Do you eat the Fish?

Does anyone eat fish from the Mississippi river?

yes, I eat a meal about once every 2/3 weeks…..I will very seldom eat a catfish out of the river three or four a year at the most,,,,,

Same thing (every two or three weeks) Couple of self imposed guidelines (also happen to fit in with official guidelines)

Very fussy about cleaning and eat only the smaller (what we

call “eater size”) fish – generally nothing over 20″ unless it’s a fish that was injured past the point of survival – and then very thorough with trimming/cleaning.

yes I eat three meals a month in summer and about one in winter.15 to 18 inch fish! what alot of people dont realize is the river fish are actually cleaner then many of are lake fish.

I’ve been eatin fish out of the river since my Dad and I started fishing together in the 60’s. I eat gills in the winter and spring and walleye all year long.

ec

well…. guess I dont want to start a feeding frenzy on river fish or anything…. but heres the way I see it…. they have their guidelines set to ultra safe.. nothing wrong with that….. BUT… birds are one of the most fragile forms of life on the river or anywhere else.. anything that effects health is literally death on birds…. take for instance the near extinction of eagles before we even saw a problem with pesticides in any other life forms……

Eagles eat MOSTLY fish… and so do a number of other speicies… Ospreys, Herons, Mergansers, King fishers, Gulls, Pelicans, Cormarants….. well… to make a long story short… Ive NOT heard of any die offs of these species…

try telling an Eagle to only eat ONE meal of fish every 2-3 weeks…. bet your going to have one CRABBY Eagle…… and yet.. even though they eat fish EVERY day EVERY meal…… they are thriving……… good enough for me!!!

Eat River Fish…. Thousands of Eagles CANT be wrong! or else they would be DEAD wrong!…..

About 2-3 times a year and that’s about it. Just like to catch ’em not a superhuge fan of eating them. The pollution thing is probably blown out of proportion I would guess (non-educated one). I guess eat ’em if you got ’em

Hey River eyes

Was down river fishing yesterday..

Saw a bunch of birds floating on the ice belly up..there little tootsies pointing towards the sky..

So you better take littler bites….

awwww ReefRunner… you gotta look closer!!!… they had fallen over laughing at that thing on your head!! After they got over it (and you went round the bend)… they recovered enough to fly again!!

From the 2002 fishing regs…

Most fish are healthy to eat. But any fish(store-bought or sport caught ) could contain contaminants, such as mercury or PCB”S. So wheather you catch them or buy them…..It really doesn’t matter. Where do you think the fish in the store comes from?…..Farm raised ponds…subject to the same mother nature as the rest…(basicaly)…

As for the guide lines in Minnesota..this is what is advised….

For Children And Women Of childbearing age, (Stillakid ….this is NOT YOU….LOL)

Panfish…. 1 meal per week

Walleye under 20 inches…..1 meal per month

Slimmers and the rest…..1 meal per month

For other aduldts..(this includes you …KID….

Pan fish…….unlimited

All sizes of other species….1 meal per week…..

For specific advice on waters that have been tested….

Try this link…..(www.dnr.state.mn.us) And in dnr lake survey reports.

basicaly it goes like this …eat smaller fish…..eat more panfish than “predator” fish…And trim off the skin and fat……mercury and PCB’S build up in the fat of fish

I’ve enjoyed fish from alot of rivers in the SE. part of Minnnesota for 30 years ….I don’t glow in the dark….and have no health problems….

I only keep the fish I am Planning on eating that night or the next day…or those i plan on giving to people that don’t or cannot fish….beyond that…let em GO…….

SWANY

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very good and funny post, i eat walleye from the river usually once a week sometimes more anybody who says you shouldn’t isn’t catching their share of them, jk on that some people have their different views. so go by what you think

Do yo ueat fish from LOTW? Or the rest of the lakes in MN?

The advice to check out the MN DNR website above is wonderful… and it will surprise you.

For example…..

The guidelines for consumption of river fish in MN I’m about to quote are for adult males – average weight 150 Lbs and can be found here on the MN DNR website:

http://www.dnr.state.mn.us/lakefind/fca/rivers.pdf

On the “dirty” Mississippi River, the MNDH (MN Dept. Health) advises: Mississippi River – Pool 4 = 1 meal/week 15″ – 20″ walleye (PCB contamination)

For the “pristine” St. Croix River, the MNDH advises:

Stillwater to Mississippi River = 1 meal/month 15″ – 20″ walleye (due to mercury contamination)

And how about a northern MN lake, far removed from the effects of humans?

The guidelines for consumption of lake fish in MN I’m about to quote are for adult males – average weight 150 Lbs and can be found here on the MN DNR website:

http://www.dnr.state.mn.us/lakefind/fca/fca.pdf

Lake of the Woods = 1 meal/month 15″ – 20″ walleye (mercury contamination)

The notion that the Mississippi River fish are too contaminated to consume is based purely on mis-information and bias.

Check out those links I provided and do a little digging. You’ll be quite surprised at what you find….

I was told once by an old timer that when the DNR does studies on the fish to see how much PCB levels are in fish, they grind the whole fish instead of filleting like the average fisherman does. Has anyone heard anything like this? A person would think that PCB levels would be much higher when the whole fish was ground.

I have no idea of the method used, but I’d bet the DNR is VERY conservative with their consumption advisories.

It’s funny, but for all the nitrates and runoff down here, there is only 1 fish advisory in the entire state of Iowa: Cedar lake. For those who don’t know, it’s a small pond directly behind Quaker Oats that has been contaminated for years.

Last year the DNR indicated that the lake was now ‘clean’ and the contaminants were safely stowed beneath a thick layer of sediment. The CR council was attempting to turn it into a jet-ski park or some other such foolishness, but it didn’t pass.

The only other consumption advisory I have seen in the last 10 years was on carp in pool 10 (if I remember right), and it was lifted after only a couple of months.

Here is a link to the Iowa consumption advisories.

I’ve have had the question “Do you actually eat the fish from the river?” posed many, many times over the years. My standard reply is “Well of course, they are pre-cooked” followed by “And it allows my wife to see me at night because I now glow in the dark”.

I don’t eat a ton of fish, but probably do about one meal a month.

Pete

hey all..

im 70 yrs old and i have been eating fish out or the river since i was 7 yrs old…My son and grandsons eat fish as many times a week as we can,,,,,, hey what the heck,,, its a free meal,. a dang good one at that,,.. can never pass that down,,,river walleye, crappie, and gills is one of the best and one of the most healthest meals a guy could eat,,,,

sydney

clasical music ,,.,. cant live without it

All I know is that the Saugers James and I got Sat. are going to taste mighty good soon…. LOL

Funny you should mention Cedar Lake.

I caught some fish there just a week ago. It stays Ice free all winter and has quality bass in it. I don’t eat fish in general so cantaminated or not I’ll let a few tugg on my line.

jc

How come knowone keeps and eats BASS, do they taste bad

I ate one once from the Mississippi River when I was first fishing the river. Boney. Strong. Muddy. Horrible. Never again. Its too bad for the walleye that it doesn’t taste like an old shoe.

And I don’t eat much fish either. Maybe a meal or two a year.

BASS heck I love baked bass.. it is my favorite..but you have to have 4 lb or better the 6lb bass is the best with my Great Grandma’s speacial receipe…got my mouth waterin just thinkin about it…That’s why I love the river so many bass just wished I had more time…to Fish…

Just kiddin guys just wanted to heckle the Bass Boys..

mmmmmmmmmmm bassloaf….. lots of ketchup…. cant beat it!!! j/k!

Is that so you don’t need to fillet them. Just grind them like pa used to do with northerns. I guess you need the large pan for the largeloaf bass and the small loaf size for the smallloaf bass . Don’t forget a dash of Tabasco Sauce thats what really sets the taste. Oh yea might as well choke it down with a good beer.. Steve

I eat them any time I care to. And so far it..it..it..it hasn’t affected me a bit. ROFL

Got to be safer than hot dogs, ciggarets, and women with snake tatto’s. To much of anything can kill you. But a little shore lunch, a sizzling pan, a hot fillet, it’s got to be worth the risk.

My mouth is watering!!

Very Bad, You would be much happier with a good cheese burger.

If we’re still talking smallmouth, you’d be much happier with a BAD cheeseburger…LOL

you’d be better with some bad imitation beef hamburger

I saw an eagle pickup a bass, drop it and go for a carp!!! Even the birds discriminate!

The walleyes from the St. Cloud stretch of the miss. look beautiful and taste great. Keep the small fish and let the 19″+ fish go. Its a standing rule in my boat. Jon