You might find this hard to believe, but the common carp was imported to the United States in 1879 as a food fish. If that is so, then how did this copper clad over sized minnow get its reputation as terrible food fare?

I know I’ve only met a couple of people who actually consider carp a delicacy, and that can usually be traced to ethnic backgrounds as carp are often eaten in other parts of the world. Here in Ohio, however, connoisseurs of carp meat seem to be a small minority.

Few would call carp a pretty fish so appearance might cause diners to turn up their noses at a dish of carp fillet, but restaurants serve other dishes that would not appear appetizing in their unprepared state.

Perhaps the bad press carp receive could originate in the fact that they can live just about anywhere and in water more desirable fish would shun. It is a known fact that the taste of food depends on what food eats.

Personally I am a hypocrite in that a carp on my fish cleaning board turns me off. The hypocrite status comes from the fact that I love channel catfish for lunch and no one can accuse a catfish of being beautiful. So why should carp appear unappetizing? Last year I decided to dispel any belief that I was a hypocrite by actually eating a carp.

To get ready I first had to fillet a carp and found that getting a knife through those huge hard scales was not easy. I finally managed to get the skin and scales off only to discover the “Y” bones that would make carp difficult to eat.

Still, I filleted the fish, cut out the dark red meat that I was told embodied some sort of mud streak. Then I cut the fillet into smaller pieces – carp are big fish! – and soaked the meat overnight in salt water in the refrigerator.

I wasn’t certain how to cook the fish, but since I was getting ready to smoke some catfish I decided to marinate the carp and add it to the smoker. I won’t go into my marinating recipe as it varies every time depending on the spices we have on hand, but it basically includes wine or beer and some kosher salt along with other spices.

The carp was smoked over apple wood and turned out to be tasty. I was able to use it as a finger food by picking around the big bones.

As a disclaimer I tried the smoked carp on other friends with very mixed results, with most people only reluctantly tasting a sample. I’ll try it again this year with a different focus group and see how it goes.

Regardless of their status as a food fish carp are here to stay and there are too many of them. Carp tournament anglers might disagree, but like any wild species leaving carp to just keep multiplying without intervention is a recipe for disaster for both carp and other fish.

Unfortunately, anglers are always happy to catch and eat good tasting fish like walleyes, but not as many of us seriously fish for carp.

The few who are serious carp anglers often take their techniques to heights that could be envied by fly fishermen. Just the exotic doughball recipes these anglers concoct become jealously guarded secrets.

Then there is the special vocabulary. A listener will hear talks of fishing a swim or using a hair rig. Special rod and reel rigs are used, and determined carp anglers have opened up a new and enjoyable facet of fishing. More power to them.

Personally I have only been on the fringe of the real carp addicts. One year our kitchen was filled with the sweet aroma of anise, vanilla and other flavors as I searched for the perfect doughball.

Some of it did work well and I caught some big carp. They were hard fighters and fun to catch and I’ll sure do it again.

Maybe it’s time you spent some time fishing for these big strong fish. Maybe it’s even time you should try eating one; or two. Let me know how it tasted.