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ID this Fish out of the Sunrise River


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  • Fisherman For a Lifetime

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I'm trying to call the "Lake Detective" - Steve McCombs of Blue Water Science - but his line is always busy.

Tunrevir - chime in, buddy!

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Boy you got me stumped. I was thinking juvenile dogfish but the silver throws me and makes me think some type of roughfish but then with the descriptions back like a pike, smooth, no teeth, I have no idea. Maybe you caught the last of the species of a rare breed of fish grin A pic would be helpful. How about the body shape? panfish round, long and skinny, could it have been a species of trout. Lord, I have no idea. If and when you find a picture post it up here. If you find a pic of a similar looking fish somewhere then post that as it may help narrow down the search a bit.

Tunrevir~

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I'm trying to call the "Lake Detective" - Steve McCombs of Blue Water Science - but his line is always busy.

Tunrevir - chime in, buddy!

I wouldn't waste my time with McComas. I'd contact Konrad Schmidt at the DNR. Put his name in front of @dnr.state.mn.us and ask him.

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Boy you got me stumped. I was thinking juvenile dogfish but the silver throws me and makes me think some type of roughfish but then with the descriptions back like a pike, smooth, no teeth, I have no idea. Maybe you caught the last of the species of a rare breed of fish grin A pic would be helpful. How about the body shape? panfish round, long and skinny, could it have been a species of trout. Lord, I have no idea. If and when you find a picture post it up here. If you find a pic of a similar looking fish somewhere then post that as it may help narrow down the search a bit.

Tunrevir~

I'd go there today and catch some, but am leaving for Bayfield, Wi. right after work. My 1st chance is Monday after work.

A small yellow jig and pinch a crawler in half catches them.

They're EASY to catch and then post a picture!

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Ugh, I cannot get back there. Ok, you go, take a picture, post it here & send it in to the DNR but I get the discovery credit, interviews, finders fee income, acolades, etc...! grin

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Ha. Don't worry, you can get all the credit. I just wanna add a new fish to my own personal catch list. Haven't fished that dam this whole year. I've caught almost every species of fish in that area. Great place to fish.

Could it be a lamprey?? I've seen some of these there.

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Originally Posted By: Fisherman For a Lifetime
I'm trying to call the "Lake Detective" - Steve McCombs of Blue Water Science - but his line is always busy.

Tunrevir - chime in, buddy!

I wouldn't waste my time with McComas. I'd contact Konrad Schmidt at the DNR. Put his name in front of @dnr.state.mn.us and ask him.

+1 grin

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The DNR called me back.

They were pretty sure they are "juvenile Burbot" (Eelpout) even though they were long and slender with no wide body and no narrow tail...

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Nope, that absolutely was not what I caught.

That's a juvenile eelpout, so what I caught was not a eelpout!

DNR is wrong, so I better call them back tomorrow morning!

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I fished that dam almost everyday of the year. I caught almost every fish that exist in the Croix, the strangest one that i can think of is maybe a snakefish? If, it's not let know. Too busy to head out to the dam, it's only minutes away from where i'm at, but it's hunting season.

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I thought I described it pretty well, but not to some I guess.

Been too busy to get back there, but hopefully sometime soon.

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There are only so many fish in Minnesota that could be considered "snakey", have a regular mouth and have no dorsal fin. In fact anything that fits two of those descriptions won't fit the third to my knowledge.

We need pics!!!

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if its not a dogfish or a burbot, and its snakey, i got nothing

Konrad is amazing, we used to ask him where to catch a particular species of minnow for research trials, and pretty much no matter what it was, he could tell us down to the pool or run on a particular creek or river where we could get it.

If you haven't contacted him I'd do so. And next time get a pic! smile

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There are only so many fish in Minnesota that could be considered "snakey", have a regular mouth and have no dorsal fin. In fact anything that fits two of those descriptions won't fit the third to my knowledge.

We need pics!!!

From the description it doesn't match any native Minnesota fish I ever heard of. The mouth rules out native and sea lampreys, and you have ruled out American eels.

With all the others already rejected, the sticker still is the dorsal or I would have guessed weather loach, Misgurnis fossilis also known as Dojo loach which definitely likes company and can get to your ten inches, and has gotten itself established from aquarium releases and escapes as far north for sure as Lake Michigan in the Chicago area. You can Google the scientific name and then check out the Images for a lot of examples. You didn't mention barbels either, which the loaches have in 5 pairs. So the loach is a real wild guess.

Pretty obviously this is a stumper. We are stumped without pictures.

I think you are asking about an exotic, and one not well known, so with an obvious population established definitely take the time to report this in as much detail as possible to your local DNR offices.

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  • 2 weeks later...

well heck i never considered an eel since he said "fish" but now you mention it... i think you might be right

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Somebody already said american eel and the answer was no.

I suspect that somebody has already guessed what it really was by now though. There just isn't anything left that it could possibly be.

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I will end this conversation by also saying creek chub. I have caught more of them out of the sunrise than I can count back in the day, and they are the closest fish to the description given.

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