Looking For Some Info ...

[MOFishwater]

enjoyed the review, still hoping for my first carp on the fly this upcoming fishing season. too darn cold for me right now and been hunting a lot. Now that the hunting is finished I'm anxious for some fishing.

Keep the reports/pics coming.

[Quillback]

Just to clear up a couple of misconceptions about Lake Bella Vista:

It is not part of the Bella Vista POA and is open to the public, it is owned by the city of Bentonville.

They no longer drain the lake every year and as far as I know there are no future plans to drain it. I have never seen a carp over 10lbs. in the lake but the potential is there.

There are other species of fish besides carp (wink, wink).

[creek wader]

Most people think of carp as a trash fish. What most of them don't know is that the Carp was originally brought over from Asia as a source of food. I've eaten many lbs of carp over the years. Some that I caught and others at all you can eat buffets of carp and chicken, in Neb, Iowa, and No. Missouri. Also, they put up a heck of a fight. Especially if caught in a river, like the Missouri. I've used cotton seed cake, doughball, corn and worms. All real effective. Plus with doughball, if you get hungry, you can eat your bait. Also, in the area where I'm from it was always common to score the meat after you clean it. I haven't met anyone who does, down here.

[Quillback]

I have never eaten carp, but one of these days I'll have to give it a shot. I have also heard carp is good smoked. My carp bait of choice is Wheaties, grab a fistful, dip your fist in the water, pull it out immediately, knead it some, and you have a Wheaties ball that you can mold onto a treble hook, it's real durable and the carp seem to love it.

[Daddy Carp]

I have eaten smoked carp & buffalo and found it as good as smoked salmon. The best way is to inject a large fish with either Ham or Bacon cure seasoning, smoke slowly over apple or cherrywood until the meat falls away from the bone upon touch. As far as scoring and fileting, an indian friend of mine was talking to some commercial fishermen on the Missouri River about de-boning the carp. They told him to filet and score the filets, mix a solution of 50/50 white vinegar and water in a 5 gal. bucket and soak the filets for 24 hrs., then rinse them good and cook like any other bonless filet. He tried this and could not find any bones as the vinegar had broken down the bone tissue completely. I've not tried it yet, but will in time. That sounds like a normal vinegar action, it will break down the muscle in beef to really make it tender,,,,why not fish?

[MOFishwater]

Most people think of carp as a trash fish. What most of them don't know is that the Carp was originally brought over from Asia as a source of food. I've eaten many lbs of carp over the years. Some that I caught and others at all you can eat buffets of carp and chicken, in Neb, Iowa, and No. Missouri. Also, they put up a heck of a fight. Especially if caught in a river, like the Missouri. I've used cotton seed cake, doughball, corn and worms. All real effective. Plus with doughball, if you get hungry, you can eat your bait. Also, in the area where I'm from it was always common to score the meat after you clean it. I haven't met anyone who does, down here.

This may be a rhetorical question, but what exactly is cottonseed cake? My dad has mentioned it when talking about running trot lines as a youngster on the Cuivre. Cheers.