If we had a fishing forum...

I'd still post this here because no one would read it anyway..

I'm not sure exactly how it worked, but a friend of my Dad's sent me a fishing combo. I thought he bought it and didn't like it - but it appears to be brand new. Anyway - it is an "Alvey" - an Australian surf casting rod. Quite a different twist on what I'm used to.

It just came in the past couple days and I thought Dad would get a kick out of it if I sent a fish picture with confirmation it arrived.

First bite - First fish - 43 1/2" x25"+ + somewhere in the 30 to 40 pound class. I always say "I'll fish for anything that pulls back".. This one did. ;)

https://farm9.staticflickr.com/8802/...4b02f12d_z.jpg

https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7715/...d4309cf4_c.jpg

What the heck is that? A carp? Ship it to Foo! ;)

Dang, that'll sure nuff make a hickey on you if you ain't careful.

BKB

That's a freaking BEAST.

That's an innersting looking rig. How much weight is it rated to throw? Doesn't look to be built for distance as much as for backbone.

Man, that's a big ugly looking thing! The fish isn't very pretty either. ;) Seriously though, great job on a sizey carp looking fish.

Grass Carp.. We've been inundated since the flood of 2008.

LJ - it *is* an interesting rig. This is the Kayak (?) Model . The reel flips 90 degrees and casts off the "side". The reel holds (get this)- 500+ yards of 12 pound line. It's 1-1 retrieve but there is a nice smooth star drag (that got used a bit on this fish ;) ) I'm not positive there will be a dedicated use for this thing in Iowa - but I do drift a float along the rip-rap in pre-spawn for catfish. Might work for that.

smoked carp is pretty good if you don't have any smoked salmon
<i>Rancid Crabtree</i>

That is one big ass carp. I bet that was fun brining it in.

I bet that was a handful on that outfit. Nothing like fighting a big fish. Congrats.

I can't imagine the fun that had to be.... That things as big as you are!

Not to sound like foo - but I had carp once. I caught about a 10 pounder accidentally (bream fishing) when I was about 14 years old. My dad thought it was a cardinal sin to throw ANY fish back in the water... So into the cooler it went. I think he tried filleting it. Battered, fried it (again, according to my dad the ONLY way to treat a fish). It was FULL of bones. But I remember it tasting pretty good. That said, I still cough every now and then on a small fish bone that's still stuck in the back off throat.

lol.. This thing was really too big to do anything with. According to Iowa law, these things are an invasive species you are not to return them to the water. Actually, we had the same law, up until a few years ago, for common carp. This thing gave me a hell of a battle - and - as I said, we're already inundated.. so, when I went to wash it off for a final picture - it got away. ;) Grass carp out of impoundments tend to be strong. If I get one out of the river, 15 pounds and down - I'll try eating them

Now - Common carp- I have eaten literally hundreds of pounds and cooked thousands. Carp steak is a big "river rat" tradition for fish fries here. The last Oakville Homecoming fry we did (when I owned the bar) we cooked 650 pounds.

Here's a tutorial I did on dressing and cooking carp steak.

“Command Performance”

Carp Steak –
A word in support of the much-maligned carp.

By Gene Murray (HideHunter)

Greetings from Big River country where we eat carp and we like it. "Carp fries" are still a common fundraiser around here. I've helped fry anywhere up to 600 + pounds of fish in one shot many times.

Which fish you choose and where they come from will be have a direct effect on the quality of table fare. "Slough carp” (what we call fish from warm, shallow muddy water) are beyond poor as table fare. Fish from relatively cool, running water or fresh lakes are excellent. I have never seen a "worm" in a carp.

How you handle the fish from the time you catch it until you eat it is a big factor. If you'd like to try it - here's a quick rundown.

First - stay with the females. They will be a thicker, deeper fish and the males tend to be long and skinny. If you fillet a fish and it is mostly all red meat - you probably have a male. Some guys eat them - I personally steer clear, they tend to be stronger. A good fish to 'steak' is around 4 to not over 10 pounds.

Take a live fish - give it a quick whack on the head and cut the tail off. This will bleed the fish and make for better (whiter) meat. Takes just a couple minutes to bleed out.

'Scaling' the fish is a little tricky but easy to get onto with some practice. Slide the point of your knife forward between scales and skin. You are in reality “cutting” the scales off. With practice you can take pretty much the whole side off in one chunk. Then fillet the fish like any other.

Now, it gets a little tricky again. You are going to "score" the carp. A fillet knife will work but a boning or butcher knife is better. Make vertical slices down though the meat and bone to the skin. You will feel the knife cutting through bone. Make sure you get clear to the skin without going through. If you cut clear through a few times don't worry about it. You just want the chunks to hang together. You want these cuts to be *not more than a quarter inch apart*. Less is more here. Cut the scored fillets into chunks about four inches wide. Now wash it well and soak it in saltwater, in the fridge, overnight. I usually change the water on it at least once.

If you get along well with this method, you can also try cutting the skin off as you would any other fish. Then score from the former skin side down. This results in a very “clean: steak but does require a more delicate touch. I suggest you try the other method first.

A carp lends itself well to the “seasoned” breading but I often just use flour, cornmeal, salt and pepper. The act of “breading” is another important factor. Divide each slice of the meat and make sure you get the breading down in there. Shake off the excess.

Deep fry at 350-375 and enjoy. If you did a good job of scoring the bones will fry up. Now, I'm not going to tell you it tastes like bluegill or walleye - but what does? If you like to 'dip' - tartar sauce or a mix of Miracle Whip and horseradish are good.



Try it - bet you'll be pleasantly surprised.



To de-bone a carp, there are 6 or 7 steps. It takes about 20 minutes. You only end up with about 25% of the fishes weight in meat, but off a 20 lb. carp, that's 5 pounds of meat at one time. That's a good yield in anyone's book.

1. Remove the fillets from the body of the carp as you would any other fish. Cut around the ribs, leaving them attached to the skeleton.

2. Lay the fillets skin side down on a cutting board and cut them in half lengthwise, cutting through the skin. Remove any fatty belly meat from the fillet. It has a strong flavor.

3. Skin the fillet halves by laying them skin side down on the cutting board and slicing the meat from the skin, starting at the tail section. An electric knife works especially well for this, but any sharp knife will do.

4. Remove and discard the dark red meat from the fillet halves. You now have delicious white meat, but there are still Y-shaped intramuscular bones hiding inside.

5. Cut the rib cage section off. It is now boneless so you can use it without further preparation.

6. The Y-bones lie lengthwise at an angle through the fillets. Slip the fillet knife in between the bones and cut strips that contain two or three bones, taking care to not cut any bones. It won't take long to understand exactly where the bones lie.

7. Now roll these fillets in cornmeal or your favorite breading and fry them as you would any fish. At the table, break the strip in half. The bones will stay in one half.Y ou can eat the boneless half of the strip, then grab the Y-bones and pull them from the other half and eat it, too. It's a lot like eating hot wings, but not as messy.

If you want completely boneless meat, then:

1. Start with the top half of a fillet. Lay the fillet on your cutting board so that the outside of the fish is up. With your fingers, feel for a hard portion on the first inch of the filet.There are a couple of unusual pine cone-shaped bones in the first inch or so of the top half of the fillet. These make bone removal from that section impossible. Starting behind this hard section, holding your knife parallel to the cutting board, cut a long strip of meat from the top of the fillet, exposing the Y-bones.This will result in a boneless piece of meat about as thick as a crappie filet, but about two inches wide and very long.

2. Using shallow cuts, free the meat from above and below the exposed Y-bones

3. Turn the fillet over. You will see a row of white dots that indicate where the point of the Y-branch of the bone nears the cut surface of the fillet. Make a cut parallel to and right above the row of dots. Cut down until the knife contacts the main shaft of the Y-bone. Cut and scrape sideways with the knife to remove a long, rope-like piece of boneless meat.

4. Repeat step 3,making your cut just below the row of dots and removing the remainder of the usable meat from the top half of the fillet.

5. Now de-bone the bottom half of a filet. You have already de-boned the meat from the rib cage section when you left the ribs attached to the skeleton. Cut the ribcage section off and put it with your boneless meat. Now repeat steps 3 and 4 with the remaining portion of the bottom fillet. The bones lie very near the surface of the meat on the bottom half of the fillet, so there is no need to repeat steps 1 and 2.

6. Repeat above with the other side of the fish.

By all means, please experiment with the above techniques and enjoy! If you mess one or two up while learning, don't sweat it...it's just a carp. There are plenty of them. They need to be used.