Just as an FYI - for the vast majority of the USA, most (perhaps all) freshwater fish are basically toxic. Don't count on fish for LTS, just short-term. The levels of mercury, PCB's and the like in fish is dangerously high. PREGANT WOMEN SHOULD NEVER NEVER EVER EAT FISH CAUGHT IN THE WILD!

Here's some references:
http://epa.gov/waterscience/fish/advisories/newsmar05.htm

"PCB's found in Morewood Lake, Massachusetts. Fish from a small lake at the Country Club of Pittsfield in Massachusetts have been found to be contaminated with PCBs. The state Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) said the fish taken from Morewood Lake have the same level of contamination as those found in the Housatonic River, which is heavily polluted with PCBs from the General Electric plant. The state is now considering an advisory warning people not to eat any fish caught there. A spokeswoman for the state agency said it appears that Housatonic fish have been migrating into Morewood Lake through a culvert that floods when the river is high."

http://www.delawareriverkeeper.org/newsresources/factsheet.asp?ID=23
WASHINGTON, DC (September 19) Mercury pollution is making its way into nearly every habitat in the U.S., exposing countless species of wildlife to potentially harmful levels of mercury, a new report from the National Wildlife Federation shows.

http://www.commondreams.org/pressreleases/feb99/020399a.htm
"Report Finds Forty States Advise Limited Fish Consumption Due to Mercury Contamination; Calls State Protections Inadequate; U.S. Tuna Foundation Joins Call for Reduced Mercury Emissions"

It's well known Great Blue Herons and the like transfer undigested roe from "whereever else" to isolated ponds to stock them with bream, etc. I've seen evidence of it occuring time and time again on farm ponds and private lakes with no feeder streams, so I doubt it's a myth. Will these fish carry any levels of mercury or PCB's once they're eating size? (Assuming the water and rain is unpolluted, of course)

Yes. First of all, you can't assume water & rain are unpolluted, no matter what.
As shown in this article (one of many):
http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2005-03-13-pollution-_x.htm

Almost every place in the USA has suffered from the effects of imported air pollution, at least occasionally. Some of the most serious impacts:

• Mercury emitted by power plants and factories in China, Korea and other parts of Asia wafts over to the USA and settles into the nation's lakes and streams, where it contributes to pollution that makes fish unsafe to eat.

• Dust from Africa's Sahara Desert blows west across the Atlantic Ocean and helps raise particle levels above federal health standards in Miami and other Southern cities.

• Haze and ozone from factories, power plants and fires in Asia and Mexico infiltrate wilderness spots such as California's Sequoia National Park and Texas' Big Bend National Park, clouding views and making the air less healthy.

There's nowhere - nowhere - on planet earth where wild areas aren't affected by this.

Now, here's the other half of the issue - basically, fatty tissues acumulate toxins, and the further up the food chain you go, the more toxins you get. So that nice big trout you got - the one that at a few hundred pounds of smaller critters - it's going to have more toxins than if you made a nice minnow smoothie. The ecosystem of the water is much more connected - nothing does not get eaten by something, and there's lots of stages from the smallest to the biggest. So the stuff builds up!


Sorry to be gloomy on this topic, but for LTS, freshwater fish are NOT the choice to make if that's you're plan. You better get good at identifying nuts and berries and capturing small game.

<img src="/images/graemlins/shocked.gif" alt="" />Thanks for a good, straightfoward answer to my question. This kind of makes me glad I'm not addicted to fishing like I used to be. I have not eaten any freshwater fish from the wild for years. I have either given them away or did catch and release. The last I ate was white crappie in the late '90s out of Kentucky Lake/Tenn River, and that was only in the Spring of each year. I will admit to eating farm-raised catfish every so often though.