Parasitic Yellow Grubs

[Ness]

During last Sunday's fishing outing, we caught some nice panfish and since I have no problem with not releasing panfish :-) , we brought them home to eat. However, when cleaning them we found worms in the fillets. I contacted the DEC and was
told that they (the worms) are parasitic yellow grubs. Yellow grubs have a life cycle that include snails to fish to fish eating birds and then back again. The DEC said the fish with the grubs are fine to eat as long as you cook them.
Even though I love to eat fish, fish with yellow
grubs does not sound very appetizing. Any comments??????? Oh, you can tell if fish have
these grubs by checking the bellies for black spots.

[Wauger-eye]

Cook them properly and you will have no problems. Here in Kansas most bass and bluegill in ponds and even reservoirs have either yellow grub or black grub to some degree. Some years are a lot worse than others though. Best way to deal with it is to have someone else fillet the catch so the people eating the fish don't see the grubs!! I hope my wife doesn't see this post!! Just don't "sushi" your panfish....

[saugeye]

The way I can tell althogh not 100% is to take youre finger or thumb and extend the thin membrane by the lower jaw and gills.Most of the time you will see yellow grubs in that area if the fish has them.Myself,I cannot eat fish that have them,seems disgusting.

[night_eyes]

I've noticed in some lakes here in MN that the perch have these. Definately doesnt sound too appetizing!!

[rmblam]

We've been eating fish with grubs in them for years without any problems....twitch...twitch......

It kind of grosses me out to see the perch loaded with these worms when we fish in Minnesota. It's just a psychological thing though; there are worse things we eat and don't know about. We have a fry on each tuesday of the week we are up there and the resort owner catches and cleans grubby fish for each fry, guaranteed. Best fry (besides mine of course) I've ever had. It's funny because the women eating there would never eat fish again if they knew....lol

[HighTower]

WE too have found large numbers these "worms" in our perch. if there's too many i chuck it , but usually we pick them out. they crawl when free'd and some can live through freezing. big winne's perch near the mouth is loaded with'em
good luck

[night_eyes]

Yes some of the perch on Winnie are really bad. It seems as though when we catch them out of deeper water though they arent near as bad...sometimes even clean.

[cisco]

That's because the big-do (esp gulls) doesn't get to the bottom in the deep water. Perch with and without worms depend on the type of bottom you fish -- in other words, where you catch 'em. Worst places are the shallower, mucky and sandy bottom areas.

[EAGLE EYES]

The correct name for this worm is Triaenophorus. It has been around here in Mn. waters for years. I agree with HighTower, In that if the fish is loaded with them I throw it, but if it only has a few you can pick them out with your fillet knife. They are just a psychological damper just like rmblam said. My wife said she likes them.
"Just kidding honey"!