Many carp anglers say that they are fascinated in strongly when they battle to reel in the big carp pulling and fighting back hard.  This is what I totally agree to, of course, but I also have three kinds of fascination in carp fishing.

   i)   　Joy before carp fishing

   ii)  　 Joy of carp fishing itself

   iii) 　 Joy after carp fishing

 Most carp anglers have common joy of making their own tackles or preparing their own original bait.  It would be natural that they make tackles for themselves, but many of them buy ready made bait or mix some kinds of them.

Nowadays in Japan, few of them dry the steamed sweet potatoes, because the process is very much time consuming. A very few buy barley and make it into baits. Various kinds of baits are sold, so we can enjoy carp fishing without much trouble.  However, it is the greatest pleasure to catch carp with the bait of my own making.  I mix bait from the market, and I am used to preparing my own bait. 

Sometimes I use river shrimp, crayfish or Tanishi ( Cipangopaludinachinesislaeta or Sinotaiaquadratahistrica which is a kind of small fresh water conch in Japan).

Before, I used to cut the top of the rod to make it easy to throw the bait. but recently, I choose the best rod for each fishing spot.  Preparing the rods, the reels and the sensors of fish-on carries me to the spot and makes me excited at dreaming of catching a big carp.

  ii) Joy of carp fishing itself

 We can enjoy in our own way.

  iii) Joy after carp fishing

This is where I disagree with other carp anglers in Japan.  I eat the carp that I’ve caught.  They may say “Really?” “Poor carp!” “The carp is edible?”  and they also look at me with various feelings that imply that I am a strange and absurd person to look down on, etc.

 I may still have the desire to hunt for food like my ancestors.

 If I can’t eat the carp that I have caught, my joy of carp fishing would be reduced by half.  I also have three kinds of joy for eating, namely
joy of cooking,
joy of tasting,
joy of thinking about better cooking.