IceShanty.com's Ice Fishing Community

IceShanty Main => General Ice Fishing Chit Chat => Topic started by: paullytip-up on Feb 21, 2007, 07:21 AM

Title: Worms in perch fillets??
Post by: paullytip-up on Feb 21, 2007, 07:21 AM

I caught a mess of nice perch on sunday afternoon in an upstate NY lake.. as i was cleaning the fillets i noticed that they looked almost like they had white seeds in them.  I popped a couple out and inside the fillet they were balled up but when i took them out they laid out and looked like little white worms??  i have never seen this or came across any article that mentioned anything like this.  i have some digital pics of the fillets but not here at work with me.. i will post them later if need be.  has anyone ever heard of this???

paully :tipup:

Title: Re: Worms in perch fillets??
Post by: fshnfool on Feb 21, 2007, 07:25 AM

thread running right now about the same thing.......did they look like this??
http://www.iceshanty.com/ice_fishing/index.php?topic=52034.0 (http://www.iceshanty.com/ice_fishing/index.php?topic=52034.0)

Title: Re: Worms in perch fillets??
Post by: paullytip-up on Feb 21, 2007, 07:40 AM

well its kinda hard to tell cause the pics are a little blurry but they looked about the same size.  They were no black spots either, they were all white. they all looked like little white worms..

Title: Re: Worms in perch fillets??
Post by: zonker on Feb 21, 2007, 09:20 AM

This is prety common in perch around here.  Some places you see it more than others.  I usualy just pick them out with the tip of my knife when i'm dressing them out.  If they are really loaded w/worms then I just chuck em. :sick:

Title: Re: Worms in perch fillets??
Post by: fish_finder on Feb 21, 2007, 09:30 AM

Quote from: paullytip-up on Feb 21, 2007, 07:40 AM

well its kinda hard to tell cause the pics are a little blurry but they looked about the same size.  They were no black spots either, they were all white. they all looked like little white worms..

  Same as the ones in my perch fillets, all whitish yellow

Title: Re: Worms in perch fillets??
Post by: Norman Schrader on Feb 21, 2007, 09:47 AM

I have seen this before in fish caught in upstate N.Y ponds and lakes.  I checked with the DEC about it.  I don't now what the scientific name is for it but they called the problem "white grub".  These along with the other parasite they called ironicly "black dot" are part of a cycle that starts with waterfowl droppings.  The small fish eat the parasites from the droppings, larger fish eat them and so on back to the birds again.  While not astheticly pleasing ( that's an understatement) the DEC said that neither species is harmful to humans so long as the fish is thoroughly
cooked (sushi is not recommended here).
I hope this helps out.
Good luck.
Norm

Title: Re: Worms in perch fillets??
Post by: Little Brown Dog on Feb 21, 2007, 10:11 AM

Are they the Yellow Grub?

http://www.vtfishandwildlife.com/library/Factsheets/Fisheries/Fish_health/Yellow_grub.pdf (http://www.vtfishandwildlife.com/library/Factsheets/Fisheries/Fish_health/Yellow_grub.pdf)

Title: Re: Worms in perch fillets??
Post by: fish_finder on Feb 21, 2007, 10:26 AM

 Yup! thats them, only there were alot more of them then in the pic on that link.

Title: Re: Worms in perch fillets??
Post by: paullytip-up on Feb 21, 2007, 11:00 AM

yeah thats definately what it is.  i guess it is kinda like getting worms in your vegtables when you really think about it. Ill probably pick out as many as possible and go from there..  thanks for all the great info guys!!

paully :tipup: