In 2013, I was on the Cumberland River in Kentucky and we were shooting Silver Carp, a smaller cousin to the Bighead. A storm was pushing in so we went back to the boat landing and waited it out. After the storm blew through we went back out and the Bigheads were up. My good friend Dennis Redden shot a 62 pound Bighead and I shot a 57 pound Bighead back to back.
In 2014, I returned to Kentucky with my wife. The Silver Carp were up and feeding by the thousands and, just like the previous year, a storm was blowing in fast. By the time I dropped everyone off at the boat launch the storm was upon us. We didn’t even have time to load the boat and I had to take shelter under a bridge. Fifteen minutes later the sun came back out and so did the Bigheads. We shot some true giants that day, the biggest tipping the scale to 74 pounds.
During this trip Dennis asked me if I had ever tried eating Bighead. I raised my eyebrows like “really?” Dennis told me how good Bigheads were deep fried, so we cleaned the first Bighead we shot that night right away, filling the cooler with huge white fillets.
Bigheads are a fast-decomposing fish so you shouldn’t waste any time in preparing them if you plan to eat them. There are some bones you have to remove, but it is well worth it. Remember a Bighead is a filter feeder, so it doesn’t have the muddy taste associated with bottom feeders like the common carp. Bighead carp are also low in contaminants like mercury, PCB’s, and are also low in fat.
The next day we prepared the Bigheads for the deep fryer. When we opened the bags of fillets I was expecting a fishy smell, but there was no smell at all, and the fillets were nice and white. We cut out and removed all of the bones, washed up the fillets, cut them into small chunks, and started to deep fry them. We used Fish-n-D-lit coating for the fillets. We put the coating in a Ziploc bag and threw in some fillets and shook it up to coat the chunks. Any fish batter will work and you can add water, or beer to the batter if desired. We just put the batter on dry.
We set the deep fryer to 375 degrees and started dropping the fish chunks in. Now mind you, I live in Wisconsin and a Friday night fish fry is a stan-dard event. We know a good fish when we taste it. The fillets snapped and cracked in the deep fryer for about 10 minutes.
This was my first experience eating deep fried Bighead, and I must say I was shocked. It tasted amazing, with no fishy after taste. The chunks were very light, yet still firm, and absolutely delicious. We all gathered around the table and enjoyed a great Wisconsin-style Fish Fry down in Kentucky. So next time you shoot some Bigheads it pays to take the time and prepare them for the table. You’ll be surprised!
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Obscure Adventures Magazine
Recipe:
1 inch cubes Bighead fillets
1 bag of fish batter
-toss in Ziploc bag with batter
Deep fry (set at 375 degrees)
Deep Fry for 10 minutes, or until golden brown
Remove from deep fryer
Salt and pepper to taste
ENJOY!
Matt and his wife Julie doubled up on
these colossal fish.
Julie, Dennis and Dennis' grandson Ty enjoy the "fruits" of their labor.