Driftwood outdoors: Sight fishing for spawning carp offers thrills

Chicago’s Gold Coast has nothing to do with carp. It’s actually the high-rent district along the lakeshore.

Depending on whom you ask, there are different explanations of the name. A lot of the city’s up-and-coming business executives attribute the name with the expense of the area and their lustful desire for a lake-view condo. I believe the name derives from the beautiful glow projected off the strung-together-line skyscrapers as the sun rises over the lake and beats down on the buildings.

Either way, carp are an afterthought to almost everyone.

It only takes a single trip to Navy Pier to realize there are a lot of carp in the water. Like at many amusement parks around the country, the scavengers school in large groups to wait for offerings flung into the water by passing tourists. Most look at these fish from crinkled faces, uttering insults like “eww” or “gross.” A fly fisherman who knows a thing or two about carp, though, stares in awe with a dropped jaw.

This story appears in the print edition of Daily Journal. Subscribers can read the entire story online by signing in here or in our e-Edition by clicking here.