Haha, carp are actually considered game fish in Europe. One of the problems with eating them from here is that considering what they eat, they intake a lot of pollutants, especially near farmland. Any run-off containing feces, pesticides, etc will contaminate the lake ecosystem, and ultimately the carp because of their niche as bottom feeders. Although taking that route of thinking, the same could be said for catfish then too I guess.

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"Eagles may soar, but weasels don't get sucked into jet engines." - John Benfield

Actually a lot of people eat carp.
I have tried it but was not impressed. Too boney and way too strong of a fishy flavor.

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Merlin,
What's Life Without A Little Magic!

lol, yeah, those are the same two complaints everyone makes. They are known for being bony and tasting extra fishy. Maybe that's why we don't really eat them over here, lol. I really want to try it now. I'll try almost anything once

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"Eagles may soar, but weasels don't get sucked into jet engines." - John Benfield

It was my impression that carp in othe parts of the world were in fact gamefish, not tablefare. There was a club from the U.K. here a few years ago that was in the local paper here and they talked constantly of the many methods of catching carp and the great "fight" they put up. Not once did they mention eating them.

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Ken
" The United States Marine Corps......sure we are a department of the Navy,,,,,,we're the MENS department "

Its my understanding that people who eat them regularly pressure cook them. This makes the bones soft like in canned salmon and they can be prepared in similar ways.
Never got industrious enough to try it.

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Merlin,
What's Life Without A Little Magic!

Also carp were raised as a food fish via aquaculture in the orient for years. Thats where goldfish and fancy colored Koi came from. Just like our herp morphs someone saw some different colored fry and started dabbling with them

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Merlin,
What's Life Without A Little Magic!

Carp are a great game fish if you enjoy fishing. I have found that the most efficient bait for catching them is oatmeal.

You are probably wondering how you can add a hook to oatmeal, so here goes:

You want to use unflavored oatmeal for starters. i have had the best luck with that opposed to the flavored stuff, which I have tried.

Take a handful of oatmeal and then place your hand in the water, soaking all of the oatmeal. Once it is sufficiently soaked, pull your hand out of the water and squeeze out all of the water.

This will form a pretty solid "ball" of oatmeal.

Now, while still holding the oatmeal firmly, push the hook into the center of the ball you created. You must ensure that NO metal from the hook is exposed. Carp are not stupid. If they feel the metal, they will stop eating.

Since the oatmeal ball you just created, which is now dangling from your line is so heavy, it doesn't take much force to get a decent cast. Just lightly cast out and then wait. It could take some time before you get a bite, but when you do, its on! Good luck getting the beast in. They are very strong fish and they "RUN" like mad. They will allow you to reel them in and then they will take off again. The larger the fish, the more line they will take.

Make sure your drag is set, and that you have a full reel of line with adequate test.

They are really fun to catch but they do require patience.

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