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The Great Lakes have proven to be a dynamic environment producing large, mammoth fish, especially carp. The productivity common in the Lower Great Lakes, coupled with an influx of foreign invaders via seafaring freight vessels, untreated ballast water, and the lock and dam system, has provided for an unchecked ecosystem of alien fish. A prime example of this can be found in Lake Michigan, where introduced carp
| 2012 | CarpPro | Tactics
become some of the largest wild carp found in North American waters, typically in excess of thirty pounds, with specimens over fifty pounds not uncommon. Normally ranging from 3” to 6” (up to 10”) in length, round gobies look similar to displaced native sculpins, however they possess suction cup-like abilities with their single fused pectoral fin, enabling
❝ The Great Lakes
have proven to be a dynamic environment producing large, mammoth fish, especially carp
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are preying on non-native round gobies, which are feeding on over highly invasive zebra and quagga mussel beds. The carp is the apex predator in this system, with no true predators during the adult stage of their life cycle. Since all fish are capable of indeterminate growth, carp will keep growing throughout their entire life cycle. Feeding on the most widely abundant forage, round gobies, Great Lakes carp rapidly grow to
them to stay tight to the bottom in areas of current. Round gobies are also aggressive fish, voracious feeders, and have the ability to survive in degraded and impaired waters, an ability they share with the carp. The round goby is the perfect candidate to base a big, meaty streamer pattern on for sumosized Great Lakes carp.