Grubs in fillets

[jiggin4perch]

After cleaning my catch from a local I lake I found small grubs in the meat. I know I have seen posts about this before, but what is the protocol when you do find them...throw out the fillet, cut the grub out? Your thoughts are appreciated.

[Outasync]

I've seen that myself. Usually if there's only a few I cut them out but most say they won't hurt you as cooking kills them. Here's a link to a commonly found grub.
http://www.michigan.gov/dnr/0,4570,7-153-10364_52259_10950_46202-26966--,00.html

[3300]

i wouldn't eat them. tiny lakes get them. fish a bigger lake to get away from it.

[spoof]

geese=poop, fish eat poop=grubs.... won't hurt you.. pick them out of fillets with a sharp knife tip before cooking or leave in for maximum protin

[Oldbear]

X2   What  Spoof said just don't tell your wife.

[icejohn]

if there are only a few....pop them out, if you miss some that's ok too they cook out and won't hurt ya any way....the ny dec has mentioned this many times and if you want to check it out...check their website but don't waste a fish just for a little extra protein or little extra work.
icejohn

[trapper2000]

ok  when  you  find  grubs,   fillet  as  any other  fish  soak in water  with  one  tables spoon of apple  vingar  wait  over  night  and   pan  fry  all the  fillets  ...once there  done  toss them in the  garbage  and  rap  your  self  right in the head with the  fry pan  for  even  thinking about  eating  grubs  ,whats wrong with you  ...toss  that stuff out

[hairbone]

ok  when  you  find  grubs,   fillet  as  any other  fish  soak in water  with  one  tables spoon of apple  vingar  wait  over  night  and   pan  fry  all the  fillets  ...once there  done  toss them in the  garbage  and  rap  your  self  right in the head with the  fry pan  for  even  thinking about  eating  grubs  ,whats wrong with you  ...toss  that stuff out

Funny chit 

[iceman260]

ok  when  you  find  grubs,   fillet  as  any other  fish  soak in water  with  one  tables spoon of apple  vingar  wait  over  night  and   pan  fry  all the  fillets  ...once there  done  toss them in the  garbage  and  rap  your  self  right in the head with the  fry pan  for  even  thinking about  eating  grubs  ,whats wrong with you  ...toss  that stuff out

I agree with trapper, they may be planted to start the zombie apocolypse.

[jiggin4perch]

thanks for the help guys, there were only a few with grubs in them. this is the first time i have come across the grubs in my fillets.

[trapper2000]

no  joking arount  I  wouldn't  eat them  and  sure  as  anything  won't  give  them  to my family to  eat ...toss  em  out  and  go  fishing  somewhere  else

[skinny4]

Everybody has that friend that is perfectly able to catch and clean there own fish, yet is lazy and just wants your already filleted fish from your freezer. That's where those fillets come in handy. I don't want to eat them, but don't want to throw them out either. Perfect solution..... Now does anybody else want fish from my freezer?

[trapper2000]

Everybody has that friend that is perfectly able to catch and clean there own fish, yet is lazy and just wants your already filleted fish from your freezer. That's where those fillets come in handy. I don't want to eat them, but don't want to throw them out either. Perfect solution..... Now does anybody else want fish from my freezer?

  .....and  I  ain't asking you  for  venison  either 

[Spider1]

just cut the thing out of the fillet and cook it. There are 2 types of grubs you'll find in your fillet. The white grubs are more like a tan color and bigger. Easy to spot and remove. the second is the black grub. They are small and easy to remove. they are the ones that look like someone sprinkled pepper on your fillet. I find them mostly in Pumpkinseeds and gills. If the fillet is too bad I'll use it as bait for catfish, but usually a little work with the knife gets them out.

 And as stated, the won't hurt you if you eat them but it is sort of ikky. They both come from herons. Herons poop in the water, the grub eggs are in the poop. Small crustacians feed on the poop and injest the eggs which grow to larval stage. The crustacians are eaten by fish that frequent the bottom, ie gills and perch. The larva grow to adults in the fish and then the small fish are eaten by the herons who in turn poops in the lake. The circle of life... for a grub. The grubs are very species specific and couldn't survive in us even if we ate them when they were alive but I try hard to not eat grubs.

 I would rather work a little harder at removing some grubs then through a bunch of fish out. But I try to limit my gills. That's where I find most of them and in some lakes, I won't keep anything but crappie during the summer. Bass are usually ok but I might find a white grub from time to time. crappie are usually clean. perch usually only have the white grubs in them if any. Trout are usually clean. pickerel will sometimes have a white grub. I check all my fillets real good and cut any grubs out that I find.

[iloveacrappiedinner]

These are likely the grubs you are talking about:

http://www.dnr.state.mn.us/fish_diseases/neascus.html

The fish is perfectly safe to eat just as long as you aren't making sushi out of it! A little batter and hot oil and you'd never know the difference. There are all sorts of stuff in the fish we can't see so I'm not wasting good fillets because of a little harmless spots.

What's creepier is when you cut into a deer liver and find liver flukes!! Also harmless by the way if you just pick them out. But that will give you a little bit of heebie-jeebies!

[PoleJerker]

Soak them in salt water over night and see what happens.

[trapper2000]

well ya  can  eat a  worm in a apple  too ,  won't  hurt ya  but I ain't  going to .... 

so in ya  find  grubs that look like  spikes  in a  fish  fillet ,send  them to  spider and Iloveacrappiediner.... ...........I  ain't  eating it

[Spider1]

I'm pretty sure that if you read what I wrote you would have seen that I cut them out. Also, the grubs are much smaller than a spike so it makes me wonder if you've ever found a grub or if you've been eating them all along. Or do you fish for a different species of fish? If you fish for panfish, then you should have found some grubs and know what they look like... if you fish for pannies and haven't found any grubs, then you've been eating them.

[trapper2000]

yeah  we  have  them....  not  to mention  bullheads  .........  it's  up  to you ...I  ain't  going to eat a parasite  in  the  flesh of  any animal ..nor  feed that  to my loved  ones .....that's  just me  ...you  do what  ever  you  want 

[iloveacrappiedinner]

We would find them all the time in the smallies we would pull out of a lake in the northern daks. If they were bigger than about 2mm, we might pick them out but most of the time we didn't bother. I trust my gut and my nose, the fillet is good to go. My immune system rounds those buggers up right at the border and deposits the unlucky intruder directly into my colon! No Miranda rights, no three strikes rule. First offense, BAM into the colon you go!

[Spider1]

you have them... but you don't know what the grubs look like... do you fish for panfish? do you keep fish? Some guys like to fish but don't keep them, that's ok. Some guys only like certain fish, that's ok too.

[ICEROGUE]

Toss them.. I work in a micro lab, and some of the parasites I see in stool cultures would make you cringe lol..

[trapper2000]

spider I been  fishing  since  your grandpa   had a  crush on his English teacher I seen the  grubs , the  worms  the , black  spots, mercury  scares  and everything else.  my  freezer is  full of  venison and  fish  fillets ..... that has  nothing to  do  with it I  just choose not to  eat parasites ....nor  am I  going to  take  time to pick them out ...i'll bury them in the garden  grow a  tomato on top  of them and  go catch  some  clean fish ...maybe  you don't have that option 

[filetandrelease]

Nice read guys  , worst fish I've seen with the case of the critters were perch

[trapper2000]

I caught  some  bullheads  that  where so bad  made  my skin crawl

[HBNY]

Have anyone ever seen the big grubs in cod or haddock that is in the filet right off the back of the boat when deep sea fishing. I was grossed out when I first saw it but it was in every one of the fish we caught one day out of glouster. I asked the 1st mate about it and he said it is an every day occurrence in bottom feeding fish.

[Spider1]

I don't eat bugs either. heck, cleaned a nice pile of fish last night. Gills and perch and I had a couple rock bass too. Found some spots on the gills and cut them out but when I filleted the rock bass they were totally covered in them. There were more grubs than fish. never seen a fish covered by grubs that bad before! yeah, well, can't plant them in the tomato garden cuz it's frozen a foot deep so they got tossed.

[trapper2000]

HBNY  i have  caught  fish  with  gill lice  in the  ocean  ,they look like a  gaint pill bug in gills and  they been known  to  attach  themselves  to divers

[icejohn]

ok  when  you  find  grubs,   fillet  as  any other  fish  soak in water  with  one  tables spoon of apple  vingar  wait  over  night  and   pan  fry  all the  fillets  ...once there  done  toss them in the  garbage  and  rap  your  self  right in the head with the  fry pan  for  even  thinking about  eating  grubs  ,whats wrong with you  ...toss  that stuff out

just love your posts trapper....i will take the time to pop em out if there are only a few and was thinking at first you were going to suggest a good way for them to come out of the fillets themselves with your instructions.....then i realized how you really felt..lol
icejohn

[moosefeet]

Holy cow Trap, you probably have eaten more bugs thru Restaurants and Diners then you care to even know about! I usually pick them out, but if you miss one they just pop in your mouth! The black ones can be obnoxious, if a fillet is loaded with them I usually toss it tho.