Eating Lake O Salmoniods

[idn713]

Hey guys, I wanted to post this topic and see what some of you knowledgeable charter captains and fisherman have to say about this. First off let me say that I never eat fish out of the creek when they are spawning and running but I would like to keep a lake caught brownie or salmon. The silver bullet smaller fish are the ones I would keep and I would like to take browns, coho, and kings (heard the bows are a little on the gamey side). However, I have not eaten the fish cause the mercury crap scares me away. Now you guys keep fish all the time for clients, the smoker, general consumption, etc.... is the mercury warning really that bad? I mean by the time a salmon is properly filleted it has all the dark toxin meat taken off and the fat removed. Furthemore I think that most heavy metals end up in the fishes organs which are not eaten. I was also told that when fish are tested for mercury levels the whole fish is ground up and tested and obviously the whole fish is not eaten. I am just curious how you guys view eating salmon and what you may know. I just want to put my mind at ease and enjoy a darn salmon steak every now and again!

[Don Supon]

Then just do it! You gave all the reasons that make it OK to eat them. You also indicate that your eating size choice would not be the mounting sized fish, but a younger, less mature representative. The contaminated sediment has long been silted over, and no longer represents a sizeable threat at the bottom of the food chain and higher. The overly cautious consumption recommendations allow for one meal a month, so don't worry about an occasional meal unless you are eating the oldest of the species.

[ray koziatek]

yea after a few years i grew a third arm ,kinda comes in handy with the 3 rod rule... Also I've heard men will throw their clothes off and fish in the BUFF !

I know eating them has caused Men to consume large amounts of BEER !

.and I've heard sometimes many men will show up at ports around the lake ,put large sums of money in a pile,then drive all over the lake and try to catch many large fish ,to see who wins the pile of money then they give the fish away.....???

Then their are others who spend their life savings on boats,tackle,and fishing poles after Eating 1 fish.......... GO FIGURE!!!!!!

The "TOXIC" dark meat is actually the lateral line,basicly a organ of sorts,,even "Mrs Pauls" fish stix contain this..

Just remove this when cleaning as it is a undiserable taste to most and doesnt glow in the dark..

heavy metals are stored mostly in the fatty tissue which is always removed whe cleaned,if their are any at all most "HEAVY METAL" doesnt float.unless its formed in the shape of a hull of a ship, so unless yer eating mud diving critters ya should live to the ripe old age of 30.

Did you know about 2% of all fish sold in the United States is tested for safeness? utoh a third leg just poped up gotta go....

[trenchfisherman]

eat them up! i use to hate eating fish until i started cleaning and preparing it myself. my personal favorite is a nice cold water caught Brown Trout. spring can't come soon enough!

[rolmops]

According to the DEC,mercury is not so much a problem. The problems are MIREX and PCBs.

THE DEC advice is for children and women of child bearing age not to eat lake O fish or very little.

Brown trout over 24 inches should not be eaten and the same goes for large lakers, but short lived, younger and smaller fish are fine to eat like once a month.

The DEC usually harvests a bunch of fish and removes a few internal organs which are tested for dangerous chemicals. They report that the situation is getting better all the time,ironically the invasive shell fish is responsible for filtering a lot of the poisons out of the water.

As for mercury,according to the Sierra Club Magazine, the tuna you get in a can has about 100 times more mercury in it than salmon does.

Cornelis.

[Paul Czarnecki]

Several years ago I had a cardiac surgeon on board and we discussed this issue. His response....."The health benefits of eating salmon FAR outweigh any hazards! You simply could not eat enough salmon in a lifetime to have any ill effects!"

That was good enough for me.

[borderline 350]

Dear IDN,

The mercury is not ELEMENTAL mercury. It is a complex compound that exists in the fish and is considered beneficial by some experts. This type of compund has been found in L. O.fish specimens datng back to 1890 to 1900! The PCB's are so low in parts per billion that it takes expert analysis labs to agree on several results before they issue a report. These very trace amounts IN MY OPINION are being used by environmental extremeists to further their own agendas. I.E. DEC Commisioner Peter Berle shutting down the LO salmon fishery in the 1970's to protect the "public".

......I eat the fish I catch after very carefull cleaning & trimming. That includes Chinook, Rainbows, Brown's & smallmouth bass, perch & walleye. I do not like the taste of the Lake Trout, so they stay in the lake.....since the 1940's.....Ex-Jet Boat Bill

[King Slammin]

I've been eating them since I was a kid in the 80's. My dad, grandad, and i fished Lake O out of Olcott all the time and since it was pretty much a "free" meal (now we all know this isn't really free) we ate fish twice a week.

[idn713]

cool thanks guys

[Storm Warning II]

Eating a mature King in the form of a salmon patty for lunch right now.

I only keep the matures and a few teenagers each year.

The build up of toxins is a cumulative effect...Pacific Salmon only live for a few years, so how bad can it be...right?

[Storm Warning II]

BTW...

The "Adirondack Salmon Patties" recipe is a good one MuskyBob.

[skipper19]

Eating too much salmon in Rays case made him go bald at an early age (two) and grew hair on his back so thick it needs waxing (every six hours). It also stunted his growth and causes him to miss-spell everything he types (could be the second thumb on his hands). He seldom wears clothes as the body hair makes him look like the "grinch" or Sasquatch. sightings in the woods of stueben county NY have coincided with Rays hunting outings

[carpedium]

Eating too much salmon in Rays case made him go bald at an early age (two) and grew hair on his back so thick it needs waxing (every six hours). It also stunted his growth and causes him to miss-spell everything he types (could be the second thumb on his hands). He seldom wears clothes as the body hair makes him look like the "grinch" or Sasquatch. sightings in the woods of stueben county NY have coincided with Rays hunting outings

Need to work on a Ray K fly: UV Glow spoon covered in nostril trimmings

[salmonrama]

Been eating them for 30 years and Doc says I am fitter them most people 20 years younger. I think the more salmon you eat the better your blood pressure is.

[Mortigan]

That might explain this then:

[tcon]

I brought this exact topic up to my father in law one time. I had told him that I wanted to keep a fish didn't matter what species, I just wanted one to throw on the grill. The first fish we caught was about a 8 lb laker, wich he promptly released and I said don't forget I want to keep one for the grill. Well to make a long story short I ended up keeping a 12lb king and I said to him. Yeah I guess the lakers are the ones that have all the bad stuff in them right? He said , "let me tell you something about the Bad fish in lake ontario, when they test a fish they throw them in a grinder, grind them from head to tail and test the results, anybody that knows anything about fishing or cleaning fish knows that when you filet a fish you are removing the backbone and that section of dark meat where most of the "bad" stuff is stored." I said yeah I guess that makes sense. To wich he replied, let me ask you a question, do you know or have anyone in your life that smokes and has been affected by cancer or other health issues, I said yes...and he said do you know or have you ever heard of anybody that has health issues because of consuming fish from Lake Ontario? I said no...and he said I rest my case...

Tom

[Big Dave]

yea after a few years i grew a third arm ,kinda comes in handy with the 3 rod rule... Also I've heard men will throw their clothes off and fish in the BUFF !

I know eating them has caused Men to consume large amounts of BEER !

.and I've heard sometimes many men will show up at ports around the lake ,put large sums of money in a pile,then drive all over the lake and try to catch many large fish ,to see who wins the pile of money then they give the fish away.....???

Then their are others who spend their life savings on boats,tackle,and fishing poles after Eating 1 fish.......... GO FIGURE!!!!!!

The "TOXIC" dark meat is actually the lateral line,basicly a organ of sorts,,even "Mrs Pauls" fish stix contain this..

Just remove this when cleaning as it is a undiserable taste to most and doesnt glow in the dark..

heavy metals are stored mostly in the fatty tissue which is always removed whe cleaned,if their are any at all most "HEAVY METAL" doesnt float.unless its formed in the shape of a hull of a ship, so unless yer eating mud diving critters ya should live to the ripe old age of 30.

Did you know about 2% of all fish sold in the United States is tested for safeness? utoh a third leg just poped up gotta go....

It only effects the Spelling part of the brain.!!!! Like Ray says the way they are cleaned helps alot. The standreds are for the whole fish, because of all the different cultures. Some cultures use the whole fish , others clean them to suit. I recomend Dinosaur BBQ Mijhto sauce. Soak the fillet in it over night and grill the next day

[BSmaster]

I do not know where I read it, but the article was referring to removal of the skin, the lateral fat line, the back fat and the belly would remove most of the problem areas if the fish was contaminated.

Types of fish are different. Apex predators have more contaminates because the contaminates are passed through the food chain and are magnified. Bottom feeders have more because they eat things from the bottom where contaminates settle. Pan fish are probably the best option.

My general rule is to let the big ones and the illegal ones swim away (except ho's and Kings - ages are similar) I call them eaters (keepers) and breeders (mountable).

I eat a lot of fish but I am glad that my kids do not like it yet. The LD 50 of an adult is so much higher than that of a child. People are familiar with lead poisoning. The same idea works with contaminated fish too. When I worked with Litharge back in the 90s I was told to keep my work clothes separate from my family and pets living areas.

I would say eat fish from NY and skip eating fish from China.

Joe

[Misty IV]

We ate the salmon we caught this year and it was the best tasting fish I've had in awhile. Nothing beats a freshly caught fish. Restaurant stuff can't compete!!

[King Slammin]

Try this recipe.

Take a fresh caught, dark 30 lb salmon from one of the spawning creeks. Filet and remove skin, and lateral line. cut into serving size pieces and soak in a mixture of soy sauce, honey, garlic, pineapple juice, and fresh ground pepper. Leave it covered in the refrigerator overnight. The next day get it out and remove the cover. Let it come to room temp, while you start the charcoal grill. When the grill is ready, take the salmon you prepared and bury it in your garden. Now place the filets of the nice silver salmon that you caught 80' down in 150' of water on the hot coals for 8 minutes per side. You didn't really think I'd eat that did you?

Only eat the silver fish that aren't even thinking about spawning. The dark ones have one fin in the grave and will definitely leave a bad taste in your mouth and might ruin eating salmon for you ever again.

[Has Been]

Moderation is the key to anything. Clean properly as stated & eat up.Lateral line ruins the taste. There are far more worse things on the grocery shelves we eat daily. The way the economy is going , I may have to start eating more fish.

[Erskin]

Don't worry about the salmon. Worry about the toys with the lead paint from China that our kids are playing with. When we buy friut from Wal Mart like peaches and nectarines in the winter time from Chile and other countries, I don't think they have USDA standards on their pesticides.

[Knotlost]

We sure know its not hurting the Comerants that eat them, you would excpect it to bother there eggs if it had any effect at all.....

[fish or swim]

Hello idn713,

This is the fish consumption advisory for Ontario Canada. I can never find the one from NYS. If you are young, have young people in your family, or thinking about starting a family someday I would read it carefully. Most of the compounds are bio-accumulative. Meaning whenever a dose (meal) is taken it stays with you for life. All other doses are added to that and never go away. And mothers pass high levels on to their newborn. (You can see what has happened to some of the guys here)

http://www.ene.gov.on.ca/environment/en ... /index.htm

http://www.downloads.ene.gov.on.ca/file ... 07840.html

When testing a fish it is true that the entire fish is 'ground up'. But it is then put through a process that seperates the meaty parts from all of the other material. Only the meat is tested.

[fish or swim]

Maybe read some of this as well. It applies to more than fish.

http://www.endocrinedisruption.com/pren ... erview.php

"Low dose exposure to endocrine disruptors, once thought to be harmless, has been shown to have serious health effects in lab animals exposed in the womb and/or shortly after birth through their mother’s milk. "