I missed the fact the OP was in CA. It is doubtful smelt sold there would be great lakes caught. They are a marine invasive in the great lakes and I think most of the smelt sold in this country are ocean caught. Therefore it could be a marine fish of some sort which leaves a lot more species it could be.
ID on mystery fish
- Thread starter Aw3s0m3
- Start date
its not a goby for sure. the head and mouth are totally different on the brown goby. here in lake ontario they are everywere.
It's not a goby, round gobies don't have a stripe down their backs and this one doesn't have any fins similar to a goby. Looks alot like a shiner or chub I know of I just forgot the name! I know it is for sure though.
are you kidding me? Shiner or chub? It looks absolutely nothing like minnows. Its a goby.
most smelt are caught while running up in streams and creeks at this time of year. I know for fact we worked with commercial fishermen, all they do is seining or scoop them out. Not gill netting.
I don`t know where you are talking about but the smelt population in the lakes surrounding Michigan has all crashed! I can`t even find anyone who goes anymore because it`s so pathetic! Has been for years. There is still a commercial fishery on the Canadian side with one company holding the largest quota and using five trawlers in addition to a small amount of free lancers.
Smelt populations in Great Lakes are doing well and several inland lakes in Minnesota always have commercial fishermen go after smelts in the creeks that runs in the lake. The creeks are thick of spawning smelts. It is not uncommon for them seining few incidental fish species in creeks.
