Crazy Carp Have Invaded Missouri's River

NW Cable News ^ | 08/28/03 | Staff Writer

[carptracker]

Somebody please tell a newbie what PING means? Not sure I understand some of what is going on.

[ChefKeith]

New recipe ping!

[glock rocks]

well smack me in the head with a carp!

High RPM boat motor ping, Pete! (bet yer smallblock Evinrude will make em totally nuts!)

[glock rocks]

Welcome to Free Republic.

"Ping" means "hey, come look at this thread over here"

on the news page, on the top right, is "my comments"

when someone replies to you, this will change to "new posts to you" and if you click there, you'll see this post from me. that's a ping. click on the number below my name on that entry (it will look like "64 of 64" or something similar), and it will take you exactly to this post.

[carptracker]

Thanks, Glock. Starting to catch on now.

[ChefKeith]

My brother had a drum jump in the boat one night years ago when it grounded on a sandbar, the fish was so big it would not fit in the 4' long igloo cooler they had.

[glock rocks]

You are welcome.

Here's a thread that was written to demystify some of the local jargon...

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/673536/posts

[forester]

"...but it is illegal to shoot fish with a firearm in Missouri.

That's the funniest thing I have read in quite awhile. Welcome to Free Republic.

[litehaus]

"Wasn't that by the Salmon Skeins?"....Nah,

the---- SouthEastern Florida Flounders

[tiki]

Okay then, contests with purses provided by entry fees.

[EagleMamaMT]

Yes, I've never met a Louisiana man yet who wasn't a fantastic hunter, fisherman and cook. I love Louisiana men. They are the cream of the crop, if you ask me! I've been married to my wonderful Louisiana country boy for 14 years now. He's a fine cook, too, just like his brother.

I'm real familiar with John Folse. I used to watch him all the time when I lived down in Louisiana and when I lived in Texas, too. I spent four or five years at Mamou and Eunice, so I had a chance to experience some of the finest Cajun cooking in the world. There are some little old ladies around that neck of the woods who are outstanding cooks.

[EagleMamaMT]

I'll have to try them your way. Maybe when warm weather gets here again?

[Rose in RoseBear]

Master Anglers, for your enjoyment ...

[glock rocks]

My brother had a drum jump in the boat one night years ago when it grounded on a sandbar, the fish was so big it would not fit in the 4' long igloo cooler they had.

who exactly was grounded on the sandbar?

pardon my desert upbringing, but does one bbq a drum?

[carptracker]

A freshwater drum is a fish, also known locally as sheepshead or gaspergou. I could imagine one getting cornered between a boat and a sandbar and somehow jumping in a boat, although it would really weird. (just guessing, I bet this is a misidentification of a silver carp, which is large and silvery like a freshwater drum - but it could happen with a drum, once in a few lifetimes.) Freshwater drum are excellent blackened, but if you freeze the meat it is ruined.

[ChefKeith]

They were in a small (?10-12'?) skif one of the first boats He had fishing at night with a trolling motor and the fish was snoozing when they grounded.

IIRC they gave it to some "brothers" at work and the next day was told it ate "real good", personally I would not waste the wood on cooking it.

[carpio]

Freshwater drum are excellent blackened, but if you freeze the meat it is ruined.

Tracker,

I have eaten vast amounts of fresh water drum in my long career of fresh water fish eating. I usually only eat the smaller ones of say 3-4 ponds or less. Often I filet them and freeze the filets in plastic baggies of water for some time prior to eating them.

I handle all fish very carefully and all suffer a little bit from freezing but I don't notice fresh water Drum to be any more delicate than others in this respect.

Have you actually frozen the Drum yourself (properly) and then tried them? Or have you just eaten some that were frozen by someone perhaps less careful than yourself?

Just curious because I think I am pretty picky and I don't notice any harm from freezing Drum. While on the other hand I almost never freeze Carp because I have had very bad luck with the ill effects of freezing on them.

Carpio

[carptracker]

Carpio - thanks very much for the response. I'm very interested in your reply. I will give freezing drum another try. But my two attempts at freezing freshwater drum have not met with success. Neither of those attempts were frozen in water. I usually only freeze fish in water if I expect to keep the meat more than two or three weeks. I usually consider the water a defense against freezer burn, which is not a problem with short term freezing. And I think sometimes fish that is frozen with more than a thin film of water does not taste as good to me, or cook as well, because it becomes water-logged and leaches out some of the flavor. But the drum had another problem. I (surprisingly) found the frozen and then thawed drum to be tough as boot leather. The stuff was even hard to cut. So I have not frozen drum since. It is a funny thing, because most fish, especially some fish in the drum family (especialy the trout-form drums, like silver seatrout and sand seatrout) become extremely soft if frozen. The bootleather thing has only happened to me with freshwater drum, but it has happened twice. Nevertheless, my experiences with fresh freshwater drum have been every bit as good as its saltwater cousin the redfish. Blackened drum with Paul Prudhomme's blackened redfish seasoning is absolutely great.

[Blue Collar Christian]

HOLY CARP, BATMAN!

[bwteim]

Freshwater drum are excellent blackened

You might want to check for parasitic cysts / dermal neoplasms in drum.