Trad Gang

Finally had a chance to check on my carp spots today. The first spot was real slow but I had two marginal opportunities and did not make good on either shot.

Checked out another spot and saw plenty of dark spots swimming around but no heavy spawning action. Afraid I may have missed the prime time since the weather has been so hot.

I did manage to connect on three of them and missed at least another half dozen or more. Just enough to keep me interested for a few hours. But it's always nice just to get out and shoot some arrows.

 (http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v85/halbleib/carp6-07.jpg)

 (http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v85/halbleib/carp6-072.jpg)  

-Brian
www.bowyersjournal.com (http://www.bowyersjournal.com)

Good shootin, Brian!!!

thats apretty good day if you ask me. unfortunatly i think you are rite i think they have already spawned for the most part this year.

Good job Brian  :thumbsup:

Good Going Brian....and nice hat.  :eek:

So how do you cook the "other white meat"?

Tastey!!!

Thanks guys. Dick, that's my lucky fishing hat   :cool:  

The best way to prepare carp is to use the Alder wood plank grilling method. Get yourself a plank of Alder wood, heat it up on the grill and add some spices to the top of the plank. Place the carp on the plank and grill for 25 minutes at 300 degrees. When finished, throw the carp away and eat the plank    

-Brian
www.bowyersjournal.com (http://www.bowyersjournal.com)

Brian,

Looks like you have that AMS strapped onto the bow with one of those brackets I've seen on 3 Rivers' site.  How do you like it?  Does it mount the reel pretty solidly?

Dale

Hopefully those that shoot carp for fun, aren't those who talk about ethics went it comes to hunting.

Carp are an introduced pest and a nuciance and we would be better off without them except for being bowtargets! I did have a friend smoke up a batch of them and hand them out as "smoked brown trout" everyone was commenting on how good the "brown trout" was, until I pointed out that brown trout don't have scales the size of quarters!

QuoteOriginally posted by KodiakBob:
Hopefully those that shoot carp for fun, aren't those who talk about ethics went it comes to hunting.

Most state fishery departments want them gone. Some states spend tens of millions of dollars every year poisoning lakes, draining waterways and doing netting programs to try reducing carp numbers.

They're an introduced, non-native, invasive and destructive species. They reproduce at alarming rates, root up vegetation, eat game fish eggs, and basically destroy waterways when given a chance. Several studies have proven time and again how lakes and rivers are greatly improved by carp removal.

I'm all for the "don't kill what you won't eat" ethic...unless it comes to carp. They're basically the dandelion of the waterways -- a weed that needs to be pulled. Eat them...don't eat them....doesn't matter. Because at the end of the day you're doing a good deed for the environment by reducing their numbers, even if only by a few.

Carp...gotta love'em, they don't get the respect they deserve.  Hardy, excellent fighters and the flesh is considered of good eating quality.  Used to be a large commercial fishery at the turn of the century.  I believe most were sold pickled.  Someone decided that they were nasty bottom garbage feeders and the rest is history.  Hate to say it, but they are here to stay.
Bob

Dale, the strap on brackets work great, extremely solid. I'm constantly building and shooting new bows all the time so I like the flexibility of being able to use the reel on any bow without drilling into them.

-Brian
www.bowyersjournal.com (http://www.bowyersjournal.com)

Would feeding them to your cat count as using them properly?

Hey guys some cities consider deer pests and use tax dollars to have them killed. Carp from clean water taste good. When it comes to fly fishing they are called golden bonefish. Just my two cents.

Yep I've eaten my share of carp, buffalo, gar... but you can only eat so many.... Not much doubt in my mind that carp are a pretty much never ending "resource". And yes they do look like bonefish when they come cruising across the flats.

But.... where it's legal I'm not gonna be too concerned about feeding em to the coons, crawfish, buzzards... Just use your heads and not leave piles where the general public is gonna stumble over them. That is primarily what prompted the wanton waste laws in MO.

Walt Francis and I particapated in the MBA annual carp shoot on Canyon Ferry Lake up here yesterday and I was appalled at the carp numbers in the lake. There has to be literally tens of millions of em. We were just paddling around in one cove all day in my little cataraft and litterally shot till we were wore out. Didn't stay for the intire weigh-in but the leading team when we left had turned in 397 fish. Now that's alot of shooting for what was probably an 8 hour period.

More power to em....

Doug

All this bowfishing talk reminded me I hadn't been out chasing carp much lately, so I hit the water for a few hours. By the time I got back to the truck I had 63 carp brought to bag. Not a bad few hours.

I didn't take any pictures, but here's one of my favorites I found on the internet of Lake Wingra in Madison, WI. Anyone care to guess which side of the barrier they removed carp from, and which side they didn't?   :D  

http://www.madisoncommons.org/article.php?storyid=572

(http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y138/wesbrock/Wingra.jpg)

Nice shooting Brian.

Smoked carp is a delicacy.  If you haven't tried it, you should.  If you think you're not missing anything, you're wrong.

Growing up, we let some of the local black folk use our dip net for carp and they'd take them home by the bushel basket.  When they were done smoking them up, they'd bring back a ten pound bucket and we'd have a fine time.  The meat is wonderful smoked close to dry.

Dan

Jason,
Great article, and the picture is worth way more than 1000 words!

PS - missed you at the summer shoot. It was a great time.

Jason,

Excellent picture.  I love that.  Kind of like when the fence off a small section to show what deer do when they are overpopulated.

Carp are a problem world wide:

NATIONAL CARP TASK FORCE

Mr SMALL (Murray) [7.12 p.m.]: I am most anxious, as are many of my constituents, to ensure that New South Wales is represented on the national carp task force. Many honourable members would appreciate that New South Wales rivers and waterways have been greatly damaged by the carp introduced into Australia. I am pleased that the Murrumbidgee and Murray rivers have recently been cleaned up and now have a higher proportion of
Page 9614
native fish. Carp are still in those rivers, but they are mostly large carp. The carp in the Lachlan River, the Darling River and the Great Anabranch, as well as in most rivers in Australia today, have knocked the environment about enormously. I am pleased that the Minister for Mineral Resources, and Minister for Fisheries is in the Chamber to hear what I have to say on behalf of my constituents and is prepared to respond.

Bob McFarland is involved in utilising carp in an area near Curlwaa. He is a partner in a manufacturing plant that handles up to 10 tonnes of carp per day. Carp are combined with other products such as citrus peel waste to make fertiliser and pet food. It is important that New South Wales is represented on the national task force which is looking at the problems caused by carp and ways to reduce carp numbers. I do not believe that carp will be completely eradicated; I would like to think that that was possible, but it will be difficult. My Murray promotional media tour will be held on 10 and 11 June this year. As part of the tour we will visit the Oxley and Lachlan rivers. The great Cumbong swamp is at the lower end of the Lachlan River, in which carp are causing the most damage, including erosion of its banks.

For a while there was a raptor rescue center in the area that would take carp to feed injuried birds such as eagles. There were a couple of fish that I didn't want to eat, giving them to this organization didn't feel like a waste. Maybe there are other uses out there for carp other than the table or the trash? I know a person that swears by fish as an excelent garden fertilizer. How about bait for small predator traps or for bears where baiting is legal (and is exceptable to your personal set of ethics).
It seems like from a management prospective it really doesn't matter what you do with the fish. If you are like me though, if you take a life you kind of feel like it should be put to use.
Nice fish by the way! Juniper Bow

They make great garden fertilizer too guys!

They do make great fertilizer, and hog food.  If you have the time and taste for them, they are edible smoked (don't care much for the taste myself, and the forked bones are a hazzard if you were to swallow one).  

The best recipie I've had was the same one used to can coho salmon--most of the bones are removed, and the smaller ones become edible in the canning process.  Looks and tastes like pink salmon, but it's a ton of work and you have to really like canned salmon--one recipie makes a dang bunch.

There's a line everyone has to draw for themselves.  More power to everyone that has the time, knowledge, and inclination to use every part of every critter they kill.  If you want to use the bladder of a deer for a water bag, more power to you.  If you can find a use for the bugs and mice you kill in the house, you have my admiration.

Carp are, in most areas at least, a pest.  We can't always utilize them as food.  Sure, deer are considered pests in some areas also, and in some places they go to waste, but they have to be thinned out for the good of the herd and the area in general.  It makes more sense to me to have some of them go to waste rather than let them be and ruin the entire area.  I feel the same way about carp.  Fertilize the garden (some Indians used them for fertilizer), feed the hogs if you have them, or let them feed nature.  As was already stated, they are non-native and will destroy the habitat of native fish and plants.  Ask some Aussies about what non-native critters can do to the ecosystem.  Talk to some of the plantation owners there in S.C. about feral hogs.  You will get the picture.

Now, with that said, does anyone have a recipie for armadillo?  I don't think they are even good for fertilizer.........

Chad

sounds like we could could have one heck of a Trad Gang carp hunt. reading the article sounds like they might at some point hire commercial fisherman, reckon they would hire us?  we could then donate the funds to St. Judes and have way to much fun....

I used to never shoot carp because I thought it was wrong to kill something you didn't eat, even if it was fun.  Then I justified it by calling it pest control.  Then I wondered if pest control should be so much fun.  Ain't that a slippery slope?

Brian, GOOD SHOOTING  :thumbsup: