# Eating Fish Out Of The Lmr



## fishymcgoo (Jul 20, 2005)

I Have Caught Some Pretty Good Size Eaters The Last Week Or So Just Wandering If Anyone Had Any Thoughts On If The Fish Are Safe To Eat Out Of The Lmr?


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## 1badmthrfisher (Apr 4, 2005)

Well I dont want to cause a bunch of drama on this site and I am not intending to do so in anyway, however if these fish are smallouth bass that you are refferring to, I really wish you would reconsider. The fish are likely fine to eat. BUT these fish can EASILY be depleted from that river if they are harvested rather than released. 

I spend countless hours every year on the LMR and have helped numerous people on this site to start catching fish through my many posts and PM's..... And im sure others feel the same way i do..., i dont feel that it is right or even worth me posting about my success on that river if people are going to use that information to take home all the fish that I have released over the span of my entire life.

I catch several hundred smallies each year in that river and hope that I can do so in the years to come.... they are way to fun to catch to harvest.... There are plenty of oppertunities around to catch crappie, saugeye, and gills for table fare....


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## fishinjim (Aug 9, 2006)

It's a travesty that although the LMR is classified as a scenic river, it's not classified catch and release. Now, if the ODNR decided to stock smallmouth bass every spring in the LMR, it would be a differerent story.


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## Red The Fisherman (Oct 1, 2006)

You can eat a small amount of fish out of that river, but please don't eat our bass. This is a very fragile, important ecosystem, as well as a great resource for local fisherman. Let's keep it that way!!!


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## riverKing (Jan 26, 2007)

the river is more than clean enough to eat *some* fish out of, however i would recomend releasing the larger older fish because not only do they have many more contaminates but they also are the future of the river. i dont keep bass, small channel cats are fine, i release all eye's and sauger over 20in, those are the egg bearers and they are old and have a higher contaminate concentration than the smaller fish, they also just dont taste as good. saugeye go ahead and keep but make sure you actually know the difference between a saugeye and a sauger, most people dont, please release the bigger sauger. i would also release stripers and hybrid stripers, especially any over 2-3lbs, those fish probably came up from the ohio, and they tend to have high contaminate levels. they lmr itself is very clean but many of the fish (eyes, stripers, WB, ect..) come up from the ohio wich as we know is not the cleanest. crappie are fine to keep but they are coming out of the lakes, so once you keep the ones that flood out in the spring dont complain when they stop biting.
if your going to keep fish however i would personally recomend going and getting some farm pond gills because they are the best tasting fish you will find around here.
smallmouths, flatheads and ski's i personally find sinfull to kill, but thats me


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## fishymcgoo (Jul 20, 2005)

To Everyones Relief, I Wasnt Going To Keep Any Bass Anyway. I Dont Even Keep Fish That Often And I Love To Catch Those Smallies Too. There Is A Ton Of Channel Cats In There And I Was Just Thinking Of Taking A Couple To Eat. I Cant Stand It When People Just Keep Whatever Without Thinking About The Future. I Love To Take My Kids Down There And I Want To Keep It That Way.


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## iteech (Apr 4, 2005)

It makes me wince to think anyone is taking anything out of anywhere. Unless an overpopulation has literally threatened the survival of a certain species (and this happens, but rarely), I just wouldn't do it. I know you can keep so-and-so by law sometimes, but just THINK, OK?? It's so much fun to catch them, and so awesome to have them in good numbers--why reduce them, unless you must?? RiverKing is right in his estimate of good eating fish though--the big gills and smaller cats are the best. I have been known to take a few huge gills (I call them shellcrackers) from a private pond and once in a great while, a 3-5 lb cat. That's all. Anyone keeping largemouth or smallmouth makes chills run down my spine. They are too majestic and beautiful--and too exhilarating to catch. I'm not being self-righteous, honest--I really do believe "each to their own". But I just see my 10-year-old grandson's face in my mind, when he pulls in a big LM--he lights up like he's in the presence of angels. It's a religious experience for this little kid...and when he's a man, I want him to still be one of the faithful...


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## Roscoe (Jul 22, 2007)

The Little Miami is a Scenic River but one of the most polluted.I would not keep or eat any fish that comes from the LMR.It's beautiful for hiking and fishing....Roscoe


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## fishymcgoo (Jul 20, 2005)

Everyone Gets So Touchy On This Subject. I Wasnt Talking About Taking Any Bass But I Dont Think A Couple And By A Couple I Mean Two Maybe Three Channels Is Going To Hurt The Fish Population. My God I Was Talking To A Park Ranger And He Was Telling Me That The Crappie Population In East Fork Is So High They Want Some Taken Out. This Debate Over Catch And Release Will Never Be Over But In My Humble Opinion I Think If Everyone Threw Back 95% Of What They Caught Things Would Be Just Fine. For You People That Release Everything Boy That Fresh Caught Fish Is Awful Good


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## flintlock (May 30, 2006)

A few smaller sized cats aint gonna hurt anyone and they are fine eating.


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## WalleyeJones (Feb 15, 2006)

With as little rain as we've gotten...I wouldn't eat anything out of there. Actually, I wouldn't eat anything out of there even with rain. Be sure to check the ODNR Fish Consumption Advisory.


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## riverKing (Jan 26, 2007)

to the guys that think the lmr is polluted, it is as far as i know the cleanest larger trib into the ohio river in the area, the only larger streams that would be cleaner would be in rural WV or maybe the blue river in indiana. we are blessed to have an amazingly clean (for where it is and its use) river for our enjoyment, the reasons i wouldnt eat the fish is because so many of them are not resident fish, but mostly because the river already supports more fishing pressure than it ever has and its begging to take its toll already, i use to enjoy a meal of sauger on a regular basis but now i choose to release almost all fish back into that river because it needs all the help and care we can give it.


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## LMRsmallmouth (Jan 10, 2006)

I ditto riverking....best post on this whole topic


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## WalleyeJones (Feb 15, 2006)

Straight from the ODNR...1 meal per month for sauger in counties: Clark, Clermont, Greene, Hamilton, and Warren. Of course, this is in addition to the state-wide consumption advisories...sad. I wonder how the DNR determines this since the fish are migratory. I'm sure the river is one of the cleaner ones around (for Ohio), but are the fish??? Apparently not the sauger, which makes sense since they are more migratory than other fish.


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## LittleMiamiJeff (Oct 1, 2005)

and release most of them.
I took a nice hybrid home couple weeks ago, enough meat on the two fillets to feed 4 adults.
I guess since hybrids are man made they don't exactly count like smallies, I had a member here post "don't kill the smallies" when I first joined and mentioned killing a smallie.
I understand the conservation of resources, but you really can't tell me or us or them not to do anything that is legal. Is it right for the ecosystem? Maybe not, do you like it because you fish the LMR alot and want to keep it producing for your fishing pleasure, maybe, maybe not, but some of US, myself included, get to acting like we own the Little Miami Scenic River, and we are just tax payers and end users like the rest of the bunch.
So, have your opinion, but THINK about how you are responding to innocent posts and responses. Some people really do like to eat fish. Fresh fish, I'm included. My wife likes fresh wiper, and so is supportive of my fishing. She is blissfully ignorant of all this blah blah that goes on about who fishes where and for what and catch and release vs catch and eat one now and then.
My buddy John here on OGF jokes about how you can post that bluegill are the best fish and civil war breaks out.
Little Miami River STATE and NATIONAL Scenic River. Belongs to the State and Nation, better get used to it.
LMJ


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## Tall cool one (Jul 13, 2006)

Fishymcgoo,I'm glad you have taken over my old position of being the one who makes posts that fire everybody up. I never meant to ,but folks can be pretty sensitive sometimes depending on topic...and I can be pretty opinionated soemtimes too ;-)
Sm bass age is what keeps me from eating them as I do lke to eat fish.You can figure a smallies age by dividing the length in " by 2. A 14" smallie is 7 y/o. LMB's in lakes grow faster,same size (14") is 4 y/o.Tough life in the river for the smallies.On the other hand, a 17" saugeye(a fine eater IMHO) is only 3 y/o.Channel cats=same,but they take a long time to get to the size the cat guys like to catch. Personally,I think channles are best eating under 5 lbs,once again,IMHO. It takes a lot longer for the SM bass population to recover from harvest than faster growning sppor,otherwise said,you can fish 'em out quicker.
LM Jeff,are'nt you still breeding age? I'd be careful what I feed my future kids,ie;your wife. The chemicals most common in the LMR are pcb's,mercury and ,at this time of year,pesticides and herbicide runoff,both of which have been implicated in hormonal alteration of developing fetuses. Look at the probelms in the Potomac river from agricultural runoff;bass of indeterminate gender and males w/ females sex organs.Not trying to tell ya what to do friend,I speak of genuine concern...if ya plan on having more young'uns.The state does make a distinction between "men" and "women of breeding age/kids" for determining consumption levels.
FYI,the "cleanest" river in the state for it's length,according to the states' water quality survey,is the stillwater, and it too has consumption advisories. 
A river that runs through as many populated areas as the LMR is anything but "clean". If anybody has read the states' report on the health of the LMR you'd know that in a low water summer(such as we are having),80% of the rivers flow can be attributed to sewage disposal effluent. Now that is what I'd call clean! 80% of that water in that river has been through a sewage plant.TC1


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## fisharder (Mar 18, 2005)

A lot has been said about the negatives of eating fish out of ohio waterways all of which have merit. But take this in to consideration all fish have some kind of contamination. Store bought fish are just as likly to be polluted as any fish you catch in a Ohio waterway. Most farmed fish tend to be more poluted then wild fish due to the food stocks they are feed. I think the question here should be are fish safe to eat at all??? When I keep fish from fresh water it is almost always one of the put and take fisheries like saugeyes or stripes or prolific fish like crappie or ring perch.Even crappie and perch can be over fished so just dont keep coolers full of fish just enough for a dinner that wont hurt the populations of these fish." Can you eat the fish" Its a good question that gets asked often on this site


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## LMRsmallmouth (Jan 10, 2006)

You posters who are complaining about eating a contaminated fish out of the LMR are causing your bodies more stress than eating a fish causes harm to those folks who eat a fish from it. Why be some consumed with how horrible the water is, it's not that bad, I eat saugeyes occasionally and I havent been to the doctor in 10 years. It's not a sewege plant for crying out loud...lol


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## fishymcgoo (Jul 20, 2005)

lets just all become vegetarians. now all we need is someone to say it is hurting the fish to catch them. rainbows and unicorns for everyone


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## fshnteachr (Jun 9, 2007)

I saw a crawdad swimming in the LMR. He got eaten by a smallie, then the smallie got snagged by a raccoon that just ate a squirrel. Then the '**** was eaten by a 10 point buck....I shot the buck and ate it. Am I gonna get sick? Just trying to get a laugh, don't get angry sensitive ones. 

:B :S !# :!


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## LittleMiamiJeff (Oct 1, 2005)

fshnteachr said:


> I saw a crawdad swimming in the LMR. He got eaten by a smallie, then the smallie got snagged by a raccoon that just ate a squirrel. Then the '**** was eaten by a 10 point buck....I shot the buck and ate it. Am I gonna get sick? Just trying to get a laugh, don't get angry sensitive ones.
> 
> :B :S !# :!


Does anyone remember seeing the Jim Borgman cartoon about P&G's Oleaster? I think that's what it was called, a man made fat substitute, gave you gas, made you crap constantly, and had other side affects.
Now in the cartoon, this guy is sitting in his recliner watching TV, as P&G plays a commercial about this fat substitute, he's grossly overweight, chain smoking, ash tray spilling over onto filthy floor, beer can empty's all over the place, proclaiming: "I wouldn't put any of that CRAP in my body! "
I don't get too excited about the fish eating advisories. I don't smoke, drink alcoholic beverages, intake illegal nor so called legal prescription drugs. I am 10-20 lbs over weight, but at 51, I eat some fish from OR and LMR, and will continue to do so. 
I guess, as ITEECH does try to add some levity here, let each one choose his own way, without beating the other up. I' ve even taken up poetry, to try to relate to the fly fisherman and women out there. Kinder and gentler to be sure.
Eat it if it's fresh
dump it if it stinks
don't leave your wife the mess
clean your dishes in the sink.
don't wash scales down the disposal
the garbage man thinks your a freak
I watch him gag over my offal
dumping trash bags that leak.
Fish guts in the garbage, 
man they get ripe in this heat
glad I'm not the trash dude
Use to be, but got it beat.
LMJ


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## fisharder (Mar 18, 2005)

[Q UOTE=LittleMiamiJeff;518598] I' ve even taken up poetry, to try to relate to the fly fisherman and women out there. 
Jeff I think that if you are going to use my humor you should pay me royalties.At very least you should frame it in quotation marks and quote me verbatim.


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## LittleMiamiJeff (Oct 1, 2005)

fisharder said:


> [Q UOTE=LittleMiamiJeff;518598] I' ve even taken up poetry, to try to relate to the fly fisherman and women out there.
> Jeff I think that if you are going to use my humor you should pay me royalties.At very least you should frame it in quotation marks and quote me verbatim.


yER ON fISHARDER!

GREAT TO HEAR THE WIPERS ARE ON, WHERE'D YOU CATCH THEM? gps COORDINATES WOULD BE FINE! 
lmj


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