by slim'n'none

Created on: July 18, 2008

There is an old saying that my grandfather told me about how to cook a carp. The saying goes that you need to find a two by four of rough parity in size, lengthwise at least, with the carp. Then you scale the fish, leaving the head on as you do so. Once this is done, place the carp on the board. Put the board in an oven and cook at 450 degrees for 3 hours. Then throw away the carp and eat the board.

This is rather amusing, especially considering that carp were initially brought into the U.S. as a food fish. However, they fell out of favor with sport fishermen here for a long while. This is generally because Carp, as scavengers, came to be considered as a fish not good to eat. This is understandable given the bounty of fish, bass, bream, crappie, catfish, perch, pike etc. that we have here in this country. I can't testify to just how edible these fish are, but I can tell you that they are extremely fun to catch.

In order to catch carp you need to find them first. Grass carp, which are the most common carp seen in American lakes and ponds, tend to hang out in shallow flats that have grass growing to within a few feet or inches of the surface. In many lakes, these grass patches will be clearly visible, in others; the muddy water may mean you need to ask around a bit. At any rate, it never hurts to take the time to cruise the body of water you'll be fishing and learn its contours.

Outside these grass flats, grass carp, which have small, sucker type mouths, will be found in other shallow areas rooting up the bottom for whatever edible tidbits they can find. They will also tend to congregate in areas where fish are fed regularly, such as a dock with a fish feeder attached to it. As your cruise the water, or walk the bank, look for features like these to be indicators of carp hang outs. Generally, you will be able to tell if carp are in the area, as they tend to cruise just below the surface when not rooting up the bottom.
So now you've found the carp. It's time to go about catching these powerful fish. There are two primary methods to catch carp. One is chumming and sight fishing. The other, used on a mud flat if you know fish are there, is bottom fishing.

Bottom fishing is the simplest and easiest way to fish for carp. You set your bait up, and cast it out, keep the moderate tension in your line, and wait. If there is a carp in the area, and he is the least bit interested in what you've offered him, you'll soon know it, as he'll suck up the offering, hook and all, and

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