Shelter Island

[jorbon]

I usually catch and release......but my parents were bugging me for fish as I always tease them with pictures and stories of my fishing trips so I decided to take them some sand bass. I figure occasionally eating fish from the bay wouldn't be so bad as I rarely take fish home to begin with. I have to say though, I was pleasantly surprised by the taste! Maybe because they have been marinating in toxins the last couple years

[Dail14]

Halibut do live on the bottom but consider what they eat. They feed mostly on fin fish especially sardines and anchovies which are filter feeders at the surface. Species like bass, bonefish and croakers are eating the shrimp and mollusks on the bottom which filter feed and sift food from the sand. They are going to accumulate much more in the way of pollutants and environmental toxins. Either way those contaminants will generally collect in the liver and kidneys so just avoid eating those areas and your meal will be much healthier. Also I once kept a nice spottie and it did not taste good at all. Sand bass and calicos taste good but spotties are tough and do not taste good at all. Just my experience.

[PapaDave]

I hear you shouldn't even touch the fish in the Bay. They are so toxic that you could get sick just touching them, the contaminates collect in the outer slime layer of the fish. Add to that the radiation from Japan and the discharge from all those navy boats and jets and your dead meat my friends.

Bottom line, you shouldn't even fish the bay, it is bad for your health.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
well, gotta run, my uh, well, fishing reels need some work, yeah, that's the ticket, fishing reels need some work...
>SI

[alanw]

Originally Posted by Dail14

Halibut do live on the bottom but consider what they eat. They feed mostly on fin fish especially sardines and anchovies which are filter feeders at the surface. Species like bass, bonefish and croakers are eating the shrimp and mollusks on the bottom which filter feed and sift food from the sand. They are going to accumulate much more in the way of pollutants and environmental toxins. Either way those contaminants will generally collect in the liver and kidneys so just avoid eating those areas and your meal will be much healthier. Also I once kept a nice spottie and it did not taste good at all. Sand bass and calicos taste good but spotties are tough and do not taste good at all. Just my experience.

Right on with why halibut can be better than bass even though they spend most of their time on the bottom. But, I read that it's the fatty tissue that stores most of the toxins, which is why you always discard the belly meat and why leaner fish (like halibut) are safer compared to some other fatty fish. Also older fish are worse, as are fish closer to the top of the food chain like sharks because they collect stuff from what everything that they eat has eaten down the chain.

Eat in moderation and don't worry too much.