Worms In Fish

[basscrazy]

I was once told by mid to late summer once the water temps get high you can no longer eat the fish because they get worms? True or false ?

[Gerritt]

False. 100%..

[Davidp16]

some will get worms but a lot of fish will not also.

[basscrazy]

Can someone please educate me on fish with worms/ getting worms ?

[captnn]

Cooking the fish kills the worms.

[smerchly]

I have caught perch in northern lakes near Madoc in the fall in dark tea stained water and they were full of worms . I have also ice fished St.John lake near Orillia in 20 feet of water and the perch were loaded with them . On the contrary , I have seen very few worms in perch caught in shallow weedy Martindale Pond .......

[topwaterjoe]

Cooking the fish kills the worms.

x2. It's gross, but harmless when cooked. For the squeamish, pluck them out of the fillet before it goes in the frying pan.

[ChefMick]

I know it sucks to freeze a fresh catch..........but.

7 days at negative 18 C

Or

24 hrs at negative 35 C

Will render parasitic fish harmless.

[zoomie]

You'll see the worms when you fillet the fish. they are small and white and right in the meat. Cooking kills them and makes it safe to eat but personally I don't like it. I test one fish and if I find worms I don't keep any more fish during that trip.

[DaveC]

I read somewhere....and i could be wrong. Is the cycle begins with seagulls eating the fish then flys over the water and drops its droppings into the water and the fish eating the droppings causing worms....that could be wrong....but i did read something like that.

[staffman]

DaveC is correct it all starts with the birds. Google " worms in fish" and you will be fascinated with all the information.

[smerchly]

I read somewhere....and i could be wrong. Is the cycle begins with seagulls eating the fish then flys over the water and drops its droppings into the water and the fish eating the droppings causing worms....that could be wrong....but i did read something like that.

The crap from cormorants , geese and swans don't help the situation either , but they have to dump somewhere lol . Think of the little white worms as a bonus , like having rice with your fish .

[bigdog]

The easy way to tell if perch have worms, if they are covered in little black specks, they have worms. I usually throw back the ones with the tiny black spots.

[larry b]

You can usually see worms under the bottom lip if they have them bad

[smerchly]

You can usually see worms under the bottom lip if they have them bad

For true Larry , also around the eyes & fins . The worst case of worms I've seen are the perch in Lake St.John , but after reading this page from Google , Lake Simcoe has the same problem as well as Sparrow Lake .

Check out the 5th post for the best info ......

http://www.lakesimcoemessageboard.com/index.php?action=printpage;topic=4049.0