I get to the marina extra early, launch the boat and begin backing away from the dock as I see Jose backing his boat down the ramp. Once away from the dock I put the boat in forward… and nothing happens. While prepping in the parking lot 20 minutes earlier Jose had invited me to fish out of his boat for the day. I told him I’d love to but was anxious to test my outboard as the mechanic had recently done some work to it. Well, as I’m returning to the dock minutes after departing and on the trolling motor, Jose is passing me in the opposite direction and comments, “you are going the wrong way Doug”. I told him I had no forward. He says, “Tie it up and get in”. I tell him I’m sure it’s just a linkage thing and I’ll probably be able to fix it quickly. He responds “Tie it up and get in”! So I did.

The day passed by with a few dinks scattered here and there but the fishing was fairly slow over all. Jose was having a good time accusing me of breaking my boat so I could fish with him and I was having an equally good time defending myself with accusations of sabotage so HE could fish with me! We were having a good time as usual.

For lunch we pulled the boat into some nearby tules in a quiet slough and Jose prepared some of the best soup I’ve ever had streamside; he calls it “Delta Soup”. As he was boiling water and chopping shallots we were discussing carp on the fly. He took the opportunity to share a Peruvian recipe for carp with me. He began, “Get a carp, not real big, maybe 5 to 8 pounds. Make sure it is fresh”. He proceeded to elaborately explain how to prepare the smoker, and what spices were to be used. “Now place the seasoned fish on to a piece of cardboard and place it in the smoker for EXACTLY 2 hours. At 2 hours exactly, remove it from the smoker, throw the carp in the trash, and eat the cardboard!

Late in the afternoon we’d found a pod of nicer fish in the 4 – 6 pound range taking advantage of the moving tide around a tule point. I was into my 3rd one in as many casts when I made the observation (to myself of course) that Jose hadn’t connected yet.

Out fishing Jose is pretty much unheard of as far as I’m concerned. Well he must of read my mind because once he finally did hook up he didn’t stop until it was pitch dark. We quickly lost count of how many we’d caught, but if I was to guess I’d say Jose was clearly landing 3 to every one of mine. And I caught A LOT!