sacramento pike?

[rob916]

is this one?

[BassManDan]

pike, no. pike belong to the Esocidae family.

sacramento pikeminnow (Ptychochelis grandis), correct!

Usually just incidental catch, they fight like a mother#$^$&$% don' they!

[Mike]

Yep, thats one. The smaller ones are great striper baits. They fight like hell for about 15 seconds.....

[JustinD]

Are these also known as squawfish? I know its not the politicaly correct name but I'm never been to concerned with pissing people off so....

[Bill K]

Are these also known as squawfish? I know its not the politicaly correct name but I'm never been to concerned with pissing people off so....

Yes they are. But you know the Clinton's and others, started this political correct junk.. Call them what you want. Bill K

[pb1967]

I caught my first two during Thanksgiving week. I was on the north side of West Island and they hit on rattle traps. They went 3 and 2 pounds respectively. Good fighters indeed!!! How much did that one weigh??

[Phil]

They are great fun on top water also. around Red Bluff and Redding area and all inlets into the Sacramento river..

Jigs

[rob916]

he was a good 5-7lbs he was pretty fat..i had a double he was on one end and a keeper size striper was on the other...

[bpm2000]

They fight like hell for about 15 seconds.....

yup - man i hate getting them on. "I got a pig!!!" 10 seconds later, it quits and you get that sinking feeling.

[SethB]

What are you supposed to do with them when you catch them? I have always just let them go. I have herd more than one person say cut the gills and let 'em go. I could see that if they weren't native to the water but aren't they native to the Sacramento river? most of the waters that I fish are or were connected to the Sac. so the pike minnow would be native to those waters. How do I find out if I'm leaglaly supposed to be killing these monsters. Id really rather let em go but I also want to help a fishery if I have a chance.

[BassManDan]

Good Question Seth,

Admittedly, I release them too, but there are places where they are a problem, so DFG will suggest that you "remove" them.

Primarily, they are a problem because they chow down on thr salmon and steelhead smolt as they migrate down stream to the ocean.

If you've got nothing against killing for the sake of killing, knife them suckers!

[bunktheclown]

Mmmmmmmmm squawfish. Catch them all the time up here in the rivers, some up to 5lbs, they love the new berkley paddle tails in rainbow trout. There is actually a bounty on them in the Columbia river. As mentioned they eat large ammounts of salmon and steelhead smolts, you can get up to 6$ a fish if you catch enough of them. Have heard of guys making 20K-30K a year off of them.

-jb

[Melones_IS_Mine]

LOL!! I was just about to say the exact same thing!

My parents live in Florence, Oregon, and they tell me if times ever get tough, to go up there and fish for Squawfish.

Squawfish, Sacramento River Pike(minnow), Hardmouth...

Any other names for these pesky fish?

[Jim Conlow Sr.]

I grew up in Redding and we used to catch them in the Sacto river. Everyone called rhem squaw fish at that time.

I think that it was determined that the word squaw is a derogatory term when applied to an Indian woman. I totally agree that it is derogatory if the person being called a squaw objects to it.

I figure if the squaw fish object to that terminology then we will have to stop calling them that

[fish_food]

I grew up in Redding and we used to catch them in the Sacto river. Everyone called rhem squaw fish at that time.

I think that it was determined that the word squaw is a derogatory term when applied to an Indian woman. I totally agree that it is derogatory if the person being called a squaw objects to it.

I figure if the squaw fish object to that terminology then we will have to stop calling them that

Other common names for species that were changed so as not to offend:

Digger pine - now gray pine or foothill pine
Jewfish - now goliath grouper

[SethB]

Sooooo Do I kill 'em or no. I've let some pigs go. I've let 2 well over 10# go and a few in the 5-8# range. Ive got a knack for for catching them suckers. If I should be killin' 'em I'm one who should know.

[jimmy87]

Kill them. much like a carp they are much more prolific than our game fish.
If you go up into the Eel river area you will see signs for those things wanted dead.
At lake Pilsbury as well. Posted all over the place. squaw fish wanted DEAD.
throw up on the bank and let the animals eat them.

Fishing the Eel river I udnersand why. You can catch 100 squaw fish to every trout.

[SethB]

I can understand the Eel. Pretty sure they are not native to the Eel but what about lakes like Shasta or Whiskeytown where they were there befor the dams were built?

[ash]

I thougth drum fish more more Round like a well a drum - It was actually the shape of a crappie but about five lbs and more round then long...

I cought one on Comanche while spooning on a bush, my non boater said it was a drum fish or is drum fish just a name you call a fish if you dont know its name?

[BassManDan]

You got a picture Ash?

Freshwater drum are more of a midwest, riverine kinda fish, I've never heard of them out here. If memory serve me correct, drum primarily feed on molluscs (clam and such)...

Hey, maybe they'll eat the quagga mussels! We can bring in one more exotic species and it will solve all our problems

[mac (Doyle McEwen)]

Drum are a completely different fish..They can be tasty if cooked when they are freshly caught..Not quite as boney as carp..

mac

[Jay Rowan]

Johnathan, I think that was a big gold fish you spooned up at Camanche...

Pike minnow are a native species in the Sac. drainage and evolved with the salmon and steelhead in this drainage. Besides being wanton waste there's no reason to bank or kill them in the Sac/SJR drainage. As was mentioned earlier they are excelent striper food. Other drainiages where they are not native may be a different story.

[justbassn916]

During the Summer of 05 pre fishing for an upcoming WON event at (Folsom) My partner and I were fishing around Dyke 8 when a 26" long something ate a Hula Grub. Curious as we where, we brought the fish back to the ramp. As we arrived DFG was inspecting live wells, checking species and size etc. We asked if he knew what type of fish it was, no clue. He e-mails a photo back to the office, they imediately call back and confiscate the fish. He took all our info and before we arrived home we received a phone call from the biologists stating it was a Sacramento Pike Minnow. A 26" minnow!!! Odd enough, we ended up catching another such fish two weeks later.

[Phil]

I grew up in Redding and we used to catch them in the Sacto river. Everyone called rhem squaw fish at that time.

I think that it was determined that the word squaw is a derogatory term when applied to an Indian woman. I totally agree that it is derogatory if the person being called a squaw objects to it.

I figure if the squaw fish object to that terminology then we will have to stop calling them that

I also grew up in Redding. So maybe you remember. I used to fish for them around Kutras Park with a fly rod on top water. Wow we would catch them in the 10 15 lb range, back in the 60's. Later we used to fish the Squawfish derby out of Red Bluff, after which they would have a actual Squawfish Fish fry Barbacue !! Remember that ??
Was tons of fun !!

(Keep the names alone........what about Squaw Creek arm at Shasta Lake, did they change that also ??? Also Mexican Gultch here at Don Pedro, they are talking about changing that......guess you best stop calling me an okie or redneck then, hurts my feelings, and I am the MINORITY NOW ANYWAY !!)

Phil

[BassManDan]

justbassn916,

Don't get too hung up on common names of stuff because they can be misleading.
A 26 in "minnow" is really not all that big, considering carp are in the minnow family, now lets talk about 70 lb "minnows". Pikeminnow, carp and other similar fish, which are either cyprinids, cyprinodontiformes or catostomids, are all "minnows/suckers" and related in some way.

Just for a few more misleading names "buffalo" "red horse", all of which are "minnows/suckers" in the taxinomic.

[justbassn916]

BassManDan,

No Problem, After talking with DFG, they mention they are also called Grass Carp and as a norm they generally do not get that big. It was an enjoyable fight none the less, the second of the two "Minnows" destroyed a Spinnerbait at the boat. For a moment, we thought it was a rather large spot. NOT...

[longshot]

We catch alot of "Pike Minnows" at lake sonoma. I usualy catch them in the fall while vertically jigging schools of baitfish But we also catch alot of them while catfishing the usual baits.
I have caught them going 10+ easily out there the first one that i caught i thought that i had a huge steelhead BOY was i disapointed netted it and everything.......... Talk about a fight on 6lb test and a gitzit though!!!!!
LS

[fishinfewl]

I'd be happy catching one of those right about now. Nice fish!

[BassManDan]

Justbassn916,

Grass carp are a totally different deal, (if that DFG biologist told you grass carp and pikeminnow are the same, they need to get their butts back in school!)

Grass carp are somewhat new to the west coast...triploid (genetically modified) grass carp have been stocked into lakes with vegetation problems, then when the modified fish are done eating the vegetation, the genetic modification does not allow them to reproduce, therefore causing the population to go extinct.

Just take some time on the internet and try and find out just how many species of fish we have in California that aren't suposed to be here.....and of course that includes our friend the bass (but I'm willing to make an exception!)

[Jim Conlow Sr.]

I grew up in Redding and we used to catch them in the Sacto river. Everyone called rhem squaw fish at that time.

I think that it was determined that the word squaw is a derogatory term when applied to an Indian woman. I totally agree that it is derogatory if the person being called a squaw objects to it.

I figure if the squaw fish object to that terminology then we will have to stop calling them that

I also grew up in Redding. So maybe you remember. I used to fish for them around Kutras Park with a fly rod on top water. Wow we would catch them in the 10 15 lb range, back in the 60's. Later we used to fish the Squawfish derby out of Red Bluff, after which they would have a actual Squawfish Fish fry Barbacue !! Remember that ??
Was tons of fun !!

(Keep the names alone........what about Squaw Creek arm at Shasta Lake, did they change that also ??? Also Mexican Gultch here at Don Pedro, they are talking about changing that......guess you best stop calling me an okie or redneck then, hurts my feelings, and I am the MINORITY NOW ANYWAY !!)

Phil

Yeah Jigs (Phil) When I wwas a kid there Kutras lake was warm water and we used to catch a lot of Blue gill as well as the Squaw fish. I was not going to make any comment about people saying that the Sacramento Pike could get as big as 5 lbs when we used to think that was a pretty common weight and that there were as you said quite a few in the 10 to 12 lb class and there were some up to 15 lbs. Of course on my part those weights were guesstimates.

At hat time kutras lake was our favorite skinny dipping swimming hole. I recently went to my 55th highschool reunion and there were a couple of ladies there who used to enter into the swimming fun at Kutras. Once the girls started joining us we sort of forgot about the fishing.

When I got out of the military in 55 the river had washed thru into Kutras and the water there was as cold as the river water an not for swimming any longer

My great Grand mother was half Irish and half Cheyenne and she always refered to herself as a Squaw and did so with pride. Based on that I have never considered it a derogatory term.

If indian ladies feel that it is derogatory then I dont think we should refer to them as Squaws, but I am not in favor of changing the names of geographic areas or the names of Creeks or fish.

There is a lot of this politically correct stuff stuff that I dont really understand. If I am born in America I am an American. California is Californian we add the "an" when we refer basically to any area where people are born. Black people quite often refer to themselves as African Americans, using the "an" in two places. So how does Mexican become a derogatory word?

Irish are Irishmen, English are English men Etc. So hows does Chinamen become derogatory??

I know I got off of fishing as a subject but sometimes I just cant help my self.

Jim

[King Canoe]

[Jboutfishn]

Five or six years ago I caught one that went 14lbs near the old bridge at the cut through in the Sugarloaf area of Shasta. Hit a jig in about 20 feet of water, thought I had Moby Bass until it quit fighting. Put it back.

[milehi]

Always called them squawfish

[WRB]

Always called them squawfish