Diseased fish what to do with them?

[viper91180]

I know I should be asking fish and wildlife amd I will. But I caught a walleye the other niggt thay was full of growths all over its body. Just wondering if I should have turned it over to fish and wildlife? I had already kept my one legal walleye amd was fishing for pike when I got it. So my question is I guess is what should I have done? I let it go as thays wjat I was told I had to do. I've never encountered this before.

[Bemoredog]

Tough call. If you want to be on the right side of the law, let it go. Take a picture and send it to F&W. Unless you're an expert I'd be careful not to make any rash decisions by killing a fish with what might just be a passing skin issue.

Here's a similar case involving Pike and the Government essentially advised not to eat the fish, but also not to kill any caught with the disease since most recover. Click the link and go to the heading "Disease in Northern Pike".

http://aep.alberta.ca/fish-wildlife/fisheries-management/fish-management-zones/zone-1-eastern-slopes/documents/CowLake-Jun04-2014.pdf

[DiabeticKripple]

let them go. disease is a natural thing.

[3blade]

If it looked like white warts it's a skin disease common to perch and walleye (the name escapes me right now), does not infect the meat, and the fish usually recover fine on their own according to the research I've read. I've eaten hundreds of perch with those growths.

And yes, legally you have to release it in that situation.

[huntin'fool]

If it looked like white warts it's a skin disease common to perch and walleye (the name escapes me right now), does not infect the meat, and the fish usually recover fine on their own according to the research I've read. I've eaten hundreds of perch with those growths.

And yes, legally you have to release it in that situation.


I believe you are thinking lymphocystis (sp?). Very common w/ perch family of fish.