New fish in the river? - south Parker area

I was out labor day just under Headgate Dam, and I saw something new.

I was wading some shallow mixed mud/pebble/cobble flats with weeds, off to the side, out of the main flow.
In one of the deeper (3-4') troughs I saw some silver fish rolling around, so I cast my small Rapala out and hooked something for about 1 second. I think I snagged it.
Fish kept on rolling so i made some more cast for nothing. I stood still for a while and they disappeared, the reappeared a couple feet from me in about 2' of water, gliding along the bottom.
about 5-6 of them, what looked like bonefish. They breezed around then went back out and started rolling around the surface again. This happened 4 or five times. Every time i had to do a double take.
Water was shallow and clear and i was wearing polarized glasses.

They were not carp, but they acted like them with the rolling and breezing around in a small group.
they were silver, slim, much more sleek than a carp, silver with a darker grey back, and had a forked tail. The closest thing i have ever seen like it would be saltwater fish like a bonefish or mullet. they were about 14" long.

They could be freshwater Flathead Grey Mullet, which are listed as being present in the Colorado River. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flathead_grey_mullet

Gizzard Shad?
They have been recorded upriver

Maybe a grass carp? They're different looking than the common carp. They're silver more sleek and more of a forked tail...

Sure sounds like it could have been a Colorado Pikeminnow (Squawfish). There used to be lots of them in the river, but you don't see too many any more because of lost habitats. Maybe they are making a comeback. They can get quite large too.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by fishmounter

Sure sounds like it could have been a Colorado Pikeminnow (Squawfish). There used to be lots of them in the river, but you don't see too many any more because of lost habitats. Maybe they are making a comeback. They can get quite large too.

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I didn't realize 'minnows' could get that huge. Wow!
Look like they might be a good sportfish.

I just re-read this post and have to agree with Natural Lefty, that they might be Striped Mullet. We've seen some big ones in the lower river. They came up the river from the Sea of Cortez in Baja and have been acclimated to the freshwater. As a mater of fact, many years ago my brother-in-law saw some in Lake Matthews, and that water comes from the Colorado River.

thay are gizzard shad,, started seeing them 5 er 6 years ago in Blythe,,,,been work their way down the river for the last 10 er so tears great bait,,,, going to make for some great food fer the bigns,,, https://www.havasunews.com/news/inch...e40d4c518.html

Wow, thanks for all the great suggestions.
I didn't realize all these were in the river, especially the mullet. Would be cool if the pikenminnow came back, those look like great game fish. I read they actually tried to exterminate them by pouring poison in the rivers to make way for more familiar sport fish (trout, bass, catfish)
after looking these up, I am going with Mullet or shad. We have mullet in the mouth of the San Gabriel river, and sometimes in the bay and surf. They definitely the most like what I saw. Long thin, pointy like. The shad look a little more heavy bodied.
I will be out there next week. The structure I can reach from the shore has come back close to what it was 20+ years ago in the spot I can fish (no boat :Sad:). good mix of rock, mud, weeds and nice current break. I used to catch everything there back then- catfish, trout, largemouth, smallmouth, bluegill, stipers, just drifting a splitshot nightcrawler along the edge of current break.