Eating fish out of the Cumberland - FishingTN.com Tennessee's Fishing and Boating Community

nomad60 · #1 09-07-2013, 07:43 PM

Seeing all these catfish posts lately has got me wanting to start fishing for cats but...I've been told that the fish out of the river here in Clarksville aren't really safe to eat due to all the garbage that is being dumped into the river locally and the stuff coming down from Nashville. Anyone have any thoughts on that or does anyone have any links to recent water testing done in the Cumberland? For the most part I'm catch and release but I do love me some fried catfish and I had also planned on keeping some white bass the next time I get into them.

fatherof4 · #2 09-07-2013, 08:05 PM

Let me say this as eloquently as possible without offending anyone. If eating fish out of the Cumberland or the TN River (Ft. Loudon in East TN) is really dangerous then there would be more warning signs at the docks-and folks that fish illegally (illegals) would be sicker than hell. I've had those guys run up to me when I was catching skipjack at the dam and beg me for them-they had a Walmart bag in the nice warm sun full of skippies, drum, cats and stripe. I imagine that the government will do a million dollar study on the effects of river and lake fish on the human body and start charging a fee (tax) for each fish that is removed. Much like payroll and FICA taxes-you only pay the taxes if you work- you would only pay the fee if you had a fishing license...

tacklemake · #3 09-07-2013, 08:46 PM

I bought a new bass tracker this year and from April till now the bottom is black and I can't get it off. I fish in old hickory lake and I put in at lock 3 ramp and I fish in the cove to the right of the ramp. The kids swim at that park and if its in the water its in the fish. So your guess is as good as mine.............woody

Alphahawk · #4 09-07-2013, 09:16 PM

In the back of The Tennessee Fishing Guide.......put out by TWRA.....it lists the bodies of water that have contaminants....the name of the pollutant.....what fish not to eat....or whether to consume anything from that body of water at all. It gets updated each year.

Regards

wormdunker · #5 09-07-2013, 09:44 PM

I ate some catfish out of the Cumberland (right here in west Nashville) last Saturday, and I ain't dead. Seriously, I'd like to know too if they do any testing around here. I did eat those the other day, and caught a few today, but threw them back, didn't want to clean them. They all looked healthy, anyways.

Alphahawk · #6 09-07-2013, 09:51 PM

There are not any advisories for contaminants in fish in the Cumberland according to TDEC.

Regards

tkwalker · #7 09-07-2013, 11:09 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by tacklemake

I bought a new bass tracker this year and from April till now the bottom is black and I can't get it off. I fish in old hickory lake and I put in at lock 3 ramp and I fish in the cove to the right of the ramp. The kids swim at that park and if its in the water its in the fish. So your guess is as good as mine.............woody

Woody, just because you have to clean the bottom of a boat which was probably the water line does not mean the water is polluted ... With as much turnover that is going on and debris and after some rain and run off you will have a floating stain on the water surface ... especially the Cumberland ... It is a balancing lake for Cheatham and Barkley ...

You need to take a towel with you and as soon as you bring the boat out of the water wipe it clean ... If you don't the second time it dries over the first build up and so on ... Trust me ...I have been fishing OH since it was formed in 1957 ... Nothing has changed ... A clean river system especially since it is fed via Dale Hollow and Center Hill ... ( I even had to wipe down my boat once on JPP out of my last 4 trips) Same problem no current floe and stagnate water ...

Now in the 50's and 60's in Tuscaloosa , Alabama ... On the Black Warrior river when they use to dump Asphalt in to the river ... You would have to take kerosene and clean your legs to get rid of it after water skiing ... Now that is contamination ... <'TK><

Rover1966 · #8 09-08-2013, 08:56 AM

I and my family have eaten fish of all species from the Cumberland river here in Sumner county since I was a kid (47 now). No known issues here.

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jad2t · #9 09-08-2013, 10:59 AM

I wouldn't consistently feast on the fish that rule the food chain like Rockfish and Catfish as they will have the larger amount of contaminants. Personally, I'd want nothing to do with eating a 60lb catfish but I'd eat smaller, younger ones anytime. Same with bass. 12-15" bass are perfect eating size. Much bigger than that, not only do they not taste as good, but they're older and because they're larger are higher on the food chain thus having more contaminants.

Adrian · #10 09-08-2013, 11:28 AM

Eating fish out of the Cumberland just makes my Hair Thicker! Gives me more Energy, and it Keeps me Lean

tacklemake · #11 09-08-2013, 03:36 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by tkwalker

Woody, just because you have to clean the bottom of a boat which was probably the water line does not mean the water is polluted ... With as much turnover that is going on and debris and after some rain and run off you will have a floating stain on the water surface ... especially the Cumberland ... It is a balancing lake for Cheatham and Barkley ...

You need to take a towel with you and as soon as you bring the boat out of the water wipe it clean ... If you don't the second time it dries over the first build up and so on ... Trust me ...I have been fishing OH since it was formed in 1957 ... Nothing has changed ... A clean river system especially since it is fed via Dale Hollow and Center Hill ... ( I even had to wipe down my boat once on JPP out of my last 4 trips) Same problem no current floe and stagnate water ...

Now in the 50's and 60's in Tuscaloosa , Alabama ... On the Black Warrior river when they use to dump Asphalt in to the river ... You would have to take kerosene and clean your legs to get rid of it after water skiing ... Now that is contamination ... <'TK><

If it was just the water line that would be alright I can clean that but its the hole bottom of the boat and this isn't the first boat I ever had and I know what water line dirt looks like and if it was polluted there would be dead fish in that cove its not so I don't know what would tarnish the hole bottom of an aluminum boat that the bottom had been wax before it ever want into the water..............woody

jaysouth · #12 09-08-2013, 03:48 PM

I had this conversation with a wildlife biologist with TWRA less than a month ago. My concern was the stretch of the Cumberland four or five miles up and down stream from Ashland City.

It was his opinion that that stretch of the Cumberland was as clean as Percy Priest or OH, and that blues, smaller flatheads and channel cats were perfectly safe to eat.

My concern was about the cleanliness of the water and the amount of debris floating downstream.

nomad60 · #13 09-08-2013, 07:05 PM

Thanks for all the replies, guys. I figured that the occasional fish wouldn't hurt plus I see people bank fishing around here all the time, going for catfish, bluegill, white bass etc...what brought on the question was some conversations I've had with a couple of the guys I know that fish around here and they both said they wouldn't eat anything out of the Cumberland in this area due to pollution and garbage being dumped into the river around Nashville, and because (to them) Clarksville is suspect of dumping waste into the Red River and Cumberland from the waste treatment plant here.
All the fish I've ever caught here locally sure looked and acted pretty darned healthy to me...I remember back when I was young and we used to fish Lake Erie, you would catch some drum and other fish that would have weird growths on them...but back then Erie was known to be heavily polluted.
All I now is, next time I get lucky enough to get into those white bass again, they'll be in my livewell

tkwalker · #14 09-09-2013, 12:39 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by tacklemake

If it was just the water line that would be alright I can clean that but its the hole bottom of the boat and this isn't the first boat I ever had and I know what water line dirt looks like and if it was polluted there would be dead fish in that cove its not so I don't know what would tarnish the hole bottom of an aluminum boat that the bottom had been wax before it ever want into the water..............woody

Woody, is your Bass tracker Unpainted Aluminum ? If it is it is not uncommon for electrolysis to set in on your boat ... It has a blackening effect on some Unpainted Aluminum Hulls .. This is a polarity issue .. It may be electrical ground is touching the hull ... Or the mfr. ... used the hull as a ground ...

Have you seen the lead looking devices attached to your skeg or the bottom of your trim unit or tower clamp ... These are called Self destructive anodes ... They will deteriorate instead of the Aluminum hull ...

A lot of folks only thinks that electrolysis is only applicable to Salt water ... Not so ... Any time you have aluminum attached in Parallel you will have this problem .... <'TK><

sbrison · #15 09-09-2013, 09:18 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Adrian

Eating fish out of the Cumberland just makes my Hair Thicker! Gives me more Energy, and it Keeps me Lean

I thought the reason I had lost my hair was due to eating fish out of the Cumberland

Other than that I have eaten stripe, bass, sauger, and catfish with no ill affects. x2 on the smaller fish are the better eaters.