My $34 carp

June 25-29, 2007. That's all the time my $34 nonresident New Mexico fishing license was good for. I bought the license so I could fish while at Scout camp with my son Wesley. Boy Scout Troop 94 spent the week at Lake Heron. It was a memorable week filled with rafting, sailing, rowing, canoing, fishing, cycling, wilderness survival, camping, cooking -- everything you'd want in a Scout camping experience.
The purchase of the license was a last-minute decision. I really couldn't afford it, but I felt I couldn't afford not to spend the time fishing with Wesley.
Early Monday after teaching a wilderness survival merit badge class, I went down to the lake and cast a line. Within minutes I had a bite. It was a big one and it put up a fight. I finally reeled in a two-foot, 15-pound carp. I wasn't thrilled about catching a carp, but it was worth the fight.
Figuring that the fishing was going to be good that week, I let the fish go. Despite several hours lakeside with pole in hand, it would prove to be the last fish I would catch that week. It would prove to be half the fish caught by the entire troop. A trout was caught later on, but not by any of the boys in David Jones' fishing and fly fishing merit badge classes. And poor Mr. Jones never got so much as a nibble.
We sure saw a lot of fish jumping in the lakes we went to, but they seemed to have an aversion to our bait.
Still, as the saying goes, "a bad day fishing is better than a good day at the office." I did manage to catch a couple naps and I've got the sunburn to prove it.
Of course, while I wound up with a $34 carp, I wouldn't trade one single minute spent with my son and the Scouts. Those are priceless moments we will always treasure.