Carp Hunting

[Johnch]

Range scrap lead was added to the 20 lb Lee Dripping Lead Pot a few days ago
Down to only a few egg sinkers and bank sinkers
So I spent a hour or so making 1/8 to 1 oz egg sinkers and 1/4 to 2 oz bank sinkers

2 Friends and I went out fishing for Carp this morning to use the sinkers I had cast the other day

The carp were in the marsh where I hunt and need to be removed as they destroy the marsh
We also take some of the meat to eat
I also need a bunch of the meat for raccoon bait , as I will soon be starting to do Crop Damage Trapping
So the darn Raccoon will destroy less of the corn fields

We took the boat with us ( Drove in ) and set up the rods along a area of channel , where the water goes from 8' in the channel to 1' or less in a large flat
Carp move into the flat to spawn and feed
Tearing up the plants , what the marsh members didn't want

Nothing fancy , just several different jello flavored carp baits and worms
Strawberry was the winning flavor today
6 - 7' light to med weight spinning rods
8 lb leaders and 15 lb braid ,the Braid lets us make long casts

Oh also my friends had a good amount of beer to drink as needed ( If the fish were not biting )

Not great fishing after 10 AM , but we fished till 3 PM
But about 11 AM we had to use the boat to chase down a 40 lb female carp that headed into the cattails after it was hooked
I used my bow with a carp hunting line holder to anchor that carp , or we might have spent a long while getting it in

We ended up with 94 carp for the 3 of us , we stopped when the 250 gallon water trough was full
I kept about 20 lb of meat to eat .... all 3 of us kept about the same amount
50 lb or so of of raccoon and turtle bait
The rest of the carp was ran through the wood chipper
That is used in the garden to make stuff really grow
Just have to fence off the garden , or the raccoon , possum and skunks will trash the garden eating the ground fish :sad:

I did think about getting the AK 47 out and doing a different kind of carp hunting LOL
But didn't :bigsmyl2:

John

[HogRider666]

Hello John, good catch! We have plenty of carp here, how do you cook them? The couple I’ve tried taste muddy.

[Winger Ed.]

Good going.

Ya might want to set up some targets under water to practice on.
With the refraction deal going on, things under water aren't necessarily where you see them from the surface.
Put a pencil half way in a glass of water- the bottom appears in a different place compared to the part in the air.

[richhodg66]

Hello John, good catch! We have plenty of carp here, how do you cook them? The couple I’ve tried taste muddy.

You need to trim off the dark brown meat just under the skin on the filets, that helps.

Carp smokes very well. Give that a try sometime.

[Winger Ed.]

Hello John, good catch! We have plenty of carp here, how do you cook them? The couple I’ve tried taste muddy.

Carp don't get much love in the US, but most of the world raises them to eat like we do pigs & chickens.

Cut off everything that isn't white.
Be careful about filleting out their second set of 'Y' bones to fry them.

Another option is fillet them out-- and again, cut off anything that isn't white.
All the red/brown is where the mud taste comes from.
Run them in the pressure cooker. Then use them like you would canned salmon from the grocery store.
The thin 'Y' bones will soften up like bones in canned sardines.

[Silvercreek Farmer]

The dark meat tastes fine. Bleed 'em good as soon as you get them in the boat and they'll taste good. Youtube frying carp and look for one where they slice the fillet into thin strips, but not all the way through. The bones fry up and mostly disappear.

[Texas by God]

We ate a lot of Carp/Buffalo patties growing up. Better than store bought canned salmon patties. Mom canned carp by the washtub full. Poke salad and fried okra and hush puppies on the side.

[Tripplebeards]

I old schooled a few about two weeks ago when I took a morning off from spring turkey hunting...

https://i.imgur.com/uPdDBoO.jpg

https://i.imgur.com/bzOt0VH.jpg

https://i.imgur.com/HCVR6nG.jpg

I have the two “yellow” carp brining right now getting ready to smoke. The buffalo are still froze up. I hit the right morning as they only jump about two to three days here each year. The buffalo normally spawn a few weeks earlier here but we had weird spring as usual so they spawned together. I quit spearing after these ones and just floated around watching...or I would have sunk the boat at the rate I kept going. I had a couple of dandies swim right under the dock yesterday cruising next to each other. They are still making ripples on top of the water at first light but not violently splashing anymore. That big buffalo almost flipped the canoe when loaded it. There was a one about a foot longer and one the same size it was mating with I could never catch up to. I’ll get them next season.

Anyone ever picked buffalo? I was going to give it a try but I’m wondering if it’s too oily?

I use to bow fish them when I was a kid. I just got tired of loosing arrows all the time and the line getting caught under my bear spools all the time so I started using a spear that my buddy gave me in the mid eighties. I believe it belonged to his grandpa. I had to sharpen up the tips this season. My spear defected off a couple of fish instead of going through them to let me know they were getting dull .

[white eagle]

when I was a kid we used to fish them out of the local creek
we used bread dough and treble hooks but we just tossed
them on the bank and left for fertilizer
tried smoking them but as kids could never keep them lit

[Johnch]

I agree
White meat only
The second set of bones are a pain to get out sometimes
But these carp I used a set of needle nose pliers and just pulled them out

I have smoked carp , but I get a lot of Channel Catfish and like them smoked better

LOL A lot of Raccoon can't get enough carp
As my Lab caught a decent sized one sniffing around the wood chipper this morning
As the outside cats must have cleaned up their carp before the raccoon got to it

John

[Winger Ed.]

As the outside cats must have cleaned up their carp before the raccoon got to it

Carp trimmings and scraps is supposed to be some great catfish bait.

Go after the raccoon.
They taste fine, and when ya pull their shirt off- you can make a cool looking hat.:bigsmyl2:

[3leggedturtle]

I was envisioning you taking a speed boat down the river and shooting those carp that jump out of the water!

[richhodg66]

We ate a lot of Carp/Buffalo patties growing up. Better than store bought canned salmon patties. Mom canned carp by the washtub full. Poke salad and fried okra and hush puppies on the side.

When I was bowfishing every day, I could have stacked up a hundred pounds of carp in any given evening. I've never canned and meant to get my mother in law to do some and show me the ropes but never did.

I never had much luck getting the bones to cook out by scoring the filets and frying them real hot the way people tell you to do. I used to filet them carefully so as not to cut any bones more than I had to, then boiled the fillets until they'd flake apart. The Y bones are easy to pull out then, and we'd mashed it up with crackers and onions and fry patties like that.

Something killed off the carp in Milford Lake a few years ago, and I haven't gotten back to bowfishing much since then. I went out for one afternoon during the long nose gar spawn a couple of weeks ago and shot several, but can't seem to get into killing them like I used to, shot half a dozen, most of which were flesh wounds on the upper back muscles, threw them back in the lake and they likely all recovered.

[roverboy]

My grandparents on my mothers side would cook carp a lot when I was a kid. They usually pressure cooked and did patties.

[Teddy (punchie)]

We ate a lot of Carp/Buffalo patties growing up. Better than store bought canned salmon patties. Mom canned carp by the washtub full. Poke salad and fried okra and hush puppies on the side.

Washtub full? Did she hot or cold pack and how long to cook? Any detail appreciated.

[Tripplebeards]

I hear the Buffalo I are good to eat? I batter fried up a little belly meat when I clean mine the other day and it was nothing to write home about. Any buffalo recipes? The meat in the Buffalo are all white compared to carp that are deep red.

[richhodg66]

I always cooked Buffalo with the same methods I used for carp. Interesting fact, Buffalo are indigenous to North America, Carp are not.

[Tripplebeards]

I read that it’s common for them to live to be a 100 plus years old as well.

[Dan Cash]

As a kid in Northern Colorado, we had a private lake for storing irrigation water. The carp would spawn at the lake inlet when we were filling the lake; spawned in their thousands. They swam with about one third of their back out of water and you could wade in and pitch them out with a pitch fork. I preferred to take my 1935 Beretta and shoot them. I learned to shoot a pistol that way. I bought loose ammo for 2 cents a cartridge, most of which was probably corrosive but I knew nothing about the destructive effects at that time. That little .32 was certainly destructive on those carp.

[Thumbcocker]

I had a teacher in junior college who bow fished carp. He swore that canned carp was as good as canned salmon.

[popper]

Milford - Heard that was a great place for muskie, FIL always wanted to go there. Only got those little perch behind the spillway at tuttle creek. Knew a guy who knew a guy who did the tuttle fish sample, some really big stuff, 30# range. Used an electric towed net. Here the grass carp are protected, last time at texoma the 'foreigners' always wanted the gar - lots of them. Took FIL to texoma and he hooked a big largemouth on a worm, fish did the jump and spit. He was still happy to see the action like he always saw on TV. He liked to go to McConaughy for walleye, we got a few at Stockton but they would give a tug for a second then float to the surface - no fun - but good eating. weren't very big either.

[skrapyard628]

I saw carp hunting and immediately thought of the Peoria Carp Hunters. Granted these guys are a bit goofy and what they do can definitely get you hurt really bad. But I laugh my butt off every time I see this.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hN2gMP3Q2Z4

[Tripplebeards]

^^^part two is way more entertaining.

[skrapyard628]

^^^part two is way more entertaining.

The "dreamcatcher" [smilie=l:

[richhodg66]

I read that it’s common for them to live to be a 100 plus years old as well.

I know the fresh water drum do and they have found specimens in the great lakes well over 100 years. Drum are cool fish, man they fight. Also don't have the Y bones or mud line on the meat either. Those funny stones in their heads were always cool too, look like quartz.

[richhodg66]

Milford - Heard that was a great place for muskie, FIL always wanted to go there. Only got those little perch behind the spillway at tuttle creek. Knew a guy who knew a guy who did the tuttle fish sample, some really big stuff, 30# range. Used an electric towed net. Here the grass carp are protected, last time at texoma the 'foreigners' always wanted the gar - lots of them. Took FIL to texoma and he hooked a big largemouth on a worm, fish did the jump and spit. He was still happy to see the action like he always saw on TV. He liked to go to McConaughy for walleye, we got a few at Stockton but they would give a tug for a second then float to the surface - no fun - but good eating. weren't very big either.

Never heard of a Muskie in Milford. They do have Walleye, though I kind of wonder if they could survive here without stocking.

Milford had a weird carp die off a few years ago. The lake was littered with dead fish, even out in big open water, and they were all carp. For several years now, you hardly ever seem to see one. KDWP had some kind of reasoning for it based on weather, water conditions in the river up steram, yada, yada, yada, smelled like Bravo Sierra to everybody. I'm not a conspiracy theorist, but I really believe someone came up with a species specific toxin or micro organism that attacked carp. An awful lot of people don't like them

[Texas by God]

Washtub full? Did she hot or cold pack and how long to cook? Any detail appreciated.Washtub was the receptacle my great uncle brought the fish over in. He seinned the overflow lakes of the river constantly. Mom pressure cooked them and put them up in Mason jars. 50+ years ago so details are foggy....
What always amazed me about carp was how light the big ones were compared to catfish.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G930A using Tapatalk

[richhodg66]

The last time I was in Iraq in 2009, we were heavily into the nation building phase and among other things, going through the motions of giving micro grants for small business owners to start up. Anyway, one of the success stories was an Iraqi man who used one of these grants to start up a fish market and they sold fish but also cooked them on the spot. I wish I still had some pictures, my friend who was the PAO got to go out to the opening of it and showed me how they did it. Basically they gutted the fish and split it down the belly, the splayed it out and speared two sticks through it to hold it. They spiced or marinated to inside of the fisha nd then stuck the sticks in the ground with the inside of the fish at maybe a 30 degree angle over a big bed of wood coals and cooked it that way. I didn't get to go, but he showed me all the photos and even brought back some fish for me. Every fish that guy sold was a common carp exactly like the ones here in my lake. Good stuff.

[Winger Ed.]

[QUOTE=Texas by God;491949What always amazed me about carp was how light the big ones were compared to catfish.
[/QUOTE]

I've noticed that.
Maybe catfish are built more 'stocky' and wide, compared to a carp being sort of thin.

If ya weigh a catfish before and after cleaning it, you're left with about 40% of what ya started with.
Seems like a carp is closer to 20%.

[gumbo333]

Skin 'em, gut 'em, score 'em, coat 'em, deep fry 'em. Don't need to trim any meat or remove y bones? Tail pieces and rib pieces. Just good Good eatin. Put fried piece on a piece of rye bread toast, called a carp sandwich. People that won't eat it, have never tried it. Here we grew up eating carp. Best is winter caught in cold water.

[richhodg66]

I've noticed that.
Maybe catfish are built more 'stocky' and wide, compared to a carp being sort of thin.

If ya weigh a catfish before and after cleaning it, you're left with about 40% of what ya started with.
Seems like a carp is closer to 20%.

When you're starting with a fish that routinely weigh 20 pounds or so, and are as common and easy to catch, the rended down weight doesn't seem to make as much difference.

Our lake here will have several 60 pounder cats taken out of it each year, and those are just the ones I see in our little town. Channels and flat heads mostly. The flat heads are predators, if you go out casting inline spinners when the white bass are biting, you'll likely land as many flat heads as you do bass.

Never shot a really big carp here. While stationed at Fort Sill, the ponds there all have white amur, some variety of carp in them and they didn't mind if you bowfished for them. I shot one out on the east range there that weighed 31 pounds and some change, big fish. Shot another one that same day that broke the arrow, didn't pull the head off or break the line, snapped the fiberglass arrow in two. Never got it in close enough to see for sure, but it must have been huge to be that strong.

For several years, I had the peronal goal to take the Kansas record for long nose gar which is somewhere around 32 pounds and has held since the early 80s. I have one on the wall here that was 54" long and about 22 lbs, but that's about as big as I've shot or seen here. Not big by Texas standards, but kinda cool anyway.

[OldBearHair]

I do believe that water quality has a lot to do with how carp taste. Same with mullet in South Texas Padre Island. No one would bother to look twice at a mullet except to use for bait, much less eat one. The other side of that is from where the Mississippi River enters the Gulf all along the coast to Florida the mullet is highly prized. My friend filets out the top half of the carp only, saying it is the best. In another post here I mentioned my Dad canning 12 1/2 gallon jars of carp and putting them on the shelf in the back of our garage in Wichita Falls, Texas. It got so hot there the chickens stood around in the shade with wing tips and beaks hanging down to the ground. Actually saw 117 degrees F. at times. One day we were sitting on the back porch holding our arms out away from out bodies, when we heard an explosion, then another, and the rest is quick succession as all the canned carp was blown all over the car and every two x four stud in the garage caught pieces of sharp pointed shards of glass. When it came to drawing straws to see who had to clean up the mess, I was the only one that drew. I was twelve years old. I think my Dad was trying to teach me to not back away when trouble came my way. What a mess.

[richhodg66]

I think you're correct about water quality. Milford is a big and fairly clear lake. Carp can survive water conditions many fish can't, so people see them in muddy puddles sometimes and I think it's a turn off.

I have heard some folks would catch them and keep them in a wading pool or similar for several days feeding them corn and good stuff changing the water frequently before cleaning them to make them taste better.

[dkf]

Hello John, good catch! We have plenty of carp here, how do you cook them? The couple I’ve tried taste muddy.

I've heard of guys putting them (and other fish) in clean fresh water in a tub at home for a day or two to help clean them out.

[Tripplebeards]

I’ve had four pieces in my lil totem smoker since 10 am this morning and the thinnest piece is finally done. I’ll check the other three pieces that still look grey and watery in spots around an hour or two.
I fillet them off the rib bones so the meat starts to shrink and cracks when. I rub them down with a good coat of brown sugar before putting the carp in my smoker so they have a good glaze build up when done.




https://i.imgur.com/pSci2ds.jpg

[Winger Ed.]

Looks good.
I've got a big bag of carp that has been pressure cooked out in the freezer.
I'm getting the craving to make it into salmon patty sort of things.

Year before last, I baited the dock for them and catfish.
It worked real well. I got several 8-15 pounders. I think I'll do that again here shortly.

[richhodg66]

I’ve had four pieces in my lil totem smoker since 10 am this morning and the thinnest piece is finally done. I’ll check the other three pieces that still look grey and watery in spots around an hour or two.
I fillet them off the rib bones so the meat starts to shrink and cracks when. I rub them down with a good coat of brown sugar before putting the carp in my smoker so they have a good glaze build up when done.




https://i.imgur.com/pSci2ds.jpg

What did you use for brine before smoking them? I kind of found simpler to be better in that regard.

[Tripplebeards]

I normally brine my Carp using One cup of canning salt and a half a cup of brown sugar per gallon of water. I also throw in a tablespoon of Worchester shire sauce or two. It normally gives the carp meat a dark color after a day or two of soaking. I didn’t have any brown sugar a few days ago when I started the process so I used regular sugar and put in a tablespoon of vanilla extract so we’ll see how it turns out. I let the carp brine for two days. I then removed my fillets and washed them off, padded them dry, and rubbed them down with brown sugar. The brown sugar will instantly get watery like it’s a glaze. I then put a fan in front of the fillets until they start getting dry and tacky, then I throw them in my smoker. I just pulled piece number two out and the other two still look grey in color yet so I set my alarm to wake me in an hour and a half to recheck.

[Tripplebeards]

Last two out, bed time.

https://i.imgur.com/YF46sI2.jpg

[richhodg66]

I haven't smoked any for years. Gotta get out and see if I can find some carp and give it a whirl again.

I remember finding a recipe for brine that had all kinds of stuff in it and trying it only to be pretty disappointed. The salt and brown sugar worked better. Those filets look good.

[Drm50]

Not to many people around here eat carp. Use to be a tradition to get Suckers in the spring runs and can them like Salmon. I don’t know when Carp arrived here but wish they would go back where they came from. In the creeks they are hard on gamefish spawn like smallmouth. When I was a kid we lived on Ohio River and there were 3 kinds of fish. Carp, catfish and Gar the only species that could survive in the pollution. River use to flood every spring before the Roller Dams. The water would go down trapping cornfields full of water about a foot deep. This would freeze and we would go carp hunting with an axe. See them under ice and smack ice hard as you could then chop him out. Summer time there was a factory with a fish pond on edge of town. They would pay 25 cents for golden carp. A few people ate them and we sold a few but mostly just threw them up on the bank. Now we have the Asian carp to worry about.

[richhodg66]

They've been here since the mid 1800s, brought here as a food fish, actually.

I doubt they're going away anytime soon, but I also doubt they are as damaging to native fish as many believe.

[Tripplebeards]

I watched thousands of 10” plus Asian carp jump behind the house last year. Everyone thought I was crazy because there were not reports in our area of them. Look what was floating by my dock a few months ago...

https://i.imgur.com/jVg8dOI.jpg

I sent the photo into fish and wildlife. I was the first one to report them apparently.

[richhodg66]

They say they have them in Kansas, I saw the signs at Clinton reservoir maybe 70 miles east of here. I've never seen one. I have heard they are better eating than the common carp, with the way Americans eat, we just need to market it such that it's trendy and eco friendly to eat them and their populations will go away in no time.

[popper]

Milford is mostly a gravel based lake that the muskie love - as do northern. A sight feeders, they need the clear water. FIL moved to Lebanon so we fished Ol hickory before he passed. Never made it to Milford. He had 3 girls, none liked to fish so I 'got' the duty, love to fish but don't much eat any. The 'new' breed of asian carp we have is basically a farm fish for asia. The Viets I used to work with said they used them to clean the rice paddys and provide fertilizer. Kill off may have been from chems to clean out the water weeds (root killer) they use down here. So bad you are requires to wash and decontaminate you boat and motor when leaving the water. Also problem with the zebra mussels. Many states now require hard soled wading boots, no canvas boots either.
Here any bait minnow are to be dumped on the bank to die vs tossing back into the water as most are carp minnows. Same with gar. Yea, the salt water gar in Va were very large and vicious. Here the big ones are from the trinity river basin.

[PB234]

www.youtube.com/watch?v=faZqIdGi87k

A link to just one fo the cooking Asian Carp videos on YouTube. Looks easy, good and probably an easy fish to harvest. If I had access to them I would be cooking determining the best way to make this fish.

[Tripplebeards]

I’m sure if you put a pretty good bounty on them the commercial fisherman would get rid of a lot as well

[richhodg66]

Milford is mostly a gravel based lake that the muskie love - as do northern. A sight feeders, they need the clear water. FIL moved to Lebanon so we fished Ol hickory before he passed. Never made it to Milford. He had 3 girls, none liked to fish so I 'got' the duty, love to fish but don't much eat any. The 'new' breed of asian carp we have is basically a farm fish for asia. The Viets I used to work with said they used them to clean the rice paddys and provide fertilizer. Kill off may have been from chems to clean out the water weeds (root killer) they use down here. So bad you are requires to wash and decontaminate you boat and motor when leaving the water. Also problem with the zebra mussels. Many states now require hard soled wading boots, no canvas boots either.
Here any bait minnow are to be dumped on the bank to die vs tossing back into the water as most are carp minnows. Same with gar. Yea, the salt water gar in Va were very large and vicious. Here the big ones are from the trinity river basin.

I lived in a house on the shoreline of Milford Lake 25 years, still own it. Never saw a pike of any type taken out of it. You must be confusing it with someplace else. Walleyes are about as close to pike as you're gonna find here.

[Winger Ed.]

have heard they are better eating than the common carp, with the way Americans eat, we just need to market it such that it's trendy and eco friendly to eat them and their populations will go away in no time.

In the Mississippi and Ohio rivers they are commercially netting out tons and tons of them.
They're processed and shipped frozen overseas mostly.

There is a few youtube videos of it.
Its amazing the quantities that are coming out and sustaining a business for it.

But, like roaches and mosquitos, there seems to be an endless supply.

[Johnch]

I am spoiled
As I live 10 miles from Lake Erie
5 miles from the Portage River
20 miles from the Maumee and Sandusky rivers
Spring the rivers have Walleye and White Bass runs
From Spring to fall we catch Channel Catfish in the rivers and Lake Erie
All year we catch walleye in Lake Erie
Spring and summer we catch White Bass in Lake Erie
Yellow Perch in Lake Erie
Yellow Bullhead , suckers , crappie , Drum and sunfish in most of the rivers and creeks

So carp are not on the top of the list
But right now the carp are spawning , so they are easy to harvest in large numbers
7 of us went out this afternoon to catch a bunch more from the marsh

A large number were given away to people we know in Toledo Ohio
I kept about 50 of the small ones for bait
I used my 8' cast net
But the ones I kept were 3" - 8"

I did have a real mess when I got several large carp in the net one time

I am going to try and catch that huge Large Mouth Bass I lost using them for bait
LOL I figure the large mouth bass eat them normally
So I should try free bait

John

[Winger Ed.]

I am going to try and catch that huge Large Mouth Bass I lost using them for bait
LOL I figure the large mouth bass eat them normally
So I should try free bait

I always understood large mouth bass to be more of an ambush predator.
That's why noisy and moving lures work so well.

Last year I did catch a 4 pound largemouth on a chicken gizzard in the boat dock.
It had swallowed the hook about 3/4 of the way down towards its exhaust pipe.

I try to throw all the largemouth back. They have a lot of tournaments here on the lake,
and in their own way, the bass bring in piles of money to the area, but I ate that one.

Here, cut up carp chunks do real real well for catfish,,,,,,,,, bass-- not so much.

Or, used as chum, all the mess from cleaning and chopping up carp also bring all the little bait fish---
which draw in the white bass and crappie.

[HogRider666]

The most carp I ever got was with my Brother chucky, we had some flood waters and when they dried up to little ponds we shot them with .22 and fed them to our pigs, couldn’t believe how big they were and how many. They are a pest here in Australia.

[swheeler]

I found this old picture of my daughter shooting carp for sport, something to do .............. https://i.imgur.com/AFDNbS0.jpg

[seetrout]

That's awesome that your daughter is an outdoorswoman!

I have bowshot a few of them, but never kept any. I shot one with my .40S&W once while trout fishing. It was rolling in the shallows and I shot it through maybe 2" of water with a PMC starfire. I recovered the slug just under the skin on the far side, it looked just like a hibiscus flower.

[MT Gianni]

A former enforcement officer for the Idaho State Fish and Game said they had a free fish fry booth at the State Fair for many years. People would not believe they were eating carp.

[Little Oak]

Few folks eat carp where I'm from but the ones that do keep them alive for a few days in a large bath or similar full of clean, fresh running water. Apparently it washes all the 'mud flavour' out of them.

[trapper9260]

I old schooled a few about two weeks ago when I took a morning off from spring turkey hunting...

https://i.imgur.com/uPdDBoO.jpg

https://i.imgur.com/bzOt0VH.jpg

https://i.imgur.com/HCVR6nG.jpg

I have the two “yellow” carp brining right now getting ready to smoke. The buffalo are still froze up. I hit the right morning as they only jump about two to three days here each year. The buffalo normally spawn a few weeks earlier here but we had weird spring as usual so they spawned together. I quit spearing after these ones and just floated around watching...or I would have sunk the boat at the rate I kept going. I had a couple of dandies swim right under the dock yesterday cruising next to each other. They are still making ripples on top of the water at first light but not violently splashing anymore. That big buffalo almost flipped the canoe when loaded it. There was a one about a foot longer and one the same size it was mating with I could never catch up to. I’ll get them next season.

Anyone ever picked buffalo? I was going to give it a try but I’m wondering if it’s too oily?

I use to bow fish them when I was a kid. I just got tired of loosing arrows all the time and the line getting caught under my bear spools all the time so I started using a spear that my buddy gave me in the mid eighties. I believe it belonged to his grandpa. I had to sharpen up the tips this season. My spear defected off a couple of fish instead of going through them to let me know they were getting dull .

I pickle red horse and white suckers and hog nose sucker and no problem and for how I do it the Y bones are gone. It is like almost eating sweet pickles. I just make some more pickle fish this morning got them in the brim now. I am on my last jar of them . For the recipe I use it will work on all fish and the Y bones ones. It is simple also if any one like to have the recipe PM me because I will not catch this post all the time .

[veeman]

Whats the difference between a buffalo fish and a carp? Aren't they both bottom feeders? The same fish? Asking for myself. :)

[swheeler]

I don't actually know but looks like a Buffalo is a sucker fish. A friend sent me a picture of a Buffalo out of Fort Peck recently and it was huge. I had never actually heard of it before, but the head looks different than our carp?

[popper]

difference between a buffalo fish and a carp? Buffalo are native to the US, carp are not. Different species but yes, among many of the bottom feeders.

[swheeler]

This is the picture I was sent, caught just a few weeks ago on Ft Peck.
https://i.imgur.com/i0sZyeU.jpg

So check out the mouth, the buffalo has a lower lip just like what Triplebeards posted, our carp have a circular mouth like a "hose" that retracts into their head, way different look.

[MT Gianni]

We pulled a 25 lb Buffalo fish out of the upper Missouri a few years back. Floating between Judith Landing and Woodhock? Not sure of the name, just south bank campground 15 miles or so from Fred Robinson. They are further up than just Fort Peck and may be up to Carter.

[Ozark mike]

Dad giged coolers full of grass carp they stocked in norfork lake down in arkansas years ago they were spawning in the willow bushes that was along the water edge mom cut the mud streak out then canned em. Some good eating fish if you prepare it well first.

[swheeler]

We pulled a 25 lb Buffalo fish out of the upper Missouri a few years back. Floating between Judith Landing and Woodhock? Not sure of the name, just south bank campground 15 miles or so from Fred Robinson. They are further up than just Fort Peck and may be up to Carter.

So did you eat it? Pictures or it never happened!:kidding:

[Tripplebeards]

This is the picture I was sent, caught just a few weeks ago on Ft Peck.
https://i.imgur.com/i0sZyeU.jpg

So check out the mouth, the buffalo has a lower lip just like what Triplebeards posted, our carp have a circular mouth like a "hose" that retracts into their head, way different look.

The lower lip fish your referring to is a buffalo. Common carp have the vaccum cleaner mouths that extend. If you look, I have two of each inside my canoe. I smoked the common carp. I mixed up 2 cups of shredded and boned meat with 6oz of cream cheese, a cup of sour cream, and a TBSP of dill. Makes a great spread. The. Common carp meat is all red accept around the ribs...which is the best part
Buffalo has all white meat so will try and fry some up first to see if its any good before smoking it

[Tripplebeards]

I found this old picture of my daughter shooting carp for sport, something to do .............. https://i.imgur.com/AFDNbS0.jpg

I still have a couple of bear carp reels from the late 70's, early 80's I use to use. I just got tired of the string wrapping around the reels in mid flight and either snapping my string or the arrow flying back in my face. I might have to string one of my old bows up. I had a buffalo similar size to the one I speared years ago pull the arrow out after it took all my line. It came floating and flopping up the surface the next day in my backyard so was able to finish it off.

[swheeler]

I believe that picture of my daughter is 10 years old, maybe 15 years ago. That was my old bow from 90, it got handed down to her. It sure was fun shooting them!

[Tim357]

Usta whack 'em with a .22 whilst they were in the shallow water near the bank of the river. I'd need to be mighty hungry to eat either carp or catfish. Tastes too much like mud

[MT Gianni]

So did you eat it? Pictures or it never happened!:kidding:

Scott, it was two computers ago and we were canoe camping. We had plenty of cats when we wanted fish to eat.

[swheeler]

I got yah, don't know if I would eat one them anyways!

[Winger Ed.]

I got yah, don't know if I would eat one them anyways!

I like 'em.
Ya need to do all the trimming, then soak it overnight in the refrigerator in water with a bump of vinegar in it.
Then run it in the pressure cooker for 90 minutes.
That cooks it and dissolves the small 'Y' bones down to what you find in canned sardines.

Then use it like you would for canned salmon.

In a lot of other countries, they raise them to eat like we do pigs & chickens.

That 'yuk, its a bottom feeder' myth is just that.
To fish for them you need fresh grain, potato, cheese sort of something bait since they are very picky eaters.

Now catfish--- they're attracted to the most foul, rotten smelling mess you can find.
But nobody has a problem with that.

[jonp]

Are you putting the carp bait into Mason jars to age for bait?

[jonp]

I like 'em.
Ya need to do all the trimming, then soak it overnight in the refrigerator in water with a bump of vinegar in it.
Then run it in the pressure cooker for 90 minutes.
That cooks it and dissolves the small 'Y' bones down to what you find in canned sardines.

Then use it like you would for canned salmon.

In a lot of other countries, they raise them to eat like we do pigs & chickens.

That 'yuk, its a bottom feeder' myth is just that.
To fish for them you need fresh grain, potato, cheese sort of something bait since they are very picky eaters.

Now catfish--- they're attracted to the most foul, rotten smelling mess you can find.
But nobody has a problem with that.

This is a good method for pickeral and pike after talking the fillets

[Winger Ed.]

Are you putting the carp bait into Mason jars to age for bait?

Not for carp bait.
If it isn't fresh enough that you'd eat it yourself-- they won't either.
But if it spoils and grows mold, catfish will still hit it.

One of the neighbors used to work at a fast food restaurant.
She'd bring home their French fries that had gotten to old to sell.
She'd throw them off into the lake and the carp would come up by the dozens to eat them.

[jonp]

The excess meat put into jars makes great coyote, racoons etc bait for traps

[jonp]

A former enforcement officer for the Idaho State Fish and Game said they had a free fish fry booth at the State Fair for many years. People would not believe they were eating carp.

Not carp but my grandfather told me that during the depression he used to grapple the suckers coming in after the pike and run them downstate to sell the fillets as Trout. In the cold water you couldn't tell the difference. When the lake warmed up they tasted like mud

[MT Gianni]

Locations I guess, most of our trout are as pink as salmon.

[swheeler]

Some call them pink, to me they look orange or "salmon" but I think the color comes from eating fresh water shrimp? Even after a 12 hour brine they are mighty colorful and tasty!
https://i.imgur.com/MsFHSSs.jpg

[Tripplebeards]

The excess meat put into jars makes great coyote, racoons etc bait for traps


I’ve been doing that the last couple weeks. Coon kryptonite!

[Tripplebeards]

I just tried the first buffalo I speared. I removed the rib cage when I filleted it before freezing. I My original intent was to smoke them. I thawed out one half of the largest one. I filleted off the skin and then sliced it in half removing the red mud line. I sliced the meat along the white line where the ribs ran so I had about 1" thick slices and about 5" long. Completely boneless and all white meat. I tested a couple for lunch. I plan fried them. It's the best tasting fish I've ever had out of the river! It tasted better than bass, northern pike, or walleye! Buffalo meat is all white and carp meat is completely dark red colored. I wouldn't try and fry carp...only smoke it. I'll be eating the rest I sliced up for supper.

[Winger Ed.]

. I wouldn't try and fry carp...only smoke it.


Fried is OK, but you need to really-really trim and completely de-bone it.

Carp have a bad reputation from people who never ate it, or didn't process it right.
I clean & freeze enough to make a full load in the pressure cooker.
Run it for 90 minutes and the meat & 'Y' bones come out like canned sardines in texture.

Afterwards, I'll freeze the cooked carp and use it in recipes like a can of salmon.
If ya didn't know it was carp, you'd think it was canned salmon.

[Tripplebeards]

Here’s another batch...

https://i.imgur.com/C49TwIl.jpg

https://i.imgur.com/OdIq4QO.jpg

It almost reminds me of some really good cod.


I soaked the back half in brine for smoking. If I would have known how good it was I would have been fried up as well.

[Tripplebeards]

I fried up a a few more pieces of Buffalo in virgin olive oil and butter uncoated. Turned out excellent. It stays firm and doesn’t fall apart. It really doesn't flake apart either. I’ll have to make some for fish tacos.

I placed the rear, smaller half of the fillet in my Lil Totem smoker at 9:30 p.m. last night and removed it at 7:30 this morning. I brined it in salt, brown, sugar, and Worcestershire for two days prior. I removed it from my brine, washed it off, and rubbed it down with brown sugar and sprinkled a little chili powder before putting it in my smoker. After all that smoking time it’s still as heavy as a brick and the thickest part of the belly feels soft under the dry surface crust. It must have still retained Quite a bit of moisture. I normally wait and remove carp when the fillets crack so hopefully this pice is done. It was in my smoker for 10 hours. It has zero smell to it and never had any “Carp” smell through the whole process. If there are any left over it won’t be good for coon bait. It’s like a smoked a walleye, bass, or cod. All white meat VS dark red oily and fishy smelling common grass carp. I could have speared hundreds of these but quit at three to test them. Next spring my 6’ chest freezer will be packed full if they are in the area again.

https://i.imgur.com/GshR84Y.jpg

I just peeled off the skin and removed the mud line and gave it a try. Excellent!!! It doesn’t taste anything like smoked carp. It’s like I smoked a white meat game fish that’s really juicy.

[gumbo333]

I mentioned way back in a June post about 'scoring' carp before frying it. Nobody has ever scored a carp? Or knows what scoring is? Hummmmm

[Tripplebeards]

I don’t score my fish. I would help cook a thick piece of meat more even and quicker I’m sure. I just never felt the need to. The above piece is smoked. Almost 10 hours. All the outside that has a dried brown appearance tastes like smoked carp. I peel that off and use it for raccoon bait. The white meat under neath tastes like any other quality smoked fish.

[Drm50]

I have a nice Small Mouth streams within 6mi both north & south. A few years ago I was going to hit Captina creek at daylight. It was the 5th of July. Where I start wading there is a good size hole and an old submarine bridge. You have to walk down a path through a scrub woods to get to water.
Against the bank in the weeds was the biggest pile of fish I’ve ever seen. Carp, Suckers and Gar. Mostly gar. They had been taken with bows. I hate to see Gar killed wholesale. It’s the only big predator left in any numbers in local creeks. The Musky and Pickerel are native fish. I’ve not seen but one Pickerel in my life and that was 1955. One of first fish to go when pollution is present. Mines built at this time were cause of demise of many gamefish. There are records of people coming to Captina from surrounding area to harvest Jack Salmon ( walleye ) by the barrel for Salt Fish. The riffles were thick with them and they were gigged with pitchforks during the runs. The last mine is in process of shutting down. We will see if the creeks make a come back. The pollution that we have is silt covering the gravel and stone bottoms. It kills off bottom end of food chain and limits spawning grounds for game species. Goggle Captina Creek, Belmont Cnty, Ohio and it will show a lot of species including Waterdogs that are on endangered list.