I was prefishing for a tournament last thursday in a shallow bay filled with weeds, drifting along just throwing a senko around since it was so hot out.  I looked down into the water and saw something orange, and then realized that it was a tail.  So i reached down with my net and scooped it up.  When i dumped the contents of the net onto the top of my boat i realized I grabbed a goldfish that was almost 16 inches long and had to wiegh almost two pounds.  Just goes to show you whenever you fish a big river system you'll never guess some of the things you'll see lol

thats pretty big for a gold fish.

do you have a pic? maybe i should put some in my pond...

I bet it was a koi. they look like GF and grow fast. I bought on at Wallmart a few years ago for $3.00 it was 3 inches long. I had it in a 20gal tank and it grew to over 18inches long and over 3 pounds.before it died.  I bet the one you saw got to big for someones tank and they put it in the river

Koi do usually grow faster and larger then goldfish, but I have scene both of them swimming around some small ponds in Va.

Yeah, there are a lot of goldfish/koi in the Potomac river.  Almost every other time I go I see a goldfish.  I have also seen a fish hawk swoop down and grab one. It was cool.

I've seen pics of them on other local sites. Guess they're not that uncommon.

People use goldfish for bait for blue catfish.  Blue cats prefer live bait.  Several baitshops around here sell goldfish for bait - the kind with the long waivy tail  People dump them in the water then they are done with them.  Just about all the Chesapeake Bay tributaries have populations of goldfish.

Yeah i'm positive it was a goldfish.  I have a goldfish pond in my backyard with a couple different kinds along with some bluegill.  Tip: never put rockbass in a goldfish pond those things are vicious lol.  

The goldfish I caught on the potomac was one of the feeder fish you can buy at pet stores for 5 or 10 cents.  I'll put a pic up this weekend

Heres the picture I promised

if anyone even remembers this topic lol

That looks like a comet, a really big one..... (A comet is a feeder goldfish usually 1 or 2 inches in length)  I had them in my tank, 100 gallon, they lived for ever and grew to around 9 or 10 inches or so.

I think it is most definitly a giganic goldfish / comet.

Hey Brett,

Where on the Potomac were you fishing?

It wasa little bay to the left of mattawoman creek near DC.  I fished the creek for the few days after that lol

Ok, that explains why a musky out in our neck of the woods didn't get it! LOL!

lol i know, I hooked a HUGE musky on the upper north branch earlier this year.  I woulda got it in but a boater ran almost right over it and it dove into a tree  :'(.  Oh well that happens, but that goldfish was a surprise lol

Last year when I was at smallwood park doing some shorefishing with some buddies we saw quite a few large goldfish.  Pretty cool site.  I would have loved to catch one of em that big.  Good job Brett.

lol I'm sure you coulda done it if you had a boat too.  You just have to be shifty and net em real quick.  I didnt know it was a goldfish at first though all I saw was a tail

Dang, that stinks about the musky! Did you at least get to see it? I've been lucky when it comes to them and interference from boaters! When I loose them on the river, it's normally my own dumb luck that causes them to get away! LOL  I do luck into one occassionally though.

Yeah I got a great look at it, it turned on its side for me 30 secs after I set the hook.  It musta been 3 1/2 to 4 foot long!  My friend that goes fishing with me just to get out of the dorm saw it and said it was the biggest fish he's ever seen.  I was using a tube jig for smallies however and I only had a small spinning rod with 8 lb test fluorocarbon, that didnt exactly help my situation any lol