Field Fishing

[iturnrocks]

I caught some interesting fish today while netting aquatic invertebrates in a flooded field. A few weeks ago the Missouri River overflowed and many of the fields are dry now, but there are a couple areas that still have water. These fish were caught in a pool about 30 feet long by 20 feet wide with a max depth of about 1.5 feet. I collected them by dragging a net (3/32" mesh) as I walked through the water.
As I was trying to take pics, I was constantly being bitten by flies and mosquitos, so I may have shaken the camera a little. I will try to get some clearer pics later.

I know this is sturgeon of some kind. I believe the only choices we have in Kansas are Shovelnose, Lake, and Pallid Sturgeon. This fish is about 1.5-2 inches long.

This next fish I believe is a longnose gar. It is about 1.25 inches long.

 

[bugmankeith]

The 1st looks like a tiny paddlefish, but it could be one of the others you said.

Thats amazing they were caught in a field, is there any large body of water that wont dry out for you to release them in?

 

[P. Novak]

Awesome looking fish. The first one looks like it's from outerspace lol.

 

[beetleman]

:clap: wow very cool fish. yeah, the first 1 kinda looks like a paddle fish. hmm very interesting.

 

[iturnrocks]

The first 4 pics are the same fish. I thought paddlefish at first too, but Im pretty sure paddlefish nose spoons out at the end.

 

[bugmankeith]

It's pretty hard to tell because thats obviously a very young fish, both are very young fish I dont think large fish could survive in pools that small.

 

[Galapoheros]

Man that first fish is awesome! I seine in the same conditions you did. But it's the Navasota River flood plain. I don't know about that gar. I catch longnose babies. The "nose" looks a little short for a longnose from looking at the pics, hmm, hard to tell. Small longnose I catch are a lot more colorful too. You think it might be a baby Alligator gar? There's a Shortnose too but I don't know all the fish ranges. I really like that first fish. Baby gar kind of cool but not a whole lot I could keep with them and they tend to just sit still near the surface. So unless I was feeding them, there wasn't much to see.

 

[iturnrocks]

You think it might be a baby Alligator gar?

Shortnose and Longnose gar have been caught in this area before. I suppose it could go either way. I personally have only caught longnose so I assumed thats what it was. Alligator gar would be quite a record for kansas city.

As for the other fish, Im open to the possibility of Paddlefish. I know young fish may look different from the adults. I will have to get a better side view and see if it has the whiskers of sturgeon or the giant mouth of paddlefish.

 

[iturnrocks]

Definitely Paddlefish- They all died pretty quickly- when I preserved them in alcohol, their mouths opened and it was quite obviously paddlefish. I also believe it is a shortnose gar, and heres another baby fish I scooped- a goldeye.

 

[JLDomestics]

Very cool! I been catching plenty of goldeye on a fishing rod in Alberta here.

 

[bugmankeith]

Definitely Paddlefish

Yay 1 point for me! lol I surprised myself getting it right.

Too bad they died though I would have moved them to a permanent body of water where the adult fish live.

 

[iturnrocks]

There is a large body of water from whence they originated- the missouri river, but there is no way to access it nearby without a long walk through the mud

Many more will die- most will be eaten by birds.

There are 2 larger pools nearby- large enough to hold water for the rest of the year maybe, if we keep getting rain. I will be curious to see how big they get. Also, that momma fish has to be around here somewhere. Of course there are a lot of people who fish these pools, but the numbers seem to be dwindling. I guess they think they caught all the fish already. But then Im sure they arent expecting to see a paddlefish.