RE: Carp with shells
The trick to turtles is cleaning them. One of the best ways that we have found is drop them in a wash tub of really hot water. You have to have a steel headed rake to hold them down. The scalding water kills then and cleans off the gunk at the same time. The other trick is just to keep them under water long enough to kill them and not start to cook them. When you take mr. snapper out of the water he is nice and white and stiff as a board. You then turn it over on it's shell. On the under side is a plate that looks like an old jet airplane. It is only attached at either side by grissle. Cut through it. Then you have to get under this plate and also cut it off. Then all you have to do is cut the meat out. Special note once you get the meat out you will see a row of bones right up against the shell. This is turtle'back strap'. You have to take a small hatchet to chop the bones and a filet knife to get this white meat out. You want to cut the head off as close to the head as possible, as the neck meat is some of the best. We perfer to fry the meat like chicken. Trust me it is a lot better than lake scum. Also give your self at least an hour for all the above