Re: {Tidal Potomac Fly Rodders} Re: Catch and Release question

Was it good?  I passed a few off to other guys this shad season.  Since then Ive heard there tasty.  Any pointers on where I can purposly hook up with them?  What better way to spend a day then fighting with toothy critters and tryin to clear the potomac.

On Wed, Oct 3, 2012 at 2:55 PM, FlyTimesDC <Rsmothers@targetedvictory.com> wrote:

No need for ice with snakeheads! I caught one a few years ago with Steve Chaconas (great local guide if anyone wants to learn the river!) and kept it in my smallish, igloo lunch box for more than an hour. Since they breathe air, the thing was very much alive when I brought it home and I eventually had to bleed it in the backyard to end its ordeal. I don't know who was more excited to partake in eating it, me or our thai housekeeper - who promptly left me with one fillet and took the rest of the fish home to her husband! 

On Wednesday, October 3, 2012 9:20:21 AM UTC-4, Miles wrote:

I think the answer for DC area anglers is probably a bit more prosaic. Part of it is a general conservation mindset our sport tries to maintain.

But there's a couple other things going on, at least for me: one is the health advisories about eating fish from the Potomac system. Due to PCB contamination (I think), we are supposed to limit ourselves to one serving of bass and similar per month, and carp and catfish shouldn't be eaten at all. Beyond the official recommendations, there's a bit of an 'ick' factor knowing that the fish are probably contaminated. I don't think anybody wants to eat just a little PCB, if they can avoid it.

The second factor is effort. To bring a fish to the table on a normal warmish day, it should be refrigerated immediately. As soon as a fish dies, and even before, its tissues start degrading -- so the quality of a fish that has been caught, left in the sun for several hours, then eaten later the same day is significantly less than a fish that has been caught, flash frozen, bought at Trader Joe's, then eaten weeks later. So I would need a cooler and some ice, or some other way of chilling my catch, and that's a hassle. Most of the time, I just want to go fishing, and don't bother with the ice.

That said, I would eat a snakehead if I caught one and had a way of getting it home/chilled promptly. Same goes for American shad and striped bass, if/when they were legal.

Miles 

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Dan Barrett

 

32 Highland Ave.

Morgantown, WV 26505

 

dannytbarrett@gmail.com

(540)-222-8064

 

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