St. Louis River Cleanup Nears Delisting As Area Of Concern

I saw a story from WDIO today about how the St. Louis River is one step closer to being delisted as an area of concern. This is because they've recently finished another cleanup program. My first thought was, "Geez, should I not have eaten those fish?"

St. Louis River Is One Of The Best Walleye Spots In The World

The St. Louis River is one of the best walleye fisheries in the world. Seriously, it's a great spot for walleye, and they are bigger than most of the lakes you catch them in. In fact, the slot for walleye keepers on the St. Louis River is 15"-20" (with 1 over 20 allowed).

Decades Of Pollution Put St. Louis River On Area Of Concern List

However, industry and decades of pollution put the river on the EPA's Area of Concern. Cleanup efforts began in the 1970s, and the water quality has been steadily improving.

10 years ago, the latest cleanup and restoration project started. I've witnessed a lot of the habitat being rebuilt along the banks, and it's a good feeling to know that we're taking care of this waterway. The Thompson Reservoir soil remediation was just completed upstream. They removed 225,000 cubic yards of contaminated sediment.

Within A Few Years, We Could Start Enjoying It Again

This quote caught me off guard:

The St. Louis River will be monitored for several years to determine if cleanup efforts are effective. If conditions improve, officials say people will be able to enjoy the river again.

Wait a minute. I've been enjoying the St. Louis River my whole life. Uhhh. What? Should I not have been? I knew it was bad, but I didn't know it was THAT bad.

Old Fisherman's Rule For Keeping St. Louis River Walleye

Going back to the 80s and 90s, my great uncle Earl lived in Superior and fished the St. Louis River a lot in his retirement. He had a rule of thumb that he passed down. If the walleyes had white bellies, they were fine to keep. If that had yellow bellies, you threw them back.

Fishing the last 10 years, I haven't found a walleye that looked contaminated. I think we're just fine.

Regardless of whether you think the river is safe or not, I think we can all agree that cleaning it up has been a good thing.