Trad Gang

All the threads on bowfishing really have me wanting to try it.  One question -- What's everybody do with the carp?

Coyotes gotta eat too!

They make good fertilizer for flowers or bushes.

When I was a youngster my Dad had an old friend that pickled'em.
Just like pickled Herring. They ate them on crackers or Pumpernicle Rye.

Pickled carp      Um,  I like the coyote idea...

There's a place in Oamaha, Ne that is famous for their pickled carp.

Makes me want to run right up there to Omaha, Ne and get me some pickled carp.

Carp is edible.  Not that bad actually.  Problem is, Wisconsin has a bunch of better tasting fish swimming around.
ChuckC

Eat 'em.  Anything over four or five pounds makes fine fillets.  The smaller ones we pick and make salmon patties.

Pickled carp is good. Canned carp is ok. Fried carp is ok.

Joe Tess, I believe, is the place in Omaha that is famous for carp.

Catch and release LOL I've burried them in my garden and how bought sending them to the white house LOL no don't do that but it would be funny

Find some local Russian immigrants or Chinese immigrants and they will take every one you shoot.  I call the ones here locally and they meet me at the ramp.  I have had up to 45 carp emptied out of my boat in less than 5 minutes.

Check your postings for hazardous chemicals in fish tissues before eating Carp.  Locally they carry PCB's and other places, Mercury, etc....  Some are safe, some are not.

I've had smoked carp. Was pretty tasty.

Use the skin for bow backing if it is grass carp.
I just finished a bow with Grass carp skin that is in the bowyers bench undere horn belly sinew backed holmgard.

One thing I'm certain of, they do not make salmon patties. Maybe in MO but not in the rest of the world.

I give them to anyone that wants to eat them, then they make good trapping bait. The rest go into the manure pile for food plots or gardens.

They make great stink bait and bait for bear. I did eat carp at a chiness restaurant once I just had to know,it wasn't bad. Carp are an invasive species that can kill off a good fishery quick so I don't mind killing carp and throwing them on the bank. Check out on the bowyers bench Rainmans horn belly Holmgard backed with sinew and carp skins over it,now thats cool!

I can tell you one thing not to do with them. Friend and I were shooting some fish and stopped at a Fish Market. They had carp jerky. Friend bought some to try.

I use to commercial fish some with nets and once in a while a carp would get wedged up under the boat seat. The jerky tasted like one of these carp that had been under the seat for a few days in the sun.  

Bad thing was we both kept belching all day long and would have the taste all over again. He took it home and tried to give it to his dog. The dog would not touch it.

:laughing:    :laughing:

I practice catch and release just like the bass fisherman do.Got some huge turtles around where I bowfish.  :goldtooth:

I am not too sure that even the walleyes are edible in the dirty water around here, especially this year.  Years ago farmers fed them to hogs.  At this time of year migrating eagles will get most, but later pretty much nothing eats them, except maggots. Maggots gotta eat to, I guess.

Carp are considered good table fare in most of the world. In some European countries they are also considered a valued sport fish. My grandparents loved fried carp. I like to take young kids out fishing where they have a good chance of catching a good sized carp. Due to pollution most of them wind up as fertilizer these days.

poison arrow, the word itself is not the most offensive part of your post.  Reread it carefully.

I'll save as much meat off carp as I can use, as they make excellent trotline, limbline and jugline bait.  Nice and oily.

Regarding the patties...I think Buffalo makes the better fish patties, not carp.

The owner at a local chinese restraunt loves carp,and I love General Tso's chicken.We have an arrangment   :cool:

Shedrock, you are correct on Joe Tess's establishment in Omaha. Fish sandwich is excellent, your choice dark or light meat, from carp.

I used to give them to the Vietnamese where I grew up. They would sell them as food. My friends thought I was crazy for not charging for them. I saw it as them doing me a favor and keeping me from having to dig a hole.

After their food store closed down I would bury them. If I only had one or two I would throw them back at the end of the day in the channel where they wouldn't stink up the shore line.

I have also given them to Mink Farmers. I once tried to eat them, It didn't taste good but I would try again with a proper recipe.  

Then again after a good day it is hard to eat 600 lbs of fish.

After local tournaments they would give them to farmers to put in their fields.

I caught a middlin' sized one in the Potomac once, and brought it home. When I tried to fillet it, I could not find a way to gt the meat from the bones. They seemed to run harum-scarum throughout the muscles. I saw no rhyme nor reason to their arrangement. I'm sure God knows the whys and wherefores, but not I.

I have filleted many a fish, dismembered many a beast and have had some education in anatomy and physiology. These guys are gonna have to do some tricks to get on my plate.

Killdeer

Turtle bait, fertilizer, cat food. Smoked carp is ok but only with the correct amount of chilled adult beverages to go with it.

I am not allowed to bring carp home to bury in the garden.

    A couple of years ago I buried some in the garden.  A couple of weeks go by, thought everything was just fine.  Then one night I let the dogs out one last time before retiring for the night.  Well you guessed it, the dogs dug up the carp and then rolled in the goo.  Of course I didn't know it until they got back into the house.  The wife was screaming, the kids were gaggin and the dogs were shaking and happy as all could be.  I was up until midnight giving them to dogs a bath.

Catch and release. Most of the time they are just fine and swim away. But usually I can't hit em...  :goldtooth:

here is a link to a video on how to clean a carp. He uses power tools and it contains the sage advice-"if you are having trouble with this, get a bigger knife"  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9BtdIhv3h7I

Under the Tomato plants about 6-8" But chopped into pieces. Try it one time you will see.

DD

Aren`t carp bottom feeders?

I think the Michigan DNR produces a book containing a list of fish with extremely high levels of assorted nasties such as Dioxin, Mercury, lead, and a host of other man made horrors. Carp is high on that list.

From what I remember they are safe to eat, so long as you never plan on having children, and as long as you only eat one meal per month.  :scared:  Something along those lines anyway.

They no longer go in my garden. The blue tomatoes were a warning sign.

Fertilizer !! Really big tomatoes !

QuoteOriginally posted by owlbait:
Turtle bait, fertilizer, cat food. Smoked carp is ok but only with the correct amount of chilled adult beverages to go with it.

Or the chilled adult beverages and forget the carp. We cut their air bladders and sink them to the bottom. Turtle's gotta eat and you don't want them floating for the skiers to find them the next day.

Years ago I shot a couple dozen 2-3 pounders and took them to my wife's uncle.  Helped skin and fillet them.  Her uncle then ground the fillets, mixed salt, pepper, tender quick and mustard seeds and stuffed them into casings.  Made carp sausage.  He then put several rings in the smoker.  Said he would give me some the next time I was out that way.  A few weeks later my wife was out visiting - her uncle sent a sample (like about 2 inches)  I was very skeptical, but it was just plain delicious.  Still have the recipe and hope some day to try it again.

Great "Turtle bait"

If you put 'em in your garden here, you'll have a garden full of stinkin fire ants in no time.

When I was way younger about 14 or or so I rode my bike to the local carp stream about 5 miles from the my house. Shot three 2-3 lbers on the west side of the creek not having boots I went to the road to get to the east bank without getting all wet. When I got on road holding the three fish at the side of the road a car came to a screaching stop and offered me .50 cents apiece for the fish. I took his money and went home a rich boy. I guess I missed my big business oppertunity. LOL

Leaving fish in the water is against the law here in Michigan, so we can't "Catch and Release". If you dig the hole wide and deep enough most critters won't mess with them, its when the carp leave a scent trail next to the hole that you get diggers. At least that is my experience.

The big blue carp rib cage is great.Cut them in strips with large rib bone in and when fried the meat shrinks to leave a handle with the bone for your favorite dipping sauce.The yellow ones make good fertlizer.Kip

I trap so there is no contest for some stinky rotten carp meat, I just fillet them and either eat them or use the rest for bait.  Coons, scrats, possums, and all kinds of critters love that nasty smell.  

If you do plan to eat them I would feel safer with the younger ones for several reasons!  They are smaller which makes them easier to clean, and tenderer, lol(idk if that is a word), and they were in the water for a shorter amount of time, sooo there is a greater chance that they are safer to eat, if you are worried about merc or anything like that.

I think the Politically Correct name for the process is "Kill and Release".
It isn't as popular with other species, but great for carp!  

Joe

Carp are excellent smoked   IF  you know what your doing with the smoking and the brine. 2 to 3 pounders are the perfect smoking size.

Here is a recipe that was given to me by a fllow archer a while back:
2lbs Carp and 1 lb Bandini cooked in oven for 60 minutes at 350. Once done throw the carp away and eat the bandini. LOL

Bonebuster took the words out of my mouth. I wouldn't suggest eating any wild bottom feeders in much of the country.

Depending on the waterway, you're likely eating very polluted fish.

Even some perfectly safe looking, beautiful trout streams, like the Pere Marquette River, which is even a National Scenic River, aren't safe for eating much. For kids, don't eat more than one trout a month, even if only 8".

The Michigan DNR even states so on carp...
4. Don't eat fatty fish like carp and catfish from polluted waters. Most chemicals (except for mercury) collect in the fat. Buy catfish from your grocery store instead.

Here's the Michigan fish consumption guide. Scroll down a bit to page 7 and the big graphs. Notice the difference between what men and women and children can eat. To me, feeding a wild carp to my kids from the typical Michigan waters that would hold carp would be like handing them a pack of cigarettes and a lighter and telling them to smoke up.

Now maybe west of any major industry, like west of the Mississippi may be OK or in the deep south, but if east of the Mississippi or the upper Midwest and east, all that stuff that went airborne from the 1890's thru 1970's drifted east and settled in the lakes and rivers. The more fatty the fish, the more that stuff stays in the fish.

That's why Great Lakes salmon and lake trout are also something you should limit eating.

 http://www.michigan.gov/documents/FishAdvisory03_67354_7.pdf

Through the late 80's early 90's we averaged 350 carp each spring on piedmont lakes in NC. Raccoons and Eagles (we are covered up with both) ate the carp as quick as we could kille em. Often when fishing a day or a few days later I would check piles of carp we had left in the woods near waters edge (GONE) EVERY time. Similar to badger arrow I dumped some in my garden one time - then a Possum that was living under a neighbors porch dug up a carp and took it home under my neighbors porch - he had a contractor pull up his porch and rebuild !?!?!?!??!
Have fun - nobody needs to eat carp - the risk mentioned due to water quality is more than enough to avoid them. Carp eaten by raccooons and eagles are not wasted.
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Lots of good ideas, I was just wandering what everyone did with all teh carp!

Coyotes aren't too picky from what I understand ...

gring them up and make catfish baiti ironically since i dont ever catfish i just give it away