Silverwood Stalker report 5-10-09

[BabyKiller]

jesus saves

[FISHINGBEE]

Those are carp was you using corn or cornmeal bait? At least you caught something. Carp fight hard dont they. No so great to eat,


FISHINGBEE

[DccFISHerMan]

trippy i saw that tank today too

[Nalsmells]

nice fish,

where there any bulegills??

[Calicanuck]

You are right, that fish looks similar to a Rocky Mountain White but not quite. As far as I can tell in all your pics none of the fish had an adipose fin which is essential if it is going to be a whitefish. I've caught alot of Rockies and Lake Whites up in Canada and I'm not sure what you have caught even though it looks strikingly similar. I would guess it is some type of carp or huge shiner.

Good Catch anyways.

[Skyler]

Those are actually a species of squawfish, a member of the minnow and sucker family. Similar to a whitefish, but has a wider profile. They were in the mojave and deep creek drainages long before they dammed it all up. Now that population survives in Silverwood exclusively. The last pic looks like an actual grass carp, AKA a White Amur.

[FISHINGBEE]

Those are actually a species of squawfish, a member of the minnow and sucker family. Similar to a whitefish, but has a wider profile. They were in the mojave and deep creek drainages long before they dammed it all up. Now that population survives in Silverwood exclusively. The last pic looks like an actual grass carp, AKA a White Amur. I have caught them on jigs at hesperia lake.Minnow sucker carp what the difference. Still would not want to eat it. Same scales as a carp different mouth. They do put up a great fight though.

FISHINGBEE

[FISHINGBEE]

I have caught them on jigs at hesperia lake.Minnow sucker carp what the difference. Still would not want to eat it. Same scales as a carp different mouth. They do put up a great fight though.

FISHINGBEE Sorry my bad i noticed now u used worms. Yes squaw fish eat worms.


FISHINGBEE

[Anglerism]

Cool. Thanks for the report. Haven't been there in a while.

[dockboy]

It is no whitefish. RM Whitefish almost exclusively live in cold, fast flowing freestone and tailwater fisheries in the Northwest. Our local streams and lakes are far too warm foo whitefish, and nowhere near the water quality they demand for survival. Whitefish are often considered a monitor species for watersheds due to their relatively high intolerance in water quality.
As you really get up into NorCal, the whitefish become somewhat common in some of our larger freestone rivers and streams. However, once you cross the border into Oregon they are often plentiful in the higher elevation streams, especially around Bend. Ditto for WA, ID, MT, CO, WY, UT, and NM, even nothern NV basically any of the Rocky Mountain Range and the immediate outlying ranges in the Great Basin region. California and Arizona are one of the few regions in the Western states where the conditions for whitefish survival are not typically met and their populations are low, if nonexistent. In some of their home range watersheds, its not uncommon to catch 3-5 trout a day and 50-60 whitefish on a good bite.
Having caught and released numerous whitefish in MT and OR, I can tell you what you caught was not a whitefish. Whitefish rarely grow large than 1lb, and a 3lber is considered very large in the US (Canadian stocks are much higher and therefore typically large fish). They also almost exclusively eat tiny insects in comparison to a worm. As a flyfisherman, I can attest to that as every whitefish I have caught came on small dries and nymphs while trouting. Unfournately for you, the fish you caught was likely a species of carp, or one of the several species of Mojave River drainage suckers native to the area, as Skyler pointed out. It was no grass carp to be certain, and certainly not the FNN infamous squawfish, but it is most definitely appears to be of the sucker or carp species. Also....whitefish taste great :LOL: Whitefish, especially when smoked, is known for its good flavor and is considered a delicacy by many in the NW states. :Cool: