Anyone know what this is it tryed to eat my triple trout but its mouth was too small so my gammies hooked it in the side.

http://www.calfishing.com/albums/album15/aad.jpg

i dont know what it is but it has a head of a Yellowtail and the body of a Corbina

By your description sounds like you were fishing in the Salt? But if you were in freshwater, I would say that is a Squawfish(spelling?) I think that is what they call them, I use to catch them on the Naciemento river. Mean little monsters too!

Kind of looks like a grass carp.

It does kinda look like a grass carp buy the scales are too small. what ever it is I think it looks cool. Were you in the salt?

at first i thought it was a squafishh but then i had a feeling it was an out of state report and from what i know, squafish are only in california.

Hey guys its a sacramento blackfish I hear there rare it was in fresh water and is not a squawfish or carp.

Tight Lines

It looks like a walleye except for that back fin which makes it look like east Coast Cod fish. I thought I had seen it all but never seen one those before.

JerryG

looks like a mullet

The mouth and head are all wrong for squawfish/Sacramento pikeminnow. My gut reaction was Sacramento blackfish, but I couldnt find good sources of info for that species online and all my other sources are in my office. Where did that fish come from?

I'd also be interested in what that fish is. I saw a fish floating in coyote lake a few months ago that looked identical (size, shape, fins, color) to what taylor caught. Unfortunately I didn't take a photo and can't remember the exact shape of its mouth. I just assumed it was a squawfish.

It came from a small lake in elk grove I have a audubon society guide to north american fishes and the pic matches a sac black fish exactly.

Ive never seen a Sacramento blackfish out of the water; I see them all the time in Clear Lake when Im sightfishing. What a cool fish. Heres a description of the species range from Moyle 2002 (awesome book if you are into the fish of California):

"Native to low-elevation reaches of the Sacramento and San Joaquin Rivers and their major tributaries, as well as to Clear Lake and the Pajaro and Salinas Rivers. They are prsent in the Russian River and in a few central California reservoirs (e.g. Shasta, Hennessy, Lagoon Valley). In the San Francisico Bay region they are present in the Delta and in Coyote, Alameda, and Walnut Creeks. They have been transported by the California Aqueduct to San Luis Reservoir, where they are common, and they can be expected in any reservoir in southern California that contains water from the aqueduct."

Urban thats the same info I have on them I would like to know more about the fish itself I am wondering y it tred to eat the triple trout out of anger or what?

Dude, you catch more weird and/or screwed up fish than anybody, you ought to buy that book I mentioned, you would like it and it will give you sooooo much more info than your field guides.

Seeing as how Sac blackfish are filter feeders, who knows why it "struck" your bait. Are you sure you just didnt accidentally snag it? Listen to this on how they feed: "Sac blackfish are primarilly suspension feeders on planktonic algae and zooplankton. By opening and closing their mouths rapidly, they suck in large amounts of water containing small food items. The food material is carried to the roof of the mouth, where it is collected by mucus secreted by a palatal organ; clumps of mucus and food are then swallowed."

Yuck.

I am 100% sure he struck the bait I was slow rolling the t trout and he almost jerked the rod out of my hand I had him hooked by the belly and he was fighting pretty good I was sure I had a good bass on the end of the line, then when I saw him I was puzzled. Anyhow how big are the supposed to grow?

I've caught those ugly fish out of Margarita as well. According to one of the posts they come out of the salinas river system and they are in Margarita.....BassMan

I wonder if this guy didn't catch one too (scroll down to the bottom for a close up pic). I've never heard of these fish before this post. Goes to show how little we know about what's under water sometimes :)

http://www.fishingnetwork.net/forum1/viewtopic.php?t=15461

Rob, that one is a squawfish. A big clue (besides head shape, forhead slope, and mouth type/shape) is the caudle peduncle. Look how proportionately thick it is compared to Taylors fish. Also, the scales should be much bigger in the squawfish. Blackfish are the only "large fish" with little bitty tiny tails.

Taylor, according to Moyle 2002 maximum length is around 19.68 inches and maximum weight is around 3.31 pounds. Seems your fish is near the maximum. Plus, I checked California state records, and there is no category for Sacramento blackfish. I wonder if you could fill out the paperwork on that fish and get a state record out of it. That is, if you weighed and measured it.

One more thing about this species, and this is something Ive known for a long time. There is an odd commercial fishery for the species on Clear Lake (at least used to be, but I bet it goes on elsewhere). And the harvested fish primarilly end up in the Asian fish markets in San Fran, Oakland, etc.

Hey Rob,

We use to catch those out of the Naci river(were it enters the Salinas River. Right next to 101 freeway. We would be throwing panther martins and those things would hit every so often. Very hard fighting fishing and good sizes for that area too.

Bryan

Yea Rob that is a different type of fish than the one I cought. Anyhow I guess next time I catch a blackfish I will measure and weigh it since my was 20"+ anyhow its cool to catch something that you dont see everyday.