I have eaten my share of fried clam strips and clam chowder. Does anyone eat freshwater clams from lakes and rivers. Are they safe to eat?

I believe they're protected in Ohio.

Eating them can be risky for a variety of reasons-mainly because they are filter feeders and are relatively long lived,so they can accumulate toxins both man made and natural.

I also think they are protected in Michigan also.

Ate many before they were protected,use to get from the rivers. Didnt die...my kids loved them fried in butter

yes they are protected in Michigan

I only tried freshwater mussels once, a long time ago. They were not good, but my buddy and I may not have cooked them well.

Keith

keith,u must feed them out for a couple days changing water daily and add fine cornmeal then they clean out and fill with cornmeal and just fry...otherwise you need to cut the lips off and clean the muck and algae out.

Apparently all our rivers have mercury in them now...they didnt when i was a kid or at least noone knew then. I wouldnt eat them. Plenty of other stuff that is easier to get.

Never ate them, but I boiled one once and tbe water turned green and gritty so I think I'll stay away. Last year they made it illegal to harvest from rivers, can only harvest from lakes now. The kids still collect shells by the bucketful from the sandbars on the river in town, I can't imagine a game warden would take issue with kids collecting shells as long as they're not taking live ones.

That makes sense. We ate them within an hour of catching them and the taste could definitely been described as mucky.

I wish Ohio would relax the draconian laws on collecting the freshwater mussels and shells. When I was a kid, I made lots of stuff out of the shells, including pretty decent fishing lures. There were big piles of shells by the lake by maternal grandparents house, left by muskrats. Now it's illegal for a kid to pick even an empty shell up.

Keith

When I first moved to Wisconsin (1970) I used the meat, slightly tainted, mixed with castor and run through my lure blender, for my river coon line.

BEST YEAR EVER!

Now protected along with a myriad of other creatures. Just read in the 2020 Fishing Rule that American Eel and Chain Pickerel are protected.

Yo can eat them by eating a raccoon who has ate them. Just saying. Or maybe they'll outlaw that was well...

Wish I had a pan full now.

There are shell middens along the Ohio river in places as proof that the native Indians ate them by the truckload.
As a kid we used them for catfish bait.

Cant even be in possession of empty shells in Michigan believe that's in the digest

I think they were eaten when nothing else was available-starvation food.

Fresh water mussels are something I know just enough about to be dangerous..Worked as a diver for a lady what is called a Malacologist. Which is someone who studies Fresh water Mollusk. I was diving collecting sample or doing removal/relocation, work. We worked all up down Mississippi river all over in WI some in MN, IL and OH.
Not sure what the rules are even here in my own state now because been out that job since think 2010.There were at that time a lot of species on the threatened list. The work we did may have even helped them be called endangered. Commercial clamming as we called it back in 70 and 80s pretty much died in early 90s..
I do know there are a lot of place most or all shells are protected. Here along the Mississippi it is now illegal to pick up or posses even dead shells of some species..Most the kids picking up those dead shells along the river aren't going to get arrested. But they could be fined if someone really wanted to be nasty..
So is best to know laws for your state or a body of water before you take any even for bait..

Any Way as for eating them. They are indeed filter feeders so pick up some nasties from water.. Some of why they are endanger polition kills them..
Back in 87 was working a job on Ohio river south of Cincinnati.. Was a guy their was supposed to be the biggest know all about mussels in USA from University Ohio.
What he said about eating river mussels when ask by local reporter snooping around job site.
Was basically if you cooked them ate them with butter, salt & pepper. They would taste like Mud with butter, salt & pepper.

Having tried them in my younger days when camped along river. I would have to agree with his assessment of taste..

I did raise a couple young raccoons one summer when was 12-13.. Them little buggers would eat any and every clam I dropped in the cage. Just like pigs in slop..I give some to small to sell I dragged home in gunny sack.

Mac

Again Mac as stated you need to know how to clean them right....guess the know it all didnt either.
Reminds me of eating snails in philippines during typhoon yolanda(snails are good) Sons great grandma was trying to help clean them and had no clue. When one of the younger womenfolk commented she would show her how the old lady said"i been cleaning them since before you were born"! Needless to say hers were nasty when cooked(ggrandma