When you go out bowfishing, and you get a carp, What do you do with it? I have never heard of people eating these bottom feeders? SO... I'm only asking because I spoke to my dad about doing this this spring, and he mentioned that he would love to get into it. Only he never could figure out what to do with them when he got one. Said when he was a kid, he used to "just dig a hole, and bury 'em." (He would do a lot of things that would get someone arrested now days. :huh: ) I was just wondering. If you want you can PM me the response.
Well, while they would make great fertilizer for the garden, they are actually tasty if done right. First thing to do when preparing carp, is to cut out all the RED meat. Only keep the white meat and soak it in salt water. Change the water out every night and repeat, do this for about 3 days. Then prepare it like any other fish, your choice of breading and fry or bake, I like to throw em on the grill sometimes. If you are into canning then they make great fish cakes too, also you can put them in a smoker.
well regardless of if i agree, it seems that really good bowfishers in the right area can amass a ton of fish in a single night, and from all i can tell most throw them in a pile. or till them into the garden. and it actually appears to be legal in some areas to do that
Caveman, that is what I was thinking. I mean really, they are bottom feeders, so they eat a whole lot of crap. This brought me to the thought that "you are what you eat" comes into play here. What consistancy is the white meat in the carp? Is it like fish, or more like a lobster? I don't know how to explain that question any further. I hope you understand it.
Common carp do tend to accumulate contaminates. I'll put some Spring carp fillets from clean lakes in brine and smoke them. They're really good that way. I've heard they're very good canned too. Much like canned salmon. My buddy from MO will take the time to carve off all the red meat and fry up the white meat. It tastes very mild that way. Gar are really good, the texture of the meat is like a cross between fish and crayfish. Taste is about like crayfish. Gar taken early when the water is cool will taste better than warm water gar. (just like most fish) Here's a link for cleaning gar. http://www.illinoisbowfishers.com/gar.html Bighead carp, silver carp and buffalo fish are very good with very light white meat. It can actually be almost flavorless. Soaking it in some Italian dressing before frying will give it a nice flavor. (you can marinate it in anything you'd like or just fry it up without marinating) The downside is that they are bony suckers. Here's a link to a good way to clean them. You'll end up throwing out most of the fish but after a good bowfishing trip you can be picky. http://www.illinoisbowfishers.com/asiancarpchops.pdf
Some bowfishing pictures that do beg... what do we do with them all? There were two boats and trucks filled like this after our bowfishing tournament on Rend Lake in S. IL.. The Army Corps and IL DNR digs a hole for our fish disposal. They want these fish removed from the lake. Our members take some home to eat but most end up in the hole. These bighead carp were given to shore fishermen. The deck on our boat is 8ft wide to give you an idea of the size of these fish. I bought a new toy to help me with my fish disposal. It's a little baby tractor but it does the job and it really makes digging holes fun. (digging with a loader is a bit of a challenge but the backhoe attachment was like $5K)
Christine, That is pretty impressive. How long did that take? I would assume all day? As far as the truck, could you not find any water to wash the bed off? Kinda gross.
The Billy Davis Memorial Tournament on Rend Lake is a 12 hour tourney. 7pm to 7am. In 2006 and 2007 it took over 340 fish to take first place. Bad weather in '08 dropped that number to 40. There's lots of slime and blood involved with that many fish, you should see the floors of the boats. It gets washed off after the fish are disposed of but there's no running water where we weigh in. The smell is a little harder to get rid of. That truck was only a month old in the photo (it's my friend's truck). He ended up accidently sliding it into a flooded river last Spring. Totaled it. He was trying to test his new airboat. (happily the airboat did fine)
MNKK, Don't feel bad about taking carp and not eating them. Most biologists will tell you that it's better for carp to be in the dumpster (not literally) than in the water. Make sure you dispose of them responsibly. Bottom line, taking carp from the waterways is beneficial to the other species. Shoot all you can, have a blast doing it, dispose of them so no one has to smell 'em and everyone (but the carp) wins. Kudos to you for wanting to utilize what you take. This is one instance where it's ok not to eat what you take. If you get a chance to take the Bighead or Silver carp or some decent sized gar, check out the links Christine gave you. Bigheads and silvers are deelish and gar are some of my favorite fish. Good luck to ya.
MNKK, Central Minnesota Is carp capital of the world thanks to the Idiot who brought them here from the east!! As for shooting carp with the bow, been doing that since I was a little kid. 30 years of shooting these things has been a blast! My dad built a smoker years ago so we've smoked many many carp. To me there Isn't a better tasting smoked fish, you just got to know what your doing when smoking these things and preparing the carp the right way also. Apple and cherry wood works great for smoking, gives a nice flavor to It. The brine Is the most critical I believe. My dad and I use brown sugar In ours and something else but I can't for the life of me remember what It Is. We cut the guts out and chop the head off and put them In a 5 gallon pale with the brine and let them sit In there for at least 24 hours. The right temps are a big part when smoking, not to hot and not to cool. I haven't done It for about 5 years but I'm going to start doing this again next summer. I'm pumped up now after posting this!!!
I see them all the time in the lakes. I can't stand carp. But honestly, they have given me one of my favorite fishing memories with my wife.
