Fish Lice?

I went trolling on lake Don Pedro last weekend and the good news was that I got my first ever trout from the kayak. 40ft deep with a jointed rapala minnow at sunset. My 5 year old daughter was trolling the surface out of the back of the kayak and netted the fish for me expertly. Good times.

The bad news was that the fish was covered in horrible looking sores, thick with mucous, and the fins were rotting away. My best guess is fish lice based on the symptoms but I have not found any good photos to confirm. Does anybody have experience with this?

Bonus: earlier in the day my 7 year old boy caught a 10# carp from the shore. That’s bigger than anything I’ve ever caught! so far…

Some kind of parasite. I would throw it back. You could probably eat it if you cooked the $#i+ out of it, but no thanks. I have caught stripers before with a red sore on the belly and when you fillet those things out they are full of worms. You can hold the fillet up to the sunlight and see them all.

Copods. Trout and Kokanee get them when the water warms up. They are only on the skin and do not get into the meat. If the fish I catch have a few I just scrape them off. However if they come up looking like a shag carpet, like the one in your photo, I let them go.