Shenandoah Fishing

Question
I heard that the fish in the Shenandoah river cannot be eaten due to heavy metals and mercury. I'm wondering what you know about this and what others who live in the area do or recommend. We are moving to the area and want to find out what the truth is. I heard there are signs posted and I've asked a fishing tour operators and he just referred me to the signs. Is it safe to eat the fish or is this a scare tactic by Peta or Al Gore?

Answer
Mike it has been several years since I fished the Shenandoah and ate fish from that river.  My brother at one time lived about two miles from the river and we fished it quite a bit for both smallmouth bass and channel cats.  We ate some of both and as far as I know It never hurt us.  Actually it would take eating the fish about three times a day for several years to do likely damage.  If you are over 40 or so years old it probably would take the rest of your life to harm you.  Young children are a different story,however, as their small bodies can not handle the mercury like an adult.

I have heard similar stories about the river I recently fished in Florida.  It was said to have mercury in it but later when tested it was found to be such a small amount that no harm to adults was suggested.

I would not put it past PETA to do something like this.  They will lie about most anything to get their point across and as far as Algore goes he is a nutcase so I don't pay much attention to him.

You might check with the Virginia State game and fish department to get truth.  I suspect that while there may be mercury in the water eating a few fish now and then, especially smaller ones isn't likely to poison you.  If the Game and Fish department says don't eat the fish then practice catch and release and let them go.  This defeats PETA anyway and they hate catch and release.

I doubt there are many rivers in the country that don't have some sort of chemical in them but most of the time it is like so  many of the scare tactics of some groups including the United States Government.  They give warnings of cancer if you eat certain things but to get enough to cause the cancer you would have to eat several tons of it per week.

I would still check it out but personally If I were up there fishing I would probably tear down the signs and go ahead and eat a few of the fish.  Again smaller fish haven't lived long enough to get much mercury in their bodies, big ones, of course, have more.

I hope this has helped.  I love fishing the Shenandoah and the Rapahanoc (sp)   Thanks for calling on me to answer your question.

I am
Jack L. Gaither  #JackfromSeminole)
Lake Seminole, Georgia