and teeth.
This pup has some serious canines and chompers! Recall a while back someone looking for pictures of fish-mouths. Didn't get in with one of my "favorite" Musky shots...
[url "https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=593410160670000&set=a.593055784038771.1073741842.136959382981749&type=1&relevant_count=1&ref=nf"]DWR POST[/url]
[url "https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=593410160670000&set=a.593055784038771.1073741842.136959382981749&type=1&relevant_count=1&ref=nf"]
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Remember - buckets are for holding your backside while you ice-fish!
Paulpro caught one of those[
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What are those and where/when were they caught?
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We need a few of them in Cutler.
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[cool][#0000FF]Those are pacu...a fish of the Amazon basin in South America. It is a big cousin to the piranhas but lives on vegetation rather than flesh. It gets over 30 pounds and is great eating.
There have been a couple caught out of Utah Lake, after some dimbulbs dumped them from their aquariums. They will not survive a cold winter.
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There are places in Utah lake that get no colder than 55 degrees no matter the air temp...should they find there way there....look out
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Here's one from the Amazon basin.
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[quote ProfessorChaos]What are those and where/when were they caught?[/quote]
Here is a link to the post and video Paul made about catching this Pacu in the USA.
[url "http://www.bigfishtackle.com/cgi-bin/gforum/gforum.cgi?post=736098;search_string=pacu;#736098"]http://www.bigfishtackle.com/cgi-bin/gforum/gforum.cgi?post=736098;search_string=pacu;#736098[/url]
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I saw an old man with a pacu he caught at the state park like years and years ago. I'm sure glad they don't survive the cold. Watched an episode of River Monsters and somewhere in some foreign country in a tropical place, these things were introduced and then became carnivorous, biting off the native people's big worm while they took a dip in the water. That episode is chilling to watch for any guy LOL.
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[cool][#0000FF]I saw that program too...even though I can't stand Jeremy Wade. Must be nice to earn a living by fishing just because you can make so much drama out of catching ordinary fish. That segment was on a river in New Guinea. The transplanted pacu had turned carnivorous because their normal dietary preferences were not available.
Actually, those big flat beasts have turned up all over the country in various waters...into which they have been dumped by their former aquarium owners. They often outgrow the confines of a small tank and fish lovers cannot bring themselves to just kill and eat them. And they are then too big to flush down the toilet.
Lots of them in the warm waters of southern Florida. You can also fish for the peacock bass, giant Oscars and any of the host of other "exotics" that have found their way into the local waters down there. Bucket biology gone wild.
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There have been a couple caught out of Utah Lake, after some dimbulbs dumped them from their aquariums. They will not survive a cold winter.
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They might not (or might) in Utah Lake -- but they might at Blue Lake, which I think is where they recently found this one.
People need to be smarter than to be letting their "pets" loose in the wild. Even when it's tropical fish.
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To bad we cant find one of these fish species that only eats quaggas/zebra mussels then we would be in business[cool]
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[cool][#0000FF]Redear sunfish (shellcrackers) are reportedly a good form of reduction...if not control. They were put into Lake Havasu on the Colorado River and they really grow large on those bitty bites. Recently saw a state record over 5 pounds caught there.
Unfortunately, once they cover the bottom and all other surfaces it is a tough job to remove them.
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Just got done reading a couple articles about Redear's. I thought nothing ate those little buggers
GO SHELLCRACKERS!!![cool] EAT THEM ALL!!
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Redear sunfish are also great eating. My dad and grandpa used to call them chinquapin bream. Whatever you want to call them, they get big quick and taste like bluegill or perch. I would love to have them here to do a little damage control.
Man I can't imagine catching one that was over 5 pounds. Good grief! You just about need saltwater tackle to get one that big in the boat [
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[cool][#0000ff]Redears would probably do well in the warmer lakes of southern Utah...like Sand Hollow and Powell. But not likely to get planted by DWR.
I got to know and love those little beasts while living in Arizona. There were several lakes down there that had them. They grow big, hit hard, fight well and...as you point out...they're great eating. One of my favorite fishies.
Here is a pic of an "average" redear from one of my Arizona fishing holes.
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And this is a pic of the Havasu record redear.
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Why would the DWR not want these in lakes at risk or already have mussels? What I have read so far about them is they dont compete directly with other gamefish because they have a taste for Quaggas/zebra mussels or other shellfish (freshwater Clams).
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[cool][#0000FF]Not sayin' for sure that they would never be put into lakes with recognized mussel infestations. But there is much more to adding a new species than just dumping them in and seeing how it goes. The biologists need to do a lot of homework and review a lot of studies first. And then there is the matter of getting disease free eggs or fry from a certified source. That is getting more difficult all the time.
That is why our hard working DWR folks go ballistic whenever a new and non-approved species shows up in a new lake or stream. Once the deed has been done we either have to live with it and hope for the best...or suffer the damages done by the new species in a fragile environment. Worst case scenario is that the water may need to be treated to kill all species and then start over. With a lake the size of Powell that is not practical. Even Sand Hollow is a pretty big water and treating for a mistake would be costly.
My personal feeling is that redears might make a good addition to some of our lakes. They are nearly as prolific and aggressive as bluegills. Wherever they exist along with other sunfish species they do not outcompete. To the contrary, they usually have a diet different than many of the other sunnies and they live side by side as friendly neighbors.
My experience is that they are also more difficult to catch than bluegills. They do smack most baits and lures but you need to know your stuff...or get lucky...to catch them with regularity. If you do hook a good sized one they will kick your behind. Tough.
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[quote TubeDude][cool][#0000FF]they usually have a diet different than many of the other sunnies and they live side by side as friendly neighbors.
My experience is that they are also more difficult to catch than bluegills. They do smack most baits and lures but you need to know your stuff...or get lucky...to catch them with regularity. If you do hook a good sized one they will kick your behind. Tough.
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I attest to this as well. I fished the redear spawn a couple of years ago in Texas. Granted the bluegill will make beds in the same area as redear and a lot of hybrids do happen. We didn't catch as many as I thought we would which could have been because of the bluegills in the area. They do fight like you wouldn't believe. In my experience they seem to grow faster than a bluegill but I'm sure it is all about the food source. Some of my earliest fishing memories are catching redears in a family friend's farm pond. I swear some of them were round as a dinner plate. Most likely it is because everything looks huge to a five year old.
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So - from what I'm hearing Mantua would be a great experiment. Isolated from other water, has a healthy Panfish pop, very fertile, lots of weeds. Small enough if they HAD to kill a fail, - douable. Already had Bluegill, and the occasional sunfish crossing.
Personally - love to see it tried. They are close enough, fit the environment, fit the present species. Controllable. . . .
but I'd like to see whitebass and T-Musky in Cutler (now THAT pup connects a bit more.)