# Fishing for sport / Fishing for Food Respecting Nature



## CamdenGizzard (Apr 6, 2005)

First and foremost I'm not trying to pi$$ anyone off or ridicule, I just wanna get that out of the way.

It seems to me the river fishers on here rarely, or at least don't report to, ever keep their river bounty... Not that you have to, I'm not saying that. I'm just saying what my conclusion is from my observation. Wrong or not.
Are the river fish around here not clean enough to eat? 
Are you river fisherman merely trying to give back to nature what it has provided? 
Do you just not eat fish? 
Is it a combination of something else? 
collectively is the river system not populated enough to keep fish without damaging the population????

I really don't care either way I'm just curious. And if and when (because I will) I go fishing in the river system I personally won't be keeping what I catch. As a wise man once said "when in Rome, do as the Romans!"


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## Bluebuster6912 (Jul 30, 2007)

CamdenGizzard not for sure what your point is your trying to get across. But me personally would not eat anything out of the river just for the fact that I dont think its as clean as Ceasars Creek Just my 2 cents


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## River Anglin (Feb 18, 2008)

1. Many of the gamefish species are not prolific breeders. Returning them to breed again will help to produce more generations to catch. As many anglers as there are on the waters, there would be no good fish left if they all kept their catches.

2. Cleaning fish is a chore that many would prefer to skip.

3. The rivers, although cleaner than they were 25 years ago, are still not the cleanest food supplies.

Many species are just fine to keep because they are either good breeders (and can overpopulate without anglers thinning the herd) or they are hybrid and cannot reproduce at all. Panfish and saugeyes would fall into these categories. Some are not desireable in the gene pool such as spotted bass. Others are invasive such as white perch and various types of carp, but sadly they are not very tasty. There again, river fish should be eaten in moderation to avoid build-up of toxins.


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## SConner (Mar 3, 2007)

Ditto on everything River Anglin said. On rare occasion I will keep a saugeye as they are a "put and take" resource. But I have never considered taking any bass, pike or catfish from the river for food. There just is not that many fish in a river system and the resource would be quickly depleted if everyone was meat hunting. If anyone wants to witness this in the real world, try catching anything below the low head dam in Troy this time of year. There are some there, but not many. Most the ones you catch now migrate up from the pool below dam to feed in the evening then drop back down. Those lucky enough to run the gauntlet without ending up on a stringer live to breed another day. Even the introduction of saugeye has an impact on the native species as they compete for food and eat the fry from the native species. While I personally don't have that big an issue with the saugeye, I am thankful they are mostly sterile or they would become a very real problem.

Just my opinion, I am sure others will feel differently and that is fine.


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## rweis (Dec 20, 2005)

Pretty much just agree with the last 2 messages. Water is not clean, native species are not abundant, and cleaning is not my favorite activity. Personally I am strictly catch and release unless we are talking Canada shore lunch. I would like to take a fresh Steelie for smoking one day since my tax dollars pay for the fish. I have absolutely no problem with people who do a selective harvest, i.e., legal fish. I have lots of problems with people taking a bucket of under 12" Bass when they are fishing at a 15" minimum, posted lake.


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## autogyroenthusiast (Oct 25, 2007)

I'll eat channels under 20", bluegills, saugeye, crappie, and trout. All are tasty and the kids love to help clean and fry them, so it works out to be lots of quality time together plus a tasty meal with a cold beverage or two. Generally this applies to lakes, but I have had saugeye and small channels out of rivers too. I throw everything else back for someone else to catch. Love fishing.


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## Rocky Forker (Feb 7, 2009)

I fish below Meldahl dam all throughout the winter months for the sauger. I eat a meal a week . I have no problems.I dont eat any other species for the simple reason, I dont enjoy the flavor of any other fish.I really dont understand why someone would keep smallmouth or largemouth to eat. I release all bass I catch. I have a good time catching them though.


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## fshnjon (Feb 25, 2008)

I grew up in Frankilin ,about 2 blocks from the miami river ,we never fished it ,in the 70s 
and before it would stink very bad,the water would often be colored from the paper mills dumping .we were never allowed near it .Later on in the 80s people reported catching bass and bluegill near the dams ,Now the water is much cleaner and there is some good fishing there ,but just the thought of the way it was would keep me from eating anything out of there,However I do eat crappie from various lakes .

Jon


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## The Yeti (Mar 17, 2009)

Personally, I'm not much of a fish-eater. I like it once a month or so but not enough to justify killing something that I won't appreciate.


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## Ajax (May 16, 2008)

I eat panfish from lakes, walleye out of Erie, and some ocean fish and that's about it. Most all my fishing is for recreation not for the table. I encourage catch and release but I don't care what my fellow fishermen do as long as they follow the law. I do however wish Ohio would follow suit with the rest of the US and provide stricter size and possession limits.


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## CatBassCrap (Apr 25, 2008)

I enjoy the taste of fish and I know a LOT of guys at the river that keep fish to eat and say they have been eating the fish for years with no ill effects. I just really don't have any interest in keeping them. I enjoy catching them and thinking about being able to catch them again when they are that much bigger next year. It also may be the disgust I have when I see people leave with an illegal stringer full of small fish.


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## tommy454 (May 20, 2008)

I harvest usually one good bunch of crappie per year, and two days limit of walleye at Erie. Other than that strictly C&R. Over the last 12 years of catfishing the GMR I have seen a great improvment in the overall appearance of the river and the fish in it, however like someone else said, knowing what it used to look like really makes it hard to trust it. it kinda scares me a bit when they put out limitations saying only so many meals per week/month are safe to eat. IMO if there is a lmit on whats safe to eat, then its not safe to eat. Of course too much of anything is badfor you, but you get the gist.


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## Mr. Smallie (Mar 25, 2005)

Caught an 18" smallie last weekend on the upper GMR that absolutely inhaled my crankbait. It was bleeding so bad that I thought it had very little chance of surviving and I considered fileting it out with a nice saugeye I had. But then I thought if I filet it, it has zero chance to be caught again by someone so I released it.

I love to eat fish but have never eaten a bass out of the river. I have eaten my fair share of river saugeye and crappie but probably wouldn't eat a river cat. I always carry a filet knife with me in case I catch a decent saugeye. They don't last long on a stringer in warm water and as sconner said, they're stocked to be taken out.


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## Ol'Bassman (Sep 9, 2008)

The way I look at it, somewhere down in that black muck under the brown mud is the mercury and pcb's that were dumped into the rivers for over 100 years. Even with the greatly improved water conditions of today over what they were 30 years ago, they are still there. The damage that can be done to your health by consuming these and other chemicals is not worth the risk to me. This is especially true when I can buy fish at the store for about what I pay for bait and it is already cleaned. I have been strictly C & R on all of Ohio's rivers fish for over 40 years. I have been getting the hankering lately though for a mess of large crappie, blue gills or saugeyes, if I were to catch enough from one of the local lakes to make it worthwhile to go through the hastle of cleaning them. I practice C & R on all other freshwater game fish.
________
Laguna Heights Condos Pattaya


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## Rocky Forker (Feb 7, 2009)

Funny you should mention prior environmental damage and eating fish from those waters.As I said before I eat saugers from the Ohio river,walleyes from Erie,and saugeyes from Rocky Fork.I gave a friend of mine a bag of fillets of some sauger,enough for a two person meal. He took them home,a couple weeks went by and I asked him if he liked the saugers.He said" theres no way I am going to eat anything from that river." Well on Mem. day weekend we had a charter on Erie for two days and got a 6 man ticket both days. A guy from work that went up with us,gave the same friend of mine a bag of walleye filets from Erie. He inhaled them and " loved it ". I wonder if saugers from a fast moving river current, or walleyes from a slow lake current would be the worse for consumption? Both water ways were highly poluted,but now you can see 4 to 5 feet down in both.And I am always amazed that people will keep every legal size walleye they catch from Erie and eat them.But you always get the same thing from people,"theres no way I am going to eat anything from that river."


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## HaroldtheMeek (May 28, 2005)

I caught a couple nice saugeye out of the Great Miami last winter and couldnt resisist trying them. Took them home, fried them up, took one bite and spit it out into the garbage. That fish tasted just the way that river smells on a bad day. Broke me of eating any fish out of the Great Miami ever again.


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## flintlock (May 30, 2006)

I wouldn't eat anything out of the Great Miami personally. I go there for the fun and possibility of getting a monsta'.

But, crappie, gills, saugeye and cats end up in the fryer on occasion - out of various lakes. Nothing like a mess of panfish!

Good luck and good fishing!


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## Weatherby (May 27, 2005)

I think it is mostly due to the stigma that the river was dirty and smelly when we were growing up and thus we have passed the "the river is dirty" mentality on to our children. Who will pass it on to theirs unless a miracle happens.

I fish the GMR regularly in the spring and fall and there is a plethora of fish species to be caught there, however the "big" fish are fewer and farther between than they used to be. Which to me was its big attraction.

Sure they say that it is clean enough to eat certain species of fish, if you limit the consumption to one meal a month, are an adult, and if you are not a woman planning to have children. Other than that you are good to go.

If I choose to keep fish they don't come from the river and are limited to crappie and saugeye.


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## small talk (Feb 13, 2009)

HaroldtheMeek said:


> I caught a couple nice saugeye out of the Great Miami last winter and couldnt resisist trying them. Took them home, fried them up, took one bite and spit it out into the garbage. That fish tasted just the way that river smells on a bad day. Broke me of eating any fish out of the Great Miami ever again.


Wow! I had the same experience...about ten years ago with a little 14 inch saugeye I caught south of Dayton. I don't know if it was just psychological or what but...never again! 

It's crappies or bluegills out of lakes or ponds for me if anything around here. Bass are fun to catch but just aren't fit to eat, generally speaking, though I've had some smallies for shore lunch in the Boundary Waters/Quetico that were just fine...coming from really clear, cold water. 

That said, just got back from a family trip to Canada and have all the bluegill and perch fillets we'll want till next spring. Filled in the gap from the end of last year's Canadian pan fish with crappies from Cowan this spring...those were good.


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## LMRsmallmouth (Jan 10, 2006)

I believe that you folks that are so worried about our "dirty" rivers are doing yourself more harm in stress than those of us who eat a meal or two every once in a while. I have NO issues eating an occasional meal from the river, I have done it for years and never get sick. Granted I dont eat bass or other "game"fish as the crappie, bluegill, saugeye, etc...taste way better anyway. Who knows what your grocery store butcher/handler has done between the water and packaging anyway. I am sure they arent that worried with cleaning their hands, knives, dishes, and the like. Trust me...if you like fish and dont eat from rivers/lakes because of what you hear, you are just missing out. Before my friend died last year (from un related illness) he ate meals for 20+ years with no effects.


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## misfit (Apr 5, 2004)

> I believe that you folks that are so worried about our "dirty" rivers are doing yourself more harm in stress than those of us who eat a meal or two every once in a while.


ah,the voice of reason
i don't eat fish from the ohio or gmr only because i don't fish them
if i did fish them,i definitely eat any eyes or crappies i caught,as well as cats.
i agree with the above.the numbers in those "advisories" are very conservative and it would take much more than that to adversely affect people.
most chemicals are stored in the fat or belly section,which i remove from all my fish anyway,no matter where they're caught.
i ate tons of fish from the muskingum in my younger years,and it wasn't the cleanest river around back in the 50's and 60's either,but i'm still not glowing green.
i rarely buy fish from the store,and only a few particular salt water fish when i do.


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## riverKing (Jan 26, 2007)

I dont eat many fish out of rivers because I dont eat many fish anymore. everyone has different opinions of fish taste. frankly I'll take sauger from the lmr long before a walleye out of erie maybe its just becasue smaller fish tend to taste better but I think erie eyes are nasty anymore(might be the hundreds that I have eaten growing up and I'm sick of them). but I am known for going and releasing twenty trout and some walleye and then heading for a fast food fish sandwich.
heres the catch, I thought the advisories from lake erie were about the same as the ohio river....plus it doesnt matter where you get your fish, all over the world there are mercury issues, some worse than others. but the fish in hatcheries are fed fish pellets made from baitfish netted of the coast, so they have mercury in them, same with netted fish, so I say stop worrying about it. if you want to eat fish, stay within limits, and I would hope within reason(because limits are not always). dont keep more than you can eat, and in rivers try not to keep bigger breeding fish, the small ones taste better anyway. just act like a sportsman

and camden, the other problem with keeping fish is I am catching so many in the river that putting them on a stringer takes away from fish fighting time!!


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## cantsleep (Jul 25, 2007)

I don't keep fish often because I don't like cleaning them, just never got the "knack". 
I understand the worries about the GMR, I grew up on it's banks in the late 70's and early 80's, (The era mentioned earlier) and remember the smell and color of the water vividly to this day. However, I'm always surprised about the reluctance of people keeping fish from the rivers but not the lakes.
They have both been abused in the past, but look at how much water turnover the rivers receive compared to the inland lakes. Not to mention the greater time toxins have to filter down out of water in the slower moving resevoirs.


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## CamdenGizzard (Apr 6, 2005)

A chime in from the thread starter.

great discussion here folks. 

Its seems to be a general conscious that the river systems are dirty. I disagree, but think what you will.

Its my understanding that walleye are pretty intolerant of polluted water there for one could reason that bodies of water which hold eyes are relatively clean. I'd be willing to bet there are farm ponds far more polluted then much of our river fisheries. 

I do like some points that the river fisherman make about low number of large reproducers in the river system. I must agree. The average size smallie I caught out of the 7 mile creek system last year is around 8 inches  laugh if you must...... Really there is little that can be done about it, its all environmental...... High rains, winds, vegetation death and growth and the effects there of, erosion, provided a never ending cycle of change. 

I personally feel that if I'm catching crappie, saugeye or walleye from a body of water the fish are safe to eat there for I do. I save enough fish to eat fish once a week. I'm tryin' to keep my intake of omega 3 up 

tight line lines ya'll!


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## LMRsmallmouth (Jan 10, 2006)

Oh great....now that you said you disagree about the cleanliness of the rivers you are going to hear it from the "experts". Eat up dude, I am sure you will never have any ill effects. Unless you keep any smallies...they are DEADLY to eat!


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## Rocky Forker (Feb 7, 2009)

LOL! Yeah smallmouths have built in " poison viens " that run right next to their " mud viens" they are deadly,so dont eat any!


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## SConner (Mar 3, 2007)

I'm am not going to agree or disagree with whether or not you feel the rivers/lakes are polluted as I am not a scientist nor a marine biologist so I can only go by what I have read. But, when you say a body of water is not polluted because walleye live there, I must point out the type of pollutants that make a body of water unsuitable for certain species to survive in are not the same pollutants that generally cause there to be consumption limits. Mercury and other heavy metals were dumped into these water ways decades ago and do not go away, they exist in the sediment and work there way up the food chain. So clean water does not = safe to eat.

Personally I think most waterways are relatively clean compared to when I grew up, but the heavy metals are still there. FYI - I grew up playing on the Cuyahoga so I know what a nasty smelly river looks like.

Read consumption advisories and enjoy in moderation!


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## TomC (Aug 14, 2007)

Thats why in the GMR i keep the crappie,rock bass and bluegill and only small cats( if i keep any). I figure if i eat the panfish they are less likely going to be bad for me or my family. I ate plenty of eyes out of the river last year and never had a problem with the taste.

I had a huge fish fry last night, mostly catfish that I caught up at indian the last 2-3 weeks. I went thru and cut out all the yellowish and brown red meat out of the filets and out of the center. The non fish eaters loved it. I dusted em in flower, then egg wash, then in cornmeal. I then tool the gills,crappie,rockbass, and eyes out of the river and beer battered them. 

Fishing for me is a sport that i enjoy for the fight and for food. Somethings I throw back due to species and size, others I take home for the table. I dont know about the river quality back in the 80's and further back. I've only been fishing it for 10years and it seems to have improved but who to my to judge?


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## RapalaJ-9 (May 12, 2008)

I practice catch and grease


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## Nightprowler (Apr 21, 2004)

The past history of our rivers being polluted has impacted me. I choose to pass on river fish.


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## LittleMiamiJeff (Oct 1, 2005)

Well, I started a long and boring post on what other "stuff" we put in our bodies, lungs, stomachs, etc., but who wants to hear about all the other stuff we willingly kill ourselves and our families with every day? 
Catch, release, and eat some!
LMJ


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## jacmec (Sep 28, 2008)

CamdenGizzard said:


> Its my understanding that walleye are pretty intolerant of polluted water there for one could reason that bodies of water which hold eyes are relatively clean.


Eyes are in St.Marys and I would not eat a thing that comes out of that lake.


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## JoshGibson (Feb 18, 2006)

I was going to say the same about eyes up there. On mem day weekend I got very sick from that lake and did nothing more than wash liver blood off my hands. I wasnt the only one that got sick either. That lake is so nasty and they have a bad algae prob as well. As far as keeping....I dont eat any fish because I dont like thae taste or texture....Gimme some cholesterol filled red meat and Im happy. As a fisherman I am disgusted with our environment.
I am 30 so I never knew the days of the "nasty" gmr. But to me it seems things could get a lot better. I fished troy area thanks to advice of sconner, and it is a different river than s dayton. You hit moraine/downtown dayton and its nasty. I know dayton uses it and the paper mill in w.carrollton or their water plant. It has a brown tint in the oxbow in WC. and stinks to high hell. BUT I do know I can go to that warm water spot and catch carp ALL year long. So I can get my crack fix in january on some corn.


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## LMRsmallmouth (Jan 10, 2006)

I ate a nice big Channel cat today out of the LMR....as always, no ill effects except my extremely full stomach!!


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## LittleMiamiJeff (Oct 1, 2005)

LMRsmallmouth said:


> I ate a nice big Channel cat today out of the LMR....as always, no ill effects except my extremely full stomach!!


 I ate a Hybrid from the OR, and a Hybrid from the LMR Sunday afternoon, w/wife, Mom-in-Law, and Bro-in-Law, nobody died, nobody went to hell.
I think that's why you're supposed to COOK it first, kills the bacteria, parasites, etc. Even the produce and meat you buy at the Grocery needs to be properly cleaned, it's a crap shoot if you just eat produce w/out cleaning it. 
BTW, the Hybrid striper was MMM MMM Good! I bet that Channel cat was smoke'n good too!
LMJ


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## LMRsmallmouth (Jan 10, 2006)

Jeff...it was, I will be cleaning many more this year as a result. TASTY! And it fed 4 of us.....NICE SIZE channel!


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## LittleMiamiJeff (Oct 1, 2005)

Man, I just ate lunch, and reading about that tasty cat makes me hungry AGAIN! 
Did I share the recipe for striper/hybrid chowder w/you?
I think it's in the food/recipe area of this forum, check it out!
LMJ


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