If you kill it, eat it!

[canuck]

There is a tread on the California forum that seams to express unanimously that no fish should be killed other than for the dinner plate. I feel that I have pretty high hunting ethics; I feel no compulsion killing carp. Am I an unethical sportsman or am I too much of a red neck to understand why killing carp is bad? I tend to think that sometime Californian live in their own little world (common point of view here in WA).

The spearboard is a great place to learn and to share experience. I do not want to think that we should try to be politically correct just for the sake of being politically correct. Should we refrain from posting about killing rough fish?

By the way when I do spear carp. I kill them and puncture their swim bladder so they sink to the bottom. Two days latter the crayfish have pretty much cleaned up. A week latter, all that is left is a few scales and the skull. I think that way I am recycling biomass stolen by the carp, back to the lake.

[Bill McIntyre]

I'm no carp expert, but I have a general impression that they hurt their environment and crowd out other more desirable species. It is also my impression that they are not a native species, but were imported, although I'm not sure about that.

The fish in question in the CA forum, the sheephead, is native, and in fact helps its environment by eating sea urchins that would damage the kelp. So shooting them just to throw them away seems to me to be different from shooting a trash fish that almost no one eats.

And yes, we do live in our own world, and its pretty neat.

[Aircowboy]

Northern Californians think killing carp is cool they crowd out all of the good fish. I don't know about Southern Californians though....that is a different state!!!

[Bill McIntyre]

Just to confirm my impression that carp was an invasive species, I googled it. Here is just one of the hits that indicates that shooting carp is not much like shooting large male sheephead just to throw them away.

It has nothing to do with PC.

http://www.umesc.usgs.gov/invasive_s...sian_carp.html

[one shot]

Originally Posted by canuck

There is a tread on the California forum that seams to express unanimously that no fish should be killed other than for the dinner plate. I feel that I have pretty high hunting ethics; I feel no compulsion killing carp. Am I an unethical sportsman or am I too much of a red neck to understand why killing carp is bad? I tend to think that sometime Californian live in their own little world (common point of view here in WA).

The spearboard is a great place to learn and to share experience. I do not want to think that we should try to be politically correct just for the sake of being politically correct. Should we refrain from posting about killing rough fish?

By the way when I do spear carp. I kill them and puncture their swim bladder so they sink to the bottom. Two days latter the crayfish have pretty much cleaned up. A week latter, all that is left is a few scales and the skull. I thing that way I am recycling biomass stolen by the carp, back to the lake.

I filet them for the dogs. They also make good fertilizer. They do alot of damage to the native species. It is a law in mn I think not to return them alive to the water.

[firefyterx]

There is a communication problem here with 2 entirely different species with the same name. There is the salt water sheephead which the thread is about and there is the fresh water sheephead which is a carp ( rough fish).

[Bill McIntyre]

Originally Posted by firefyterx

There is a communication problem here with 2 entirely different species with the same name. There is the salt water sheephead which the thread is about and there is the fresh water sheephead which is a carp ( rough fish).

I don't think anyone is confused over that. He was merely saying that he shot a fish and didn't eat it, and comparing that to the CA thread regarding sheephead.

What is confusing to some is the fact that the CA sheephead is an entirely different fish from the sheepshead on the East Coast.

[rpowers]

My thing on not eating carp isn't that i wouldn't like to eat them... what little meat i've ever gotten off of one was alright... but the things are so full of small bones throughout the meat that you either have to grind the meat and make into patties or buy and use a pressure cooker to soften the bones. otherwise you spend the whole time choking up little threadlike bones. they are very numerous, and a "rough fish" which can displace gamefish species and cause sediment problems so i'm not too sensetive about spearing and tossing, although i'll try and get some meat off of the larger ones. now gar, on the other hand, i'd love to spear because they are supposed to have a large boneless "tenderloin" running along their spine. they say when boiled and dipped in butter it tastes like broiled lobster tail. now if only i can hunt down a large gar..... . but i will never waste any meat on a good eating fish species if i can possibly help it.

[mnguy]

Most people in Southern California(aside from the peta types and the ignorant ones, oh crap they're the same) have no qualms about killing carp. They are a destructive trash fish over here as well. If the state would give us free rein over freshwater shooting for trash fish, you'd see alot of the spearos hopping into the lakes when the swells are too big. Sadly, they don't allow us to so we have to be content with bowfishing them.

Up at Big Bear lake in SoCal there is an annual carp bowfishing shootout. There are hundreds of participants removing literal tons of carp from the lake. The two major sponsors are a fertilizer company and a cat food company. They take up all the dead fish and use them. When there isn't a tournament though, you'll find shot up carp in the trash cans. I, personally, take them home to bury under my trees.

Back in asia carp is a major foodfish, though I used to eat it I can't anymore. Too much hassle. I have heard, though, that you can take a bigger one, cut out the ribs and separate them and use them like pork ribs.

[scubadown16]

People who say you should eat only what you kill. Have never picked up a gun, spear gun, or anything else that resembles a weapon. They probably have only hunted down the sale items at the local supermarket... I say this because as a hunter I have shot all kinds of things that never made it to the table... Prairie dogs for example... Would you eat them I think not... I have shot many of them because they put my horses in danger with all there holes they put in the ground. So carp are the same way they choke out the game fish in which we all desire. Carp produce more off springs and can thrive in less desirable environments then any other freshwater fish. There for it is our responsibility to keep the number of carp down so that the other fish may survive.

[canuck]

On the California tread there was a brief mention about the behavior of some of our Louisiana colleagues. It mentions something about shooting rays and tarpons. Those mentions are what really pushed me to start this tread.
I do see a big difference between killing and discarding a popular game fish (sheephead) and carp.

I do fertilize my garden with carp. You need to bury them in the fall; keep the soil moist and the garden will look great in the spring. At the rate at witch I kill carp, I thing I could start a small organic fertilizer business. I rather let them sink.

I also have eaten carp but after a free diving session I usually know where the walleye hag out. It is matter of a few casts to catch dinner.

On a side note, I had a conversation with a fishery biologist that is interested in free diving. He was interested into trying to encourage more spearo to hunt carp. He even knew that other sates allow game fish harvest. He his willing to show me how to introduce legislation to allow spear fishing on a few game fish (walleye, Smallmouth bass and channel catfish), all it would take is a few spearo to start a petition. As long as there is not anybody against the idea, it should be doable.

[mnguy]

I don't think you guys get it. The other thread was about someone killing a good eating fish that is beneficial to the reef systems that it lives on.

There is no comparison to killing carp that are a detriment to the ecosystems that they inhabit and overrun. The only similarity that the two cases share is that a fish was shot.

To make it simpler, would you be mad if you knew a spearo that shot up a very nice sized largemouth bass, striper, walleye, etc. and then just tossed it back in the water dead?

[canuck]

mnguy. We must have typing at the same time.
[QUOTE On the California tread there was a brief mention about the behavior of some of our Louisiana colleagues. It mentions something about shooting rays and tarpons. Those mentions are what really pushed me to start this tread. ]

[mnguy]

Originally Posted by canuck

mnguy. We must have typing at the same time.
[QUOTE On the California tread there was a brief mention about the behavior of some of our Louisiana colleagues. It mentions something about shooting rays and tarpons. Those mentions are what really pushed me to start this tread. ]

Yeah, I guess we were huh. I think the difference is, at least with the tarpon, that they hold economic value as a sportfish to those who might oppose spearing and the rays aren't detrimental to the ecosystem like carp can be.

[Bill McIntyre]

Maybe I'm wrong, but I think tarpon have a lot of economic value as a sport fish, and that's why people might not look kindly on us shooting them.

I know for sure they had a lot of economic value in Florida back in the 50s. The Chamber of Commerce put on a big three-month tournament in the Tampa Bay area with top prizes being new cars, and my Dad was a tarpon guide and booked most days during that three months.

Before someone outs me for being a hypocrite and digs up these old photos that I have posted in the past, here are fish I caught, killed, and threw away back when I was 14 and 15. I'm guilty.

But that was then and this is now. I don't think that even the rod and reelers kill them much any more, but generally catch and release. And even if they do kill them, I don't think they would appreciate us shooting them, even if fair is fair.

There is just no use making enemies for our sport shooting fish that we can't eat. Most of the public will thank us for shooting carp, but I don't think they'll thank us for shooting tarpon.