# eating potomac cats



## HuskyMD (May 19, 2000)

So, I caught a bunch of catfish from the potomac. Most were white (channe cats?). I love to eat catfish. Yet, I threw them all back. I'm curious, would you eat catfish caught in MD in the potomac? If so, which types of catfish? If not, why not?


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## hengstthomas (Mar 11, 2006)

I wouldnt eat any Catfish. They are bottom feeders and the "Bad" accumulates in them .
Stick with fresh Farm Raised Catties if ya got to eat them .

The Potomac :--|


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## thaimonkee (Oct 2, 2010)

hengstthomas said:


> I wouldnt eat any Catfish. They are bottom feeders and the "Bad" accumulates in them .
> Stick with fresh Farm Raised Catties if ya got to eat them .
> 
> The Potomac :--|


So you wouldnt eat crabs or perch? Arent they bottom feeders too? I would tear some crab up.


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## hengstthomas (Mar 11, 2006)

thaimonkee said:


> So you wouldnt eat crabs or perch? Arent they bottom feeders too? I would tear some crab up.


Nope dont eat any fish from MD except maybe a few Neds every other year .
Crabs dont live as long .. A 10 year old Catfish can have serious levels of "Bad" in them .
To me this applies to anything that lives there as a Native and does not migrate . No sense in labeling Rockfish as being tainted in MD when the same exact fish are caught by Comms and sold in VA and NC without health warnings.
Some things you either eat or not .. Doesnt matter where they were caught .


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## kingman23 (Feb 9, 2010)

i catch a bunch of them and i remember 3 years ago they were REALLY REALLY nasty so bad that I wouldnt even touch them they had these red sores and maggots it was just plain nasty. But these last 2 years the fish have been very clean and i havent seen a spot on one since 3 years ago but I still dont eat them. One guy says soak them in salt water for a day in the fridge but thats just too much work when you can go buy some at the store for cheap. By the way last year I saw a sign at a marina that said warning: do not eat more than one FISH a month for a normal adult and children do not eat any as well as pregnant women but i dont know if that is still posted.


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## Tracker16 (Feb 16, 2009)

kingman23 said:


> i catch a bunch of them and i remember 3 years ago they were REALLY REALLY nasty so bad that I wouldnt even touch them they had these red sores and maggots it was just plain nasty. But these last 2 years the fish have been very clean and i havent seen a spot on one since 3 years ago but I still dont eat them. One guy says soak them in salt water for a day in the fridge but thats just too much work when you can go buy some at the store for cheap. By the way last year I saw a sign at a marina that said warning: do not eat more than one FISH a month for a normal adult and children do not eat any as well as pregnant women but i dont know if that is still posted.


I've talked to people who catch them near the Inner Harbor in Bmore and say "just soak them in milk". Well that may take the nasty taste away but without testing there is no way to know if the PCB's are gone  (I really doubt it) Just Say NO to catfish caught in the Bay or Potomac


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## thaimonkee (Oct 2, 2010)

I hsad no idea catfish is that bad for you. I heard you just soak them in vinegar to get rid of the muddy taste. 
I caught a rockfish awhile back that had nasty sores on them.
If cooked properly the "bad" should be taken care of right?


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## bendependent (Jun 19, 2009)

Last year I was bagging some 18"-20" catfish @ fort armistead. They tasted terrible.


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## Andre (Mar 15, 2003)

I wouldn't eat anything out of the Potomac between Chain bridge - 301 bridge. Blue cats are some pretty fish ...I saw a guy today with 2 midsize cats on his stringer

Back in 93 or so I was cleaning some crappies that I caught ...They were loaded with small red worms [parasite]. If crappies have them I'm sure cats have them too


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## hengstthomas (Mar 11, 2006)

Andre said:


> I wouldn't eat anything out of the Potomac between Chain bridge - 301 bridge. Blue cats are some pretty fish ...I saw a guy today with 2 midsize cats on his stringer
> 
> Back in 93 or so I was cleaning some crappies that I caught ...They were loaded with small red worms [parasite]. If crappies have them I'm sure cats have them too


Those Red Worms look terrible but are completely harmless .. I have seen them in White Perch and Yellow Perch as well as Stripers caught in the Nanticoke .

Tip : Hold them up to the sunlight and you can see the red worms , sometimes they look like a purple bruise  I am sure its not passed through spawning so let the wormy one go to make some clean ones


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## hengstthomas (Mar 11, 2006)

thaimonkee said:


> I hsad no idea catfish is that bad for you. I heard you just soak them in vinegar to get rid of the muddy taste.
> I caught a rockfish awhile back that had nasty sores on them.
> If cooked properly the "bad" should be taken care of right?


Are you sure ? I wouldnt eat anything with Red Sores on it ... ESPECIALLY A Striper !


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## hengstthomas (Mar 11, 2006)

BTW NOTHING you do to a fish fillet will take out PCB's aside from tossing it in the trash !
Milk , Vinegar and Salt Water wont do anything but make it firm and cover up the real taste .


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## Green Cart (May 14, 2002)

*Hengstthomas*

So what do you eat? You are scaring us especially with all the fish you catch. But at least, I think you eat flounder. Right?


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## thaimonkee (Oct 2, 2010)

hengstthomas said:


> Are you sure ? I wouldnt eat anything with Red Sores on it ... ESPECIALLY A Striper !


I should of checked my wording. I caught a striper with sores on it but tossed it back. I dont eat the fish i catch. I give them to the inlaws or my parents. They love perch. I never knew the fish in the bay were dirty like you guys mentioned.


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## mepps3 (May 18, 2007)

*Here is the consumption advisory*

http://www.mde.state.md.us/programs.../assets/document/Fish_Advisory_Table_2007.pdf

Pretty sure if they don't want you to eat more then 8 meals a year, they aren't that good for you.


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## thaimonkee (Oct 2, 2010)

damn. thats bad


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## atblis (Jul 20, 2003)

Some catfish aren't really bottom feeders in the sense that they go around eating nothing but garbage. Blues are predatory. A live bait fish is one of the best ways to catch them. 

Now eating fish out of the Potomac is another story. :--|
The bay ain't too far behind.


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## HuskyMD (May 19, 2000)

Well, I ate rockfish from the potomac Saturday and I'm still alive. In fact, it was good enough, I just ate some more ;-)


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## thaimonkee (Oct 2, 2010)

LOL. I thought this thread was about the bay. I didnt read the post thoroghly. I dont feel bad now since my parent have ate more than 8 meals a year so far from the Bay


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## Fresh/Saltmaniac (Apr 17, 2010)

All fish can have bad in them, it depends more on the size than the species. As a general rule the bigger they are the more bad thay're going to have. By bad I mean pesticides and herbicides that wash from farms into the water. So I say go for it, I would definately eat cats from maryland waters since no food we buy these days is "bad" free, thats a contributing factor to the fact that about 1/3 of americans come down with cancer at some point in their lives. Unless you grow your own food you're going to get this stuff in your system anyways, so don't be afraid to enjoy some fish once in a while. I'm not making this stuff up, I read it in books, magazines, and some in my environmental science class.


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## Tinybaum (Mar 8, 2004)

HuskyMD said:


> So, I caught a bunch of catfish from the potomac. Most were white (channe cats?). I love to eat catfish. Yet, I threw them all back. I'm curious, would you eat catfish caught in MD in the potomac? If so, which types of catfish? If not, why not?


No I wouldnt eat anything out of the river south of DC. Those arent white cats, or channels, they are blues. If you are set on eating cats stick to the 1-3lbers.

atblis is right on about the blues. 

BTW fresh bait will catch more cats then stinky rotten bait :fishing:


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## atblis (Jul 20, 2003)

> LOL. I thought this thread was about the bay. I didnt read the post thoroghly. I dont feel bad now since my parent have ate more than 8 meals a year so far from the Bay


It's not that simple. There are probabilities associated with it.

The other part of this that some of the effects are a continuous spectrum. There's not two distinct manifestations (sick or not sick). Mercury exposure for instance is harmful at any level. I like to phrase it as "what's the maximum amount you'd find acceptable for your kids to be mentally retarded"? Use that number to set you exposure level.

Sewage and nutrient pollutions is the least of our worries IMO. You can kill the organisms easily by cooking. Also, it cleans up very quickly if you get rid of the source. It's the other crap that never goes away that worries me.

The condition of the bay is tragic and I don't see it ever changing in my lifetime. We're screwed.


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## jrjcrf150f (Oct 21, 2010)

i wouldnt worry about eating fish every now and then or more. you know anything about the land meat we eat? now thats sketchy.


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## hengstthomas (Mar 11, 2006)

atblis said:


> Mercury exposure for instance is harmful at any level. I like to phrase it as "what's the maximum amount you'd find acceptable for your kids to be mentally retarded"? *Use that number to set you exposure level.
> *


Are you serious ? I pity your kids !


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## atblis (Jul 20, 2003)

It's a rhetorical question.


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## hengstthomas (Mar 11, 2006)

atblis said:


> It's a rhetorical question.


You must have phrased it wrong or left out a word or words .. Nothing rhetorical about what you "phrased" opcorn:


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## atblis (Jul 20, 2003)

> a question asked solely to produce an effect or to make an assertion and not to elicit a reply


That's what I consider a rhetorical question to be. Do you not comprehend why that was a rhetorical question?


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## chum_bucket (Jun 21, 2010)

hengstthomas said:


> Are you serious ? I pity your kids !


I think you might have missed the "there is no safe level" part.


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## Sql (May 13, 2006)

*Blues in the Bay*



mepps3 said:


> http://www.mde.state.md.us/programs.../assets/document/Fish_Advisory_Table_2007.pdf
> 
> Pretty sure if they don't want you to eat more then 8 meals a year, they aren't that good for you.


The advisory is not clear on blues caught in the Bay. The advisory talks about the blues in Atlantic Coastal Waters. But many blues are caught in the Chesapeake Bay. Any advisory about their edibility? Or, am I screwed because I have been eating them? What about them croakers? The advisory doesn't even bother with them at all. But they are also caught from the Bay?


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## chum_bucket (Jun 21, 2010)

I read a news pieces a few months back that said MD was extending the rockfish advisories to bluefish as well. so it's 8 meals a year.


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