Thread: Crab Orchard 12/18/09, Wow!

Wow!!!
Yesterday was great at Crab. Even though Pop sat in the truck for the first hour or so, he still ended up in the boat and having fun.
Caught around 50, kept 9. The keepers were 11 1/2", two at just over 10" and the rest just over 9", anything less than 9", I've been turning loose. Anything less than 9", once you fillet it and fry it, it sort of resembles a big potato chip, just too small;-) but that's just me.
Orange head, black body and a chartruese tail seemed irresistable to them and almost all of them were down around 14 feet.
Water was smooth as glass but very cold, the water temp on the boat read just under 38 degrees, could that be right?

Thats what temp I have been finding at rend.

Ill bet that close. These nights are cold....and we arent heating up much in the daytime. Good job and thanks for releasing the smaller fish. That lake will always be fine as long as those smaller fish are released.

I'm a strong believer in letting the smaller fish go for future fun and meals.
As long as we let the smaller fish go, maybe Crab will never have a limit on crappie due to abundance.
By the way, caught a weird looking bass type fish, might have been a rock bass? It was like a bass but looked like a bass/ blue gill hybrid and was very dark in color. Dark green and brown, really dark, I've never seen a fish like this before. It was only about 8" and I figured it would get bigger so I let it go.
I really need to get a camera someday.

Floater....it was probably a green sunfish. Did it look something like this?

No, not that pretty. That's a real pretty fish.
The one I caught was very dark with a stocky body, more bug-eyed and more dark brown and green. If mine were on the bottom, it would blend in very easily.
It had the same basic bass head shape, without the nice colors that yours has.
I found a camera to use. If I catch another one of those things, I'll be sure to get a picture.

Floater- It sounds like a rock bass from your description. I tried to attach a picture from a book, but file size is to big and site won't let me post it. If you want to see it, pm me your e-mail address and i'll send to you.

Floater- Played with picture size. Disregard other post.

I got familiar with rock bass in wisconsin as a kid....they have a general bass look...kinda. But they also have red eyes. Did yours have red eyes floater? I have personally never caught a true rock bass at crab orchard. However....i did some digging and found the DNR creel survey for Crab in 2006 and indeed they were sampled in the lake. They are under the title "warmouth" which is also a term for rock bass. Here is another rock bass pic...notice the distinct red eyes.

No, this one had black or very dark bug-eyes.
I found a picture online that is very close to what I saw and it was a rock bass. The article said they have chameleon abilities to help blend into their environment which would explain why the one I caught was so dark. It was a fairly dark day and it was on the bottom at 15'.
Thanks everyone for helping me identify this fish, I had never seen one before.
Floater