Mystery Fish, It Runs, It Jumps, It Eats Salmon
By KBarton10 on Aug 25, 2007 in Brownlining, environment, fishing
Update: It may be missing the yellow and black lateral line, but the Doctor was dead right. It puts me at a dilemma, as these critters have a bounty on their head in Oregon, $4 per fish for the first 1000, up to $8 per fish thereafter. They eat baby salmon, lots of them. The bounty is paid for a specific area, but the dollar totals some of those anglers put away is staggering. I guess they were here first, I will leave them be.
I also found a list of species for Cache Creek, among them were steelhead trout. So I have a new goal, catch a steelhead and a salmon from this little brownline treasure.
Original Post: Last night’s foray into unknown waters yielded an equally unknown fish. Narrow, silver, and a bottom feeder. I would classify it loosely as a “sucker” but it has a superior mouth, like a trout. Black and yellow lateral line, very distinctive.
Never seen these before, they fought well and ate anything thrown their way.
Dave | Aug 25, 2007 | Reply
Round Whitefish.
da
fish.krasu.ru/fauna/index_f.php3?35+1
TCWriter | Aug 25, 2007 | Reply
Who cares? Looks like a fun fish. Smallies, sunnies, carp — what a bounty.
KBarton10 | Aug 25, 2007 | Reply
Dave could be on to something, their distribution includes North America and California. Interesting puzzle, I’m looking for a picture of a California version to check the color pattern.
In any case, my thanks, Dave.
Mark | Aug 26, 2007 | Reply
That is not a whitefish, it does not have an adipose fin. It looks like a pikeminnow (Ptychocheilus) to me. Definitely in the minnow family (Cyprinidae).
Mark C, PhD ichthyologist
KBarton10 | Aug 26, 2007 | Reply
I checked on the dorsal fin this morning. The picture does not show the location because my big hammy hand was in the way.
It is a small dorsal, set way back - not at midpoint like a trout. I will look up the pikeminnow to see if there is a match. None of the white fish pictures that I found have that distinctive yellow and black lateral decoration.
Many thanks for the clue, Doc.
KBarton10 | Aug 26, 2007 | Reply
Mark,
I think you nailed it sir, thou art the Man.
Mark | Aug 26, 2007 | Reply
Hey no problem…..You should tie up some baby salmon flies and try and catch one of the 3 foot long, 15-20 pounders. By the way….if you want to save salmon in the Columbia river basin….dont kill pikeminnows, just remove the dams.
Mark C (aka trout-bum)