Some fish species just don't get their due

Casting champ and fly fishing guru Paul Melchior and I disagree on several issues, but we also agree on a common thread that keeps popping up when we get together.

Melchior makes his living by arranging out-of-country as well as domestic fishing trips to the best angling spots on the map. His company, Angling Escapes has developed a reputation as a premier operation (847-272-3195).

Anyway, on a recent fly fishing excursion, Paul brought up the issue of certain fish species that just don't garner any respect from a majority of anglers. I instantly agreed with him, especially when it came to the plain old carp, found in many lakes, rivers and streams.

I then added to the list the white sucker, the red horse and buffalo, as well as the American shad.

I clearly remember standing on a bridge over the Manistee River in Michigan looking for migrating Coho salmon. I spotted a fisherman some distance away casting a spinning rod and hooking a fish I didn't recognize. When I walked over to him he was quick to explain he was catching suckers, which would subsequently go into the smoker. He shared with me that the meat was white and very tasty. And then he handed me some bread and smoked sucker to sample. Because I had a preconceived notion that the sucker was not only a rough fish, but a species I would never eat, I hesitated. Boy was I way out in left field. The meat was very tasty.

This gent explained that he's usually the only one around there that fishes for white suckers, so he has the corner on the action, and there is definitely plenty of that. His 5-gallon container was rapidly being filed to the brim as he placed another 2-pound fish into the bucket.

And on this recent trip Paul and I spent a good amount of time discussing the pros and cons of the American carp.

There is a small cadre of fly fishermen who will go to Door County, Wis., in July and scour the shallow, in-shore waters, looking for big, cruising carp.

Numerous stories had been published in some of the big-time, national fishing magazines about this kind of angling. Television personality Flip Pallot fished the Michigan and Wisconsin flats for big carp, as did Dave Whitlock and Milwaukee guide Pat Ehlers. Even Paul Melchior tried his hand at it in Door County and experienced something akin to saltwater redfish angling. And that, of course is the sheer, locomotive energy exhibited by carp.

In many European countries anglers pride themselves on going after "monster" carp. They have developed numerous recipes as well once a fish is brought home.

Add to the list the freshwater white drum, the buffalo, and the red horse, three species that are powerful battlers once hooked.

But the big problem is that many fishermen constantly turn their noses up at the mere thought of going after these often maligned fish.

I caught four carp on a fly rod and those battles were some of the most exciting experiences I ever had in my angling life. The heaviest of the four fish weighed in at 13 pounds. That fish had more power than a big northern pike, and there were moments when I thought the carp would rip off all the line fly from my fly reel.

Here's one more species I'll add to the list. Saltwater anglers despise the all-powerful Jack Crevalle. Like the carp, this fish is the target for vocal expletives when hooked. But I relish the thought of having one on the line. My heaviest fish went close to 40 pounds and was taken right off the pilings of an oil platform on the south Louisiana Gulf Coast. That encounter took close to an hour, and yet all the fishermen I met down there despise the fish because it apparently does not fill the requirements of being an ego and testosterone booster.

So I ask, isn't fishing about the thrill of the hunt and the hook-up?

I personally believe it's time we gave these so-called "rough fish" a measure of respect simply because they provide another avenue of piscatorial combat.