Here's one of the Yellow fillets

[Tommy]

Has anyone ever seen this before? I have seen fish that have been feeding heavily on shad, but this is something that I have never seen before. Giving thisone to the state biologist tomorrow. This problem seems to be getting worse.

[CrappiePappy]

no, wait .... that's something totally different. Or is it ?

We will be anxiously awaiting the results of the testing of the "yellow" meat.

I, for one, fish lakes that have well developed Shad populations, that the Crappie feed on, heavily. And I can say that I've never noticed any such discoloration of the meat, as in your photo. That is, with the exception of those fish that I've cut thru their "bile bag" while cleaning. Then there is some "yellowing" of the meat ... if the filet isn't quickly washed off.
But, looking at the photo, I noticed that the "organ cavity" seems to be very clean - the back meat and tail meat look slightly tinged, but the lower stomach wall meat and the anal area meat look heavily yellow tinged. Maybe, since I cut most of "that" area of meat/bones away, and don't use it (when I filet them) ... then maybe I have overlooked this discoloration. I will make a point of checking a little closer - next time I filet a mess of Crappie.

Thanks for enlightening us, Tommy ... and please do post the biologist's report on the nature of the "yellow meat". In either case, good or bad, we will at least be "informed" - and that's what this forum is all about !! .........luck2ya .........cp

[Roberta]

Our local crappie lake is overrun with gizzard shad and none of the crappie I've cleaned have that coloration. That looks like the yellow fat layer you see on catfish.

I'm looking forward to seeing your follow up report.
- Roberta

[Tommy]

Our local crappie lake is overrun with gizzard shad and none of the crappie I've cleaned have that coloration. That looks like the yellow fat layer you see on catfish.

I'm looking forward to seeing your follow up report.
- Roberta

Hi Roberta,

This is most definitely not fat. This fish was so bad that some of the meat literally would just fall apart when cut open. I have been catching crappie for the last 35 years and I don't ever remember seeing or hearing anything like this before. It seems to be getting into the fish as most parasites do, through the lower fin area. Then seems to spread. I will keep everyone posted on the follow up.

[S10CHEVY]

Hi Roberta,

This is most definitely not fat. This fish was so bad that some of the meat literally would just fall apart when cut open. I have been catching crappie for the last 35 years and I don't ever remember seeing or hearing anything like this before. It seems to be getting into the fish as most parasites do, through the lower fin area. Then seems to spread. I will keep everyone posted on the follow up.

Tommy, in what state do you live, and where are you fishing. I think that is a question that others would like to know too. Here in Pa, our fishing books list info on fish about what too keep, and from what waters not to keep. They also tell us not to eat the belly meat, but to trim it off after fileting it. I haven't seen that in any of the fish here. Keith

[Barnacle Bill]

I've seen "yellow" meat in them before but not that bad.

[Tommy]

Tommy, in what state do you live, and where are you fishing. I think that is a question that others would like to know too. Here in Pa, our fishing books list info on fish about what too keep, and from what waters not to keep. They also tell us not to eat the belly meat, but to trim it off after fileting it. I haven't seen that in any of the fish here. Keith

These fish are coming out of North Louisiana. Our state reports tell us the same thing, however; this is supposed to be one of the safest lakes around. I cleaned 13 fish, (not including the one in the pic) and all but one were showing slight signs of this. I took 3 to the Louisiana State Biologist yesterday, and have been in touch with him for the last couple of months. He has been in touch with a fish pathologist at LSU and hopefully will get the samples analyzed through him. The one thing that I find strange is, as bad as this fish looked after cutting her open, she looked just as healthy as any of the rest that I caught that day when taken out of the water. Whatever the outcome, I will keep you guys posted???.

[Moose1am]

Lots of chemicals can damage the liver as that is the organ that has to process a not of nasty chemicals that get in our bloodstream by eating poisonous things.

Are there any chemical factories or factories that accept toxic waste from other industries where you lake is located?

I have always wondered if the lakes are safe as they are easily polluted by midnight dumpers. Not saying tha thas happened but it's so easy to do.

A chemical processing company could send a truck out to a boat dock and dump the load in just a few minutes.

It cost hundreds of thousands of dollars to either chemically neutralize toxic waste or to burn it or bury it in an APPROVED landfill. The landfills have to be monitored for many years and have special linings and leachate control systems that are very expensive. Underground Water Monitoring wells have to be drilled and sampled ever month to prove that the contents of the landfill are not migrating underground and getting into the water table or aquifers. That costs money.

The trouble with doing chemical analysis on fish or anything is that there are thousands of different chemicals both Inorganic and Organic that can pollute a water and you have to have a clue as to what to test for when you conduct chemical analysis. You may sample for Chemical A and not find it but Chemical XYZ was the cause of the yellow flesh. It's like a chicken and egg situation in away. You have to guess what to sample for before you can run the right test and verifiy that the chemcial is indeed present.

This is why it's so tempting for someone to save money by dumping chemicals instead of properly disposing of them.

I have noticed that in the town that I live in some of the chemical reprocessing plants are located next to major creeks. Hummm. Wonder why they located there? Also two of them are out in the boondocks close to old abandonded stripper pits that the mines have closed down.

And in our local paper just yesterday they disclosed that ALCOA and Peabody Coal Company had an agreement to allow ALCOA to dump Waste containing Chromium into the coal mined lands after the coal company sold the coal to ALCOA for their production purposes. So from 1965 to 1979 ALCOA sent waste to the mines around Warrick County IN to be disposed of without anyone but the miners and some of the company officals knowing what was being dumped and where. There are several strip mine pits in the old Squaw Creek mining area that have been used to dump ALCOA's waste which was a green acidic sludge according to the news paper reports.

What a world we live in Eh! This is why I won't eat the fish that I catch out of the BlueGrass Fish and Wildlife Area. Not until someone dependable starts researching what may or may not be in the water.

HexChrome is one of the toxic substances that has been shown to caused cancer. The article said that the waste was treated to change the Chromium effluent to a less toxic form. But the valance of the electrons surround the ion and what the ion is attached to still make me wonder and go hummm.

Call me suspecious guys. But after working in the field I have seen too many things going on that makes me wonder what really happens to all the waste that is so called hauled off and disposed of properly.

We found Asbestos being burried in the ground on a local politicans property. They found bags of asbestos being stored in tunnels on this old industrial property. The same property was being used to restore a 1945 P47 airplane that was made right here in Evansville, IN. When they found the asbestos sealed up in the factories tunnels and started the investigation there just happened to be a huge factory fire that litterly was said to destroy the P47 and the restoration project was shut down. What the papers didn't tell us was that the World "Asbestos" means that it's indestructable by fire" So there is no way that a fire could destroy the asbestos in the tunnels. The case was taken to federal court and the parties were prosecuted for not disposing of the asbestos properly. The federal Judge gave the defendends a mild sentence and basically just slapped their hands. I disagree with the judge in this case and thing that he should have thrown the book at the defendents as they knew darn well what they were doing and how dangerous this illegal dumping was. I felt sorry for my neighbor and one of my old 2nd grade school chums who were the IDEM Asbestos Enforcement Officer and the Evansville Police Detective, respectively, who were in charge of developing and taking the case to court. They worked very hard to find out what was going on and to develop a case only to have the judge give out mild punishment. They may not be so dedicated in doing their job the next time. As that was the last case that I saw mentioned in the newspapers dealing with asbestos waste dumping. Today the IDEM inspector hardly even talks about enforcement of asbestos regulations anymore. He is one to Lead based paint enforcement these days.

And they found high concentrations of lead in the water in many homes in the Washington, DC area of the USA. Lead can cause brain damage as well as nerve damage in high concentrations. They were finding high levels of lead in the drinking water which was coming from the service pipes. That is a bad situation and costly to fix. So buy bottled water that is pure and test the conductivity of the water to make sure that it's actually not fully of stuff and it's really just pure water. There are no standards on bottled water and they can sell you polluted spring water and you won't know it. The USEPA has said that 50% of the ground water in the USA has some contamination in it. And guess what ground water is??????? You guessed it right, it's spring water. They are one in the same. Not all spring water is cyrstal clean as most of the springs or ground water has bacteria and other chemicals in the water. And once a spring is contaminated with nitrates or other pesticides it's almost impossible to clean the water up. The contamination can last for hundreds of years. Only buy using Reverse Osmosis, Ion Exchange columns, Charchoal Filters and Bacterial fiters can one clean up the water to make it pure and safe to drink. And don't forget to add some disenfectant to kill any bacteria that can grow inside the carbon filters over time. You may be removing the ions and toxic chemicals from the water and still introducing bacteria right back into the purifed water at the end of the filltration process.

So now you see why it's difficult to figure out what caused that yellow flesh in that fish.

The bottom Line.......

Cut that bellie meat off the filet and don't eat it. Cook the fish where you can get rid of the fat by grilling. That way the fat will melt and drip off the fish filet and burn away instead of staying in the filet where you end up eating it.

Cut out the fat in all fish and other meat and you will not be eating as much pesticides. You see animals store the pesticides that they injest in their body fat if they can't excrete it out of the body. Too much toxis stuff in the water can overload the fish's liver and cause it to malfunction. Jauntic can then occur.

These fish are coming out of North Louisiana. Our state reports tell us the same thing, however; this is supposed to be one of the safest lakes around. I cleaned 13 fish, (not including the one in the pic) and all but one were showing slight signs of this. I took 3 to the Louisiana State Biologist yesterday, and have been in touch with him for the last couple of months. He has been in touch with a fish pathologist at LSU and hopefully will get the samples analyzed through him. The one thing that I find strange is, as bad as this fish looked after cutting her open, she looked just as healthy as any of the rest that I caught that day when taken out of the water. Whatever the outcome, I will keep you guys posted???.