Two-fer...What is it?

[C_Run]

The other day I went here.

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Fishing for these.

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Indeed I got about a dozen in the boat but the biggest was only about 10". But then, I also caught these.

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"Trash fish" but what kind? Modest Man, anybody, help w/ID, please. I caught five.

 

[Modest_Man]

Northern Pikeminnow.

 

[C_Run]

Northern Pikeminnow.

Thanks, MM.

 

[Big3d]

That's an interesting way to double your catch!

 

[C_Run]

So, is "squaw fish" and pikeminnow synonymous ? Or, are there other similar looking species here in the Willamette zone? Now I am wondering if the fish I had been calling pikeminnow might be something else. At least I have never seen such big ones before. I guess I shouldn't call them trash fish either. I'm sure they perform some vital function in the ecosystem. Obviously warm water fish and fishing is not my strong suit.

 

[Modest_Man]

So, is "squaw fish" and pikeminnow synonymous ? Or, are there other similar looking species here in the Willamette zone? Now I am wondering if the fish I had been calling pikeminnow might be something else. At least I have never seen such big ones before. I guess I shouldn't call them trash fish either. I'm sure they perform some vital function in the ecosystem. Obviously warm water fish and fishing is not my strong suit.

Ptychocheilus oregonensis - common names include both the Northern pikeminnow and squawfish. There are other minnows (northern pikeminnow is a minnow) like the chiselmouth and peamouth which might be confused. How big is big? We've sampled several in the 20-24" range. They're less a trash fish than that bass you're catching here in Oregon.

Peamouth-


Chiselmouth-


Northern Pikeminnow-


This is a mountain whitefish, which is in the family Salmonidae just like our trout and salmon (you can see the adipose fin)


And a very common species the largescale sucker-




I could go on and on...we've got about 35 native fish species just in the Willamette River, plus 30 non-native invasive species.

 

[C_Run]

Yeah, I know. Smallmouth = introduced and invasive. The others , native. I may have caught a peamouth and/or chiselmouth before and not known it. Definitely have caught whitefish in Idaho so I do know that one. I was just fishing for points in the multi-species contest that's ongoing on the kayak forum. Unfortunately, pikeminnow is not on the list. Thanks for those pictures. This is getting like an ichthyology class around here.

 

[Modest_Man]

Ichthyology was fun but Systematics of Fishes is where the scientific names and species identification really came into play!