<p>I fish a particular creek that, according to reliable sampling data, is full of black redhorse. More of them, in fact, than other more generally common species of redhorse. But despite all the time I've spent there, all the worms I've thrown and poison ivy I've endured, I have yet to connect with one.</p>
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<p>Like everyone else, I went fishing this weekend. When it's pushing 70 degrees on December 2nd, you don't really have a choice. Set up upstream of a bridge and got to work.</p>
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<p><a href="http://www.roughfish.com/~roughfis/sites/default/files/golden-12-2-closeup-eye-withbridge.jpg"><img alt="" src="http://www.roughfish.com/~roughfis/sites/default/files/golden-12-2-closeup-eye-withbridge.jpg" style="width: 600px; height: 560px;" /></a></p>
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<p>In 4 hourse I caught 26 fish: 13 rock bass (including one just a few ounces shy of the IL state record of 1 lb 10 oz) an assortment of largemouth and smallmouth bass, a few bluegills, two green sunfish, a yellow bullhead and one redhorse. All from one spot. It was pretty damned fun.</p>
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<p>I saw huge hogsuckers, big carp, some buffalo and some redhorses I couldn't identify at a distance. Some were probably shortheads.</p>
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<p>The redhorse had my heart pounding when it finally happened, as the rock bass didn't let many casts drift into the suckers' zone. It was a longer, thinner fish than the goldens I'm accustomed to seeing there, with more nose sticking out past its mouth, and a lower lip without the bulge in the center that I associate with goldens. Some grayish tint to the scales. Complete lack of color in the caudal fin. Hopes up. A quick count of dorsal rays had me thinking it could finally be the one I was hunting. Lateral line scales, however, don't back up that initial impression.</p>
<p>Depending how you count the first and last dorsal rays, I could see this fish having 15. There are goldens with that many, so that's not helping my case as much as I thought it would when I was standing there holding the fish. Robert Jenkins' dissertation gives the range as (10) 12-14 (15) for goldens and (11) 12-14 (15) for blacks.</p>
<p>I count 43 scales, which is at the high end of average for a golden [(37) 40-42 (45)] and below average for a black [(43) 44-47 (51)]. I didn't count them in the field.</p>
<p>I didn't count pelvic rays and didn't get a good shot of them, but I don't think it matters. Barring a miracle, this is another golden. Damn. Wonder what the temps are goind to be this weekend...</p>
<p><a href="http://www.roughfish.com/~roughfis/sites/default/files/dorsal-dec2-2012.png"><img alt="" src="http://www.roughfish.com/~roughfis/sites/default/files/dorsal-dec2-2012.png" style="width: 600px; height: 451px;" /></a></p>
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<p><a href="http://www.roughfish.com/~roughfis/sites/default/files/golden-12-2-in-net.jpg"><img alt="" src="http://www.roughfish.com/~roughfis/sites/default/files/golden-12-2-in-net.jpg" style="width: 600px; height: 203px;" /></a></p>
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<p><a href="http://www.roughfish.com/~roughfis/sites/default/files/golden-12-2-headandfronthalf.jpg"><img alt="" src="http://www.roughfish.com/~roughfis/sites/default/files/golden-12-2-headandfronthalf.jpg" style="width: 600px; height: 345px;" /></a></p>
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<p><a href="http://www.roughfish.com/~roughfis/sites/default/files/golden-12-2-lips.jpg"><img alt="" src="http://www.roughfish.com/~roughfis/sites/default/files/golden-12-2-lips.jpg" style="width: 600px; height: 686px;" /></a></p>
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<p><a href="http://www.roughfish.com/~roughfis/sites/default/files/golden-scales-2-angledwithfins.jpg"><img alt="" src="http://www.roughfish.com/~roughfis/sites/default/files/golden-scales-2-angledwithfins.jpg" style="width: 600px; height: 645px;" /></a></p>
Sick photos!
Congrats on catching one in December!
It was less obvious to me at the creek than later at home, where it became very obvious, but even once I could see what it was with total certainty, that hope kindled at the creek was hard to tamp down. And I should note that on my drive home my wife called and asked if I caught anything interesting, to which I replied that I'd caught a golden that if I was really lucky might turn out to be a black. Even at my moment of highest hope, I knew it was too good to be true.
Redhorse ID cheatsheets, gars, suckers: moxostoma.com
2020: 10 days fishing 11 species 0 lifers. 2019: 34/45/13 2018: 39/40/5
Trust me, I'm a guy who goes fishing in black redhorse water and catches small goldens while everyone I fish with scores a black. It's been many years, and I have seen a dozen or so black redhorse caught by my fishing buddies . Hell, I've netted the fish for them most times. Once you've seen enough of them though, it becomes as obvious as telling a greater from a river. Look for the skinny caudal peduncle and count those lateral line scales, and the pelvic fin is the only fin you need to look at.
What the hell am I talking about?! I'm just a dipshit giving redhorse ID tips to a guy who owns moxostoma.com...
Sweet! That first photo is great. I'm guessing you were fishing near a bridge hehe
Eli
It's the pelvic fins of black redhorses that usually have 10 rays. Sometimes one (or less often both) will have 9, and they go as low as 8 or as high as 11. The anal fins of both goldens and blacks have 7 rays (as do those of silvers, shortheads, rivers and greaters, according to Becker).
I'm just a dipshit who owns moxostoma.com. Owning a website doesn't keep me from being a complete and utter novice when it comes to actually catching the damn things. I'm very, very good at finding articles and books to read about them (see the previous paragraph), I like to draw and take pictures of them, and I can generally remember all their scientific names, but the actual fishing part needs some serious work. Which is good, because it's the sort of work I like.
Redhorse ID cheatsheets, gars, suckers: moxostoma.com
2020: 10 days fishing 11 species 0 lifers. 2019: 34/45/13 2018: 39/40/5
The gods do not subtract the alotted span in men's lives the hours spent in fishing.
Deadly pictures man!
The gods do not subtract the alotted span in men's lives the hours spent in fishing.
The first and last pictures are amazing! Seriously, what camera? It catches the true beauty!
I'll echo what others have said here .... Gorgeous photos man. The macros are amazing! How?!? There's only so much my pitiful iPhone camera can do and I'd live to learn how to expand my photography skills. What are you using for gear?
Wow, thanks.
It's a Nikon D60. Not a pro level dSLR, but a pretty decent one. I shot them in RAW file format so I could tune the overall color balance, white balance, exposure, etc. to match what I saw with my eyes.
I'm usually scared to take my good camera to the water, but I'm getting better about it. I'm also trying to save up the money for a real macro lens to get crazy with the close-ups.
I've been seeing a lot of iPhone attachments for macro lately. Don't know how good they are, but might be worth a shot. Certainly a lot cheaper than lenses for a camera that can't make phone calls.
Redhorse ID cheatsheets, gars, suckers: moxostoma.com
2020: 10 days fishing 11 species 0 lifers. 2019: 34/45/13 2018: 39/40/5