what do you do with carp?

[shag08]

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.

[K.S.TRAPPER]

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

[bisket]

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.

[mountain lion]

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!

[Pheonixarcher]

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.

[Big Ed]

I use them as fertilizer on my brother in laws tree farm.

[Wheels2]

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.

[hitman]

Cut them up and put in containers to make fish oil for trapping.

[YORNOC]

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.

[bigiron]

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.

[Trad Whitetail]

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!

[Trad Whitetail]

Bigiron, I have been wanting to try that.  I love salmon cakes.

[monkeyball]

Carp on a Plank Recipe
             -----------------------

  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

[bruinman]

Carp is good stuff smoked. Have not done it in years though.

[Dan bree]

Tryed smokein carp but couldn't keep them lit.

[ishoot4thrills]

Originally posted by Dan bree:
Tryed smokein carp but couldn't keep them lit.

   

Probably illegal too, at least for now......

Maybe it'll be on the next ballot at the polls though.

[Marshallrobinson]

Like hearing some of the new ideas for cooking carp.  

[toddster]

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.

[Izzy]

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.