Edible Catfish ???

[zzammon]

So, I love catching cats, catfish that is. I also enjoy eating them. I will keep a meal or two of 2 pounders from the Blue Earth River in my area, Mankato.

My question. How is one to know what and where catfish should and shouldn't be taken for consumption?

I ask because the MN Dept of Health report on rivers states that 1 meal a week is ok on the Mississippi in the middle of the metro area. Personally I haven't kept fish from the Minnesota River, let alone down river of the nuclear plants along the Mississippi. Am I being paranoid?

[deadeye]

Ya I think its not really worth getting too worked up over. I have eaten plenty of fish from the watonwan, blue earth, minnesota, and mississippi rivers and don't have flippers or a green glow at night. Think about all the people south of us and they eat fish without too much problems. If it was that big of a deal then the people in New Orleans would be amphibians.

[Juneau4]

As long as your keeping the smaller ones your fine. The toxins accumulate in the fat-the bigger the fish the more the fat unless you trim it out.

[Brad B]

I fish montissippi park which is less then a 1/4 of a mile down river from the monticello nuclear plant. I have never had issues with the fish. of course I grew up right across from the nuclear plant. heck I remember 20 years ago we could drive down to the guard shack and sign in and then they would let you drive right down by the discharge water area to fish. this area was full of smallmouth bass and it was open water year round. like was stated just keep smaller fish.

[Brad B]

Another thing you have to remember is that excel energy has fish biologists on staff that monitor the fish along with the DNR. the dnr did a report on smallmouth bass from st cloud down to I believe dayton or the coon rapids dam. if you have any additional questions you can direct them to the fisheries office in montrose or other offices that covers river you are interested in.

[Dennis Steele]

Ya I think its not really worth getting too worked up over. I have eaten plenty of fish from the watonwan, blue earth, minnesota, and mississippi rivers and don't have flippers or a green glow at night. Think about all the people south of us and they eat fish without too much problems. If it was that big of a deal then the people in New Orleans would be amphibians.

I agree with deadeye!

Besides, I am past the age wehre I need to be concerned with reproduction.

[MDNRMetroRivers]

Maybe I can help out a little here...

Xcel Energy to my knowledge does not sample fish for contaminant testing. That is done by the DNR/PCA/MDH.

If you have questions about contaminant levels in fish, generally contact the Department of Health as they are the ones who actually do the testing. Typically the DNR will collect the fish and coordinate with PCA/MDH to submit the fish for testing.

Typically older and larger (more piscivorous) fish have higher levels of contaminants. PCB's will accumulate in the fatty tissue. Mercury does not concentrate in the fatty tissue, it is distributed throughout the fish. PFOS does not behave like any of the contaminants in regards to larger fish or older fish having higher concentrations. Cutting away fatty tissue will reduce the amount of PCB exposure but will not reduce exposure to mercury or PFOS.

The Department of Health has a pretty good list of site specific consumption advice for the rivers which can be found at http://www.health.state.mn.us/divs/eh/fish/index.html

[Brad B]

MDNRMetrorivers,

Excel may not monitor for contaminants but they do other monitoring. why would the info from excel be includeed in the montrose area office's area report on the smallmouith population in this section of the river. if you want to read the report go to the montrose dnr office HSOforum.

[MDNRMetroRivers]

I am aware they do other monitoring. I was speaking purely about contaminants.

[zzammon]

Thanks everyone, and thanks MDNRMetrorivers.

[JollyT]

I have no idea why you would worry about anything down stream from a nuclear power plant. The only thing they release is warm water. The coal plants are the ones that release the mercury up their smoke stacks which then falls along with the rain. The other chemicals that build up such as PCBs are generally manufacturing or combustion byproducts.

Catfish store more of these things as they are bottom dwellers, but as long as you're eating the small ones you should be ok. They store more of these things in the dark belly meat and the side fat, so try to remove this when filleting.

One thought, I rather eat fish in the downtown stretch, than in the river down stream of Pigs Eye where the waste water treatment plant is. I will say the plant is much better than years ago, though.

[mrklean]

as long as you arent eating fish from the Blue Earth around the town of Blue earth your fine. I grew up there and there was some spillage from the rendering plant so i wouldnt eat a thing from the water around town

[zzammon]

Funny you should mention it, but I fish the Blue Earth regularly. I would figure it for one of the cleaner rivers in the area....

[Hamper]

Thanks JollyT for the info about cutting out the fat and dark belly, I'm new to catfishing this year and and I had never heard that.

[itchmesir]

Ya I think its not really worth getting too worked up over. I have eaten plenty of fish from the watonwan, blue earth, minnesota, and mississippi rivers and don't have flippers or a green glow at night. Think about all the people south of us and they eat fish without too much problems. If it was that big of a deal then the people in New Orleans would be amphibians.

think of all the positives that could come out of glowing at night!

[Hamper]

Just like Mr. Burns

[Ed Carlson]

Eat smaller catfish in general, smaller everything for the table is wise.

If you catch a catfish like this one...you may want to give him a pass of the pan too.

[harvey lee]

Your correct Ed, that does not look like an eater.

[Here-Kitty-Kitty]

Wonder what is wrong with it

[Gordie]

Wonder what is wrong with it

That cat ran into Ed's sinker a few to many times...

[Here-Kitty-Kitty]

It looks like it came from the back hills of Tennessee. Where your not good enough for your own, your not good enough for anyone's.

[mrklean]

haha so its a hillbilly catfish???

[Here-Kitty-Kitty]

Also, like how its being held like a baby in the lower pic. It just shows how much we love our catfish

[Scott M]

That cat ran into Ed's sinker a few to many times...

It ran into LFC's 60 pound anchor, or {insert dirty joke here}

Keep the small fish and don't eat them all that often and you won't have to worry about mercury or PCBs. MDH samples fish pretty regularly so they aren't making it up as far as which lakes and streams have the most pollutants. If you follow their guidelines you'll be fine. I don't know anyone that eats that many cats that they have to worry about exceeding MDH recommendations.