Eating from the NSR

CanuckAngler11 · #1 10-26-2014, 01:36 PM

So I've heard of people eating from the nsr and people who won't even go near the fish out of it. So I am wondering am I gonna get sick if I eat a fish out of there. I fish out by legends and am tempted to try eating it. But I don't want to risk safety.

Sundancefisher · #2 10-26-2014, 01:54 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by CanuckAngler11

So I've heard of people eating from the nsr and people who won't even go near the fish out of it. So I am wondering am I gonna get sick if I eat a fish out of there. I fish out by legends and am tempted to try eating it. But I don't want to risk safety.

How is this for food for thought.

One day while fishing the NSR I kept getting scum on my line. Kept having to clean it off. I decided to just cast instead of still bait fishing so put on my waders and spent some time in the water.

As I came out of the water I noticed my neoprene waders looked odd. Upon closer examination what was sticking to my line and waders was dirty toilet paper discharge from upstream.

For reasons such as this I would not eat fish downstream of a major city and/or sewage outflow.

CanuckAngler11 · #3 10-26-2014, 01:54 PM

Good point. Thanks. What about fish upstream of the city

bloopbloob · #4 10-26-2014, 04:03 PM

Are you sure that "toilet paper" was not didymo? From wikipedia, "Didymosphenia geminata, commonly known as didymo or rock snot, is a species of diatom that produces nuisance growths in freshwater rivers and streams..."

I know the Bow river has this problem, and that I thought it was toilet paper also, until I did some research. Still, I'd never eat anything out of the NSR. Probably safe, but I just never would.

YeeHaw · #5 10-26-2014, 05:04 PM

I have a feed of sauger on occasion, never got sick, or started glowing. But noticed my ambition level going down over the years, so i'll blame the fish.

sureshot · #6 10-26-2014, 05:31 PM

we used to pickle the goldeye when we were younger

spinN'flyfish · #7 10-26-2014, 06:07 PM

same rumors about the bow too..... I believe that things get pretty dirty in a big city

Og Dumi · #8 10-26-2014, 06:26 PM

I've seen two condoms caught an pulled out of the river... Enough for me personally not to eat out of it

spinN'flyfish · #9 10-26-2014, 07:10 PM

well i have to say the nsr doesn't look to appealing to me

last minute · #10 10-26-2014, 07:14 PM

Quote:

For reasons such as this I would not eat fish downstream of a major city and/or sewage outflow.

Amen agreed

Rennich98 · #11 10-26-2014, 07:53 PM

I would personally rather eat a fish or two out of the river(Devon upstream) than a dinky rainbow that tastes like mud any day...I find that since they're always having to swim in the current that their meat tends to be firmer than a lake fish...may not be the healthiest but at least it's better than McDonald's

waterninja · #12 10-26-2014, 08:08 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by YeeHaw

I have a feed of sauger on occasion, never got sick, or started glowing. But noticed my ambition level going down over the years, so i'll blame the fish.

I always thought you were born that way. This explains a few things.

kidding aside, I know a few people who eat fish from the nsr fairly regularly and they haven't suffered any ill effects. The nsr is much cleaner then people realize, and because it has a mud bottom the water looks dirtier then it is.

ctown · #13 10-27-2014, 06:27 AM

I never understand this question.

Of course it's safe to consume fish from the river. The problem is not pollution it is mercury which is unsafe in large doses. Read your regs there are a lot of places listed that you should watch your intake from. And even then it is naturally occurring in our lakes and rivers through out alberta and other places all over the world. It's not dumped, polluted mercury. It's a little gift from Mother Nature. You'd have to consume a heck of a lot of fish to have health problems. Of course location is something to consider as most of the best spots to fish are at out falls and other drainage locations. And even then it's not like the fish live there, they are just visiting and have spent their years all over the river system. And for the main reason I never understand this is, do you think that all the seafood being sold and eaten all over the globe comes from pristine non-polluted waters? Do you think the Fraser river is not polluted? that's a pretty massive food source, coming from some very polluted water. And this river is Tobin lake. Would you eat a fish from there? Relax people, river fish taste way better than anything you'll pull from a lake outside of the mountains in Alberta. That's a promise.

edmhunter · #14 10-27-2014, 06:35 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Og Dumi

I've seen two condoms caught an pulled out of the river... Enough for me personally not to eat out of it

We drink the water from NSR, even though MILLIONS of fish have sex in it

, never killed anyone yet!

Kim473 · #15 10-27-2014, 07:08 AM

Generaly it is the Mercury content in the NSR from many years of people looking for gold, so they say. But the regs also say about 1/2 the lakes in Alberta have high Mercury content. I personaly would not fish from the NSR unless it was caught way upstream of Edmonton because of the discharges of roads etc....

chriscosta · #16 10-27-2014, 07:26 AM

Youd hafta be crazy to eat fish from the nsr....

spinN'flyfish · #17 10-27-2014, 09:00 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kim473

Generaly it is the Mercury content in the NSR from many years of people looking for gold, so they say. But the regs also say about 1/2 the lakes in Alberta have high Mercury content. I personaly would not fish from the NSR unless it was caught way upstream of Edmonton because of the discharges of roads etc....

true but some amounts okay......... how about upstream of abraham lake?

trhunter · #18 10-29-2014, 10:16 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by spinN'flyfish

true but some amounts okay......... how about upstream of abraham lake?

ohhh no!! does it contain a lot of mercury? is it safe to eat? what about upstream of the city? how's the mercury levels over there?

amiright spin?

spinN'flyfish · #19 10-29-2014, 04:33 PM

I was just asking a simple question. It is safe for consumption in Edmonton but there are some advisories to how much you should consume. All I was asking was whether the upper reaches contained mercury or not, Im not trying to eat all the fish in the river, neither am I trying to find spots. Your trolling has gone way too far dude. Respect others

silver · #20 10-29-2014, 06:10 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by spinN'flyfish

I was just asking a simple question. It is safe for consumption in Edmonton but there are some advisories to how much you should consume. All I was asking was whether the upper reaches contained mercury or not, Im not trying to eat all the fish in the river, neither am I trying to find spots. Your trolling has gone way too far dude. Respect others

Sorry I can't give you a link but the Sask gov't has a website that has suggestions for consumption. It seperates the different species and it goes by size as well.

I know it won't give you an Alberta specific answers but it should give you a general idea.

By the way, I do eat smaller walleye from the river.

trhunter · #21 10-29-2014, 08:00 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by silver

Sorry I can't give you a link but the Sask gov't has a website that has suggestions for consumption. It seperates the different species and it goes by size as well.

I know it won't give you an Alberta specific answers but it should give you a general idea.

By the way, I do eat smaller walleye from the river.

Stop feeding the troll that is SpinNFlyfishin' AKA epicangler, you are wasting your time and bandwidth. Don't believe me? Go view his post history.

spinN'flyfish · #22 10-29-2014, 10:22 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by trhunter

Stop feeding the troll that is SpinNFlyfishin' AKA epicangler, you are wasting your time and bandwidth. Don't believe me? Go view his post history.

I as epicangler? That fool doesn't even know what he's talkin' about, and declares mercury contaminated waters are waters where fish cannot be eaten at all, that is pathetic BS, I seen his posts. Dont go falsely judging me as epic based on my previous posts, thats unacceptable bro

walleye guy · #23 10-30-2014, 09:22 PM

compared to a lot of rivers in other parts of the world that feed millions of people, it might be muddy at times but the NSR is cleaner now than it has been for decades

MagnumMan · #24 10-31-2014, 07:43 AM

I personally caught a female blood stopping device out of that river, right by legends.

Just food for thought. or vice versa.

CanadianBadass · #25 10-31-2014, 08:32 AM

This whole "Upstream" And "Downstream" argument just boggles my mind, obviously a lot of "Unknown" In this topic

FAct #1 : The NSR is cleaner then most lakes in alberta ( Look at blue/Green Algee ) This affects fish quality as well

Fact #2 The only reason why it is unsafe to eat more then a Lb/Week/Adult male, is due to naturally occurring mercury levels in the soils.....

Here is a few examples of why UP or downstream don't matter ....

here is a Beautiful RMWF I caught "Downstream" (LEGENDS) Of Edmonton ..... Now where do you think that fish went after early season..... Of course, he went back upstream , so he fed on all the "Crap" Downstream of the city and is now 200kms up stream chilling in the rockies.... so you would eat him if you caught it up there but not down here ? ? ? ? ? ? that makes no sense to me ..

.

This year I also caught 4 sturgeon right in the city , and 2.5 months later recapped those same fish 175 (river Kms) Upstream ! now, tell me this, why would it matter if it was up or downstream where you caught the fish ? ? ? ?

wildman · #26 10-31-2014, 09:23 AM

this guy i heard of called Darwin says go for it!!!!!

schmedlap · #27 10-31-2014, 07:24 PM

As has been said, in Edmonton we all drink NSR water drawn out within the City boundaries, every day. The mercury thing is the only thing of real concern - just don't make NSR fish a major part of your diet. I have eaten great feeds of Walleye and Burbs caught in the Genesee area, and the odd Walleye caught in or near Edmonton, and oouneh pyh5hhdue 885632- 0&%@ hasn't affected (*@NN_F prtch$$2) me at all.

FishingFrenzy · #28 10-31-2014, 07:39 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by schmedlap

As has been said, in Edmonton we all drink NSR water drawn out within the City boundaries, every day. The mercury thing is the only thing of real concern - just don't make NSR fish a major part of your diet. I have eaten great feeds of Walleye and Burbs caught in the Genesee area, and the odd Walleye caught in or near Edmonton, and oouneh pyh5hhdue 885632- 0&%@ hasn't affected (*@NN_F prtch$$2) me at all.

North Saskatchewan River
upstream of Highway 22/39 (Drayton Valley) – see Fish Management Zone 1, Watershed Unit ES2.
from Highway 22/39 (Drayton Valley) downstream to the Alberta/Saskatchewan border
River Only
Open all year – Mountain Whitefish limit 5 over 30 cm; Walleye limit 0; Sauger limit 3 (Sauger limit 0 from Apr. 1 to May 14); Pike limit 1 over 63 cm; Burbot limit 10; Goldeye limit 10; Lake Sturgeon limit 0.
tributaries (excluding Sturgeon River)
Apr. 1 to May 14 – CLOSED
May 15 to Mar. 31 – Open (Walleye limit 0 for portions within 500 m of main stem)

.........

CanadianBadass · #29 11-01-2014, 08:42 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by schmedlap

As has been said, in Edmonton we all drink NSR water drawn out within the City boundaries, every day. The mercury thing is the only thing of real concern - just don't make NSR fish a major part of your diet. I have eaten great feeds of Walleye and Burbs caught in the Genesee area, and the odd Walleye caught in or near Edmonton, and oouneh pyh5hhdue 885632- 0&%@ hasn't affected (*@NN_F prtch$$2) me at all.

I woudnt be posting it online that you have poached fish ! .....

Not the best place for that !

chriscosta · #30 11-01-2014, 01:53 PM

Whhhhoooops lol