1 man perch limit and an extremely large catfish

Got my work done Friday afternoon and decided to try to put some perch in the freezer. Caught my 1 ticket in 35' of water due west of gull shoal. But the fun part was bringing in this 21 pound channel cat on a light pole with 6lb braided line and a perch spreader. Took about 10 minutes. I knew it wasn't a sheep head by the way it was fighting. I was praying it was a "World Record Walleye". UTI it wasn't

Got 8 to 10 lbs on two fillets. They will be smoked soon.

Hoe the picture shows up. My first time posting a picture.

That's a nice fat catfish!

Awesome !!!

That's a good looking catfish, great catch!

I saw that there was an advisory on eating them. Is there generally a larger concern about eating the larger cats due to the fact they're older and have consumed more of the Zebra Mussels?

I was wondering the same thing as far as eating the catfish. We have taken quite a few nice ones this year trolling for walleye but tossed them all back because of the advisory. They sure look healthier than any cats caught in the inland lakes or Scioto River. What do you all think?

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Originally Posted by Eyezcrazy

I was wondering the same thing as far as eating the catfish. We have taken quite a few nice ones this year trolling for walleye but tossed them all back because of the advisory. They sure look healthier than any cats caught in the inland lakes or Scioto River. What do you all think?

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I was curious like you, since we caught some cats too, so looked up the advisory. You can get the info here. Scroll down to Lake Erie for the specific advisory.

http://www.epa.state.oh.us/dsw/fisha...YourMeals.aspx

I too, always thought catfish in Erie was "do not eat", but now the advisory shows limit to one meal per month. So they can be eaten.

If you click on the 2013 fish advisory booklet link under publications heding on that page, it opens PDF which explains the rational. The contaminate in lake Erie catfish is PCB and it is not one meal that will do you in, but buildup from long term exposure. So the one meal per week is an average figure. PCB potential affects are birth defects and brain damage and children and women of childbearing age are at greatest risk. The advisory is to protect them.

Having said that, PCB's are nasty stuff, and it talks about taking 5-6 years to rid them from your body. Certainly wouldn't want my wife or kids or grandkids eating channels from the lake; why risk it when there is all that much safer walleye or yellow perch available! Now, if you are an old male fart who's brain is already fried, well.....

Myself, I figure there are enough other pcb's floating around out there I am exposed to, why add more to my body. So I eat the perch and walleye and just enjoy catching the cats.

I was surprised to see that smallmouth and white perch are also on the one meal per month advisory list for Erie.

Hope this helps.

Perch and walleye it is then.

Appreciate the adivisors information for sure. I wasn't aware of it. But if I had to describe myself to someone, "Old Fart". Would be as close as I could get. ! I will let you know ow it tastes. :-). I will skip one week of growth hormone beef to compensate LOL.