Carp as game fish

[bdn06]

Just curious as to what thoughts here are of carp as a game fish. TubeDude had mentioned they are quite a gamefish, and fight hard, to which I most heartily agree. My problem is I don't like catching them, for some reason. They can fight very well, and be fun to catch, so I'm not sure if it is because I was raised to believe they are a trash fish, or what. I'm curious about what other people think about it.

If I could convince myself I don't mind handling them and catching them, I imagine I could fill some hours catching them on an ultralight and probably have some fun.
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[JoyRide]

I would never want it listed as a game fish, but they are lots of fun to catch. My daughter likes to catch the big ones in the Bear Lake Marina using an Ice Pole and 4# line. She had to learn to play 'em or lose 'em. Good fish for the young ones to practice on.
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[OvidCreek]

I would never want carp listed as a game fish, but that is my personal opinion. I probably am in the same situation as I was raised believing carp to be worthless. Many streams in Bear Lake have been overrun with carp; when they use to be filled with Bonneville Cuts, and to me this is a problem. I have heard two interesting tales on how they got into Bear Lake. The first tale is that the Mormons planted them to prevent starvation, which seems not that far fetched. The second tale I have heard is that Chinese railroad workers brought them in. Either way the carp does have history.

I will admit you have a valid point of their catching enjoyment. In fact, I took my son on his first carp fishing trip this summer so he could feel that distinct pull. From age 8-18 I would often get on my bike and ride in any direction from Ovid and spear fish for them with a pitch fork;great sport and memories[] I would think in this definition they would be a game or sport fish. We even had strategy with bows and pitchforks on how to get them. The part is that it is a living thing going to waste; I would often use them as cat food or tree fertilizer, but only once did I ever eat one. To me a game fish is something you are willing to digest, but in that retrospect it took me years to view a perch as a game fish (yes I was stupid at the time.) Who knows maybe one day I will filet a carp and throw it into the deep fryer.

OvidCreek
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[BrianID]

I also would not want them listed as a game fish. If they were a game fish then I would have to stop shooting them with my bow and snagging them with trebble hooks larger than my fist. []
They do provide a good challenge. For me they have been as frustrating to present a fly to as a big rainbow on "the ranch". Even though they don't recieve any fishing pressure they are smart fish.
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[bdn06]

We used to bounce lures down the south fork, into the seams of the current and the back eddies and still water next to the current, in the winter. The browns seem to like to lay in the slower water in winter, where they don't have to swim much to oxygenate, but where the current washes a steady supply of food by. The carp (or suckers as we called them) seemed to have an affinity for the same water in the winter (found in the same place in the summer). For some reason, we would always tail-hook the suckers with the spoons, so they must be swatting at them or something. We'd tail-hook 1 or 2 suckers for every couple of browns. I have never had anything scream line off my reel like a tail-hooked sucker!
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[EZOP]

When I was a kid I would target them for fishing at the grain elevators every weekend, so much fun. Now that I'm older I don't even think about fishing for them, unless I'm so bored and I happen to come across some big ones. Which actually happened once this year. It's kind of funny, I sent the picture of that carp to family living over in Europe and they thought I hit the mother load.
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[bdn06]

Do you have the pic in digi format so you can post here?
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[EZOP]

Theres a picture on page 4 under "Brownlee 8-11".
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