Been catching a lot of these guys and have no idea what they are lol. Any ideas?

I'm a little rusty on my California fishes, but...

http://www.roughfish.com/sacramento-pikeminnow

maybe?

The Kings and Kern rivers have a population of Sqaw fish.

Tom

Sweet that has been bugging me thank you

And they are being caught on the kings river so your dead on i believe

hahaha...a 30 inch minnow....now that's wild!  When someone askes...what ya catchin...say...just minnows.

Lol me and buddy were fishing for cats with liver and were catching these guys in the 3 lb range left and right. We didnt mind they put up one hell of a fight. Its not my most prized catch though haha.

Most were used as cut bait anyway lmao

Looks like giant dace minnow

I was fly fishing the Kern decades ago above Kernville, where the river enters lake Isabella and hooked into this 36" fish and thought it was a brown trout....it was a Sqaw fish, that is how I know what it was, because looked it up, never seen or heard about these giant minnows until then.

Tom

They eat the crankbait really good in the delta.  Caught one prefishing this summer and it had to weigh close to 5lbs.  They are pretty fiesty little minnows....but it's a Squawfish.

Thanks for the help i tried finding what it was but couldnt. But it seems like the part of the river im fishing they are dominating everything. They are the biggest fish that gets pulled out of there besides planters. It seems like there population needs to go down so other fish can grow. The cats are all small and i havent ever even seen a bass or bluegill there. 

21 hours ago, CaliBassRipper said:

Lol me and buddy were fishing for cats with liver and were catching these guys in the 3 lb range left and right. We didnt mind they put up one hell of a fight. Its not my most prized catch though haha.

Most were used as cut bait anyway lmao

Not the wisest choice to turn an unknown fish into cut bait. If you happen to get approached by a game warden while hacking up a protected species you'll be heading to the slammer regardless of if you knew or not... 

CaliBassRipper, I was kinda surprised seeing you lipping that Squawfish. I've caught them and they had 1/4" needle like teeth just like a pike.  Stands to reason that's how they got the name.  The Colorado Pikeminnow (Squawfish) inhabited the rivers of the Western United States and can grow up to 6 feet in length and weigh up to 80-100lbs.

Up on the Columbia and Snake rivers, Washington and Oregon have instituted a bounty program on Pikeminnow to their preditation of juvenile salmon smolts as they migrate to the ocean.  It's a sliding pay scale starting at 1-25 Pikeminnows pays $5 a fish topping out at 201+ paying $8 a fish.  Watched fishing show where two state biologists said one fisherman made almost $100K through the program.

20 hours ago, bassinhole said:

Not the wisest choice to turn an unknown fish into cut bait. If you happen to get approached by a gaame warden while hacking up a protected species you'll be heading to the slammer regardless of if you knew or not... 

I usually talk to the game wardens around the area and knew there wasnt anything protected in this area.

17 hours ago, J._Bricker said:

CaliBassRipper, I was kinda surprised seeing you lipping that Squawfish. I've caught them and they had 1/4" needle like teeth just like a pike.  Stands to reason that's how they got the name.  The Colorado Pikeminnow (Squawfish) inhabited the rivers of the Western United States and can grow up to 6 feet in length and weigh up to 80-100lbs.

Up on the Columbia and Snake rivers, Washington and Oregon have instituted a bounty program on Pikeminnow to their preditation of juvenile salmon smolts as they migrate to the ocean.  It's a sliding pay scale starting at 1-25 Pikeminnows pays $5 a fish topping out at 201+ paying $8 a fish.  Watched fishing show where two state biologists said one fisherman made almost $100K through the program.

These had no teeth at all. Or i wouldnt be lol. But i may need to see if that is going on here if so i could make a bunch of money. They are everywhere. 

7 minutes ago, CaliBassRipper said:

I usually talk to the game wardens around the area and knew there wasnt anything protected in this area.

 

Good call! I like knowing the local fish and game folks too. They often hang out around here in street cloths near the spillway hotpots when the water is running and the snook fishermen line the shores. I've seen more than a couple of anglers get a nasty surprise when they didn't measure their fish. 

13 minutes ago, bassinhole said:

 

Good call! I like knowing the local fish and game folks too. They often hang out around here in street cloths near the spillway hotpots when the water is running and the snook fishermen line the shores. I've seen more than a couple of anglers get a nasty surprise when they didn't measure their fish. 

Ya usually if you make yourself known they dont bother you. I have seen them go check everyone for licenses and bag limits and pass me with a have a good day fishing lol. Most of our guys are real cool and they sometimes will help you find some more "off the beaten path" spots.

Name that fish ~ 

OK  . . .I'll name it  Marvin.

A-Jay