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Rough fish ID chart???


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Does someone make a rough fish color ID chart? I'm looking for something that is waterproof plastic or laminated and has color ID's of the suckers, carps, drum, etc. I've been catching some odd fish (at least to me) and want to ID them on the river.

Where can I get one?

Thanks,
PJ

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Hey, nice, where did you pick up the smallmouth buffalo? I've been trying to catch one for years.

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we put in at Shakopee and went up stream Friday night and I went down stream Saturday night. If I remember correctly all were caught on worms.

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www.roughfish.com
Is where I identified it this morning.

Flashman,
I'm thinking that the Sheepshead (drum) are going into the livewell next time I catch one. Rumor has it that they taste pretty good. Sorry I didn't make it on Sat PM, my other friend couldn't go and I was OK in catching up on sleep. With the river rising, some choice spots will come into play soon smile.gif

Later,
PJ

ps. I'm still looking for an ID chart that does not require internet access (ie can be in the boat at time of catch) and is small & waterproof.

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Hey man, I'm working on one. Right now it's just one the web, but tell me what you think:

http://www.roughfish.com/ruffish.htm

I was thinking of adding a second side and laminating them. Trouble is, they wouldn't be "pocket size", so I may have to work on it a little more.

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HEY, ROUGHFISHER. CHECKED OUT YOUR FISH I.D. CHART. VERY NICE!!! IT WOULD BE REALLY COOL IF YOU COULD GET ALL THE FISHES OF MN ON IT (OR AT LEAST THE ONES THAT HAVE RECORDS). AGAIN NICE JOB!

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<*))))))))><{

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Thanks, it's a work in progress and putting the current state records on there is a GREAT IDEA. I will do that, thanks for thinking of that. Let me know if you have any other ideas. I'm going to work on putting it into a nicer format and adding more fish on the back.

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Looks great!
Can you get the:

Black Buffalo
Greater Redhorse
River Redhorse
Longnose Sucker
Blue Sucker
Spotted Sucker
River Carpsucker
Highfin Carpsucker
Longnose Gar
Shortnose Gar
Bowfin
Mooneye
Goldeneye
Drum (Sheephead)
Eel
Lake Sturgeon
Shovelnose Sturgeon

I like your page though. Some of the 'oddball' species of sucker, carpsucker, and redhorse should definately be on the list though because of the greater chance of catching them.

Looks good,
PJ

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Yep, hopefully when it is done I will have all those, plus the Black Redhorse. But it is really hard to find pictures of those and that's a fish I have never caught. Yet. Then all I have to do is laminate it and stick it under the seat of my boat.

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I don't think I'll include the Black Buffalo. There has been only 1 ever seen in the state of Minnesota ever, including by DNR electroshockers. That one is the record. I doubt there are any more here.

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DId it look anything like this?

wwgbuffalo.JPG

This was caught by WWG a few weeks ago.I have seen a few boated this year.All came from the mouths of feeder creeks.WWG's fish was the biggest one I have ever seen.

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NICE BLUE PANCAKE MAN!!! I'd rather catch one of those than a thousand ten-pound walleyes. Great catch and great picture! Smallmouth buffalo are an awesome sport fish.

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So ... do you think you could guarantee a smallmouth buffalo to a guy if he took a guided trip on the RiverPro?

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I don't think I can gaurantee a buffalo.Only can take a guy where I have caught them. smile.gif

It interesting that all the buffalo I have seen come in my boat where all taken when fishing for white bass in the spring.We use jigs and plastics like the Ring-n-Grub and power bait.Some times we add a beetle spin.They smack it just like a predator would.They are up feeding on the schools of minnows that hold the white bass.
I have also caught quite a few carp this way too.Its only happens in the spring and the fall.

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Makes sense. A lot of the more rare native fish feed on whatever is the most abundant food source, and the minnow swarms in the spring have got to be irresistable. Man do I want to catch one of those. My brother has caught 3 of them, he has 40 species total, I have 39. If I get one more we are tied. Guess I'd better spend more time on the Minnesota!

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I get a few every year below the Ford Dam. Put some time in with a jig & minnow or half a crawler & you should eventually hook up. Vern

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ROUGHFISHER, HOW ABOUT ADDING THE FISHES RANGE(AT LEAST THE MN RANGE) ON THE CHART. COULD BE A BIT MORE WORK, BUT I THINK THE MORE INFO YOU CAN "SCRUNCH" ON THERE THE BETTER.
WHEN YOU ARE DONE WITH IT ARE YOU GOING TO MAKE IT PRINTABLE FOR EVERYONE?

------------------

<*))))))))><{

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Range would be good, the main problem is that the DNR does not have good information for all the rivers in the state. I could take a guess but I have caught a lot of these fish outside where they are supposed to live. I don't think anybody really knows exactly where they live.

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My uncle called me today and told me the fish I caught Saturday evening (which I thought I positively identified as a smallmouth buffalo) was a River Carp sucker, it seems he did some looking on his own to try to figure out what exactly it was that I caught. After looking at it I'm starting to doubt myself. I do know that it was a lot bigger then the state record if indeed it was a carp sucker. I need to print Roughfish’s page out and take it with me so I can positively identify these fish. I know it shouldn't be that hard but how often do you catch that many different species or have the opportunity to catch them.

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Flashman, you can ALWAYS send me a picture of the fish, and I can ID it. I've caught or handled almost every fish species in the state. The few I haven't seen personally are easy ones, too.

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Flashman has a pic of me holding the beast, but I think it was the first pic on the roll, so it might tale a while.

I really like the ID page! The only other suggestion is to size it so that it can print out on two 8.5x11" color sheets.

Thanks,
PJ

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It does. You just have to adjust your margins. Go to FILE, PAGE SETUP. Lower the left, right, and top and bottom margins (I think I used .3 all the way around). Then, hit PRINT PREVIEW to see if it worked. You might have to fiddle around with the margins to get it to work.

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The thing is I didn't get a photo of the fish, but I don't recall it having a dark eye as I was rinsing the sand off of it. I guess I'll just have to go back and try to catch it again.

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I think this one I caught last year would have beaten the state record also. I measured it at 22" long. I think this is a river carpsucker anyways. Scale said almost 6 pounds.
scottcarpsucker.jpg

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Looks like a river carpsucker to me. To be sure it's not a quillback, look for a little bump on the lower lip. It is really obvious; rivers have them and quillbacks do not. How did you catch that fish? Bait, type of spot, rigging? Very interested in this, I've been collecting successful carpsucker tactics for years now.

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I caught it right on the back side of a sandbar near a creek inlet. We were having real good luck with the walleyes that day and I was using a white mister twister tipped with a nightcrawler and this fish somehow picked it up while it was reeling it in slowly.

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I saw two more buffalo this past week.All while pitching jigs to shallow water fresh water inlets. The minnows were schooled up tight and all kinds of fish were taking them.

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Thanks for the info Dennis I hopefully will be out chasing those buffalo this weekend!

Thanks again!

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