Anyone raise carp to eat?

Any idea what variety of catfish can handle the cold? I can't remember why at the moment- but I believe Gene Logsdon's fish book convinced me to forget catfish. I lent the book out darn it.
BTW- my pond will be 100% groundwater. Mud bottom, large (1/2 acre min),and there is no entrance/exit stream. Winter frozen over, summer- warm (70F quite likely). But winter it will likely be not much over freezing at the bottom- and from Nov-Feb.

If bullhead catfish can't live in it you are out of luck. They are 100% better to eat than carp.

Other reason, I assumed they were carnivorous, would eat baby ducks, and frogs and what not.

What about grass carp? There is an outfit from Fl called Echo that does Ag developing projects around the world, they may have a book about raising these. And I'm thinking that good 'ol Gene L mentioned them in his book too. Liese

A neighbor of mine attempted to grow carp

and subjected my place to a curious experience with carp.

The adjoiner, just down the small creek from my mountain place, in complete defiance of state regulations, nearly completed digging out a large pond with a contracted trackhoe right beside the creek. He already had a truckload of large carp ordered. State agents stopped the construction of his ill-advised and stupid impoundment, so when the carp arrived, he instructed the truck driver to drive over 1/4 of a mile up into my property along an unused woods road and dump the carp into a small stream that is according to the state of North Carolina a 'Class IV (highest designation) Wild Trout' stream, populated with the extremely rare (on private land) Southern Appalachian Brook Trout.

Well, I vist that property only about once a month and discovered the 200 or more 4 to 8 pound carp a few days after they were dumped, a blind person could have seen them. Shocking. By a week later the banks of the creek were covered with carp scales and bear tracks, no carp remained in the water.

The neighbor (from Flori'duh') has no concept of the value of the water he has purchased. Sure, the brook trout are small and the resource is not adequate to support any level of fishing, still great value just as it is.

Here in Flori'duh' there is a fish called a tilapia which iirc is a member of the carp family. It was considered a pest in the Everglades where I once worked. It is sold at wally world, and seafood shops around here. It goes for less that $4 a lb. I eat it about every two, three weeks. Very mild taste.

We used to kill these fish by using poison in good sized ponds to make way for raising catfish. I have seen them 5, 6 lbs. That is a big fish. But as I say a while back they were considered pests.

You can catch these tilapia by using a small bread ball on a tiny hook.

These maybe the grass carp you are talking about.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tilapia

Carp have to be smoked to kill the strong fishy oily taste and that is why catfish is so awful unless you bread and deep fry it. My favorite fish to eat is bluegill. If we ever caught carp by accident we would kill them and dump them so that they couldn't reproduce.

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Tilapia are not even close to grass carp. Tilapia are a member of the cichlid family, originally from Africa, and are absolutely intolerant of cold temperatures. Grass carp are a member of the cyprinid (minnow) family and were introduced from Asia to control aquatic plant growth. However, they are forbidden in many states due to the potential they have to disrupt natural ecosystems. (We don't really want to make the same mistake we did with common carp, now do we? )

Cold winters are going to affect growth no matter what you raise, but I would look into yellow or brown bullheads. Native species, adapted to northern climates, and pretty tasty. I've never heard of raising freshwater drum, but they're another native and I don't think they taste too bad.

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When I was growing up, if it weren't for carp we would have missed a few meals. We would fillet them, trim the red meat, that being where the strong tasting meat is and can them in pint jars. We then fixed it any way that you would canned salmon. The red meat that you need to trim off is just like on a catfish, it is fatty and has the strongest flavor.

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Hunger is the best spice.

Have eaten carp, when I wasn't hungry.

Won't eat another, till I am (hungry). And I mean Bad Hungry!

Too many catfish, bass, perch, and cattails to eat.

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Learning is not compulsory... neither is survival. W. Edwards Deming

Mountaineer, grow Bullheads. That's a catfish that live very well in the North Country. Great eating, too. My grandfather used to be a commercial fisherman on Lake Ontario, and Bullheads were one of the big sellers. They also sent Carp to the Boston market by train in the early-mid 1900's.

Now there are almost no licences granted on the American side of the lake for gill net fishing anymore, because the lake has been taken over for sport fishing -salmon, lake trout, bass. They don't want net fisherman in there now. Not sure if they still allow it on the Canadian side or not.

But you should have no problems with Bullheads as far as the cold.

Jennifer

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-Northern NYS

Hey Mountaineer.

Follow these links for some great info about catfish farming:

http://www.ksuaquaculture.org/Catfish.pdf

http://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/FA010

http://www.ca.uky.edu/wkrec/SmallScaleHomeUse.htm

I know these fish survive under the ice. They probably would need a foot ot two of
water under the ice in the winter. They are basically dormant in the winter and eat
very little. Your growth would come during the warmer weather when they put the feedbag on. BTW...I'm an ice fisherman and have caught panfish(bluegills,sunfish, etc.)
in only a foot and a half of water under the ice. They also take the heat of summer.
However, they are fussier about water quality. I would recommend having a deeper end on your pond and try both for variety, but lean heavier on the catfish.

We have so many Carp in the Lakes and Rivers around.It just doesn't pay to raise them.But they are fun to catch.Plus we have Suckers that everyone goes after.They are better eating than Carp.

My DW don't like me to score them anymore.She can't get the bones to fry up good enough.But I just cut the dark red meat out.Thats the Mud Vein.

Use to have Pay Lakes around where you paid to catch Carp.Plus use to see them in the store.



big rockpile

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Carp are the number 1 cultured species in the world.

I would first find out if you are allowed to raise them because they are such a pest that we shouldn't be spreading them any further than they already are.

They would be excellent canned and that takes care of the bones too. Or smoked is really good.

Since they are an omnivore you can increase growth by fertilizing the pond with chicken or horse manure. It has no impact on the flesh of the fish.

Probably your biggest headache will be that they will over produce although that will keep them smaller.

If your state allows it triploid (sterile) grass carp taste just like halibut.

Thanks for the tips, links and pics!

So will carp and catfish eat ducklings or harass ducks swimming on the pond?

Carp won't but a large catfish probably will eat some ducklings.

Another fish you could raise that is pretty durable would be a sucker species. I've eaten them fried in the spring, smoked and canned with ketchup to taste like salmon and they were good. They also have the added benefit of being unlikely to reproduce in a small pond so you can control the numbers. Plus they are widespread in their distribution.

All fish take on the flavor of the water so with practice you might be able to tell when to harvest by tasting the water yourself. Generally fall thru spring should be good as far as taste and the meat will be firmer in the winter or spring.

Don't worry about it. Carp and catfish are bottom feeders...their mouth is turned down.
Tho, I have seen catfish grabbing pellets off the surface at a catfish farm during feeding. Down south cats can get big enough to suck in a duckling whole, but I've never heard of it. It would be a rare occurance at best. Worry more about coons and possums.

I have spent alot of time fishing and the only fish I've seen bother ducks are northern pike and muskies. Down south alligator gar are a threat also. In general, only fish with big teeth are a threat.

Carp are a last resort. They take over lakes in the north so bad that they get all the food and the other species die out. Native Americans spear them up here and leave them on the ground to rot...that should tell you something.

The flavor of the carp is determined by the food that it eats and the water that it is raised in. A good quality commercial feed and good water will produce a good quality fish.
There are more carp raised and consumed by people than any other freshwater fish with tilapia running a close second.
There a farmers in the US making a good living raising and selling carp live to ethnic markets.

My mom used to raise swans, rare geese and ducks, never lost a duckling to the catfish..and hers got pretty big, over ten pounds.

What will suck down a duckling is a big mouthed bass...in a flash. We had to keep the baby ducklings and goslings penned until they were about a week or so old, or her bass would eat them, along with the turtles.

But never saw the catfish eat anything - they even prefer to have the catfish food (pellets) sink to the bottom of the pond to eat if not starving.

Pond raised cats just taste a whole lot better than the channel cats..guess pollution, and river water just makes the channel cats taste downright nasty.
Never eaten a carp, but have some in the pond but they are the sterilized version and only eat grass/weeds, (bass will also eat them unless they are good sized when put in the pond).

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I used to work in hydro power plant. When we would shut down a unit and drain it I would go inside and pick up a few large carp and take them to an old man I knew. I don't know how he prepared them but they were very good.