ID Requested

[SkunkedAgain]

Hey I got this in my cast net, I’ve never seen this kind before can you help me identify it?  Thanks Jeff 

[TubeDude]

Hey I got this in my cast net, I’ve never seen this kind before can you help me identify it?  Thanks Jeff 

Spot tailed shiner.  There is a fair population of them in Willard.  Where did you get it?

[SkunkedAgain]

Thanks Pat,
I got that one out of Cutler along with two carp and a hand full of crappie or gills that I quickly released... I didn't know if it was a bait fish or not so I let it go as well and kept the carp to fish with... Those fresh dead carp are much better bait than my year old frozen one's... So just to be clear spot tail shiners are okay to use for bait, correct? This is the first time I've ever seen these shiners in Cutler, that I know of... Wonder if they are new? or just that I've never caught one before? Glad to see there is more bait fish than just fatheads and carp minnows... Later J
PS... I did end up catching three or four of those spot tails but no more carp... still tough cast netting but the carp size is perfect..

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Google says they planted them in Oneida in the late 80's, but also references they were already present in the lower Bear River... So that's kind of interesting... Sounds like they should be a good food source for predator type fish... Wonder if I'll find more in my fall cast netting or if I just happened to hit the morning when a school went through.. Later J

[TubeDude]

Back in the 1970s and 80s DWR tried introducing a variety of potential forage species in Willard...and in a few other spots.  Some survived.  Most did not.  Some, like the spottail shiner, established small reproducing populations but were never plentiful enough to support a major predator base...like wipers.  So the gizzard shad were introduced and the rest is history.  But there are still small numbers of the spottails...and some log perch.


Here's a pic of some spottails I caught and tried for bait on Willard.  (They are legal)  Got one hit on them...no fish.  But went back to my left handed blue eyed chubs and got lots of action on the same day in the same area.  Haven't used them since.

[Therapist]

Spottails have been stocked in Utah Lake, Yuba, Willard, and several other places. A great forage fish, but for some reason they don't thrive in Utah waters for some reason. In Utah Lake, there is a farmer with a ditch that connects to Utah Lake that he reported had a Huge population of Spottails, but they never took in the main lake. Same with Fathead minnows, small enclaves around the lake, but no widespread distribution !! Very !!

The Log perch is a new one for me TD! Any where else they were planted??

[TubeDude]

Spottails have been stocked in Utah Lake, Yuba, Willard, and several other places.  A great forage fish,  but for some reason they don't thrive in Utah waters for some reason.  In Utah Lake,  there is a farmer with a ditch that connects to Utah Lake that he reported had a Huge population of Spottails, but they never took in the main lake.  Same with Fathead minnows,  small enclaves around the lake, but no widespread  distribution !! Very !! 

The Log perch is a new one for me TD!  Any where else they were planted??

Not that I know of.  I had never heard of them until Chris Penne (DWR) identified one posted by another angler from Willard.  I have since seen a couple myself.  Weird looking little guys. 



I can contact Chris and ask if he knows of any other log perch plantings in Utah.

EDIT:  Got this back pretty quickly from Chris.  Thanks again, Chris.

I'm not aware of any other waters in Utah besides Willard that have logperch.  To my knowledge, they are only in Willard Bay.  We haven't done much sampling of small fish in the Bear River, but I wouldn't be surprised if there are a few pockets of them in the Lower Bear as a result of fish that have escaped Willard Bay during high water.  



Chris
 

[SkunkedAgain]

Interesting on when and how the different forage species do well. Sounds like in the midwest that spot tails are one of their go to favorites when they can get them... Guess we must not have good habitat that keeps them going strong out our way... I am glad to see a few show up, now I at least know what I'm looking at... Thanks for the help identifying them... J