Anyone ever seen this type of fish??

[jknuth]

Shesham! I was going to forward this picture to you Josh and see what you thought.  This is downright spooky!

 

I was going to email you actually but I was in a hurry so I just decided to quit lurking and chirp up.

lol

[mud_n_fun]

Drum bass aka buffolo aka sheephead

[d.e.a.f.g.u.y]

if thats a sheephead then what is this fish i caught from oneida lake someone told me it was a sheephead

[mud_n_fun]

Same thing. They look alot different when they get big. Caught some 35inchers many years back on th misouri.

[jknuth]

Ok we have a WINNER!!!


Black Buffalo (Ictiobus niger)
Congrats Dude!!! thats a prize catch. Threatened here in wisconsin.
Lucky duck!!!!
The down turned mouth is the key here. smallmouth buffalo also have a downturned mouth, but they are a much deeper fish and the mouth is much smaller.
they are found in your drainage, but it is still a semi rare catch.
http://www.wiscfish.org/fishid/wFrmFishDetails.aspx?fid=9&comName=Buffalo,%20Black&sfName=Ictiobus%20niger&fam=Suckers%20(Catostomidae)&GID=140

[jknuth]

Drum bass aka buffolo aka sheephead

Buffalo (Genus Ictiobus) and sheephead (Genus Aplodinotus)are not even closely related.
Buffalo are distantly related to the suckers and are actually a ways away from carp genetically. both are from the order Cypriniformes but thats where the similarities end genetically.
Sheephead or "Freshwater drum" (Aplodinotus grunniens) are closely related to the drum you catch in saltwater. Red drum (redfish), sea trout, Black drum.....


d.e.a.f.g.u.y your fish is a sheephead / Freshwater drum.

[Adam Bomb]

Dont mean to bash anyone, but it sounds like some of you guys need to buy a petersons fish field guide book.  some of the names being thrown around for the same fish are entirely different species, some of which probably dont even live in some of the drainages mentioned.  Or six different species named to describe one fish.  Its kinda like saying a walleye is the same thing as a smallmouth which is the same thing as a carp which is the same thing as a darter. 

Not that I can positively ID this fish, but Id be tempted to say its a buffalo.

Amen brother.....And, its a buffalo.

[CrappieBuster]

Looks like somethign i'd swiftly dispatch with a boot to the head.  Thats one ugly looking fish it couldnt possibly taste good.

[BBB]

Thanks a lot for the feed back jknuth im pretty pumped that its a black buffalo since ive never seen one before catching that one or heard of anyone catching one

[jknuth]

Looks like somethign i'd swiftly dispatch with a boot to the head.  Thats one ugly looking fish it couldnt possibly taste good.

so if its ugly it gets a boot to the head until it dies?

if thats the case, well you get where i am heading with this.
Im just saying!!


this mentality is retarded.
I just cant fathom it
Buffalo are a NATIVE species and a VITAL! part of the rivers ecosystem.
Go after carp or other invasives, but Black buffalo are threatened in much of their northern range

[jknuth]

Thanks a lot for the feed back jknuth im pretty pumped that its a black buffalo since ive never seen one before catching that one or heard of anyone catching one

Glad to help!
its an awesome catch

[motorfisher]

Hey BBB !, If you'd like you could post your fish on the scientific database at FishBase.com !

Here's the link: http://www.fishbase.us/tools/UploadPhoto/start.php?speccode=2994

Your's would be the largest specimen posted there  ! Nice fish  !

[Pasquatch]

Bigmouth Buffalo.

They are not the same thing as a Freshwater Drum, aka Sheepshead. I hooked into a buffalo in some backwaters of the Missourri River once, that was crazy!

[Don Vito]

Sucker.

[d.e.a.f.g.u.y]

fresh water drum taste good? i remember i had a good day on the lake and caught ten of them big boys never kept any of em though was not sure how they tasted

[jknuth]

that all depends on who you ask. lol
I think they taste great, they eat them pretty much anywhere they are found except in the midwest? not sure why.
They taste like red drum and are textured more like a saltwater fish.
they are not oily and can dry out quick if you cook them too long.

I would say next time you get a nice sized one from cleaner water give it a try and see for yourself.

[wahoo]

(Image removed from quote.)
I caught this just at the end of summer and am not sure what it is. I know it looks like a carp but it definetly isnt my uncle wrote his PhD on carp and worked at delta marsh with carp for years so i think he knows what he's talking about . He's trying to figure out if it is a bigmouth buffalo fish or a smallmouth buffalo fish. I am just wondering if anyone would have a clue which on it is?
Ps look at the mouth it is to high for it to be a carp its not on the bottom and also it has a very black eye

I work for DEC in N.Y. and am the first one ever to identify buffalo fish in any waters of N.Y. Samples were caught in Dunkirk Harbor and sent to Albany. That fish is a Buffalo.

[d.e.a.f.g.u.y]

i think oneida lake is pretty clean i have ate fish from there before walleye and cats and a few perch ill have to keep one this summer and cook it up they any good smoked?i got a smoker i been aching to try out

[jknuth]

I wouldnt smoke them, simply because they are not very oily.
Smoke a catfish though!!! thats fantastic.

I normally simply roll them in flour and fry them like you would any panfish

[leviathan_slayer]

It definitely is not a white sucker as the dorsal fin is not right (and this one has an extended dorsal or adipose fin).  It also is not a sheepshead or drum as the dorsal fin is located posterior to the pectoral fins.  What you have very much resembles a buffalo fish (or suckermouth buffalo as it is sometimes called).  It is hard to tell from the angle of the pic whether it is a smallnouth or bigmouth.

[Kevin23]

Looks like a hybrid of some sort.

Cant tell for sure.



And I just puked a little thinking about you guys eating freshwater drum.. 

[Pasquatch]

Go back a page guys, its definitely a buffalo of some sort. Not a sucker or a freshwater drum.

[Mississippi]

LOL - Buffalo.  oh if if you need to know how to cook it then: place buffalo on cedar plank, cook in oven at 400f, scrape buffalo off of plank, & eat plank.

[Hardwater Problem]

LOL - Buffalo.  oh if if you need to know how to cook it then: place buffalo on cedar plank, cook in oven at 400f, scrape buffalo off of plank, & eat plank.

Now that's funny

[mike304]

if thats a sheephead then what is this fish i caught from oneida lake someone told me it was a sheephead

(Image removed from quote.)

that, dude, would be a freshwater drum.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Freshwater_drum

[Kevin23]

This fish is 100% definatly NOT a Freshwater drum, AKA: Sheephead, silver perch, Mississippi scum, Silver S**T, and whatever nick I forgot.

[BBB]

Hahah I dont see how anyone could possibly think my fish looks like a drum. It's a completly different fish and for taste drum are actualy pretty good if you eat them out of clean water.

[jknuth]

BBB

I had a few Fisheries Biologists look at your fish again and there is a possibility it may actually be an emaciated bigmouth Buffalo, and not a black Buffalo.
That decision is mainly based on the range. It is very very unlikely a black buffalo made it up that far.

Its really hard to tell without a good photo of the mouth.
Ill keep you posted

[BBB]

Yea i know i talked to my uncle tonight and he asked one of his coworkers at a meeting they had and he also said it was a bigmout buffalo. Im happy either way i dont think anyone of those fish is caught very often here anyways and even if it isnt rare that thing sure gave a hell of a fight lots of fun.

[argoholic]

Having seen the White Sucker run in Cooksville Creek beside my house in Mississauga Ontario every spring for years and years. That is NO White Sucker. Firstly it's way to big. I've caught Freshwater Drum on The Bay Of Quinte Ont and that's not it.

Ok so I got out my trusty old McClane's Standard Fishing Encyclopedia and International Angling Guide. It really looks like a Bigmouth Buffalo to me. It's the largest member of the sucker family and the most important from an economic standpoint. It is seldum caught by sport fisherman. So your very lucky I think.
Found mainly in the plains states. It ranges from North Dakota and soutern Saskatckewan east to Ohio and Pennsylvania and south to the gulf. Large rivers and shallow lakes provide perfect habitat.
If it's not that then it's the Smallmouth Buffalo.

As in everything else not every fish can be pretty.

Try it in a chowder.