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#32635 - 10/03/04 01:59 AM Any carp fishermen, bow, speargun, hook & line?
bountyhunter Offline


Registered: 11/14/03
Posts: 1224
Loc: Milwaukee, WI USA
For years I have heard that Wisconsin exports huge amounts of spring carp (That is what we call a bottom scavenging fish up here in Wisconsin.) to several southern states. I have heard that early carp have a firm delicate texture and taste great in a variety of recipes. In later spring and summer, the meat supposedly becomes rather muddy flavored.

Any of you Southerners eat Wisconsin carp and can you compare it to any of the common salt water fish or to catfish in taste and texture.

If I am around here next spring, I have been toying with the idea of doing some carp fishing with a Bear Whitetail Hunter 50# twin cam compound bow that I purchased at Goodwill for $10.99. The knees are the reason I am considering a bow since sitting on the low seats of a boat is currently not in the books for me.

Give me details and any recipes you care to share, as well as any horror stories about carp as a delicacy.

Bountyhunter

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#32636 - 10/03/04 02:17 AM Re: Any carp fishermen, bow, speargun, hook & line?
Anonymous
Unregistered


The best carp recepe I've found as of yet goes like this;
1. Catch and clean one medium to large carp.
2. Place one red clay brick inside body of carp.
3. Wrap carp in foil (shiny side in).
4. Bake at 350 degrees for 45 minutes.
5. Add garlic, onion, and italian seasoning and bake an additional 15 minutes.
6. Remove from oven, discard foil and carp, and eat the brick.

To those of you who enjoy carp, sorry...I couldn't resist, I hear it's pretty good pickled.

Troy

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#32637 - 10/03/04 08:33 AM Re: Any carp fishermen, bow, speargun, hook & line
M_a_x Offline
Veteran

Registered: 08/16/02
Posts: 1203
Loc: Germany
The muddy flavour comes from algea in water. Smoked carp tastes pretty good. You need medium size or bigger for that (they are also easier to hit <img src="/images/graemlins/wink.gif" alt="" />). Small carp can be simmered in water with onions, laurel, vinegar, pepper grains and grains of mustard seed. When you are careful not to damage the slime on the skin it turns blueish.
Around here there?s also a recipe for a fish with 3 to 4 pounds. You clean it, season it and stuff it with potatoes. Then you bake it in an oven for about 30 min. in an upright position. When the fish is done the potatoes are ready too. When you don?t want the potatoes with it you can use a cup.
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#32638 - 10/03/04 02:31 PM Re: Any carp fishermen, bow, speargun, hook & line
AyersTG Offline
Veteran

Registered: 12/10/01
Posts: 1272
Loc: Upper Mississippi River Valley...
Heh - gee, I could guess you're a fellow midwesterner just from the "delicate" way you bring the subject up, LoL...

I'm not a "carp fisherman", but I've caught them with hook-and-line and many springs ago I bowfished for them a couple of years. Oh - I've eaten them as well.

In my part of the midwest they are sneered at by, erm, un-informed people because they are associated anecdotally with a certain ethnic group - in other words, some folks make racist comments about carp (think that over a moment - how absurd is that! It's a fish, fer cripes sake!)

It's a white-meat fish (minnow, actually, I think) so it is about as bland as any other white meat fish. The quality of the meat depends on the polution (or lack of) in the water it lives in, just exactly like any other fish.

Commercial fisherman around here smoke most of their carp catch. Smoked carp, like most any smoked fish, is a tasty snack to me; YMMV. I have also eaten fried carp - tastes like... fried fish. Poaching, broiling, and baking carp are unknown to me, and I defer to M_A_X on those methods - which are probably a better indication of what carp meat tastes like than smoked or fried.

The source of the sneering in the USA comes from who introduced carp when and why: US Grant administration after the Civil War as a food fish. You may fill in the blanks from there - we both live in the midwest, so I expect your local myths about carp are the same as ours. Carp are an important food fish in Asia where they originated and if you look in the kitchen of many "Chinese" restaraunts, you will find one or another variety of carp being prepared (at least, in all the kitchens I have been in locally...)

Hooking one produces varied results, but they are never easy to just wind in unless you are using very heavy line. Sometimes they pull like a bulldozer and sometimes they fight the line like a beserk "game" fish. But the ones I caught have always been interesting on the hook. Bowfishing is altogether different to me and I think carp are the only fish I've ever taken with a bow. Maybe some buffalo or freshwater drum also - been a long time ago.

When I was a kid, one of my neighbors (the term "hillbilly" comes to mind rather sharply) used to keep caught carp alive in clean water for a week, feeding them cornmeal doughballs. I can't say what that did for the taste because that family never shared any <grin>.

If I caught a carp these days I would take it to a commercial smokehouse - and that's my prejudice, because most any other local food fish I simply cook and eat - poached or fried, according to species and my fancy at the time.

I suggest you find someone who smokes fish, try some smoked fish of a species you consider palatable, and then try some smoked carp. If you like it <shrug> go fishing...

<Edit> check this out - start at the bottom with the info and then check out the recipes above. Sounds interesting, now that you "made" me go check this out: http://www.idfishnhunt.com/eatcarp.htm <end edit>

HTH,

Tom


Edited by AyersTG (10/03/04 02:48 PM)

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#32639 - 10/03/04 05:33 PM Re: Any carp fishermen, bow, speargun, hook & line?
brian Offline
Veteran

Registered: 07/28/04
Posts: 1468
Loc: Texas
All I know about carp is that they eat anything (including bass) and that your recipe is probably the best way to eat them. <img src="/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />
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#32640 - 10/05/04 11:02 PM Re: Any carp fishermen, bow, speargun, hook & line?
KenK Offline
"Be Prepared"
Pooh-Bah

Registered: 06/26/04
Posts: 2208
Loc: NE Wisconsin
Many many many moons ago, as a kid in high school, I had the good fortune to live for just one year directly across the street from the Grand River in Grand Rapids, Michigan. I spent just about every afteroon of that summer fishing for carp.

I used worms for bait. I would put a very heavy sinker on the line so that the line could slide freely through the sinker. I would lob the whole thing into the river and let out lots of line. The heavy sinker would sink quite fast and stay fixed in place, and the bait would woft in the current. With a bit of patience I would get a hard strike on the bait. I would usually set the hook and then have fun hauling in the rig and fixh. They pulled VERY hard. Not really a fight, but more a nasty pull that sometimes pushed the 10 lb test line I used.

Given that it was illegal to return them to the water, I always gave them to my neighbor who used them as fertilizer. I was always told they were essentially inedible.

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#32641 - 10/05/04 11:56 PM Re: Any carp fishermen, bow, speargun, hook & line?
GoatRider Offline
Old Hand

Registered: 08/28/04
Posts: 835
Loc: Maple Grove, MN
Where I windsurf, there's a culvert that routes a small stream out of the lake, under the parking lot, and then to a small pond. Apparently, carp accumulate there. One time, somebody speared at least a dozen big ones, and then just left them laying around the shore. Talk about a stink!
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#32642 - 10/08/04 02:21 AM Re: Any carp fishermen, bow, speargun, hook & line?
Anonymous
Unregistered


If you catch live carp, you can keep them in clean water for a few days and that cuts down on the muddy taste - or if you have dead ones, soak the carp meat, gutted and cleaned, in a mixure of milk and honey for about an hour.

Rena

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#32643 - 10/08/04 01:55 PM Re: Any carp fishermen, bow, speargun, hook & line?
brian Offline
Veteran

Registered: 07/28/04
Posts: 1468
Loc: Texas
I have found that milk and honey trick to be good for lots of gamey tasting meats. Even just milk is somewhat effective if you have an aversion or allergy to honey.
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Learn to improvise everything.

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#32644 - 10/08/04 04:21 PM Re: Any carp fishermen, bow, speargun, hook & line?
Anonymous
Unregistered


I like my meat sweet...

<img src="/images/graemlins/tongue.gif" alt="" />

If you don't have milk, I have been told(have not tried this one myself) that crabapples and sour things will counteract the muddy taste, too.

Rena

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