Who Eats Carp

[Clampet]

I noticed that they have live Carp swimming in the tank at my local No Frills grocery store.

Does anyone actually eat those things?

[Roy]

"NO FRILL"S says it all eh?

[PatrickGG]

I noticed that they have live Carp swimming in the tank at my local No Frills grocery store.

Does anyone actually eat those things?

 

European Delicacy they love them over there, as for over here i seen people catch and fillet them on the spot made me s little sick to my stomach.

[bigugli]

Great for making gefilte fish. Have seen it baked, whole, as the centerpiece platter at a buffet.

[Beats]

'Tis the season!

 

http://polandpoland.com/christmas_carp.html

[purekgw]

dont put it down unless u have tried it

[Terry]

A traditional Christmas meal in The Czech Republic is fried carp and potato salad.

HO HO HO

[Beats]

dont put it down unless u have tried it

 

 

That's gonna be a hard sell.

[Wild]

Which store Jed do you have to bring your own tackle?

[purekgw]

lol me and my fiend where going to try it this summer never got around to it tho. think about it lots of fish people eat are bottom feeders cod, white fish, flounder

[Rich]

I've tried carp.. it was tasty, definitely would eat it again but certainly would not fillet it again. Blood everywhere and bones like chicken bones!

[hammercarp]

Enjoy!

http://www.carpanglersgroup.com/forum/inde...?showtopic=3563

Nothing wrong with eating carp. Millions of Europeans and Asians do.

Edited December 4, 2008 by hammercarp

[kemper]

There was a sketchy grill place beside my old place of work (funny enough it was no frills) and they had fish and chips. A friend ate it once and said it was the worst fish and chips EVER. A few weeks later we found several discarded carp carcasses rotting right at the back door of the grill.

 

Needless to say I never tried the fish and chips.

[John Bacon]

Weren't carp brought here as a food fish? They were raised here as a food fish and some escaped; that is how we ended up with carp in North America.

[hammercarp]

Yes they were brought here over a hundred years ago as a food fish. They did not escape from ponds however but were stocked in rivers and lakes from one end of the continent to the other.

[Photoz]

As an avid carper, I've numerous times been asked for fish I've caught . . . . as long as it's obvious the fish is for the table and NOT for the 'rose bushes,' (mostly an 'ol' wives tale) I have no problem with giving the person my fish, as they are VERY plentiful, and it will likely do more good than harm to 'thin the herd.' I once had an Estonian gentleman whom I had given a couple smaller ones (12 - 14 pounds) to, save me a good sized filet which he'd done on a charcoal barbie . . . . delicious . . . . much like bass! For those of you that look down on others that consume 'bottom feeders,' MOST fish including whitefish, pike, perch and many others will scavenge dead and rotting things off bottom, (lobsters & crabs come to mind here too) a carp's food is about 90% vegetation & LIVING molusks.

 

For those who think these fish 'escaped,' from their holding ponds when they were brought to North America, here's 'THE REST OF THE STORY.'

 

Carp in North America

A Brief History by Al Kowaleski

 

Perhaps you have heard that carp, which is an exotic species not native to North America, have by accident invaded our game fish waters. You may have heard that the carp of today are descended from fish that 'escaped' from private stocks or were illegally introduced by unauthorized persons. How is it then that carp are found in almost every state and in waters hundreds of miles apart from each other. The reason is because the U.S. Fish Commission and almost every one of the state governments in our land undertook one of the greatest far reaching campaigns to establish the carp everywhere in our country. Let me explain.

 

Prior to 1900, native North American fish were viewed as vital natural resources. Most of the fish we regard today as sport fish were harvested commercially by the millions of pounds. They were shipped by rail to markets where they were an important food source for a growing population. This was before the advent of refrigeration and communities relied on 'ice house' preservation. Harvested were the basses, sunfish, crappies, pike, walleye, perch, lake trout, and sturgeon. Also coarse fish such as freshwater drum, buffalo fish, catfish, suckers, bullheads and others.

 

The results of large harvests were declining stocks of lake and river fishes at a time when the population was expanding. To answer these concerns the U.S. Congress authorized President Ulysses S. Grant to appoint the US Fish Commission in 1871 to oversee the nation's fisheries interests. Among the first tasks was to consider what species to introduce to bolster the nations supply of food fishes. By 1874 the commission after long study issued a report entitled "Fishes Especially worthy of Cultivation" It went on to say that no other species except the carp, promises so great a return in limited waters. Cited were advantages over such fish as black bass, trout, grayling and others " because it is a vegetable feeder, and although not disdaining animal matters can live on vegetation alone and can attain large weight kept in small ponds and tanks".

 

In 1876 the commission enumerated other good qualities such as high fecundity (a count of ripe eggs in the female fish), adaptability to artificial propagation, hardiness of growth, adaptability to environmental conditions unfavorable to equally palatable species, rapid growth, harmlessness in relation to fish of other species, ability to populate waters to it's greatest extent, and fine table qualities. By 1877 citing the above reasons and adding 'there is no reason why time should be lost with less proved fishes' the commission convinced of the value of carp imported 345 fishes of scaled, mirror and leather carp from German aquaculturists. On May 26th they were placed in the Druid Hill Park ponds in Baltimore Maryland. The ponds proved inadequate and some were transferred to the Babcock lakes on the monument lot in Washington, D.C.

 

So did they somehow escape from these confines to populate nearly everywhere? No. Now the state governments get involved. Records indicate in 1879, about 6.203 fingerlings were produced in the Babcock Lakes. These were shipped to 273 applicants in 24 states. About 6000 fingerlings were produced in the Druid Hill ponds that year and were stocked primarily in Maryland. One year later, 31,332 carp were shipped to 1,374 applicants. In 1882 carp production increased to 143,696 fish, distributed in small lots to 7,000 applicants. In 1883 about 260,000 carp were sent to 9,872 applicants in 298 of 301 congressional districts and into 1,478 counties. During the years 1879-1896 the US Fish Commission distributed 2.4 million carp, some of which were sent to Canada, Costa Rica, Ecuador and Mexico. By 1897 the Commission discontinued the stocking because carp had been distributed nearly everywhere and many states assumed the task of propagation and stocking of carp.

 

Within several years many states were involved in the propagation and stocking of millions of carp. The Ohio State Fish Commission stocked tributaries of Lake Erie. Every major river in Illinois was stocked. Fish rescue missions from 1890-1920 conducted by various states and the US fish Commission stocked hundreds of lakes and rivers, particularly into the Midwestern region of the US. In a few short years the effort to introduce the resource of carp had been successful. Newspapers and magazines lauded the importance to the food industry and the bright future of all citizens eating carp.

 

Commercial production started in the 1900's. During the decade after World War II, annual catches reached 36 million pounds. Many prominent restaurants and hotels served carp on the menu. Restaurants of the Waldorf and Astoria listed "Carp in Rhine Wine Sauce"

 

Following World War II the saltwater commercial fishing industry captured a major portion of the fishing market by consolidating and modernizing operations This resulted in tremendous productions of ocean fish and improvements in processing, packaging ,shipping and storage and a reduction in operating costs. At a time when the oceans were perceived as pure and our rivers were becoming polluted, contributed among other factors to the decline of carp as a food fish.

 

History demonstrates that the federal and state governments of the US undertook a massive effort to install the carp in all of our waters from coast to coast in an effort that no other country has ever embarked upon. History also indicates that American anglers in great numbers lead the world today in the history of carp angling since the earliest turn of the century. Generations of anglers have enjoyed the carp as a sport or food fish. History also indicates that the carp found in our many waters did not escaped the ponds of long ago carp farmers, as the myth is told, but were placed carefully for our angling benefit by thoughtful government agencies.

 

 

 

Edited December 3, 2008 by Photoz

[Rich]

Just a quick correction.. carp do not actually eat any vegetation unless you count the plankton when they are tiny little fry. They uproot the vegetation to eat the crayfish, leeches, worms and other tasty treats found in the roots. Funny, quite a few other fish eat the same types of things.

[brian.millar]

Wow. Very interesting. Still not sure I can get over the idea of eating carp. Funny how the masses can dictate the norm and how a lot of people follow it.

Thanks for the interesting read!

Brian

Edited December 3, 2008 by the_painter

[Greencoachdog]

Just a quick correction.. carp do not actually eat any vegetation unless you count the plankton when they are tiny little fry. They uproot the vegetation to eat the crayfish, leeches, worms and other tasty treats found in the roots. Funny, quite a few other fish eat the same types of things.

 

I think Carp and the Carp family are more omnivorous, they will eat certain types of vegetation, vegetables, berries, and fruit... otherwise you wouldn't be able to catch them on corn, cereal, cottonseed cakes, and fruit flavored baits. Big Carp and Buffalo will eat just about anything to maintain their massive bulks.

 

There are folks down here in the deep South that eat Carp. The usual recipe is to either grind up the raw meat bones and all of pressure cook the meat bones and all, then mix the meat with a breading and for it into patties that are fried or baked to make a "Sal-mon" (the less educated pronounce the L in Salmon) patty or croquette.

[Clampet]

Wow. Very interesting. Still not sure I can get over the idea of eating carp. Funny how the masses can dictate the norm and how a lot of people follow it.

Thanks for the interesting read!

Brian

The same held true for corn.

Apparently the "White" man used to make fun of the native North American Indians fer eating corn.

[Greencoachdog]

The same held true for corn.

Apparently the "White" man used to make fun of the native North American Indians fer eating corn.

 

 

In France, they only feed corn to swine... but suck down the Carp and Snails like they're going out of style.

[highdrifter]

Girlfriend's parents are Russian... They actually eat more carp up there than they do salmon. Assuming of course it's a less expensive delicacy up there, apparently carp, baked, is actually quite nice.

 

I wouldn't eat them out of lake O, but I'm sure there's areas around here where they're safe to eat.. We'll be visiting them in Moscow this spring, and Tanya's dad promissed he'd whip us up a nice carp..

 

Can't wait!!

 

HD

[Wild]

That's a long way to go to taste carp HD but if you do not trust lake O would you trust Russian water?

[BUSTER]

ok so what size is best for eating? might have to bring some over to my wifes parents at their ukrain xmas in jan

[highdrifter]

That's a long way to go to taste carp HD but if you do not trust lake O would you trust Russian water?

 

hhmmmm.. I see what you mean. I guess carp arn't the best indicator species.

 

Now I'm in a dilly of a pickle. What do I say when I'm presented with a big plate of carp?

 

"No thanks, whistling trout are not on my list" or "Chernobyl is how far from here again?"

 

YUCK.

HD