Author Topic: what is a whitefish? (Read 1238 times)

keepah seekah · « **on:** Nov 27, 2008, 09:06 PM »

ok, my curiousity is up after reading some post about whitefish. i've seen pictures of some and to me they just look like over-sized pike bait. so i'd just like to get some info on em. good to eat? are they common to catch? what to use for em? and bla bla bla. thanx guys.

billditrite · « **Reply #1 on:** Nov 28, 2008, 05:56 AM »

they are a member of the salmon family and they are very good eating. I imagine they would make very good big pike bait

not legal though

Raquettedacker · « **Reply #2 on:** Nov 28, 2008, 06:11 AM »

The best smoked meat you will ever eat.

jrelaxin · « **Reply #3 on:** Nov 28, 2008, 06:27 AM »

a sucker without lips..............yeah good to eat.

viciouscircle · « **Reply #4 on:** Nov 28, 2008, 06:43 AM »

They are great fun to catch....the ones out here are normaly between 3lb and 5lb....they do get bigger sometimes. They fight hard, can be a challenge to catch...but where there is one there is usually more....and they taste GREAT.

keepah seekah · « **Reply #5 on:** Nov 28, 2008, 11:43 AM »

interesting stuff. what about fishin through the ice for them...what would you use for bait? would you jig? how common is it to catch one or more in a trip? once i get curious about a fish species, i like to know as much about it as i can even if i don't plan to fish for it.

billditrite · « **Reply #6 on:** Nov 28, 2008, 12:54 PM »

well i havent fished for them myself but they are a schooling fish so jigging would be very effective . they have very small mouths. i guess you would want to pinpoint where you were going to fish for them and see what is available for forage . try to find a jig that will resemble what they are eating and get a few sizes so you can downsize if they are finicky. that is one of the key pros of a sonar unit is to see how they respond to your presentation. I like your thinking , pick a target , research it , make a plan and execute. I'm in Dustin lets go get some whitefish in Maine this wintah!

keepah seekah · « **Reply #7 on:** Nov 28, 2008, 01:07 PM »

haha, sounds like a plan scott. i've always been like that, even if i have no interest in fishing for a species, i like to research it and find out as much as i can. i can't even count how many times the old man plugged his ears or told me to shut it when he was teaching me to striper fish at 8 years old.

something smells fishy · « **Reply #8 on:** Nov 28, 2008, 01:11 PM »

great fish to eat as already stated but the have paper thin mouths that are really small, cant force them out the hole and a good fight and again the best fish smoked period .

billditrite · « **Reply #9 on:** Nov 28, 2008, 01:16 PM »

heres an interseting little paragraph...sounds like they were feeding off the bottom

"Biologists examined a sample of 58 lake whitefish for length, weight, stomach contents, excision of otoliths for future age determination, and sex and maturity. Whitefish ranged from 8.7 – 18.2 inches long, with most being from 15-18 inches. With one exception, all fish larger than 13 inches were sexually mature. Due to their small mouths, anglers know that whitefish are generally caught on small bait. An interesting observation was that thirty-eight percent of whitefish stomachs contained very small round bivalve shells ranging in size from that of a grain of sand up to 3/8”. Condition of the whitefish was very good"

jrelaxin · « **Reply #10 on:** Nov 28, 2008, 01:18 PM »

Lake Whitefish

Common Name: Lake Whitefish

Other Names: Whitefish

Scientific Name: Coregonus clupeaformis

Origin: Native

Adult Size: Whitefish are normally 14-20 inches long and weigh 1-3 pounds, but can reach lengths of 25 inches and over 6 pounds. A number of lakes contain populations of "dwarf" size fish where mature adult whitefish attain lengths of only 6-8 inches.

Identification: Overall coloration is silvery dark brown to black on the back, becoming silvery on the sides and silvery white below. The fins are generally black or black tipped. Scales are large. The body is somewhat laterally compressed. Lake whitefish are easily distinguished from fallfish (chub) by having a small mouth and the presence of a small adipose fin located on the back between the dorsal and caudal fins. A related species, the round whitefish is light brown on the back becoming silvery on the side. It has a more cylindrical body shape than the lake whitefish.

like a freshwater pogie..............

keepah seekah · « **Reply #11 on:** Nov 28, 2008, 01:19 PM »

wow....can you thread 4-6 pound test mono through a size 16 hook? talk about small!

Doug D · « **Reply #12 on:** Nov 28, 2008, 03:41 PM »

My buddy and I were fishing chesuncook a couple of years ago and my freind caught a white fish we had never seen one before and he decided to keep it to eat. On the drive out we got checked by the wardens and they asked us if we kept any fish. My buddy said we kept a white fish. The warden looked at it and began to laugh and said thats a nice chub he called another warden over and said check out this nice white fish. They all had a good laugh. Still havent seen a white fish. I heard thier good eating. I am glad the warden checked us. We might have got turned off from white fish for good if we had eaten the chub.

something smells fishy · « **Reply #13 on:** Nov 29, 2008, 12:24 PM »

I find its are hard to tell the difference between a Cisco and a white fish, I have never caught one on the bottom they usually are a couple feet from the ice surface, that's up by North Bay in Ontario

ALASKANSS · « **Reply #14 on:** Nov 29, 2008, 01:03 PM »

Quote from: Raquettedacker on Nov 28, 2008, 06:11 AM

The best smoked meat you will ever eat.

that is a fact!

blacktrap · « **Reply #15 on:** Nov 30, 2008, 10:28 AM »

My wife and I catch lots of whities each winter. Our favorite fish to catch. Almost all of them are caught jigging, but we do catch some on traps. Our favorite lake has an 8 fish limit per person and last winter we filled that several times. The best day was over thirty fish caught jigging. They are a blast on a jig rod. A fish finder is a must as most of the time the best fishing is in 40 to 70 feet of water and you can waste a lot time before you start catching them. Vex, Small jigs, light fireline and a good jig rod is all you need.

keepah seekah · « **Reply #16 on:** Nov 30, 2008, 11:10 AM »

thanx guys! lots of good info. if the fishin is ever dead slow and im on a lake with whitefish, i'll give them a shot, thanx guys!

Gorilla · « **Reply #17 on:** Nov 30, 2008, 11:15 AM »

Ever hear of a Coney Island Whitefish....

MG39 · « **Reply #18 on:** Nov 30, 2008, 11:33 AM »

Ah, white fish!

Sebago used to have hundreds of them until the togue were introduced, now it is rare to catch one in this area. There used to be some smaller ones in South Pond in Greenwood but they are probably gone now.

I fished them for many years out of Carroll Cutting's fish house and then my own house and still do if I go up north in the Chamberlain area. The average size was 2 -2 1/2 lbs but occassionaly someone caught one 3-4 lbs. I think that Carroll may still have one about 5 lbs on the wall in the store. Fishing parties that went to Chamberlain years ago used to go around on the ice and pick up all they could find that were discarded because the un-informed thought that they were "chubs".

Everyone has their method. I fished them with a very large "kinsey" hook, with a "pin minnow" in the end of the hook, using a delicate spring in the fish house. They can be finicky feeders but can also be aggressive.
When picking up bait on the bottom, they are nearly vertical when doing so, which made the large hook effective. It was not uncommon to take them in the spring when trolling for salmon when they were plentiful.
They will also take a jig, cut bait, sweedish pimple and live bait on a trap.
As mentioned before, they are excellent eating.
In the 60's & 70's there was no limit on them. Now the limit is (3).

ALASKANSS · « **Reply #19 on:** Dec 01, 2008, 02:59 PM »

they are still plentiful on east grand

skidooguy · « **Reply #20 on:** Dec 01, 2008, 07:28 PM »

does anyone know if they may be in nequassit pond in woolwich? i boated a silvery fish that was about a foot long, and definatly not a chub while i was trolling there this spring. i thought i may be an alwife, but i have never heard of an alwife taking a streamer fly???

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Author Topic: what is a whitefish? (Read 1238 times)