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Cedar river fish safe to eat?

iowabucks

Member
Getting ready to fish a farm pond in a couple hours about 1/2 mile from the Cedar that did get flooded out (of course) in Muscatine county. I really want to eat some crappies but not sure how safe they would be to eat. The pond was only flooded for the amount of time the river was really high. I know Cedar Rapids is still dumping raw sewage into the river and nothing downstream would be very safe. Would the farm pond be a little safer to eat out of? I'm betting not, but what would you do?

Any opinions?
 
If you're going to only eat fish from any river a half dozen times each year I would have zero problems saying you'll be OK. If you are going to start living off fish out of our rivers then I'd say differently.
 
Pretty sure I wouldn't eat any, just knowing the amount of chemicals, sewage, etc. that was washed away in the floods scares the crap out of me.
 
Got this right from the Iowa DNR website:

The Cedar River from the Highway 218 bridge at Floyd (Floyd Co.) to the Iowa/Minnesota state line (39 mile stretch): Eat only 1 meal/week of smallmouth bass, walleye, and northern pike due to elevated levels of mercury.
 
I was reading a Cedar River water quality pdf on the DNR website and found this information out about the river below Cedar Rapids. As of 7/24/08.

The staggering volume of water in the Cedar River during the flood diluted the pollution to the point that the concentration of pollutants we found was very small. In fact, many pollutants were not even detected.


Bacteria counts (E. coli, specifically) in the Cedar River were high during the flood and were higher below Cedar Rapids than above. Bacteria counts are still high after the flood and we still see an increase below Cedar Rapids. The levels are similar to bacteria counts that we regularly see after heavy rains in many of Iowa's streams. However, in this case the bacteria counts may be of more concern because of the potential for human pathogens in the sewage is higher than if the bacteria came from soil or animal waste. Elevated bacteria can increase the risk of illness in people that recreate in these streams. The highest risk comes from swallowing the water while swimming or skiing.



Sounds to me like the pollutants are pretty low but bacteria levels are high. If there is risk of coming into contact with human pathogens from the water, count me out.
 
I'm not sure if it's still going on but during the flood and for a while after it the C.R. area was dumping all of its raw sewage directly into the Cedar. Might be just me but I'd rather not eat a catfish or any other fish that's been marinating in turds and piss.
 
<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: The Heart Surgeon</div><div class="ubbcode-body">Might be just me but I'd rather not eat a catfish or any other fish that's been marinating in turds and piss. </div></div>

Truer words have never been spoken! /forum/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/laugh.gif I love fish just as much as the next guy but I can wait a few weeks for Mother Nature to flush her waterway toilets. /forum/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/grin.gif
 
<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: The Heart Surgeon</div><div class="ubbcode-body"> any other fish that's been marinating in turds and piss. </div></div>

Insert pork for fish??

Working on a hog farm pretty much killed my desire to eat pork. Pickled pigs feet anyone?
eck03.gif


Back on the topic at hand, I haven't eaten fish out of a river for many years and don't eat that much out of farm ponds, either.
 
The catfish caught in the river behind the DAEC Nuke Plant have always been tasty /forum/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/smile.gif Dont worry, the night fishermen usually catch any of the ones that glow in the dark /forum/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/wink.gif
 
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