Yeah, KSutton, Pictures would have been a great idea. Ah, well.

Chuck definitely did the right thing, shame it didn't pan out.

Rickt - Actually most US carp fishermen are all for the moderation of carp population. Selective harvest, removal of overpopulations of smaller fish to help promote the growth of larger trophy fish. The problem with bowfishing is that they mostly just target the largest fish.

When you kill only large fish, all you're doing is helping small carp overpopulate. The larger the overall size of the average fish in the carp population is, the smaller the carp population itself will be.

Bowhunt too many large carp, and the small ones thrive, and overpopulate the lake that before had a healthy population.

If the bowhunters just shot small fish, and didn't waste them, used them for bait or better, to eat them, then I'd have no problem with it at all.

Glad you agree that it's wrong to just waste the fish and toss them ashore. No one wants to see that, it's just nasty.

Creeker - I know exactly how you feel! Well, as far as catching them, and then wanting to catch them again lol.

I would love to get out there and share the bank with you some day!

As far as eating carp go, they are actually quite edible, and when well prepared, quite good.

The main things to keep in mind are that carp are very boney fish, so they can be a pain to fillet. When you do clean them, you want to remove all the red meat from the fillets the same way some people do for fish like Sand Bass, Stripers, and so on. It's right along the lateral line, easy to clean out.

As far as cooking them, they are very good smoked, and very good battered and deep fried. One of the best recipes I read about cooking carp to convert those who don't know they're good too eat is to batter and fry small chunks of them, then serve them with fries and beer.

There are many other recipes out there too. Someone on the forum posted a South American recipe that sounded really good, involving stuffing the carp, and then baking it.

I'll have to find it and try it. If you search around the forum, and search online, you should find some recipes.

The best carp to eat are small fish, in my opinion under 5 pounds. They will have the best flavor, and removing fish that size is best for the population and the lake.

I almost brought some small ones home from GV the other day, carp that size are thick in there, but I just couldn't be bothered to clean them lol.

Kev - I like it lol.

great feedback! i really appreciate it. I'm with you on cleaning em... sure are slimy! but, i think i will try one and see what happens.
shoot me an e-mail if you wanna come down to CC way and fish em. your more then welcome to sit on the dock and slay em all day long. just let me know and i will give you directions.
I got my girlfriend hooked on reeling in the big fish now she can't get enough of catching carp and the fighting hybrids.

No problem, Creeker, glad to help! The slime doesn't extend to the meat lol, just a protective coating like on a catfish.

Smallmouth Buffalo are actually much better eating fish then carp, but both can be good. Buffalo have much whiter meat though, and a more mild taste. But they are very boney just like carp, and you need to clean out the red meat as well.

I forgot to mention that pressure cooking them is supposed to be really good. I've never tried it as I don't have a pressure cooker lol. But it is supposed to gelatinize the bones and make it so you can eat them with the rest of the meat.

Will have to try it some day.

I really appreciate your offer! I'd love to go out there and fish with you some time, but don't know when or if I'll be able.

You oughta go out yourself and post some pictures of the carp you catch out there! We'd love to see them.

Oh yeah, and my gf is the same way. Before I'd taken her carp fishing she hadn't caught anything over maybe a pound or two. Now she's totally addicted to catching carp!

Way back when I did a little bowfishing I didn't really target the largest fish, the dumbest easiest fish I could get close enough to arrow. I don't think I ever took one bigger than ten pounds out of the same place that stafted this thread. I even ate a few but the preperation part was a bit much. We did pressure cook them then make fish patties and fry the fish patties. They were ok but in a lake where crappie are easy to catch and the main reason I was after them was for trotline bait to catch catfish it just did not happen often that we ate carp.

creeker,

The way they prepared them for us when we did the Lion's Club Fish Fries was to leave the skin on the fillets, just scale them, then cut the meat into 1/2 inch to 1 inch squares. The meat will stay on the skin. This basically cuts the bones into very small pieces then when cooked properly the bones dissolve.

We just rolled the fillets in a corn meal, flour, salt and pepper mixture then deep fried them in a commercial, regulated cooker at a constant 475 degrees for 5 minutes. We served them as sandwiches with white bread and topped them with lettuce, tomatoes, pickles, tartar sauce or Louisiana hot sauce. They were delicious. (I liked them plain, no bread, with Louisiana hot sauce splattered on the fillets.)

We usually had both carp and buffalo that we bought from a commercial fishermen who netted them in the Mississippi River. As Starless said, the buffalo were the best eating of the 2.

Kevin

"I would bet there were 75-100 dead carp laying in the area that they had shot them in."

!@#$% - Every year when the Bow Fishermen find the Carp spawning location this **** happens. I agree it's a frickin TOTAL waste and once again proves the mentality of "certain, but not all" Bow Fisherman. The primitive instinct to kill a moving target simply gets the best of them. They're in it for the thrill of the kill, plain and simple. I've verified it time and time again over the past 6 years. It just makes me sick. Trust me, if a Bowfisherman killed a few Carp, that wouldn't bother me to be honest, but when they kill dozens or hundreds in one frickin outing, that just proves there is something seriously wrong with their mentality. How much enjoyment are you actually getting after the first 10 have been pulled off of the arrow and dumped into the lake?

rickt300 - "If you guys refuse to moderate carp populations I don't see how you feel justified in complaining when others do either by poisen or bowfishing."

Because it's senseless. They attack the Carp during the Spawn, hell you can just walk up to them at Joe Pool and pick em up during the spawn. It's the primitive act of killing dozens or hundreds of fish that outrages me.

One of the biggest urban legends is seeing "hundreds or thousands" of Carp means the entire lake or river is over populated with Carp. HOGWASH! What you're witnessing is a fish orgy of mega proportions where a big percentange of the population has come together to reproduce. (And this can happen more than once per year btw.) Unlike other species of fish, mating season for Carp is very socialble.

I've said it before over and over, Bow Fishing for food on the table is an exciting sport and we humans have been doing it since we were cavemen. Regardless of the law, when someone can go out and kill living creatures very un-humanely by shooting an arrow through them, pulling it out, and then throwing the fish back in the water, and do this, not once or twice, but to do it dozens or hundreds of times, is just wrong.

Like I was saying put your opinion where your mouth is and eat the smaller fish and maybe whole creek arms being completely muddied up won't be such a mess. While seemingly unsporting the easiest time to reduce the population is most often the most cost expediant. Since most of us don't make a habit of eating them and the fish over 5 pounds have no natural predators what do you suggest?

It is a violation to FAIL to immediately remove the intestines from tilapia, grass carp, or other fish listed as harmful or potentially harmful ect. ect. ect.

Maybe the common carp does not fit into that catagory. Having trouble finding the list of "harmful fish".

Thats a shame . If anything positive can be said of this post it is this , if this post was twenty years ago , or even more recent , there would be little objection to it.

I grew up being told to throw carp on the bank . As wrong as I now know that to be , I assure you it was not uncommon thirty years ago . You could walk the banks of any major reservoir and see many rough fish that had been disposed of in this way .

So be thankful that more fisherman like myself have been better educated about the ( lack of destruction ) that rough fish were once thought to be to our native and more beloved fish like bass and crappie .

Long before I found this forum , I no longer participated in that practice of destruction . I have however gained a respect for a fish I had little respect for after reading the post of Starless , LoneStar and company since joining the fourm .

Rock On Guys

Changing hearts and minds one at a time , good job.

I think that harvesting of carp should happen when there is overpopulation, Rickt300, but I refuse to eat these fish....until KSutton just gave me an easy recipe...thanks KSutton! Maybe I need to start fishin' for flatheads again, and maybe some big gar.
A harvest is one thing RickT300....A slaughter AND the waste of the natural resource is uncalled for. It's hard to assume the reasoning of the bowfisher reported on this post, but leaving the fish to bloat doesn't sound like a solution to better the wildlife, lol. Maybe he didn't have money left over for a knife to gut the fish so they stink after spending all that money on a bow and the numerous arrows that 100 fish outings must render. Good thing the bowfishing for catfish thing lost wind.
By the way, carp are not the only culprit in a muddy water situation. Last time I checked, the other species bed up mostly on bottom or near bottom or inclined banks(correct me if I'm wrong). Also, do you think that the waters weren't muddy until carp were introduced? I see your point about us talkin' alot and not harvesting...agreed. You got to remember, we aren't exactly biologists here...just concerned anglers. On the other hand, it's not exactly a popular food fish in these neck of the woods....KSutton's recipe above is the first recipe I've heard that I'd actually try. I grew up hearing about pressure cooking 'em. I bet there are many more native carp fishermen around here than native carp eaters. Last time I checked, Long John Silver's or any other food joint I've been to don't have carp fillet or grilled carp,hahaha!
Personally, I don't see why needed harvesting isn't carried out by TPWD on a regular basis....or maybe it is and it's not publicized.

Yeah, bullhead and catfish muddy the bottom as badly as carp do in many instances, but they are rarely vilified for it the way carp are. And of course rain, floods, wind, waves, and all manner of other aquatic life and events muddy the bottom too.

Anyway, not what this thread has been about.

Jimmyjack - No, common carp are not listed under those categories.

Other then that, I'll let you guys chat! Lol.

Well what difference does it make if TPWD poisens them (or a bass club) or if a bowfishing tournament takes place and they bury them? They are a resource only if someone uses them as such and it seems I have put more of them to good use than any of you carp aficianado's. While omnivorous catfish are not continually uprooting vegetation to feed like carp do, just check out the mountain creek arm of Joe Poole lake and watch them work. While there catch some, take em home and eat them.

Uprooting usually takes place, from what I've seen, due to overpopulation. Carp feed on many of the same food catfish and bream do.