CARP! The official 2014 carp thread

[natetreat]

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It's that time of year, the carp are going to be coming in shallow. I admit they are my dirty little secret, I can't get enough of them. On the fly, on the boily, let's here some reports, see some pictures and your favorite techniques.

[jmpurser]

Cool! I have been looking into doing some carp fishing this year.

John

[mizm05]

Just for sport? Or are they table fare? Not very familiar with carp.

[jmpurser]

Strictly for sport as far as I'm concerned. I understand you CAN eat them but it's a lot of work for a little meat and then you have to ask yourself if you want to eat ANYTHING out of the water you caught them in.

[Steelheadin360]

That is the one thing I miss about Montana is carp fishing.... Been a while since I have felt that power on light gear

[mizm05]

Garden fertilizer?

[jmpurser]

No, if I can't eat it I don't usually kill it.

[mizm05]

Isn't carp an invasive species that hurts the population numbers of the fish we actually want to eat?

[jmpurser]

They're certainly invasive but I'm not sure how much damage they do and I'm not at all sure how much good I'd do just killing the few I might catch.

[PokeyPrasch]

I was always told that carp kicked up so much dirt and silt from the bottom that it smothered eggs of more desirable fish. I do know that WDFW actually put grass carp in some lakes to control vegetation.

[jmpurser]

I believe we're talking about common carp. Grass carp on the other hand area protected species. You're right, they were introduced to control vegetation.

[natetreat]

I can't bring myself to eat one. Along the same lines as rocky mountain oysters. I throw 'em back, I don't have a garden, but yes, they are an invasive species. There is no limit for a reason, we want them gone...

I certainly do not want them in our rivers, but I enjoy catching them in lakes. On light gear they pull hard, on the fly they're great fun. They're a challenge to get too. To see what could happen if carp got out of control, check out this video -

[ncwflounderer]

We definitely dont want the Big head carp! A friend in college shared some smoked buffalo carp with us, and it was like eating smoked bait, blue glove sorta stuff, took days to get the smell off your hands. Common carp was the first big fish i ever caught, i remember my little 5 piece travel diawa spincast set-up with 4lb test mono, fish was over 10 lbs, i've loved catching them ever since. When we catch them back home, they get tossed up on the bank, or we use the guts for catfish bait.

[natetreat]

We definitely dont want the Big head carp! A friend in college shared some smoked buffalo carp with us, and it was like eating smoked bait, blue glove sorta stuff, took days to get the smell off your hands. Common carp was the first big fish i ever caught, i remember my little 5 piece travel diawa spincast set-up with 4lb test mono, fish was over 10 lbs, i've loved catching them ever since. When we catch them back home, they get tossed up on the bank, or we use the guts for catfish bait.

It's the smell. We're spoiled here in the NW we have such good fish we don't need to eat the "trash" fish. I have no qualms with using them for fertilizer, even less than the squaws. I like to catch the big ones though. Live in an apartment, so I don't have a garden to use as a carp graveyard. I remember trying to get the carp to bite when I was a kid and we couldn't figure it out. Wanted to catch one so bad! Got side tracked with trout and salmon and lings as I got older, but it sure felt really good when I caught my first carp. Like being a kid again.

[jmpurser]

Couple of state carp resources:

http://wdfw.wa.gov/publications/pub.php?id=00207

http://wdfw.wa.gov/fishing/washington/Species/893/

[MarkFromSea]

Way to go Nate! That's a bigun!

[Gwendylyn]

For the love of all things holy... We almost stroked out laughing so hard watching the video haha!

[natetreat]

For the love of all things holy... We almost stroked out laughing so hard watching the video haha!

I would pay to fly out and do some skarping. I see a new olympic sport!

[racfish]

I do eat some carp like what Nates catching. Better then the meat are the eggs. I make caviar from carp eggs.The meat of the carp is okay but not to my likeing. I grind the meat up with other white fish to make a Eastern European dish called " Gefilte fish".Ground fish balls cooked in fish stock.

[DaveBones]

Hi,
This thread looks right up my street! To cut a long story short, I'm visiting Seattle from UK on 20th July for a 10 week work trip. I will have weekends free and I would love to find myself somewhere for a bit of carp fishing!
Does anyone have any recommendations where I could find some carp fishing from the bank? I won't have access to a boat.
Even better, would anyone like to meet up with a Limey Carp addict??

The UK is the (self pronounced!) home of modern carp fishing. Carp are by far the most popular species to fish for here. I have been carp fishing for over 25years and my best fish is a UK caught 48lb Mirror so we could do some knowledge pooling here. I'm sure I could offer some tips with regard to modern carp fishing methods and it would be great to see how you guys do it!

Tight-Lines to you!
Dave Bones.