Ive been wanting to try bowfishing, but not sure on what to do with the fish you kill? Never ate it so dont if I would like it. I dont want it to go waste because I was raised dont kill what your not gonna eat. If I had a garden I would bury it for fertilizer. I hear gar is pretty tasty. Just wondering what you do with your carp? Do you eat it? Do you bury it? Do you donate it? Do you leave it to feed other critters? I guess it would be good for coyote bait. Just wanting some ideas.
Ask a farmer if he would like some free fertilizer.
When my wife was young, they didn't have much, so they made fried carp balls, like you would make salmon croquettes. Of course, they ate coots too, so they must have been pretty hard up. I would imagine the main problem with carp would be cleaning them, more than the taste. Why don't you experiment and let us know what you come up with? Maybe fried carp balls will be the next big thing
There's a woman who lives close by where I do most of my bowfishing. She smokes them and eats em...says it's delecious. I haven't tried it though. If I kill a decent mess a keep them on ice an give em to her. If I just kill a couple I throw em out behind the house for the coons.
I don't leave them laying around my fishing holes. I hate it when other people do and I have to be around the stinking carcasses.
My dad said he tried smoked carp years ago in Chicago and it was surprisingly good. Give it a whirl and let us know.
Coon bait for trapping season.
Fertilizer....
Ditto on the fertilizer.
1: plant them and see if they grow
2: trap bait
3: slit their air bladder and sink them so the turtles have something to eat.
I used to have a lady down the road that loved for me to bring her some. She's in a nursing home now so that option is out.
I've eaten it twice in my life. fixed once by the woman down the road and it was as good as any fish I'd eaten. Second time by someone who had no clue how to fix it and it was the worst fish I had eaten!!
Lots of choices as to what to do with Carp. We had some local Bowfishing tournaments and they put a add on Craigslist. I saw over a 1000 lbs of fish hauled away on more than one occasion by very happy people.
bretto
Sell them to McDonald's. I believe that they use them by the semi-trailer load, for their McCarp, er, Filet-o-fish sandwiches.
I used to love those sandwiches, still eat them sometimes, rarely. But when I read that they were made of carp, I curtailed my consumption of them. I remember watching a bunch of teens hocking loogies and spitting in a pond, and watching the carp fight to eat it. Kinda turned me off of them.
Gar is some fine eating!
Buffalo is some good eating!
Ordinary carp is ok for eating, smoked and canned is really good. People are lazy and just don't want to work at it and pick at the bones.
Asian carp, silvers and bigheads are good to eat, mostly clean white meat but they do have some large extra bones too. This is a silver carp
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All carp make excellent catfish cut bait!!! Google it tons of videos on YouTube, We have been using carp for fish bait since I was in high school but its really catching on now. The Asian carp are our favorite because of the small scales white meat the cats and stripers/wipers really like them. Couple blues caught on carp!
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We catch a lot of wipers on carp too!
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Just fillet your carp and leave the skin on it, if its large carp pop the large scales off leave the rest alone. The skin is what makes it so good at holding on the hook, cut up in chunks use it on your pole or hang it on your trotlines cats love it. The fresher the better but we have used frozen many, many times and still done just as good the meat is softer is all.
It is sure a lot better then throwing them in a ditch and wasting them or if you know any trappers like myself we can use them on are traplines too. If you think it don't work here's a couple nice blue cats caught around here this year at catfish tournaments on the river I fish that were caught on Asian carp and released live to be caught again. Maybe! :D
Just missed the state record by 4lbs!
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Tracy
Use carp for catfish bait or trapping bait. Also, Asian people tend to know how to prepare carp to eat, since that's where carp come from, so you might try your local Chinese or Korean restaurant to see if they want them. Just be sure to keep a cooler of ice in your vehicle or boat to keep'em fresh.
Carp are an invasive species that compete with our native fish species for food, nesting sites, space, etc., so I don't have a problem whatsoever in donating them to native turtles, crawfish, catfish, and other scavengers to feed on.
If people weren't willing to kill carp because they don't eat them, then carp would definitely be an under-harvested, invasive fish species.
I haven't eaten at McDonalds in 20 years. After hearing this I hope it will be another 20.
Carp is decent cleaned and fried whole. Then just pick out the bones. Tastes a lot like Mullet. Good for smoking too. Go for the gar too, take out the backstraps. You'll need a sharp knife and a good pair of tin snips.
Carp don't taste so bad. My father in Law used to eat it all the time, which mean we did too when we visited. But I live in WI and there are SO many other fish that taste a bunch better.
CHuckC
Glad to hear there are people who recognize that these fish have some potential. I think most people hear from other people that heard from some other people, that carp isn't edible. Just isn't true.
Considering what stuff flows in our rivers around here, I get a gag reflex even eating walleyes out of them. We have been hit by the jumping carp and everyone is saying they are good to eat. I do not think the entire area population could eat enough of them to put a dent in their numbers. A good way to shoot them is to drive your jon boat up against a bridge abutment, rev up the prop and shoot them before they get a chance to jump in your boat. Never shoot a jumping carp that is already in your boat, safety first.
I have tried carp before. first few times I didn't know what I was doing and left the Bi lateral line in. They were terrible.
Growing up, I used to Haul them into the Asian Food stores. The Hmong people loved them. I heard they would buy them but we just gave them away.
I wouldn't consider eating any fish out of the water here because of the pollutants. I have buried them in the garden and baited turtles.
I also used to take them to a Mink Farm. The farmer fed the mink dead things, he said the carp were good for the coats.
I wish the water was cleaner, I would love to try smoking them.
Back when I shot a lot of carp I did some research of what to do with the carp. Bottom line is they are bottom feeders and a non native destructive fish. They atleast in my local waters are FULL of mercury. I dang sure didn't eat them so I use to bury them in my garden till I realized I was just burying mercury and all the other pollutants in my garden. Just food for thought.
Even game fish here have enough mercury in them you are advised to eat only so much a month and these are not bottom feeders. And the larger the fish the more the pollutants. So when you eat one eat a small one. So I have no problem shooting, cutting the air sac and letting them go back for turtle, coon food etc. You are doing a favor to the native fish in your area to keep the carp thinned down.
Good point LC. I've thought that many times....if they aren't fit to eat because of toxins, why fertilize your vegetables with toxins?
The water is clean here, but I still don't care much about trying to eat carp. Every time I go to the lake, the top of the water has that "gasoline rainbow" sheen on top of...like in a parking lot when it raining.
Eating fish just ain't my thing.
Asian carp are not bottom feeders like the others there mouth is full of nothing but gills they are plankton feeders like paddlefish. That's why there meat is so white
Tracy
My dad says the best way to cook carp is to put it on a grilling plank in oven at 250 degrees f for 2 hours then when your done to throw away the carp and eat the plank.
PETAC, I don't think the people for the ethical treatment of Asian carp are going to bother us.
A scored carp sandwich on some coleslaw is pretty tasty! Carp aren't that hard to clean, they taste good by themselves or with some vinegar or hotsauce. I keep the carp, I will give some away to some people I know who want them then I will put the rest in my freezer!
They make pretty good bear bait! All sorts of other predators as well. I'm not opposed to eating them out of clean water, if someone knows how to prepare them. But, I agree with the invasive species argument. If they didn't naturally occur in a particular ecosystem, I have no problems trying to protect that habitat. That's not just an excuse to kill something, that's the conservationist approach. I value all life, but believe their must be a balance. And if a species that people introduced, disrupts that balance, then people should return that balance to protect that ecosystem. If we allow a species that doesn't belong there to prosper, then the local species will suffer.
I use them as fertilizer on my brother in laws tree farm.
Here in my area the rivers have a muddy bottom and he find them by the pillars of mud that arise as the carp feed. As such they ingest a lot of it and it makes them very strong tasting.
When I was bow fishing, I carried a folding GI shovel and buried them along the bank.
In the spring, I would dig a trench in the garden, bury the carp, put 2" of soil over them and plant tomatoes on top.
The soil in this area is a lot of red clay, so they really helped the plants.
Cut them up and put in containers to make fish oil for trapping.
Cool thread.
I cut them up into 1-2 inch pieces, including guts....and freeze them. In October I rototill them into the gardens. A skunk or two will dig in sometimes, but usually it gets too cold.
We have killer gardens at my place. The veggies are the talk of the neighborhood.
But after reading this, I may try a few other options.
fillet them & chunk them up & can them in pint jars, use them in fish cakes just like salmon.
don't worry about the bones as canning makes them very soft.
I have always used them for fertilizer until this year. I found a clean reservoir and headed out with my kayak early in the morning and shot a bunch with my recurve from the kayak. It was some of the most fun I have had shooting my bow in a while! Anyway I took them right back to shore, cut the heads off and gutted them (I tried filleting like a pan fish but the ribs are too thick!) and put them right on ice. At home I found out that if you fillet them from the top (back) down you can get the fillets off in one piece with just a few tiny bones. I removed the vein in the middle of the fillet and soaked them over night in salt water. I then beer batter / fried them and they were really good! I think the key is getting them in clean water and getting the guts out and the meat on ice right away.
Now, I would not eat carp out of the nasty swamp full of that black mud that turns the fish black unless I was starving. That can't taste good!
Bigiron, I have been wanting to try that. I love salmon cakes.
Carp on a Plank Recipe
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Put a carp on a wooden plank. Fillet carp and now slide everything into a garbage can but the plank.
Take the plank, add a dash of salt and pepper, and put in the oven for about 15 minutes at 350 degrees (have a fire extinguisher close by just in case). Remove promptly,spread with ketchup and make sure you chew it well.
Good Shooting,
Craig
Carp is good stuff smoked. Have not done it in years though.
Tryed smokein carp but couldn't keep them lit.
QuoteOriginally posted by Dan bree:
Tryed smokein carp but couldn't keep them lit.
:clapper: :biglaugh:
Probably illegal too, at least for now......
Maybe it'll be on the next ballot at the polls though.
Like hearing some of the new ideas for cooking carp. :)
My brother and I both bowfish usually pretty heavy all year long in central illinois. Gar is though kinda of a pain to clean, yeilds great meat and is awesome. Buffalo carp is awesome eating and been really doing buffalo ribs and Buffalo balls (grind them up). Common carp we don't eat much do to the taste. I have been trying to find a good way to smoke them and can them. I remember as a young man, we had an old aunt who use to can them, it was better than tuna fish, but like alot of stuff lost with those people.
Ive seen what they have inside of them, looks like a cross between goose and baby stool and the oil slick they leave when rinsed in the river can be walked on. One of the reasons I don't do a ton of bow fishing anymore.
I do know 1 fellow who bring them home to NYC and claims they are delicious. :dunno:
By the pics of those asian carp, they look totally different than commons and look to be a good eating fish.
Maybe not all carp are created equal...I tried to fry one once. It was the worst thing I've ever put in my mouth, and I've eaten food in England...
It was a common carp and I was told that they we're good to eat if battered and fried. IMO they are about as tasty as a dog turd.
K.S.TRAPPER - How you preparing your carp for trapping bait... Heard tell of cutting them in chunks and allow them to begin decay in the sun in mason jars...
I like these ideas. I got several guys i work with arebig catfishermen so the bait so good. I wouldnt mind trying eating tbem if i found a good recipe. At least i could say i tried it.I decided that I cant wait until spring after turkey season to try bowfishing. I want to now but Ive got the rest of the month of 3d shoots left. Then ill start hitting woods for deer and turkey.
If you can get the big blue ones cut the ribcage off slice in between each rib bone and fry them. Meat shrinks a little when cooked so you have a handle with the bone to eat them very good.Kip
Zbone, I use it a couple different ways but I like it as fresh as I can get it no taint. I wil. Cut some up in cubes for pockets sets and a good change up for coyotes at times in dirt holes sets. They really like the fresh fish but I use it late in the season to keep the skunks and opossums out.
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For raccoons I grind up the fish, mix in crawfish oil, glycerin and corn meal to thicken until it's a good paste. It's just like a commercial bait called Fatal attraction by Blackies blend that I used to use. Been making my own for many years now
All the Asian carp get gutted on the water and put on ice, if I need bait I fillet one side. The rest goes in the freezer for catfish bait even flatheads like the Asian carp when it's fresh.
Tracy
I have smoked them they where good but the bones had bones. I worked with a contractor from Poland he loved them and told me he eats them all the time back home. Ask him about the bones he told me the women pick them out not at my house.
I didn't read the whole thread and maybe someone mentioned it but I've been told to pressure cook them and can them. They said the pressure cooking makes the bones edible, like canned salmon.
I doubt mercury is or any other pollutant is cleaned by pressure cooking, frying etc. I'm just saying this fish, the common carp is non native, bottom feeding, destructive fish to our environment and in MOST waters is not fit to eat. JMHO.
I simply ask you to contact your local DNR and ask about consumption of fish in your area especially bottom feeding fish. It's usually listed in fishing regs but most people don't even read it. Putting it in your garden is really questionable in my humble opinion.
I'm not saying that we shouldn't bow fish them as they are NON NATIVE fish that destroy the habitiat for native and game fish! They need controlling and I'm in for that! Bowfishing is my favorite way of helping my local enviourment.
If you don't find another use for them on this interesting thread,take them to your local landfill if you have one nearby. They often welcome such things to help to "break-down" all the mixed up matter they have there. Enzymes really help in the ecosystem of that particular wasteland. rat'
K.S.TRAPPER - Thanx for the tips...
I smoke them.
Dang hard to keep one lit.