There’s an age-old question: What happens when an unstoppable force meets an immovable object? I don’t know much about physics, but I do know is that when you combine the two, you get a carp.

Whoever named the common carp obviously never did battle with one, because they fight in a way that is anything but common. I’ll never forget the first time I felt the power of these fish, on a muddy stream in upstate New York. That first fish bulldozed its way into my backing and spun my reel handle out of control, beating chunks of skin from my knuckles. That painful encounter marked the beginning of a new obsession in my fly fishing life.