NorCal Kayak Anglers

General => Fish Talk => Topic started by: Potato_River on May 10, 2006, 09:33:54 AM

Title: What on earth is this??
Post by: Potato_River on May 10, 2006, 09:33:54 AM

http://www.coastsidefishingclub.com/forums/showflat.php/Cat/0/Number/313671/an/0/page/0/gonew/1#UNREAD

(http://www.coastsidefishingclub.com/forums/user_uploads/313671-mysteryfish1%5B1%5D.JPG)


Stuart
Title: Re: What on earth is this??
Post by: Nomad on May 10, 2006, 11:59:31 AM
kinda looks like a largemouth had relations with a perch...a big one....
Title: Re: What on earth is this??
Post by: bsteves on May 10, 2006, 12:05:07 PM
Stuart,

I hope you don't mind, but I modified your post to show the image.

Anyway, that's a Sacramento perch (and a nice sized one at that).    Unlike most of the freshwater fish you catch in California (Bass, sunfish, catfish, and most of the trout)  the sacramento perch happens to be one of the few natives.  In fact, it's the only species native to California that is in the same family as bass and sunfish (Centrarchidae).

Brian
Title: Re: What on earth is this??
Post by: mooch on May 10, 2006, 12:11:44 PM
I thought it was half small mouth bass - half crappie muntant  :smt118
Title: Re: What on earth is this??
Post by: Potato_River on May 10, 2006, 04:32:33 PM
Thanks Brian.  I've never seen anything like that before.

It sort of reminds me of that treefish that Randy caught, which I've never seen before either.

Stuart
Title: Re: What on earth is this??
Post by: InSeine on May 10, 2006, 07:56:48 PM
Stuart

Where did you catch this?

Inseine
Title: Re: What on earth is this??
Post by: Travis on May 10, 2006, 08:07:02 PM
Wow you don't see many of these.  I wander where it was caught.
Title: Re: What on earth is this??
Post by: bsteves on May 10, 2006, 08:17:16 PM
Travis,

According to the original posting of that image on coastside it was caught at "San Luis".  Based on the known distribution of the species I'm guessing that means the San Luis Reservoir.

Brian
Title: Re: What on earth is this??
Post by: ex-kayaker on May 10, 2006, 08:37:52 PM
I like the sweet tiger striped paint job.
Title: Re: What on earth is this??
Post by: ChuckE on May 10, 2006, 09:58:59 PM
My questions is.... how does it taste?  :smt106 :smt002
Title: Re: What on earth is this??
Post by: Potato_River on May 10, 2006, 10:14:53 PM
I wish I caught it.  That is one cool looking fish.

As the other's have said, it was caught out of San Luis Reservoir.  I just saw the pict and posted it here.
San Luis is connected to either the CA Aquaduct or Delta-Mendota Canal, not sure which, maybe both.  In any event, that means its connected to the Delta/Bay/Ocean.

Aside from stripers and Largemouth, there have  been Sturgeon caught there too.  I've even heard two separate reports of starry flounder being caught.  Sounds really strange, but definitely believable.

Haven't heard of salmon, but I'm sure more that one has been pumped in there.

BTW, strangest place I've personally seen salmon was on a private duck club, a few miles south of Los Banos.  Talk about being lost.  It was dead and pretty beat up looking.

Brian,
Whats your take on flounder at San Luis?  Could they survive or was it a another fishing tale???

Stuart





Title: Re: What on earth is this??
Post by: Potato_River on May 10, 2006, 10:16:28 PM
Chuckie,
My first guess would be it tastes like fish.  If I'm wrong, my second guess would be chicken. :smt005

Stuart
Title: Re: What on earth is this??
Post by: mooch on May 11, 2006, 08:45:38 AM
my question is: is that a typical size sac perch? Looks like a lunker to me  :smt045
Title: Re: What on earth is this??
Post by: bsteves on May 11, 2006, 10:21:50 AM
Joel,

According to my research (google)... 17 inches is the world record for the Sacramento Perch so this one seems to be a pretty big one.

Stuart,

I have a book on my desk by Peter Moyle written in 1976 called "Inland fishes of California" and in there he also reports starry flounder in the San Luis Reservoir.   From what I understand is that they get transported to the reservoir via the aquaduct as larvae and somehow survive to adulthood.  That said, the populations in the reservoir are not self reproducing and require the input of larvae from the aquaduct to keep the population up.

An interesting side note to this, I work on invasive species and freshwater flounder are not a new story to me.  The Starry flounder (Platichthys stellatus) happens to be in the same genus as the as the European flounder (Platichthys flesus)... and European flounder have been caught in the Great Lakes.  Evidently, the larvae have been transported to the Great Lakes via the ballast water of large ships and the fish grow up to adult size only to be caught by surprised anglers somewhere in Michigan.  So it seems that this genus of flounder has a unique ability to tolerate freshwater.

Brian

Title: Re: What on earth is this??
Post by: Potato_River on May 11, 2006, 10:41:51 AM
Thanks Brain, I mean Brian.  You know your stuff.
Stuart
Title: Re: What on earth is this??
Post by: Davey Jones on May 11, 2006, 06:09:47 PM
Can't be a Sacramento Perch (eat it man eat it!..quiet!) :smt008 It does not have a perch body but a bass body. Rubber lip is gone and it looks like a mutant strain of bass, which is kind of common to bass. I say it is more bass than perch by a wide margin;my 2 cents.
Title: Re: What on earth is this??
Post by: Randy on May 11, 2006, 08:38:20 PM
My questions is.... how does it taste?  :smt106 :smt002

I'll make a deal with ya, Chuck:

You batter that bad boy up and fry it, and I'll eat it and let you know!   :laughing8:
Title: Re: What on earth is this??
Post by: bsteves on May 11, 2006, 09:51:46 PM
Perch, bass, etc.. common names don't really help when it comes to determining which species are related to which.

The Sacramento perch is neither a perch nor a bass.  In fact it's in the sunfish family Centrarchidae.  On a similar note, largemouth bass and smallmouth bass are also Centrarchidae and therefore actually just the biggest members of the sunfish family.

True bass are in the family Serranidae (groupers, cabrilla, spotted bay bass) or in the family Moronidae (striped bass).


-Brian