jigster

[ellevold]

Hey jigster get a load of this. Tom Ganske and the 2 Zarn brothers went to Rainy River a couple of weekends ago.They caught 20 some eyes over 25in 4 fish were 28in and 1 just shy of 30. They were there for 2 days and caught over 200 fish i guess. That would be alright hah. How long will you be at LOW for the opener? Where is your cabin maybe me and Ganske will stop in there if your there the following Friday . Thats when we will be on URL. If your not going to be there let me know where to go for some eyes on LOW because im sure we will try that to. Later

[JIGSTER]

I believe it!!The Rainy is a awesome fishery in the spring.We usually fish it for a week in October and the fishin' is great.LOW should be good this year with the late ice out.The eyes should be in shallow and ready to eat!Been hittin the Missouri River at Chamberlain, SD it's closer than the Rainy but you don't catch the big slobs,mostly eater size.**** Luke even caught a 5 lber.Will be at LOW opener til Tues. Later
Jigster

[Guest]

How many meals of walleye out of the Rainy River do you folks eat per week and how do you feel about the walleye status and the quality of fish being consumed? I guide quetico and the BWCA and the fish of smaller sizes are ok, but most of the Lake Trout and Larger Walleyes are loaded with toxins due to copper smelting in Ontario!

Here I am in Alaska doing research on Minnesota fisheries and food chain toxicity reports and I am very glad that I eat as many crappies as I do. I am just curious as to how many fish/week you consume from the Rainy River and how you feel about pulp mills and other sources of pollutants into our wonderful Rainy River? The fish for some reason seem to be doing very well???

[ellevold]

I personaly never fished the rainy,but I have friends that do and they eat the fish out of there but they only go up there once a year.

[Guest]

With a slot of nothing over 19.5in, there are not that many toxins built up in the fish. Also the fish you catch in the rainy during the spring are fresh in from LOW, this helps also.

[Katoman]

The last time I was on the Rainy River I was checked by the local CO at the landing. I had heard persistant rumors for years about the toxins in the river. He told me that the Rainy and 1/3 of LOW have high levels of dioxin. It is from the paper mill at the Falls. He advised not to eat more than one meal of fish a month from either the river or the lower 1/3 of the lake. We never kept any fish.It was a very interesting comment.

[Tom Stay]

Your right guys, the Rainy is an awesome fishery. I've been eating the walleyes out of the Rainy for over 25 years and I'm not glowing yet. I've got blonde hair though if that counts.
But all kidding aside, there are some specs on eating them for children and pregnant women, but for the most part, they are delicious!!!

------------------
Gonzos Guide Service
http//GonzosGuideService.com

[Katoman]

Which brings to mind an interesting question. I do believe the paper mill was fined the largest penalty, like 7 mil at the time, in history of the PCA. Whatever happened to that money? Does anyone know?

[JIGSTER]

Eat the 15-18 inchers and they seem fine.Alaskander do you have any more info concerning our lakes seems pretty interesting?I don't know all the details on where the pollution in the Rainy comes from,but they claim it's a lot better than it was years back.I would assume this info isn't something the state and local interests want everyone to know about.What gets me is the people that won't eat the fish out of the Rainy,but will eat them out of the lake.Where the hell does the water in LOW come from I ask??If the walleyes won't kill ya the Beef & Pork will!!Have a good one, JIGSTER

[Katoman]

I've also heard many lakes north and around the Iron Range have high levels of mercury. It has leeched into many watersheds from the mines.

[ellevold]

I know people that eat fish out of the Minnesota river for years and that was suppose to be one of the highest toxic water in MN, at one time anyway.That ok though just keep throwing them back if you wont eat some. Just more for me to catch.

[bigV]

Katoman
It's true many fish in ne Minn. lakes have high levels of mercury but I think most of it is due to the natural levels in the lake. Many of the soils around these lakes have high mercury content and insufficient buffering capacity to bind the toxins.
Not all poisons are man made

[Katoman]

I'm from the southern part of the state. You should see some of our lakes, especially during the hot months. It is unbelieveable. The run off from lawns, storm sewers,cess pools is tremendous. I agreed mercury is a natural toxin but the immense digging thru the dirt and the runoff surely deposited it a lot faster in the watershed than mother nature.

[Surface Tension]

Didnt the mercury and pcb's found in our lake's come smoke stack's?

[swamptiger]

I remember catching walleyes in the Gap up at Lake of the Woods in the spring 25-30 years ago that were so bad tasting we couldn't eat them. We didn't know for sure where it came from, but the obvious answer was from the mill upstream.

I have fished, and eaten the fish right below the mill in the Falls in recent years, and could detect no bad taste whatsoever.

So, in my book, the Rainy is much cleaner now than it was in years past.

[Fish-on]

Remember that most of the walleyes in the Rainy this timeof the year migrated from the vast open areas of Lake of the Woods. Add that to the fact that you can possess only two with nothing over 19.5 and I think you can see why there's othing wrong with eating as many as you can legally keep. They're yummy.

Now if you want to talk about polluted fish, go the the fox river at Green Bay, WI. Yuck, they stink even when you start frying them.

------------------
Bernie Barringer's 10,000 Lakes Guide Service
http://fishingminnesota.com/bernie
Call toll free 800-890-FISH (3474)
[email protected]

[minndonn]

The DNR website has consumption advisories for lakes that have been tested. LOW is 1 meal a week for walleye over 15 inches for most of us and 1 meal a month for pregnant women. The wed page is
http://www.dnr.state.mn.us/lakefind/fca/index.html