What is this Okanagan Lake fish?

[FourOhs]

I've been googling and my best guess is Lake Whitefish.

https://www.dropbox.com/s/tevhc7cnk4xj25v/What%20is%20this%20fish_OkanaganLake_2015-06-25.png?dl=0

I caught it yesterday afternoon fly-casting a sinking tip line and a dry fly from a dock about halfway between Fintry and the north end of the lake. I wasn't sure what it was and I released it (I was practicing casting technique, as opposed to trying to catch my dinner.)

I'd say it was about 13" long, maybe 3/4 lb. (I'm not a great judge of fish weight.) I realize the mouth is obscured by the water, but I didn't want to haul out just to take a "What is this?" picture. The mouth was small-ish, I'd have said trout-shaped, but then I wasn't concerned with mentally recording a lot of detail at the time.

[Eastbranch]

Northern pikeminnow

[hare_assassin]

Northern pikeminnow

It certainly does look very "pike-ish".

[604redneck]

Northern pikeminnow

U got it. I got one out of kal lake that was all of 5 pounds and didnt know they got that big. I do know they prey on salmon in rivers

[FourOhs]

For real? OK, now I see it:

http://www.fishingwithrod.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2012/06/120624-07.jpg

And man, I wish we had a program like Washington, Oregon and Idaho have:

http://www.pikeminnow.org/


New Tier Reward System!
1 – 25 pays $5 per fish!
26 – 200 pays $6 per fish!
201 – up pays $8 per fish!
Tagged fish worth $500

[FourOhs]

I do know they prey on salmon in riversNot just rivers. They're apparently voracious eaters of trout and kokanee eggs. Makes me regret letting it go.

[goatdancer]

And man, I wish we had a program like Washington, Oregon and Idaho have:

http://www.pikeminnow.org/

Talked to a guy fishing for them below a dam on the Washington/Oregon border. He was making more than pocket change. Lots of other guys fishing the same area for the same reason. The Americans know how to deal with garbage fish and help the sport fish survive better.

[Edzzed]

I got one in Adams lake last year and fed it to the dogs

[ruger#1]

Lots in the Fraser. Used to be called Squaw fish.

[mcmullmar]

Not a bad fish to smoked, lots of bones though

[wideopenthrottle]

http://frankiemakes.blogspot.ca/2012/09/considered-trash-fish-northern.html

I had a story with this link but timed out and lost it...grrr...

[REMINGTON JIM]

YUP northern PIKE MINNOW or commonly known as a Squaw Fish - LOTS of lakes rivers etc in BC have them ! RJ

[russm]

Squaw fish, you can catch them on basically anything, caught some pretty big ones in the fraser when I was a kid,on Father's Day they had a derby for them in cultus lake apparently it was canceled this year though....

[Sofa King]

yup, a friggin squawfish.
that west side of okanagan lake is over-run with them, especially around dock systems.

[Muliechaser]

U got it. I got one out of kal lake that was all of 5 pounds and didnt know they got that big. I do know they prey on salmon in rivers

Very aggresive fish . Biggest so far ive seen is 19 lbs and they get bigger . Plumping up on all the small bait fish .

Mc

[Sofa King]

Very aggresive fish . Biggest so far ive seen is 19 lbs and they get bigger . Plumping up on all the small bait fish .

Mc

never really thought of salmon fry as baitfish, but I suppose they are while they are just wee.
these dirty fish are voracious and multiple worse than rabbits.
only a couple years ago, I never, ever got one on my line in shuswap, now, I can't keep them off.

[Glenny]

They get way bigger than that in Quesnel lake.

[Glenny]

Are they really that bad eating? How bout smoking them?

[boxhitch]

very edible , just have to get by all the bones.
Maybe the new name will grow some appeal.

[adamgarbett]

Kill me and feed them to the Eagles and Ospreys

[Rhyno]

Kill me and feed them to the Eagles and Ospreys

So after we kill you we are suppose to feed the squaw fish to the Eagles?:grin:

[FourOhs]

Very aggresive fish . Biggest so far ive seen is 19 lbs and they get bigger . Plumping up on all the small bait fish .

McNot to suggest that you haven't seen 19 lbs, but if you have you need to submit it. The current registered world record should be (relatively) easy to beat.


"The current world record weight for the pikeminnow, 13½ pounds, is held by Christopher Borger and Michael Ray of Edmonton, Alberta."

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Northern_pikeminnow

On the other hand, this site lists the "max. published weight" at 13.0 kg, which is closer to 28-29 lbs. As carnivores that live up to 15 years I wouldn't be surprised to see them bigger than 13 1/2 lbs.

http://www.fishbase.org/summary/Ptychocheilus-oregonensis.html

[ACE]

Pike ...... a fresh water Barracuda.

[Glenny]

[QUOTE=Rhyno;1659691]So after we kill you we are suppose to feed the squaw fish to the Eagles?:grin:[/QU

haha hha that was one of those coffee squirting out the nose onto the computor moments. Too funny. No offense bucks n trucks.

[knockturnal]

I believe the world record was caught in Shuswap lake and is around that 28-29 lb mark.