Good Question, are our fish safe to consume

[LakeHardingSpirit]

I've given this topic some thought and wondered how everyone else may feel about it, a recent outing on the lake brought up a good question that I've pondered for some time now, fella asked me, "you aren't gonna eat those river fish are you..." in the back of my mind I thought, "been eating them for 20 years now..." how do the rest of you feel about eating our rivers fishes, I've become selective about not eating fish that are too large, and have always considered the fish, somewhat, safe to eat, I've figured if they are thriving in the waterways, they are about 90% contaminant free, too, keeping their consumption to a minimum... I can recollect the "catfish" cabins on the backwaters, people have consumed the rivers fishes for years, even thrived off the catfish, and too this day I'm acqauinted with some old timer catfishermen who haven't grown third arms or had misaligned children. Give some feed back on this guys... 'preciate it.

[George R]

I've been fishing Bartletts and eating crappie from there for years. My dog eats the uncooked roe from the crappie as well. He is now 16 years old. My doctor can't believe that my test results on a recent physical came back better than his. The main concern with eating fish from most waters these days is constant consumption and the larger fish.
I will be on vacation the first week in April searching out them slabs. My brothers and nephews will be here as well. Bartlett's gets a great deal of our time. We take home quite a few.