Is this Safe to Eat? Found a Great Guide

oneskilledshooter

oneskilledshooter

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So I was cleaning a small mouth bass yesterday and was wondering what the black spots in the meat were and decided to do some research to find out what the deal was with those once and for all.

Found this great guide to diseases and parasites that are found in fish and game and which ones effect humans. Thought some of you guys would like to check it out, it's a really good reference.

http://www.nwhc.usgs.gov/publications/disease_emergence/Chapter5.pdf
 
Them be worms in your bass. :(

Edible if cooked well enough, but at this time of year with waters warmign up, I usually check the bass as soon as I get them to the boat ... it they have worms (black "pepper" spots on the white of their belly), I toss them back. If it's oinly 1 or 2 spots, it's worth keeping, but some are really peppered with them and I'd just rather not eat them if i didn't have to.

Handy site ... think I've found it once before, once upon a time.
 
The thing with the bass was that I didn't see any sign of a problem until I sliced a fillet off one side. That's when I saw them. Buddy of mine insisted it was not fit to eat, but it turns out that it is fine to eat (according to the guide). Cooking kills that parasite, but they can't be passed on to humans anyway. I am wondering what else I don't know about contaminated game meat. I am going to have to read up more!

Thanks for the tip about checking the belly; I will try that on large mouths, but I don't know if you can see them on the bellies of smalls. I will definitely look a lot more carefully next time I hit that spot, which should be in a couple of weeks.

Most guys I know would toss the meat away, but it seems to be unfounded and a total waste.
 
Ya, the smallies don't show the worms as well as the bucket mouths, but sometimes you can see them about 1/4 of th way up the side of them ... little black spots on the green ofthem ... if you aren't really looking for them, they are very easy to miss.

I've eaten my share ofthem, but always cooked real well ... whenever I figure it's "cooked" per nomral methods, I add a few more minutes to mmake sure it's "well done".

If the fish is injured, I'll keep & eat it ... otherwise, back he goes.
 
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