Trash Fish Bucket List?

[David, aka, "McScruff"]

Here's something only my fevered mind would dream up.
Every angler wants to catch the big name fish. Big bass, Massive salmon, trophy bluegill, arapaima in South America (my personal quest), and so on.

But what about those other fish, the "trashy" ones we don't admire nor talk much about? If you were to target them, which ones would you go after?

In other words, what would a "Non-game Fish Bucket List" look like?

[Leo Nguyen]

All sized gar, silver carp on a stringed line of 10 hooks, muskies, great white shark, and any fish that I can get my hands on that is considered as trash.

[Bruce Condello]

1.  100 pound alligator gar

2.  snakehead

 

[Leo Nguyen]

Snakehead! YES!! Forgot that crazy thing. Not to mention the siamese carp in Thailand, and the Nile monster perch. Okay, time to rewind back to the U.S.  instead.

[jose "nacho" mejia]

no fish is a trash fish along as you now how to cook it!!!

[jim cosgrove]

absolutely jose,why are they trash?we pollute the water so bad that only fish that can survive in marginal water are left,around here it would be carp and bullheads.carp can survive where many so called game fish cannot.we pollute the water and blame the carp .i have seen carp not only thrown on the shore but abused before hand.i do not like cruelty in any form.let it go or eat it.at least humanely kill it and put it to some sort of use.feed the raccoons or fertilize your garden.river suckers and buffalo are native carp and people have always eaten them.smoked or a north woods favorite sucker patties.

[David, aka, "McScruff"]

I get why people call them trash fish, but Ive never seen any fish that way. They are all worth catching in my opinion. Most are worth eating, in some way. None deserve to die, brutalized and treated like trash.

[jim cosgrove]

i hear ya david,i used to have similar attitudes as it was popular belief years ago.i used to catch really large bowfin with my gramps on the kankakee river.they called em bleeders and i found out why.they would cut their heads off and watch em bleed.yet they viewed river suckers as a delicacy .my fishing club has hybrid grass carp for vegetation control.i have hooked about a dozen on flies the last few years.beached 3.i just get their head on shore and unhook em.some of these carp approach 60 + pounds and are vegetarians so not easy to fool or bring in.i fish for these {not supposed to fish for them} with a 5wt.reminds me of tarpon fishing in the keys years ago.carp are the biggest fish that swim in most bow.someplaces the only fish.i really have respect for them and the bass seem to be bigger in lakes that have big carp.i think cause they root around exposing prey for predatory fish.

[David, aka, "McScruff"]

Interesting observations on the carp. I've seen them for years, as have most people. Everything from the jumbo browns and grassies to koi in backyard ponds. But I've never made a point to catch them.

In recent seasons, I have only glimpsed a few - not because of any shortage, but I just havent gotten around where they are. As far as I know, they are not widely distributed in my region

The common carp is actually relatively intelligent as fish go and not all that easy to fool. Also, being great foraging cows, lures and baits for them are unlike what mainstream Fish America is hawking to the masses. I have heard a local lake, Greenwood, has a population of them and there are some dedicated Carp-a-teers over there.

Just once, I'd like to eat some. If I like it, twice.

[jim cosgrove]

i think they are pretty much everywhere david.there are some native species such as the red horse and sucker and buffalo in my region.the common carp was brought from europe and stocked by train i believe like the brown trout

[Joe Angelucci]

Carp fishing in Europe is huge. Just look at the prices of Match Poles in the UK. Good poles run about USD 1,500.00 or more. Tackle is UL and hook sizes run 12 - 20. 

[David, aka, "McScruff"]

Yeah, Jim. I know they are around... I just need to find em I guess, at least cyprinius carpio, the common carp.

We have triploid (sterile) grass carp in the large lakes around here, but they are off limits - a big no-no. The common brownies are not often seen by me at least.

MINUTIAE - carp were first imported to the US in the 1820's, far earlier than I had seen. They werent imported in large numbers as a food source (intended) until the late 1800's during U.S. Grant's administration.

[John Sheehan]

great comment Jim!