Utah lake fish

[CaptNRon]

Can you eat fish from Utah Lake ? Thanks
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[fsh4fun05]

Yes, you can eat all the fish you want....but there is a health warning out recently about pcb's. I'm sure someone has a link with some more info.
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[JBinUTAH]

The catfish dinner I had Saturday was delicious!
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[Troll]

Many people do. I limit myself to 2 meals a year if that.
Most lakes in the US now have some kind of advisory about pollutants building up in fish and that you should limit your intake. Pregnant and nursing women should forgo any fish from a water with an advisory.

There are ways to reduce the amount in the fish you choose to eat.
Small fish, the smaller the fish the less time it has spent in the water and the fewer other fish it has eaten. (fish eating other fish causes the contaminants from the eaten fish to be stored in the fatty tissue of the eating fish.
Cut away the belly meat of the fish, this fatty area will hold more contaminates.

Like I said, twice a year, maybe.
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[FishNCoach]

Never heard of pcb, what is it ? any clean lakes ?
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[GEEZER]

I've eaten quite a few over the years & don't glow in the dark or anything like that & I'm still kickin'.

Ask the TubeDude, I think he eats 'em too & I know there are a lot of Asian folks that eat lots of them.
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[tlspyder13]

There are PCB's in the lake and there are warnings. That said a lot of fish are eaten from Utah Lake.
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[kochanut]

Polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) are a class of [url "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Organic_compound"]organic compounds[/url] with 1 to 10 [url "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chlorine"]chlorine[/url] atoms attached to [url "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Biphenyl"]biphenyl[/url] which is a molecule composed of two [url "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Benzene_ring"]benzene rings[/url] each containing six carbon atoms. The [url "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chemical_formula"]chemical formula[/url] for all PCBs is [url "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carbon"]C[/url]12[url "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hydrogen"]H[/url]10-x[url "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chlorine"]Cl[/url]x.
PCBs were used as [url "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coolant"]coolants[/url] and insulating fluids for transformers and capacitors, stabilizing additives in flexible [url "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PVC"]PVC[/url] coatings of electrical wiring and electronic components, [url "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pesticide"]pesticide[/url] extenders, [url "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cutting_oil"]cutting oils[/url], [url "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flame_retardant"]flame retardants[/url], [url "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hydraulic_fluid"]hydraulic fluids[/url], [url "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sealant"]sealants[/url] (used in [url "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caulking"]caulking[/url], etc), [url "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adhesive"]adhesives[/url], wood floor finishes,[url "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polychlorinated_biphenyls#cite_note-rudel2008-0"][1][/url] [url "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paint"]paints[/url], [url "http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=De-dusting_agent&action=edit&redlink=1"]de-dusting agents[/url], and in [url "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carbonless_copy_paper"]carbonless copy paper[/url].[url "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polychlorinated_biphenyls#cite_note-unepbangkok-1"][2][/url]
PCB production was banned in the 1970s due to the high [url "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toxicity"]toxicity[/url] of most PCB [url "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Congeners"]congeners[/url] and mixtures. PCBs are classified as [url "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Persistent_organic_pollutant"]persistent organic pollutants[/url] which [url "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bioaccumulate"]bioaccumulate[/url] in animals.


Health effects:
The [url "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toxicity"]toxicity[/url] of PCBs to animals was first noticed in the 1970s when emaciated seabird corpses with very high PCB body burdens washed up on beaches. Since seabirds may die far out at sea and still wash ashore, the true sources of the PCBs were unknown. Where they were found is no reliable indicator of where they had died.
The toxicity of PCBs varies considerably among congeners. The coplanar PCBs, known as non-ortho PCBs because they are not substituted at the ring positions [url "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arene_substitution_patterns"]ortho[/url] to (next to) the other ring, (i.e. PCBs 77, 126, 169, etc), tend to have [url "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dioxin"]dioxin[/url]-like properties, and generally are among the most toxic congeners. Because PCBs are almost invariably found in complex mixtures, the concept of toxic equivalency factors (TEFs) has been developed to facilitate risk assessment and regulatory control, where more toxic PCB congeners are assigned higher TEF values. One of the most toxic compounds known, [url "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dioxin"]2,3,7,8-tetrachlorodibenzo[p]dioxin[/url], is assigned a TEF of 1.[url "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polychlorinated_biphenyls#cite_note-20"][21][/url]

all of this straight from Wiki
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[TubeDude]

[cool][#0000ff]The short answer is YES...you can safely eat most of the fish from Utah Lake. Carp and larger channel cats are the two main species that were found to have higher concentrations of PCBs. And, the warning level for human consumption of PCBs is much lower than federal levels for sale and consumption of fish commercially.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]Most people look at Utah Lake and are turned off by the color...sometimes a sick green...often an ugly brown. It is shallow and gets roiled up fast when the wind blows. Also, the overpopulation of carp in the lake muddy it up a lot too. But, the chemical composition of the lake is not that bad...much safer in fact than some of our pristine mountain lakes that are contaminated with arsenic or mercury from mining or natural mineral deposits.[/#0000ff]
[#0000ff][/#0000ff]
[#0000ff]White bass, walleyes, crappies and bluegills are all rated well under the "safe levels" on contamination. Most people do not eat carp, so they are not a concern to most Utahans...at least for eating. The channel cats, however, are popular both for angling and for consumption. As an oily fleshed fish, they tend to retain the PCBs in oils of their tissues. However, proper cleaning and cooking can eliminate a high percentage of the oils and PCBs.[/#0000ff]
[#0000ff][/#0000ff]
[#0000ff]As has been stated, whole families in Utah have lived on fish from Utah Lake for generations. I have asked everybody I know, and consulted with several agencies on the matter, and there are no identifiable cases of illness attributable to the consumption of Utah Lake fish. Nobody is getting organ or tissue damage, cancers or lesions or developing extra limbs or glowing in the dark.[/#0000ff]
[#0000ff][/#0000ff]
[#0000ff]A "prudent" person should not want to ingest anything that is potentially harmful to their bodies. However, my contention is that there are many other foods and "substances" we consume on a daily basis that have proven harmful effects...short term and long term. Yet we continue to use them until the first "warning signs". [/#0000ff]
[#0000ff][/#0000ff]
[#0000ff]I was once approached at the cleaning station at Lincoln Beach by a "COF" (crusty old "fudd") who seemed totally grossed out watching me fillet some channel cats. He started ranting and raving about how he would NEVER eat any fish out of Utah Lake. But, while he was carrying on, he was smoking a cigarette and had a couple of coughing fits...spitting up some ugly looking stuff that looked like a piece of lung. I have thought about that a few times when people start their tirades about eating fish from Utah Lake. Okay, how healthy is your diet and lifestyle?[/#0000ff]

[#0000ff]We have had a few discussions in the past about Utah Lake water quality. Here are a couple of links to past threads that you might find interesting.[/#0000ff]

[url "http://www.bigfishtackle.com/cgi-bin/gforum/gforum.cgi?post=404315;sb=post_latest_reply;so=ASC;forum_view=forum_view_collapsed;;page=unread#unread"][size 2]Utah Lake Legacy 3/30/08[/size][/url]
[size 1][black][size 2][url "http://www.bigfishtackle.com/cgi-bin/gforum/gforum.cgi?post=402997#402997"]Utah Lake Water Quality Report (2005) 3/25/08[/url][/size][/black] [/size]
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[kochanut]

**[#0000ff]A "prudent" person should not want to ingest anything that is potentially harmful to their bodies.**[/#0000ff]
[#0000ff][/#0000ff]
[#0000ff]good thing beer is made of mostly water, cause theres no way i want to put anything harmfull into this pristine piece of huma real estate![/#0000ff]
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[TubeDude]

[cool][#0000ff]I'm gonna make a wild guess and say that your "human real estate" is really NOT that "pristine". I'd be willing to bet that you have been guilty of at least minor abuses of your tender young body.[/#0000ff]
[#0000ff][/#0000ff]
[#0000ff]I once heard it said of Dean Martin...a legendary "abuser"...that when he died it took them three days to beat his liver to death.[/#0000ff]
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[doggonefishin]

It is worth mentioning that fish tested from Utah lake for mercury had some of the lowest values in the state. Think about that when you are dining on a Jordanelle brown or Joes Valley fish that is under a mercury advisory.


[url "http://www.waterquality.utah.gov/documents/Utah_HgFishTissue_AllData_4-20-07.pdf"][/url]http://www.waterquality.utah.gov/documents/Utah_HgFishTissue_AllData_4-20-07.pdf[/url]


Since the white bass, crappies, and walleyes were tested and cleared as safe to eat with respect to PCB's as well, I have been comfortable eating those species every now and then. It is a personal choice though, and if it grosses you out mentally, then you probably won't enjoy the meal, no matter how "good" the meat should be or how safe the flesh is to eat.
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[CaptNRon]

I will go ahead and Dine tonight on fish,[cool] (CARP-YUK, from what I have heard that is for the dudes down south of the border) and for Cat's, that is for the cats.[:p]
It is true there is other things that are just as bad for us. if I grow anything, or turn Stupid (already there) I will let you know. In Alaska well -wonderful fishing,I am new to the area and lake, and fish Alaska in the July-August (July 14-Aug-18) months,thanks for the help.
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[fast_randy]

I've ate a ton of catfish from my favorite spot. (Utah Lake) Even after moving to Idaho, Utah Lake and Lincoln Beach is still my favorite place. Although for the last 6 or 7 years I have been throwing anything over 5 lbs back. But that was just because the average size cat was getting smaller and being replaced by mud cats. And the smaller ones are a little better eating but not that much better. On a big cat you just cut your fillet thinner. Never fry a piece thicker than 1 inch. And try corn flake crums (yummy).

I think the average size has improved but how are the mud cats this year?
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