"radioactive" fish of pompton lake

[JOHN D]

my and my buddy have a crappie trip planned this late fall in pompton lake for one last time in my boat. we are both mostly catch and release guys but we both agree that it would be nice to take some fish home for dinner. the only thing is that for years ive been told that the fish in pompton lake are unsafe to eat because of the whole nuclear waste thing that happend years ago. just wondering if it is really true that you cant eat the fish pompton.

thanks,
john

[catfishonthelake]

I don't eat fish, so I don't care all too much, but I've never figured out the whole story on Pompton Lake. I've never heard about any radioactivity, but I know that DuPont is involvled in heft environmental clean-up around the area where the acid brook dumps into the lake. I think the water "upstream" from there should be fine, but you never know. I can tell you Chris_JC ate a bunch of fattie yellow perch we caught through the ice and he's still alive....I think. Chris?

[catfishonthelake]

BTW, if you do find out the fish are safe to eat, don't tell anyone. All the bad press about the lake seems to keep the fishing pressure down.;)

[jmurr711]

http://www.atsdr.cdc.gov/hac/pha/dupontpompton/eid_p1.html

[johnnyc08]

hmmm, if its radioactive, does that mean my boats gonna glow in the dark after saturday? wont need lights then at night right? lol (well, maybe just the red and green)

[catfishonthelake]

There you go. I have to say my shoot from the hip assertion was surprisingly accurate.

[johnnyc08]

There you go. I have to say my shoot from the hip assertion was surprisingly accurate.
you having 2nd thoughts? a plan C perhaps?

[catfishonthelake]

Nah, I ice fish there all the time and I have 12 fingers and 3 eyes just like everyone else.

[johnnyc08]

Nah, I ice fish there all the time and I have 12 fingers and 3 eyes just like everyone else.
AWESOME! looking forward to it then :)

[JOHN D]

oh yeah i would also like to add that i fish with guy who ice fishes everyday there in the winter and he is one of those "i eat everything that i catch" type guys and he has all his fingers and dosent glow in the dark, but hes pretty wierd:rolleyes: . thats was one of the first things that came to my mind when i planned this trip and why i posted this thread.:D

[catfishonthelake]

There's a pretty rock-solid ice fishing spot on that lake that is far from where the acid brook flows in.

[NJ Dave]

We all have to die from something right!

[Skunk City]

http://www.atsdr.cdc.gov/hac/pha/dupontpompton/eid_p1.html


As a frequent fisherman at Pompton Lake, that article was definetly a must read.

That being said, the fact that the advisory mentions the Wanaque River and Pompton Lake together is not a good sign. Where the Acid Brook dumps into Pompton Lake is actually DOWNSTREAM of the Wanaque River by a fair amount. This would mean that the contaminants spread throughout the entire lake (highwaters/flooding?)...not entirely a comforting thought. That being said, I've pulled some very nice fish out of there. Seems the X-Men factor is working on the Bass and Sunfish...now only if they could dump a little more arsenic or mercury in there and make the Pike more aggressive :p

On a side note, a buddy and I were fishing there last month and came across a 250 gallon home oil tank half submerged on one of the islands there. My buddy ended up getting in touch with the "Friends of Pompton Lake", which forwarded him to the EPA. Long story short, we found the tank on Sunday and it was removed Tuesday night by the EPA.

EDIT: Just to add, there are signs at the boat ramp that state not to eat any Largemouth Bass or Carp that come out of there due to high levels of dioxins.

[Lard Almighty]

A lot going on here. Check out the DEP case file:

http://datamine2.state.nj.us/DEP_OPRA/OpraMain/pi_main?mode=pi_by_site&sort_order=PI_NAMEA&Select+a+Site:=2177