As you probably already know, very few people fish for European carp in the USA. We also have something called a sucker fish that lives in the Great Lakes. They are just as unpopular as the carp, but on advice from someone I work with I decided to catch one and cook it. I sauteed fillets in butter with a little salt and it was delicious. The problem with it is that it is a very boney fish and cannot be filleted to avoid them. The fish is best canned so that the bones become soft and almost indistinguishable from the flesh. Unfortunately carp in our Michigan lakes and rivers are quite contaminated with heavy metals and PCB's. Is contamination an issue in your waters as well? I did not read where you eat your catch.
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Yes, contamination can be a problem here. There are often black water events that kill all the fish. - realtreebivvy
If you ever come to Michigan bring your tackle. We have lots of carp and its good eating cousin the buffalo fish. Our record carp was over 61 pounds or 27.7 kg see page 35 of this fishing guide: http://www.michigan.gov/documents/dnr/2018-MI-Fishing-Guide-WEB_615716_7.pdf
Wow - cant believe you can't fish in Michigan without a licence and id - they seem pretty strict with the removal of your private rights. 61lb is a good fish - and probably not the largest, well worth getting the rods out for a beast like that :)
You can fish without a license here. Just don't get caught. We are a more liberal state so everything has a fee and we are heavily taxed.
It's the same in Canada although last summer a friend told me that my area has become popular with carp fisherman from Europe. If they are a fish that take on the flavour of the water, they can taste really good coming from clean water. I know some people who think of pike as muddy tasting but I have only ever had them from Manitoulin Island and it's know for having some of the cleanest water in the Great Lakes.
I think we just don't fish for carp or suckers because we have so many better tasting fish.
I like pike. I usually filet them around the "Y" bones, but this year I am going to try and pull them out as we do with trout and salmon pin bones. I hate wasting the flesh between the bones so I'm hoping it goes well.
I'm not as familiar with the bone pattern in pike, but my Dad used to like making perch fillets into little pants.