What do u do with the carp

[wackmaster]

This may be a dumb question but what do u do with the carp u shoot

[lokidog]

Find someone that needs crab bait.

[Jingles]

Bury em in my rose garden

Yepper make good garden fertilizer or bait for neighborhood feral cats

[buglebuster]

The mexican guys at work tear them up

[csaaphill]

black people as well

[jackmaster]

same with the asians, i worked with a couple jalepenos and they would take the whole carp and pressure cook it until it was mush and then they would eat it with bread, fricken nasty and the stink of it was insane

[Stickers]

All the carp from Washington Bowfishing Association shoots go to a crayfish farmer. He'll take up to 8,000 lbs per load. I also saw the other day an article on using carp as bait for catfish. That's where I'm headed with mine.

[brokenvet]

I can't speak for the Mexicans or black about eating carp, but I can for Asian's.  My wife is Asian and she will not even touch carp, she does not like them.  Where we live there are about 400 families of Asians (Filipinos specifically) and they also do not like carp, but they do like Salmon though.

   

[BOWHUNTER45]

When we used to shoot the tournaments in Mosses lake they would give them to the farmers ...awesome  fertilizer...great for tomatoes plants 

[pianoman9701]

Put them in a sack and let them start to rot. Put the sack in one end of a carp pond. Shoot more carp.

[eastsidemallard74]

I bet yopu could use em for Coyote bait as well. Ive never bowfished, are the set ups expensive? I live in Moses and near a hot spot to get carp i understand, maybe a new "Family" hobby

[jackmaster]

that carpsniper fello would be the one to pm, he puts pics of his trips up once in awhile, i think he guides doing that stuff to, you could book a trip and check it out before you buy everything, looks like a blast

[et1702]

Fillet strips of meat off them and they make EXCELLENT catfish bait!!!

ET

[Carp Commander]

I bet you could use em for Coyote bait as well. Ive never bowfished, are the set ups expensive? I live in Moses and near a hot spot to get carp i understand, maybe a new "Family" hobby

It is one of the funniest family hobbies I know of for any outdoorsmen. Just be prepared that once you get into it, it is very addicting.

The gear needed can be as simple (cheap) or as advanced (expensive) as you want to make it. I started out using my compound with an open face reel on it. Very little out of pocket if you already own a bow and just about any bow will work.

My next step was to purchase a PSE Kingfisher recurve with a AMS retriever. This was about a $200.00 investment and I still have it today. A couple of years ago I got involved in tournaments and upgraded to an Alpine Mako with closed face reel. This set up is hard to beat. About the only advancement I could make now is to the Oneida, which I hope to do soon. The arrows can be expensive as well but they will last much longer than carbon or aluminum's used for big game.

In Eastern Washington there are hundreds of spots to go from bank or by boat. It really is what you want or can make of it. The most valuable advise I can give is this; start with the bow you have (assuming you do), buy an AMS bottle reel and a couple of arrows and go stick some fish. My bet is that it wont take you long before you upgrade and start building platforms for your boat. I have never met anyone who tried it once and said "I don't care for this".

As far as what to do with the fish, it has been the advise of a WDFW biologist to sink them and allow nature to run's it's coarse. There are beneficial nutrients to restore in the food chain. This obviously isn't a good ideal at tournaments, because of volume and you wouldn't want to do it at an area with a heavy population because of some peoples perception. As stated above they also do have other uses such as fertilizer, catfish bait and crab bait. I keep a lot of mine for catfish and crayfish bait.
 
Remember they are invasive and cause a lot of damage to spawning beds of other species. A single female can lay up to a half a million eggs a year, your not going to hurt the carp population. 

Hope this helps

[washelkhunter]

Spring bear bait? Ive actually eaten carp. If its coming out of a clean water source you should give it a try.

[Stickers]

I bet yopu could use em for Coyote bait as well. Ive never bowfished, are the set ups expensive? I live in Moses and near a hot spot to get carp i understand, maybe a new "Family" hobby

We're putting on a Spring shoot here in Tri-Cities just to help new shooters get involved. Our "Spawn-a-thon" is May 18th. Might be a good time to come down and check out what everyone is using. We're anticipating 30+ boats and quite a few more bank fishers.

Any questions shoot me a message or ask CarpCommander. He's a great resource too!

[270Flat]

Spring bear bait? Ive actually eaten carp. If its coming out of a clean water source you should give it a try.

I have eaten it once as ceviche, topped on a tostada. Was actually pretty good. But don't forget the tapatio!!

[jackelope]

We used to snag them back east when we were young. I can remember hanging them off my handle bars and peddling my bike to my dad's buddy's chinese restaurant. My dad's buddy would trade us the carp for whatever we wanted on the menu. Those guys got very excited to eat them.

[carpsniperg2]

That sounds like a sweet trade josh! I wish I could do that

Thanks jackmaster. I do guide bowfishing trips. Always happy to set people up on a trip for anyone who wants to give it a shot. Everything provided and always fun.

I have tried them do NOT care for them. I donate mine to a lot of people and a lot of them use them for fertilizer. Make great bait for cat fish or crab.

[pd]

As a youth (Tri-Cities) we treated this species with disdain.  It wasn't until I became an adult, and married into a family of chefs that I discovered their value as a food species.  Carp--when kept in clean, cold running water--is somewhat sweet, and very expensive.  They do have a lot of bones, which puts off a lot of people.  They do not need to be deep fried a la Chinoise, but can be served raw (or Peruvian ceviche); note, however, raw fish from fresh water is highly risky because of the chance of parasites.

As for me, if I think back to the warm waters of the Yakima River delta (confluence with the Columbia), there is no way that I would eat them.  Your choice!

[ICEMAN]

I used to fillet them and mix them in with other fillets... (perch, bass, etc.) Then a beerbatter fry and nobody knew the difference.

You need needle nosed pliers to remove the forked bones if you catch a larger fish.

[Stickers]

Whatever you do please do not put them on the bank to rot!!!! It's a black eye for the sport and food for all the "huggers" out there. If you can use them, take them otherwise like CarpCommander said, slice and sink. We're all in this together:)

[DAKOTA]

Growing up in the midwest we use to smoke them didn't taste too bad.