (a 20-pound carp) ten times in a single day without too much effort on the part of the fisherman. Still, carp are fickle, and the techniques for catching them, refined over hundreds of years, are as varied as the habitats in which carp fluorish. To catch a specimen carp is to join the ranks of the greatest anglers who have ever lived. My largest carp to date is a 36 pound monster I took from a large walleye lake a few years back, and the memories of that battle urge me onward on my fanatical quest to conquer a 40-plus pounder. And then, the fish gods willing, a 50.