Is it safe to eat Gills from neighborhood retention pond?

[shouyi]

We have a small retention pond for the subdivisions. Has a lot of gills and some catfish.

Just wondering if it's safe to eat them? Thanks.

[T.C.]

i dont see any prob eating them. its just rain water that feeds the pond prob. rain water is what keeps many small pond full. If its not sewer water running into the pond and the water doesnt smell really bad i would eat them. if you catch fish with sores and stuff on them i wouldnt eat them either. i live in a large sub development and there is a big retention pond surrounded by trees. i have a small john boat and i am the only one that fishes the pond, i catch gills all the time out of there and eat em.

[GCD]

Fillet and skin them and you should be ok unless there is Mercury in your pond. Contaminants are typically held in the belly fat and skin, Mercury is retained in the muscle meat.

[deathb4disco]

We have a small retention pond for the subdivisions.

In a subdivision pond, I would be concerned about what fertilizers would be draining into the pond. It seems like a subdivision pond would be similar to a golf course pond, in that respect. I've heard the fishing at golf course ponds can be great. With all the fertilizers that go on the course, though, I'm not sure I'd want to eat the fish in those ponds.

[Fatman]

What Disco said, I'd check with whoever maintains and does the work around there to see if any chemiclas are going in there. But then again if that's all it is who put the gills in there.

Fatman

[shouyi]

The pond looks healthy, no smell or anything. We got a lot of rain this year.

I was a bit worried about the chemical people used for their lawn. right after posting the question, I did a google search on effect of Lawn chemical (Pesticides in particular) on fish. Which is not good.

I think we will just catch and release for now.

[T.C.]

What Disco said, I'd check with whoever maintains and does the work around there to see if any chemiclas are going in there. But then again if that's all it is who put the gills in there.

Fatman

you dont have to put fish in a pond for them to be there. birds and other animals transport fish eggs from bodies of water. Birds can eat frogs and other animals that eat fish eggs, the poop them into other bodies of water. I watched a show on discovery about it. my family farms and we dig irrigation ditches all the time. we can go back in a couple of years after the ditch was dug and there will be fish in it. Someone also mentioned about fertilizer draining into the pond from all the houses in the subdivision. That is a good point to make but in my case im not worried about that. Theres not enought houses in my subdivision for the little bit of fertilizer that drains into the pond to hurt anything.