Welcome, Ven a gozar!

I really enjoy Carp fishing! Although it is fun to catch real game fish and take them home and eat them for dinner, I enjoy catching many bigger fish much more than one or two smaller game fish. Living in New Mexico, many of our lakes have been contaminated by gold mining of the past, and in some areas some fish contain excessively high levels of mercury. The high mercury content makes bigger fish a risk to eat from some lakes in the state. For these reasons Carp are perfect to fish for!

I always laugh when someone is fishing with me in a non trout lake. When they learn I want to fish for Carp, they look with a disdain usually saved for the most awful of odors. You want to fish for Carp, why? That is the usual question. Because it is the most fun, and most action you can get at almost any lake is the usual reply.

A good example is when I was fishing at Sumner Lake recently. There were two of us fishing for Carp, an two others who wanted to catch Channel Catfish. The fishing started out lopsided, it was Catfish one, Carp zero. I was starting to wonder if maybe I should put on something a catfish would find appealing.

Then I got the familiar tap, tap, tap, of the rod tip. Of course, I knew what was coming next. After a few minutes of a tough fight I was unhooking about an eight pound Carp. The two people fishing for Catfish tried not to look to excited, it was only a Carp after all.

A few minutes later my partner was reeling in a large sucker that put up quite a struggle before slowing slowing down enough to be netted. It was now Carp two, Catfish one. The Cat Fisherman were holding firm, but it was hard for them to hide their excitement. Catching hard fighting fish is a lot more fun than watching your fishing rod do nothing while you cook in the sun.

A few hours go by, and it is now Carp five and Catfish one. The Cat Fisherman can’t take it any more and ask, how do you fish for Carp? They take off their stink bait and put on some whole kernel corn, cast out, and wait for what they hope will be some throbbing rod, reel drag screaming action.

One of the two hooks into a hard fighting fish and lands a very big Sucker. My partner reels in another nice Carp. The two Cat Fisherman can no longer control themselves, they are barely containing themselves waiting for their turn to hook into a big Carp that will make their heart beat and their blood race.

One of the greatest things about Carp fishing is what you do not need to fish for Carp. All you need is a rod and reel, sinkers, hooks, and some bait. I am no Carping expert by any stretch of the imagination, but I have more than my share of fun catching Suckers and Carp. Put a light sinker on your line, tie on a hook, check your knots, and you are all set. It gets fancier of course, but this is all you need to have serious fishing fun.

For bait all you need is some cheap white bread, or canned whole kernel corn. Thread two to four pieces of corn on a small hook, size six to ten. I like Salmon egg hooks the best. If you are using bread pull off the crust and feed it to the ducks if there are any around. Take the white part of the bread and make a marble sized ball tight around the hook.

Cast it out, distance does not really matter, but try not to fish in weedy areas as Carp are mostly bottom feeding fish so you want your bait where the fish are, not floating above them on weeds. Ensure the drag on your reel is set right or you will end up breaking your line and losing a lot of fish. Remember the fish is on the end of your line and likely not going anywhere, but losing a hooked fish is a chance you take.

One final word of advice, imo, Carp make more rods and reels disappear into rivers and lakes than any other fish. I suggest holding on to yours, or tying a light cord on to your rod, and tying it off to something that can not be pulled in. Have fun!

I made it back home, it was so very nice to sleep in my own bed, get up at my own time, and look in the fridge for breakfast…well I will skip the breakfast part. I just want to sit and be a hermit for a day or so. I am one of those people who gets their batteries charged from being alone for some time each day, week, et-cetera, so a day or two alone is definitely what I have in mind for today. Even being fruit and lunch challenged, I really do not want to leave the house today.

One thing I enjoyed on the trip up to Minnesota and the ride back down is how people interact with each other, and how they show each other respect. Respect for other people has been twisted and mutilated in America over the years, imo. Respect is not some form of less than behavior or second class thinking. Showing respect for someone else is simply an acknowledgment that the person in front of you is worthy just like you. That is all there is to respect, or at least that is the basic idea of respect.

Respect has been twisted into an ugly violent, aggressive behavior in inner cities by people who think respect is commanded. These people live in a culture where respect is earned by violence, aggression, and brute force. That is not respect, it is only an acknowledgment that at that moment one person is physically superior to another. It sure is not any form of respect the average person wants or needs for themselves, or it should not be.

For those that remember the seventies there was a take off on the twenty-third psalm. It went something like this…”yeh, though I walk through the valley of death, I shall fear no evil because I am the baddest person in the whole valley.” If you were around in those days, you know there were a lot of similar versions of the same saying.

For me, in those days it did not mean that I was the toughest, strongest, or most violent person I knew, it meant that in some area, I was better at something than anyone else around me. There is always a whole pie to be sliced up in our daily world, and to compete in an arena that does not help the world be a better place is wrong on many levels.

In some areas that I drove through respect was commanded through fear and violence. It was not a pleasant environment to be in, but it is what ignorant violent people choose to manage their lives by. Too bad, because I am sure there is a lot of exceptional people and talent is being wasted on things that mean little or nothing to most of the country, let alone the world.

In other places, I saw people giving and receiving genuine respect from those around them, and it was pleasant to be in those areas where this for of behavior was prevalent. One does not reduce themselves by showing a form respect for another. The earth is really a small place, and as much as we sometimes think we are isolated from most people, how we interact with those around us does ripple out into and effect the whole world.

People show respect on different platforms, in the farming areas where it may be a person’s knowledge of farming practices, markets, or animal husbandry. In other areas, it was respect given for the wholesomeness of spirit and the willingness to really try and make a difference. In other communities, respect was shown for another’s business ability. At no time in these communities did I observe people being looked down upon, or thought to be less than the other person(s) around them. Everyone was appreciated for who and what they were, because deep down they know at some level everyone is important to make the world go ‘round.