Support Iceshanty... Get some great gear and forum goodies... Join The Iceshanty Hardwater Militia
Does anyone know what this may be ?(Image removed from quote.)Had a Fat head, and a fin that ran the length of it's back, the eyes on top, and side fins that fan out quite a bit.Caught it Yesterday.Thanks,Tim
its a sculpin, like coldbum said, the lakers do love them. they live around the rocks and in the grass beds. I've even caught big perch that spit them up. One of the most common and widely distributed fish species in the state and a good indicator of excellent water quality.
I don't know about the water quality part I've netted them below lock 7 on the Mohawk and that is definitely not what I would call quality water....quality fishing, but not quality water.
cool. they are considered an indicator species. Finding them in a stream is considered indicative of the stream being able to support trout. when we electrofished streams in college to determine if they held trout, if we found sculpins, we catagorized the stream as able to support trout. Obviously the lower mohawk gets too warm for trout, but although it may be turbid alot of the time, the water quality is quite good for a large, heavily developed river.Here's a quote from the IOWA DNR;The mottled sculpin has often been called a "trout indicator" and usually where there are sculpin populations, the water generally holds trout as well. Trout fishermen sometimes use mottled sculpins for bait when they are fishing for large brown trout.http://www.iowadnr.com/fish/iafish/mottscul.html
Wellsy, I would describe the water quality below Lock 7 on the Mohawk as "interesting".
I think as long as you use them in the water you catch them you are ok?