# Eating fish from West Point Lake - Who does it ?



## kevinstan (Sep 13, 2016)

I remember back in the 90's and early 2000's everyone would always talk about how dirty West Point lake was. Mainly due to the river that feeds it - but I know it is more cleaned up now and monitored a little better (I hope) but as I keep catching fish there, I would like to eat some, just not sure if I am brave enough. Thinking I might start glowing green after I do it... Who eats the fish from West Point lake ?


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## Dustin Pate (Sep 13, 2016)

Tons of people eat fish from the lake, including me. Don't know of any issues...other than a new twitch or two. Seriously, the lake is as clean as ever. Very few fish have any sores or bad spots like they did back in the day. I would not make a habit out of eating them, but every now and then is just fine.


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## kevinstan (Sep 13, 2016)

Dustin Pate said:


> I would not make a habit out of eating them, but every now and then is just fine.



What makes you say that? Just the mercury levels in general? Or...... ?


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## Jack Flynn (Sep 13, 2016)

The powers of the gooberment would have you believe everything is bad for you to eat, breathe, or get on yourself. When you measure things down to ppm and try and set a safe limit to warn you about. Good lawd we all gonna die from something..... according to them tree hugging mongrels.


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## Coenen (Sep 13, 2016)

Jack Flynn said:


> The powers of the gooberment would have you believe everything is bad for you to eat, breathe, or get on yourself. When you measure things down to ppm and try and set a safe limit to warn you about. Good lawd we all gonna die from something..... according to them tree hugging mongrels.


Somebody's got to hug them, or we might find ourselves with none too many left to hug.


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## ryork (Sep 13, 2016)

I eat fish from WP on a semi-regular basis (probably weekly or so averaged out over a year) and have for at least 30 years and I'm 46. I don't worry about it in the least, and would prefer anything from WP over anything farm raised in S America or Asia, and quite frankly even farm raised fish from here. If most folks saw where tilapia came from they wouldn't eat them. Honestly, the fish in WP are safer for consumption than most chicken or beef you get at the grocery store. Think about all the hormones, antibiotics, and engineered feed they're getting. 

The devil is in the details with some of the environmental data. For example, when EPD reports mercury or chlordane levels in fish, were the samples the entire fish or just the flesh? Most likely it was the entire fish. And any of their calculations that would be used to determine the risk level will be on the ultra conservative side. WP is cleaner than it's been in a long time as ATL has much less of a sewage problem and through regulation and just general awareness the number of point sources for pollution upstream on the Hooch have been essentially eliminated. You have to consider the source of some of those warnings and the hidden agendas that go into such things as well. 

The biggest threat to WP now is sedimentation from upstream development. Not from the trace levels of contaminants that might be carried along with it, but from the shear amount of it which will ultimately make the upper 1/4 of the lake a marsh long before it's time.


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## fish hawk (Sep 13, 2016)

I wouldnt


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## little rascal (Sep 13, 2016)

*Marsh is good*



> The biggest threat to WP now is sedimentation from upstream development. Not from the trace levels of contaminants that might be carried along with it, but from the shear amount of it which will ultimately make the upper 1/4 of the lake a marsh long before it's time.


More marsh means more ducks, marsh and swamp actually filters out a lot of the bad stuff that would normally run downstream.
Up here near metro, they have preserved all the land and swamps by covering them with concrete and asphalt.


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## little rascal (Sep 13, 2016)

*You will*

die from sucking on car exhaust, pollution, and the BTU's(Thanks Mike) from too many people in one place before you will eating fish. The benefits from eating fish far outweigh the negatives from eating fish. 
Moderation of anything is Key!


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## Jonboater (Sep 13, 2016)

I trust the the fish I catch out of a lake a 100 times more than any store brought fish!


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## riprap (Sep 13, 2016)

I know people that would have been dead a long time ago if it was bad. Even when it was supposed to be bad it was still better than most of the lakes in Georgia. They use to put a list of lakes in the fishing regulations on different species and how often you could eat them.


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## WPrich (Sep 13, 2016)

I eat them and have been for at least 15 years(I'm 27) when we started fishing there more regularly, have eaten stripers(also hybrids&white bass), crappie, bass, and bream with no problems.


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## MattKelley (Sep 14, 2016)

I eat small stripers from the hooch all summer. To keep e. coli off the meat don't cut through the intestines and I think mercury and PCBs are stored in fat. Ga releases fish consumption guidelines every year. I think the river arms of hartwell are the worst with do not eat warnings. The hooch between morgan falls and wp changes with big fish from 1/month to 1/wk. Eating small fish is my recommendation and cleaning properly.


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## ProAngler (Sep 14, 2016)

Don't listen to anyone who says they eat fish from Westpoint. Their brains are mush from all the contamination.


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## dmiles (Sep 14, 2016)

Well said ryork. The feds ground the whole the fish while the state ground filets back in the late 80's early 90's. The feds won and everyone thinks WP is a cesspool. I've been eating fish from West Point since 1980 and I'm still here. I totally agree that the fish in WP are as safe to eat as ALMOST anything in our chain. The only way anymore to be as sure as possible of safe food is to grow everything yourself.


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## KKrueger (Sep 14, 2016)

Somewhere right now a health nut is lying in his death bed dying of NOTHING.  

But, I don't eat fish from West Point.

Now, hand me another beer.


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## spurrs and racks (Sep 14, 2016)

*your fishing regulations*

post fish where you should not eat.

Lake West Point is safe

s&r


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## specialk (Sep 14, 2016)

I'd rather eat fish from WP than some that they sell at Kroger....


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## brunofishing (Sep 14, 2016)

Not me! Chatta-ma-nasty. 

If we have to have this conversation it aint worth it.


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## fishtail (Sep 14, 2016)

Go to page 36 of the current fishing regulations.


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## ryork (Sep 14, 2016)

> If we have to have this conversation it aint worth it.



There are a ton of useless conversations to be had everyday about a lot of things based on the amount of misinformation that is put out there on topics such as this. Anthropogenic global warming comes to mind......



> Go to page 36 of the current fishing regulations.



West Point has the same number of restrictions as Allatoona and Lanier, and less than Hartwell. The Chattahoochee River from Morgan Falls to Franklin upstream of WP has one restriction (stripers), less than the Etowah, the Flint and far less than the Coosa. I eat quite a few whites bass out of there too.

This is a perception issue. The issue for West Point is mismanagement by the ACE in terms of the water level and the impact it has on spawning, fishing, and the local economy of particularly Troup County.


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## antharper (Sep 15, 2016)

I've been eating them for the past 15yrs almost weekly, mostly crappie, this just sprung a craving, I may have some for lunch !


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## getaff (May 8, 2017)

ryork said:


> I eat fish from WP on a semi-regular basis (probably weekly or so averaged out over a year) and have for at least 30 years and I'm 46. I don't worry about it in the least, and would prefer anything from WP over anything farm raised in S America or Asia, and quite frankly even farm raised fish from here. If most folks saw where tilapia came from they wouldn't eat them. Honestly, the fish in WP are safer for consumption than most chicken or beef you get at the grocery store. Think about all the hormones, antibiotics, and engineered feed they're getting.
> 
> The devil is in the details with some of the environmental data. For example, when EPD reports mercury or chlordane levels in fish, were the samples the entire fish or just the flesh? Most likely it was the entire fish. And any of their calculations that would be used to determine the risk level will be on the ultra conservative side. WP is cleaner than it's been in a long time as ATL has much less of a sewage problem and through regulation and just general awareness the number of point sources for pollution upstream on the Hooch have been essentially eliminated. You have to consider the source of some of those warnings and the hidden agendas that go into such things as well.
> 
> The biggest threat to WP now is sedimentation from upstream development. Not from the trace levels of contaminants that might be carried along with it, but from the shear amount of it which will ultimately make the upper 1/4 of the lake a marsh long before it's time.



To help you out a little.  Your livestock does not contain steroids and antibiotics.  One, there is a withdrawal period of time for all medications in livestock.  Two, steroids can only be used through the blood stream and not digested.  So no chickens have steroids at all.  Some beef use a growth hormone but very early in their life and out of their system by slaughter.


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