Well, I had a good time at the settling pond last night. I caught a boat-load of bluegills. Fortunately I had the photographer (wife) with me and I am glad she snapped these pictures. I wasn’t sure what this fish was. I caught three (3) of these. All of them had funky red sore-like issues on their bodies :shock: The only thing I can think of was that they were minnows on Scott’s Fertilizer Steroids or something. Thanks in advance for the help!
Happy Fishin’ Y’all!
SKershaw,
I believe that that is a Fallfish.
If it looked like a minnow, it’s because it is in the minnow family, in fact it’s one of the largest members of the minnow family.
Scooter.
Here are a few links to the ID page for Fallfish:
http://www.thejump.net/id/fallfish.htm
http://www.cnr.vt.edu/efish/families/fallfish.html
http://www.talkflyfishing.com/index.php?showtopic=10464
http://pond.dnr.cornell.edu/nyfish/Cypr … lfish.html
I was thinking it could be a member of the Shad family but that would only have been a wild guess.
Larry
Shad ID sites:
http://indian-river.fl.us/fishing/fish/herramsh.html
http://www.landbigfish.com/fish/fish.cfm?ID=114
Down here in the southeast we call those “shiners”.
Same here in Wi and MN, maybe even a really light Golden Shiner…
Have caught some nice LM Bass on those :lol:
Yup !
Have caught quite a few of those while bass fishing.
They enjoy small poppers in the evening.
We also call them shiner arround my part of the country.
They are steaks to the large, and smallmouth bass populations in the lakes I fish.
Nice catch!!!
Have had smallmouths hit the hooked shinner while bringing them in.
Have a great evening,
chris
That looks somewhat like a fallfish, but I think it’s something else. Fallfish are native to the East Coast, and I’ve caught them from New Jersey north into Maine.
I’m a little surprised that they would be native to Nebraska also, and further surprised why anyone would stock them outside of their native range.
I think the body is a little deep for a fallfish, and I don’t thnk the mouth is quite right from what I can see. But the big, shiny scales are right on. Bottom line, related but something else.
It’s most likely a golden shiner. I’ve caught them them on small poppers and they’re pretty wide spread, native, according to the book, to southern Canada and eastern North America south to Texas, but widely stocked in the West, and raised for bait across the country. They can grow up to 12 inches
I tend to associate fallfish with fast moving, freestone streams you see here in the Northeast. I’ve never encountered them in lakes. They’re a smaller fish averaging about 4 inches.
Probably a shiner. We have some in one of my favorite lakes here, the remnants of all those baitfish that folks can’t dump in a trash can. I’ve often wondered why a person who skewers a little fish with hooks most of the day would turn around and feel sorry for his 50 - 100 little friends and dump them into a non-native habitat out of the kindness of their hearts? Just kill the little blighters for cryin’ out loud. They’ll likely end up ruining most good fisheries if it’s allowed to continue.
Just my 2 cents.
:?
The shape, color and most important deeply bowed lateral line clearly show this to be a golden shiner.
Since they are most popular baitfish sold across USA they can be fpound in just about every little (or big) puddle of water. It’s a one of the largest members of minnow family in North America. Considering the fact that they do not grow over 12 inches you git a “trophy” there. We catch them around here all of the time.
They are not your typical tymid little fish. Shiners this size are quite aggressive and are happy to take flies and small live bait like mealworms.
Their presence is quite good for any water since they are quite prolific and thus provide forage base for other fish.
I’ve been catching a few of these in a little city lake close to home. Our theory is that the catfish guys brought them in as bait, then turned loose what they didn’t use (a fairly common practice around here, unfortunately. The same lake has a healthy feral goldfish population as well). They are a lot of fun on light tackle and take dry flies just like a trout in the evenings. Figured they were a minnow of some sort, but never really worried about exactly which kind.
theory is that the catfish guys brought them in as bait, then turned loose what they didn’t use (a fairly common practice around here, unfortunately. The same lake has a healthy feral goldfish population as well).
That is a problem everywhere and it is also illegal everywhere. However from my own expirience golden shiner is very popular and extremely effective way to catch bass, pike, pikerel or crappie. Sometimes they will come off the hook and survive long enpugh to grow beyond what local predators can eat. So even if no one released them they still would be found in all the waters. BTW. I’ve never heard of anyone getting in trouble for releasing unused bait.
This is a bad practice not only beacuse you are introducing “foreign” fish into the local waters but in case of shiners grown on farms you might be introducing a disease into local enviroment.
golden shiner - pretty thing.
Regarding fallfish, I think the NJ state record is something like 1lb 10oz. I’ve caught them to 12 or 14 inches in the upper Delaware on wooly buggers.
They are interesting in that they build pyramid shaped rock piles in the tails of pools and then spawn over the rock piles. Guys around here always wondering what those rock piles are. The males have bright pink faces when they are spawning.
Sure that isn’t a mooneye? Those are darned fun to catch, too. JGW
[quote=“RDL”]
Same here in Wi and MN, maybe even a really light Golden Shiner…
Have caught some nice LM Bass on those :lol:[/quote]
A couple of years ago I brought up this same inquiry on the local Game and Parks BB. Posted some very similar images, but with a MUCH better looking person holding the fish. ( 
:shock: :lol: 8) ) Once all of the opinions and dust had settled the Game and Parks employees explained how these were shiners that had been released by fishermen at the end of the trip. With the last few years of mild winters they had survived and grown. (I guess they will usually die durring a ‘normal’ cold and frozen winter in Nebraska.)
I was then accosted by the catfish guys who wanted to know where and how I had caught them as they love to use them as cut bait (at a 45 degree angle {measured with a protractor}) for catfish. (Sorry, inside joke. 
)
They are quite fun to catch, but not nearly as fun as the gills they are stealing food from!
Rock Bass
Couldn’t resist !
Don, that wasn’t 45 degrees; it was 41.5 degrees. We wouldn’t want to mislead any FAOL-types who sneak out at night with their short poles. :lol:
[quote=“OldBaldGuy”]
Don, that wasn’t 45 degrees; it was 41.5 degrees. We wouldn’t want to mislead any FAOL-types who sneak out at night with their short poles. :lol:[/quote]
THAT was it! Been a while since that ‘conversation’ took place! Thanks for keeping me ‘straight’! 
It’s a Shiner