Last Saturday I fried up some fresh trout for lunch. 5 minutes after I began to get light headed and short of breath. I was alone and dialed 911 requesting an ambulance. I awoke to paramedics in my house. I was fading in and out and came around in ambulance. After multiple tests MRI cat scans and ultrasound all negative for cardiac related causes the conclusion was a vegal response to a toxin in the fish. There were 5 other cases of allergic reaction to toxins in fish from west Matagorda bay according to a physician who tested me. These were surf trout not caught near Formosa or Alcoa.

until all the fresh water is dispersed I would shy away from eating fish. Consider this a public service announcement. If a few cooked filets can do this to a big man like me it can quickly kill a child or adult in poor health. Nothing publicly posted yet I have seen.

My that's scary. I've fished Matagorda my entire life and never have heard of anything like that. I know a lot a friends who have put a lot of fish in the ice box the last few weeks because fishing been great.

Please find out and post what toxin they are saying caused this.

Thanks for getting the word out and glad you are doing well enough to post.

I live on water here and fish a lot. Eaten thousands of trout. Unsure of toxin said it would need to go to CDC for testing and I Hal already processed it. Neighbor with Parkinson's had fish from same batch no issues it would have killed him. I really think it's related to toxins from fresh water runoff

Dang, I've been eating fish tacos from trout caught in Espiritu Santo Bay for the past few weeks. Haven't noticed any side effects. Thanks for the warning.

I've never been as sick from food poisoning/intoxication in my entire life as I was when I ate some fresh trout I caught out of Aransas Bay. It was years ago but I ended up in the hospital with an IV in me after a day or so of being so sick I couldn't leave the floor. Ever since then I've been rather leery of trout.

I'm not a doctor, but I wonder if these toxins affect people differently. Maybe it was just in one of the fish you cooked. I'm just thinking more than 6 people in the area probably ate trout they caught that weekend. Not doubting your story at all.

As a scientist, these types of reports frustrate the crap out of me. Please give us something to work with. Anything. How about, 'the Doctors mentioned it might be X', or it kinda looked like Y.

Without anything to work with we have nothing. We have a dude that did a whole bunch of things, which happened to include eating dinner of trout, that got sick and was made well through supportive therapy. We can't craft a realistic warning to other folks without some science behind it. We cannot find the responsible party, we can't put preventive measures in place to keep it from happening again.

OP, not mad at you. I believe you and I don't want anyone else to end up in your condition. Just a PSA for all of us that when we run across a potential public hazard, get as much scientific data as you can.

Thank you and I agree.

You do realize that it could be a million different things, and without a clue what it maybe, it's not easy to identify a substance without a long and time consuming process. It may not even be present in a blood sample. In which case they may never ID it.

The ER doctor is far more worried about stabilizing the patient.

IDK what to say except maybe ice down a case of the beast and go to town postulating data. It was something toxic the trout ate likely from shellfish who ventured into fresh runoff from all the rain. Schools of trout feed in schools of shrimp schools full of people can get sick. Consider therapy if that postulate concerns you although a case of beast maybe cheaper depending on your copay or deductible.

Ciguatera maybe, but that is associated with reef fish so probably not likely. Could be from higher fecal bacteria concentrations from all the rain the last few months. Maybe also increased nutrient inflow has triggered localized red tide. Pure speculation.

Would really like more info in this. has anyone contacted the Health Dept or TPWD? If this is a legitimate hazard health warnings and area closures need to be on the table. GroupGuy said the fish were from west matagorda but then said they were caught in the surf. That leads me to assume they were caught in the surf off Matagorda Peninsula, would this be correct?

Ate some fried trout earlier tonight that were caught in East Matagorda on Saturday. I'll let y'all know if I die

https://www.texastribune.org/2019/04/17/texas-attorney-general-sues-inland-recylcling-and-remediation/

This story is about pollution into a creek that feeds into the Colorado River. Petroleum based products/chemicals that were supposed to be recycled were leaking from the facility. Skull creeks feeds into the Colorado River just below Columbus and i'm Guessing 50 to 75 miles upriver before the river dumps into Matagorda. It was a pretty big concern a month ago with LCRA & multiple state agencies getting involved. I know there were concerns about eating catfish out of the river and if a fishing tournament should be held or canceled.

With the large amount of rain a few weeks back the locks in the intercoastal were closed forcing most of that water towards the gulf. The surf out of Matagorda was pretty ugly looking at the time despite being calm from so much fresh water. So I guess surf trout could get exposed just as easily as bay trout.

Probably not related but just shows how easily pollution can make it into the bays/gulf.

Bioaccumulation takes time also, plus toxicity levels, as in straight up toxins, that would do this to you will also kill fish.

I'm not a doctor either but this was probably a reaction to something. Coulda been the fish, coulda been a lot of other things he wasn't exposed to. As others have said, if you have real reason to believe this was the fish you should alert TPWD and your local county health office.

Fish came from surf near pass cavaliers. Doctor told me about 5 other cases of reactions bad enough to be treated at ER in Victoria from fish coming from West Matagorda bay.

As fast acting as it was it had to have been an allergic reaction or a toxin, and not any kind of bacterial or viral illness. If it was environmental and that severe, it would have killed the fish if it was anything they are susceptible to, so it would almost have to be something that isn't particularly toxic to fish but is toxic to mammals. I wonder if there is something similar to ciguatera that can accumulate in Texas coastal species?

Hell of a way of keeping people away from your fishing spot!

I heard of two fishermen getting vibrio after wade fishing east Matagorda about three weeks ago. One gentlemen I have knowledge of lost the calf of his leg. He went to hospital early and it was caught before he lost his leg. Here is link about the risk.


https://www.cdc.gov/vibrio/people-at-risk.html

Just FYI, I am still alive.

This story sounds fishy.