Muskie flies are constructed of Icelandic sheep hair and synthetic krystal flash or flashabou and feature eyes that reflect the terror of a fleeing baitfish. Photo by Mike Gnatkowski.

We all know that muskies have been called "the fish of 10,000 casts."

There's a reason for that.

Muskies are top-of-the-line predators, occupying the top spot in a lake's food chain, picking and choosing whatever they wish to eat, including fish, birds, even small mammals. With such a smorgasbord available, muskies are very selective eaters and often follow a bait but never strike.

In most waters, there just aren't that many of them, so the odds of putting a lure in front of one are slim from the start. Casting for them puts you at a serious disadvantage. You can't cover as much water when casting as you can when trolling. Some states prohibit trolling for muskies, so you don't have a choice, but in places like muskie-rich Lake St. Clair, speed trolling puts your lures in front of plenty of fish and your odds of catching one are much, much better than 10,000 to one. In fact, good captains on Lake St. Clair routinely land 10 to 15 muskies on a single trip. There's a better than average chance that you can land a muskie on this lake on your very first trip if you're trolling.

Casting for muskies is a completely new ballgame though. Even then, the better guides on Lake St. Clair raise several fish a day by casting giant spinnerbaits, bucktails, body baits and jerkbaits. I have many friends who fish for smallmouths on the lake and tell me how toothy muskellunge routinely tear them up.

However, select cadres of anglers prefer chasing these piscatorial paleozoids with fly rods. Known for their massive size -- muskies average 30 to 40 inches and weigh 10 to 20 pounds, although 50-inch, 40-pound giants are caught every year -- with vicious strikes and razor-sharp teeth, muskies can quickly shred ordinary fly tackle.

This may be the ultimate freshwater challenge.

"Ten years ago, you hardly ever heard of anyone fishing for muskies with a fly," said Captain Steve Kunnath. "But now it seems to really be gaining in popularity, not only on Lake St. Clair, but in places like New York and Minnesota."

One of the biggest perceived disadvantages of fly-fishing for muskies was the ability to cover water. Kunnath said that's not true.

"Instead of trying to cover water, I focus on key spots that concentrate muskies. You put the odds in your favor then," he said.

Select cadres of anglers buck the odds. They use fly rods and flies to chase muskies. It may be fresh water's ultimate challenge.

After the spawn, muskies tend to congregate in warm, shallow water, Kunnath said. Likely hangouts include shallow bays, channel mouths and weed edges that funnel baitfish and subtle structure found in the lake. The structure may only be a pile of rubble or a shallow depression in the lake bottom, but in the relatively featureless contours of Lake St. Clair, muskies use it to wait in ambush for passing baitfish.

Once summer arrives, muskies begin moving to open water, especially areas with isolated structure, such as rockbars or weedbeds. When the water cools in the fall, they return to the shallows.

While trolling for muskies on Lake St. Clair is basically a run-and-gun approach, fly-casting for muskies is much more deliberate.