Dentry: Goldfinger: Carp get archer's point

Published May 25, 2007 at midnight

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GOODRICH - On a hot, sunny day at Jackson Reservoir, the Rodney Dangerfield of fishes was embroiled in lusty rituals. The splashy spawning behavior of carp is anything but subtle.

Dressed in camos, Gary Hague, 41, stalked golden behemoths along the irrigation canal that serves as Jackson's inlet. He nocked a fishing arrow and waited like a heron for the perfect shot.

That would be a broadside shot - and close. But carp are always moving. So if you aim at the head, you should strike the vital midsection, Hague says.

Well, about half the time, he misses. He says it's almost as useless to hit a carp in the head, which is as hard as a baseball bat.

Hague, of Greeley, is one of hundreds of Colorado bowfishermen who hunger for the May spawn, when common carp wallow in the shallows. The difference is, he respects the typically unpopular bottom feeder.

"I see most guys just leave them on the shore to rot," he wrote in an e-mail introducing himself. "This blatant waste of a natural resource troubles me deeply."

Nothing in nature is wasted. Coyotes, foxes, eagles, crows and magpies will gobble carp carcasses. But then, so will Hague, his wife, Lijun, and his greater family from Wisconsin.

"My dad and uncles are coming from Wisconsin this week," Hague said. "If there's anything they like, this is it. Smoked fish."

Carp, in particular, enjoys some rare respect in Wisconsin tradition. In many of the Badger State's watering holes, smoked carp is served as a sidekick to beer.

"Oh, yeah. That and cheese curds," Hague said, keeping his eyes peeled on an orgy splashing nearby. When one of the quarry cruised into view, Hague quickly drew his bow.

Owing to refraction of light at the water's surface, the fish is not actually where it appears to be, so an archer must compensate.

"He's deeper than he looks," Hague said. Then he loosed an arrow into the water, scoring a furious maelstrom.

The hope always is that the 90-pound braided nylon line will uncoil off its spool without a hitch, the arrow will pass through the carp, and the point's retractable wings will hold.

And so Hague hauled in another struggling dandy, which he put on a stringer that was growing increasingly heavy.

The finale will be mouthwatering morsels of smoked carp, prepared according to a family recipe passed down by his Swedish ancestors and preserved in this country by his great-great- grandmother.

Hague, who inspects restaurants and their cuisine for the Broomfield health department when he isn't flinging arrows at fish, said he wouldn't eat carp if it weren't yummy and good for you.

Needless to say, the original family recipe probably utilized tasty Nordic fish species such as salmon and ocean dwellers. But settlers here also enjoyed carp after the fish was introduced in the late 1800s.

"When my ancestors got over here, they just adapted," Hague said.

Gary Hague's recipe involves a few simple steps, starting with filets - skin and scales left on.

Smoked carp

• Make a brine by mixing enough pickling salt (do not use iodized salt) in a tub of water to float a raw egg.

• Add a handful of pickling spice made for meat or fish. Hague recommends Espesias Mixtas pickled spice from Don Juan Chiles, which is packaged in Colorado Springs. Do not use blends made for pickles or cucumbers.

• Soak fish filets in the brine for 12 hours.

• Smoke filets in a smoker at 250 degrees for about 90 minutes, or until they reach an internal temperature of 145 to 155 degrees.

• Use hickory chips for best flavor. Apple branches are optional for a sweeter flavor.

dentrye@RockyMountainNews.com

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