Mike wrote:
> "none" <""Mark\"@(none)"> wrote in message
> ...
>> Kathleen wrote:
>>> James wrote:
>>>> Would you eat fish you caught from your local rivers?
>>>>
>>>> In the 60's I had a bit of an eel from the Hudson River in NYC. It
>>>> had a gasoline smell to it. Don't know if that's natural or if it was
>>>> really polluted.
>>> I don't believe I'd eat fish from the Missouri or Mississippi. Not real
>>> sure about the Meramec, either. I guess it would depend where along it
>>> the fish were caught, and if there'd been recent flooding that washed all
>>> kinds of god knows what into the water.
>>>
>>> I'd have to pass on fish caught from at least one nearby creek. The
>>> stable hands at the local barn were puking sick after one of their camp
>>> outs and bonfires, and they swore it was from the fish they caught and
>>> ate. And it might even have been true. They'd been swimming in that
>>> creek with their horses and dogs and by the end of the day that water was
>>> probably more like "mud & mammal tea" But my money was on the whiskey
>>> and pepsi, with dirty hands running a close second.
>>>
>> The upper Yakima river in Washington State? Yes, if the law wasn't
>> watching. It's catch-and-release... A good fly-fishing trout river.
>>
>> The lower Yakima river, where it's legal to keep what you've caught? Oh,
>> heck no... That's after the river's been through hundreds of miles of
>> muddy farmland. Catfish and bass country.
>>
>> The state is trying to protect the fish and kill the less wise citizens,
>> is all I can figure.
>
> how about the Naches river?
>
>
I haven't fished it much, but the Naches looks clean, it runs through
some reasonably uninhabited mountain country, and it joins up with the
Yakima. I'd guess it's probably good. From where it joins the Tieton
River to Rattlesnake Creek, it's catch-and release only for trout.
Otherwise, it's a 2-fish limit with a minimum size of 12 inches.
That'd make the start of a decent lunch, I think.
As with the Yakima, access to the Naches can be difficult in places.
There's some rough country for the casual hiker there.
I think of it as combining a healthy diet and exercise...
Unless I'm completely alone. In that case I might use somewhat stronger
language when my last hand-tied Elk-hair Caddis becomes a tree ornament!

In any case, the topic here is the fish's safety as food. There are
warnings for certain kinds of fish caught in the lower Columbia River,
but even there they don't ban it. They would, I think, if eating the
fish was making people ill.
My opinion only - and I am NOT an expert or an authority.
You get sick? Not my fault. <-- Legal stuff.