Smallmouth With Cancer

[FishTank]

I have seen some weird stuff on fish but this takes the cake.......

 

http://www.aol.com/video/fish-caught-in-pennsylvania-tests-positive-for-cancer/518809198/

[a1712]

We've been catching Smallies and Walleye for some time now with growth's and sores all over them on the Juniata and Susquahanna. We've been forwarding pictures to the PA F&G for some time now. I pray it is not a killer and something can be done. It is a fantastic fishery. Brian.

[the reel ess]

I have through the years caught fish from a local lake with all kinds of growths, cycts, sores, etc. I just stopped keeping any. It's part of the game now.

[WIGuide]

I've seen them with sores and whatnot, maybe a bump where there was a sore, but that's crazy! 

 

On a side note, love the guy using his spinning reel upside down! Classic!! 

[jdl2425]

Even with this surfacing, I'm sure the DEP will avoid doing anything to try to fix the issue.

[*Hank]

Wow,that's wierd.

[evilcatfish]

I love the scene with the power plants in the background. Its like speculating without explicitly saying "nuclear energy is evil"

[THE BASS WHISPERER]

what they didn't report, was that fish smokes 2 packs of cigarettes a day.

[a1712]

Even with this surfacing, I'm sure the DEP will avoid doing anything to try to fix the issue.

You must know the PA F&G. Brian.

[BucketMouth15]

I have caught pike with huge bloody sores on them, almost look like a tumor of some sort... Its really nasty stuff. Anywhere I catch fish like that I generally shy away from.

[Turkey sandwich]

The link took me to the aol home page, and not (what I assume) was the video showing the smallmouth with the tumor, followed by commentary from two yokel idiots (one of which, IIRC, was trying to cast flies downstream on fly rod lined with mono), stating something about three-eyed fish. If that was the one, the video made me furious.

I've fished the north branch for over 20 years and have seen the fishery/ecosystem rebound from years of mine/industrial pollution to a beautiful fishery that's loaded with everything from healthy crayfish and helgramite populations to a very strong bald eagle habitat.

The problems are that A) most folks are extremely uneducated about the the environment/waterway, and PA's DNR and the EPA (but especially the DNR) are almost useless. The DNR would rather ignore things than rake muck and solve problems, and most folks in small towns would rather ***** about things they don't understand than solve problems. (you should have seen tin foil conspiracy theorists go nuts when the DNR treated the rivers with bacteria to combat gnats/black flies this year).

[CFS]

The power plant in the background does make these look like "chernobyl fishing." I wonder what kind of bass you would catch in Chernobyl....

[Last_Cast]

wonderful

[a1712]

For what it's worth. From the beginning of June till the present, we have not boated a single fish on the Susquehanna/Juniata that had a sore or growths of any type. I'm not talking 10-20 fish, I'm talking 1000's of fish. That is encouraging, we seen a bunch of fish in the last few years with sores and growths. Brian.

[Turkey sandwich]

Glad to hear the river is looking good out your way. I've been on the north branch the last two weekends and we've been boating 20+ a day.

[FinCulture]

I saw this video a while ago on another forum. crazy stuff.