Who Can Tell Me What Kind Of Fish This Is?

FAOL Community Fly Anglers Online
1

I posted this on my regular fishing report of “Dad and the Kid”, but no responses so I wanted to put this out there and see if anyone can help me.

Last weekend I caught several of these fish on dry flies on the Henry’s Lake Outlet stream. I’ve never caught them nor seen them before, and I can’t find anyone who can identify them for me. I do know that they are not trout.

Curiosity is killing me as well as concern over whether these should be in this waterway or not.

Thanks for the help.

Kelly.

2

to me it looks like some kind of dace

3

Kelly -

Looks like a dace to me, also. Follow the link.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Semotilus_atromaculatus#Appearance

If that is what it is, it is not native. Some of your friends from Utah bait fishing ??

John

4

Whoa, now I’m really concerned. ANyone know if these are supposed to be in Henry’s Lake or any of it’s tribs?

Kelly.

5

Kelly -

Suggest you call Dan Garren ( spelling ) at Idaho F&G in Idaho Falls.

John

6

Looks like a black dace, we have had them here in the bigger lakes in BC for at least 55 years that I know of.

7

Is a black dace in the same family as a chub? Looks like what we call chub.

8

I’ve caught a bunch of fish similar to those around here in Ohio. I still can’t figure out if the are creek chubs or blacknose dace. A google image search of both brings up some examples that look like the fish you’re holding and some that look a lot different. Either way, it doesn’t seem either are native to ID based on the few distribution maps I could find for both.

9

Betty -

According to the Wikipedia link, the dace that were introduced to Utah, and could be the source of Kelly’s concern, are also called “common creek chub.”

John

10

I think I would be tying up some black nose dace wet flies

11

I found it! After a bit of research on the internet and some digging as to what fish are found in Henry’s Lake it appears that the “Redside Shiner” is the winner.

Here is a description:

Redside shiners are a small minnow. They are very common in the McKenzie River up to the Deerhorn Bridge. Schools of up to several hundred fish are found primarily in eddies and backwaters. They rarely reach a size to make them of interest to the angler, reaching a maximum length of about 5 inches. During the spring spawning season they take on brilliant red and yellow colors.

The photo on the link is exact, so It appears I should tie up some Redside Shiner imitations since these are apparently supposed to be in this water.

Here is the link for a pic and description:

http://www.yellowstoneupcloseandpersonal.com/fish.htm

Thanks for your help everyone.

Kelly.

12

That first picture you have is of a Blacknosed Dace and not a Redside Shiner. Blacknosed Dace ([FONT=Arial,Helvetica,Geneva,Swiss,SunSans-Regular][FONT=Arial,Helvetica,Geneva,Swiss,SunSans-Regular]Rhinichthys atratulus)[/FONT][/FONT]. It is different in appearance from the creek chub. Here is some information on it:

http://www.fishbase.org/Summary/SpeciesSummary.php?id=2943

Some further reading on minnows of the eastern watersheds:

http://www.fishandboat.com/pafish/fishhtms/chap11.htm

Your trout are going to enjoy eating it. We know because the invasive trout species from the west called Rainbow thrive off of them in our waters. Here are some patterns that you should use in that area:

http://www.fishandboat.com/anglerboater/2006/05sepoct/reg2guide.pdf

http://www.michigan-sportsman.com/fly_pictures/black_nose_dace.htm

Use that pattern and you will have fun. Any invasive species in any area is not necessarily desirable but not all of them are bad either. Some here in the east, namely me, do not like the rainbow trout although they do make great muskie, bass and walleye bait. By all means do as John said and report it to your fish and Wildlife folks but in this case there is probably no need to worry.

13

that’s funny.

both rainbows and browns should be eradicated when the native brook trout populace are threatened by them.

14

To me, it looks quite a bit like a Redside Shiner (Richardsonius balteatus). They are native to and quite common in Washington state and my source gives their range as “…from northern British Columbia eastward into western Alberta, south to western Montana, western Wyoming, and north and northwest Utah, northern Nevada, Oregon, Idaho and Washington. It is found in streams and lakes throughout Washington” (Inland Fishes of Washington, Wydoski and Whitney).

15

Thanks, Preston. The fish is a Redside Shiner, it took a bit of research but I was finally able to track down that these fish are in Henry’s Lake and I found color pics that verified the species.
Thanks to all who helped me with this, it was a fun trip.

Kelly.

16

You are probably right however, since minnow coloration, color patterns, body shapes and sizes can differ within the species family the the safe bet is to follow the advice given in regards to turning one in to your Fish and Wildlife officer. Hopefully they would turn it over to a zoologist to verify species and family of minnow it is. If it turns out not to be a Redsided Shiner then you could be alerting your Fish and Wildlife folks to a potential threat from an invasive species. Otherwise no harm was done.

I am saying this because I have seen Blacknosed Daces display colorations strikingly similar to the redsided Shiner picture you found. Better safe than sorry.

For the record I do not in any way, shape or form support the eradication/removal of the Rainbow trout in our waters of Pennsylvania. While they have had some negative impact on the native Brook trout waters it can also be argued that the increase in license revenue they create has had a positive impact as well.

17

John is right, the fisheries biologists that work for your particular state are the best people to go to with questions like this or other questions that routinely appear on message boards like:

[ul]How to tell wild from stocked fish?[/ul]

[ul]How to tell fish gender?[/ul]

[ul]How to determine the species of fish X.[/ul]

[ul]Are there any wild trout in stream X?[/ul]
I routinely pose similar questions like this to the guys in my home state and always get a quick, prompt and informative answer. They are experts and it is one of the things they get paid for. :wink:

18

Thanks, guys. I’ll be calling Dan today and let you know what he says.

Kelly.

19

Kelly:

For what it’s worth, I once caught a similar looking fish in PA. I called the fisheries biologist for the region where I caught the fish and later e-mailed him a photo.

He determination was it was a Rosyside dace (Clinostomus funduloides)

Look luck with the taxonomy!