The Iowa Department of Natural Resources has confirmed the presence of mercury above consumption advisory levels in tissue samples from largemouth bass collected from Red Haw Lake in Lucas County, Upper Centerville Reservoir in Appanoose County, and Grade Lake in Clarke County.

Individuals should consume no more than one meal per week of largemouth bass caught from these three lakes.

Every year Iowa DNR biologists collect samples of fish for laboratory analysis to determine the wholesomeness of fish for human consumption. Edible portions of these fish are analyzed by a certified lab and results are compared to consumption advisory levels as identified by the DNR and Iowa Department of Public Health in the state’s consumption advisory protocol. The risk-based protocol went into effect in 2006 and is based on US EPA and FDA guidance. This protocol is the basis for issuing consumption advisories for Iowa waters.

This brings the total number of advisories in Iowa to 14. All of Iowa’s consumption advisories recommend that individuals should consume no more than one meal per week of the fish species of concern.

Previous advisories issued for Iowa lakes include Cedar Lake in Cedar Rapids for common carp and channel catfish, and Cedar Bend Lake for common carp in Linn County for PCBs. Advisories due to mercury have previously been issued for largemouth bass at Lake Geode in Henry County, Morman Trail Lake in Adair County, Nine Eagles Lake in Decatur County, and North Banner and South Banner lakes near Indianola,.

Other advisories in Iowa rivers have previously been issued for mercury include the Cedar River from Floyd County north to the Minnesota border for smallmouth bass, walleye and northern pike; the Upper Iowa River from the lower dam in eastern Winneshiek County upstream 24 miles for any species of fish; and the Volga River, including the Little Volga and the North Branch Volga River from the town of Volga upstream in Clayton County for smallmouth bass.

Mississippi River Pool 12, which is the area between Lock and Dam 11 in Dubuque and Lock and Dam 12 at Bellevue in Jackson County, has a consumption advisory for walleye, sauger, largemouth bass, smallmouth bass, white bass and northern pike.

The DNR has information on these contaminants and consumption advisories on its Fish and Fishing webpage at www.iowadnr.gov/fish/index.html then click on Fish Consumption Advisories in the navigation bar on the left.

Fish are still part of a healthy diet. To achieve the most health benefits – which also include proper growth and brain development in children – the Iowa Department of Public Health recommends that Iowans of all ages should eat fish at least twice per week. This includes fish you buy or catch yourself. For information on the benefits of eating fish or what types of fish are safe to eat, visit the Iowa Department of Public Health’s webpage at http://www.idph.state.ia.us/eh/common/pdf/env/fish_health_issues.pdf.

Friday

It was unbelievably cold all weekend,  the 60’s, in July? Its unheard of! We got down to the Queen dock at the Marina around 6:30pm. The cabin cruiser we stayed on, ‘the TimTation’ is owned by my friend’s uncle, who was spending the weekend working on his new dry docked houseboat. Its over 60 feet long and has been completely gutted and is in the process of being entirely redone. After checking out the boat and drinking a few beers we went ahead and went back to the dock to night fish. We fished until we ran out of worms. I caught several bluegill and 6 catfish. None of my catfish were more than 1.5 lbs.  My friend hooked into the biggest carp I have seen in a while. It must’ve been 20-30 lbs. Its head was as big as mine! He tried to reel it in a little too quickly and it snapped his line after it broke the surface. He did pull in a4-5 lber. He held the pole and I got belly down on the dock and grabbed it by its lip to put it out.  We drank about 3 bottles of wine between both of us and our new friend Norm, before passing out in the Cruiser.

Saturday

Saturday morning my friend and I woke up around 8 AM, went to grab some breakfast and then headed back to the lake. Apparently his uncle needed some help removing a generator from the new houseboat. They had the bright idea to have my friend and I stand on top of a cube truck with ropes to ’stabilize’ it, while they lifted it over the side of the boat. Realizing this was a recipe for disaster they opted to instead just cut away part of the railing and use some rollers to get the generator to the truck.

After avoiding that disaster I went back to the docks to fish some more. I caught another catfish and a few bluegills before getting called back up to the dock because they were about to launch the boat. I had tried to use some cranks and spinners but the water was fairly murky and I didn’t have any luck.

The boat launch gave me a chance to start drinking. I had a few beers while they slipped it into the water. It only had bubbles coming up from one place, but we think that place was actually the tires. There was a leak however, from where my friend’s Uncle drilled screws through the bottom of the boat! Eventually they pulled it back out, grinded off the screws and patched it with some boat epoxy and told us it was about time to go boating.

While we were watching them put the boat in the water I saw 2 guys cleaning fish at the courtesy station. That had caught a lot of catfish. They had 2-3 in the 5lb range and a bunch of 2lbers. They said they were fishing up near honey creek.

While we waited for them to show up back at the docks to go boating we had a little contest to see who could catch more bluegill. We probably caught around 60-70 in about an hour while waiting. We could catch them at will on that dock. We went out boating and drinking for several hours on the cruiser. Everyone got extremely drunk, once I hit land again I tried fishing again but the wine would let me have none of it. I almost passed out with my hand on the line, laying on my back on the dock, but my friend grabbed me and put me on the floor of the boat.

Some of the Catfish from the first night

Sunday

We woke up around 9am and just lazed around. I found an extremely comfy lawn chair and sat in there with my line in the water for about an hour before catching the biggest catfish of the weekend. It was still less than 2 lbs so don’t get excited, but it was fun to catch.

Around noon we packed up our stuff and headed back to Des Moines after saying thanks and goodbye to our hosts.

Iowa State Record Carp

Congratulations Tracy Seaton!

The state bighead carp record established here Thursday won’t stand long, according to the Shellsburg archer who killed the 79-pound, 4-ounce monster.

Tracy Seaton, 47, said he has set his sights on another bighead that’s “at least a foot longer” than the 53-incher.

Paul Sleeper, Department of Natural Resources fisheries biologist, confirmed the record at an official weigh-in Friday at Nelson’s Meat Market, 1140 Old Marion Rd. The fish broke the record by about 3 pounds,  a record set year ago on the Missouri River..

Seaton saw the spawning female Monday when he shot a 53-pound bighead carp in the same section of the Cedar River in Cedar Rapids.

He stalked the 79-pound carp for parts of three days before he finally got close enough for the shot, which pierced the aptly named fish’s head, killing it in seconds. Seaton said he doubted he could have landed the powerful fish if it had been alive.

While the bigheads represent fun to fish archers like Seaton, they could spell trouble for Iowa fisheries. Last year’s floods enabled the bighead and another Asian invader, the silver carp, to leapfrog what had been natural barriers to the expansion of their ranges.

The silver carp — known for leaping out of the water at the sound of an outboard motor  — moved upstream from Lock and Dam 19 on the Mississippi River at Keokuk, according to Kim Bogenschutz, the DNR biologist coordinating Iowa’s effort to track and contain invasive animals.  “The big concern,” she said,”is that the voracious filter feeders will out-compete native aquatic species.”