Consuming fish/crayfish from oldman river?

[NUK SOO KOW]

Just curious as I was reading the crayfish post. I would like to catch to try to eat as well, and there are tons of them in the oldman river in lethbridge to taber. Huge ones too. However I know there are fish consumtion warnings due to mercury levels in the river. How does the mercury affect crayfish? Just curious as they are a bottom feeder/scavenger. Would the levels be more concentrated in them or not at all? I have stopped eating the fish I catch from the river from lethbridge downstream to the forks. Just because of the increased pollution. How many of you still eat the fish from the river? I have a few great honey holes that produce great walleye, I just don't keep them anymore. Haven't for about 8 years. I want to try crayfish, but I want to catch them from a clean body of water.

Thanks all

[Big Animal]

There are tons in Chin, that is fairly clean compared to the Old Man

[npauls]

I don't know if nich. sheran or henderson are are cleaner but there is a ton in both those lakes also. I would say if you want them from a clean water body your best bet would be travers or newel.

[NUK SOO KOW]

I havn't seen any in chin, but never really looked either. Have seen them in newell. I'll try chin this year for sure. As far as the city lakes, I don't think I could eat anything that comes out if them. I am actually grossed out when I see people take fish home from them. If you ever actually looked in the water of the city lakes, there is a lot of bad stuff in them. Paint/airsol cans, tires, all sorts of litter, and who knows what. Thanx for the replies.

[chubbdarter]

I havn't seen any in chin, but never really looked either. Have seen them in newell. I'll try chin this year for sure. As far as the city lakes, I don't think I could eat anything that comes out if them. I am actually grossed out when I see people take fish home from them. If you ever actually looked in the water of the city lakes, there is a lot of bad stuff in them. Paint/airsol cans, tires, all sorts of litter, and who knows what. Thanx for the replies.

not arguing.....but have you seen what over a million cattle do in every southern alberta river or stream?.....paint might be the lesser evil to consume...lol

[greylynx]

There are tons in Chin, that is fairly clean compared to the Old Man

Any pictures?

[bessiedog]

Would they be up by the spillway? I've never checked.

Are they in the OLR resevior?

anyone know?

[horsetrader]

This guy is a idiot but this style of cooking crawfish is fantastic.
hopfully this will work

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NhJE4KMWPH4

[NUK SOO KOW]

not arguing.....but have you seen what over a million cattle do in every southern alberta river or stream?.....paint might be the lesser evil to consume...lol

You may be right!! The river gets dirtier the further east you go. Its sad to see how much crap gets tossed into it. I remember when I was a kid there was no green slime on the rocks and none of the white foamy bubbles, and the water itself was much more clear. Stupid pollution. I e-mailed a biologist with some questions about the mercury in crayfish, no reply as of yet, but hopefully soon. I'll post when I hear from him.

Still curious if anyone still eats the fish from the river though!

[Guitarplayingfish]

I don't. River = C & R ... I do that everywhere anyway, but I wouldnt eat anything from the old man, SSR or any of the ponds/lakes in or around the city. The odd perch outta sherburne hahaha but thats about it.

As for crayfish, I have seen lots in chin as well. They are all over the place.

[chubbdarter]

You may be right!! The river gets dirtier the further east you go. Its sad to see how much crap gets tossed into it. I remember when I was a kid there was no green slime on the rocks and none of the white foamy bubbles, and the water itself was much more clear. Stupid pollution. I e-mailed a biologist with some questions about the mercury in crayfish, no reply as of yet, but hopefully soon. I'll post when I hear from him.

Still curious if anyone still eats the fish from the river though!

it wasnt that long ago houses in Coleman dumped raw honey hunks into the Crow.......ever seen the drip pipes draining into Pincher Creek.....how about what happens in Brocket????????????......hundreds of honey wagons spewwing and then the fields are irrigated and washed into the waterton river.....and the hundreds of cattle treating the Oldman near Picture Butte like a spa. How about what happens in the little bow river near Turin and after it meets the Oldman.....them hutterites!!!!! lol
answer NO ......Joey's for me

[KBF]

not arguing.....but have you seen what over a million cattle do in every southern alberta river or stream?.....paint might be the lesser evil to consume...lol

Ya seeming how what the cattle are dumping is grass and water which is biodegradable.

[Dale S]

Not to mention all the potato and corn fertilizer that gets flushed in every rain storm.I think it would scare us if we knew how much fertilizer is used every year.Intence agriculture is hard on the environment be it cattle or farming.

[walking buffalo]

answer NO ......Joey's for me

Do you know where Joey's get their fish from? :scared:

I won't eat commercially packaged fish anymore, not until labeling laws in Canada are made to dircetly identify the species of fish and source.

"Dirty Waters, Dangerous Fish"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N6N2SX51d7w&feature=related

The OP's question brings up a serious issue, water quality in Alberta. Let's clean up our act.

[chubbdarter]

Do you know where Joey's get their fish from? :scared:

I won't eat commercially packaged fish anymore, not until labeling laws in Canada are made to dircetly identify the species of fish and source.

"Dirty Waters, Dangerous Fish"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N6N2SX51d7w&feature=related

The OP's question brings up a serious issue, water quality in Alberta. Let's clean up our act.

im guessing the Halibut comes from the pacific ocean....if it comes from the Oldman river...im done eating it as well

[NUK SOO KOW]

Hi Nuk Soo Kow: regarding your crayfish questions, you are correct about the number of crayfish in southern Alberta increasing over the last decade. The first reports of crayfish we have in our files were from 1993, and there were “scattered” reports for the rest of the 1990s. In the early 2000s, we started getting quite a lot of reports of crayfish sightings. Crayfish are now in most of the reservoirs and rivers in southern Alberta, at least east of Hwy 2. It may be that the water temperatures are too cool for this species to do well closer to the mountains.



As David suggested, we think humans might have assisted with the distribution of crayfish in the south. The northern crayfish is a resident of Saskatchewan, and has been moving upstream into Alberta over time. However, the large population of crayfish established in some upstream reservoirs like Lake McGregor and Travers suggests some individuals were put there and have colonized in a downstream direction. There also has been some DNA work on crayfish from southern Alberta which supports this.



Crayfish will consume a fairly wide variety of food because they are both scavengers and predators. They will eat decomposing bodies of fish, fish eggs, detritus, invertebrates etc. In terms of an impact, it is both positive and negative because while they will consume fish eggs and invertebrates that otherwise might be consumed by fish, they are also fish food. Adult lake sturgeon, northern pike and probably walleye will eat them. We haven’t tested them for pollutant burdens like mercury, but given what they eat, they shouldn’t be bio-accumulating very much mercury, plus they don’t live as long as most fish species. Some people have told me they like the taste of crayfish while others have commented that it tastes fairly rubbery. It probably depends a lot on how you prepare it. You may feel more comfortable eating crayfish from a reservoir rather than the Oldman (or other) rivers. Your suggestion of turning over rocks and catching them by hand is a good way to collect some.