Thread: Ask the Biologist

craig know most out there caught more crappies than me some cleaned more than me don't like to use the word never but don't think I ever cleaned a crappie with a belly full of baby bass baby gills etc just wondering???

Originally Posted by springhillwantabe

craig know most out there caught more crappies than me some cleaned more than me don't like to use the word never but don't think I ever cleaned a crappie with a belly full of baby bass baby gills etc just wondering???

springhillwantabe,

I have seen small fish in crappie bellies before including small wiper. You may want to post this question in the Kansas 'off topic' section so more folks will read it. Might be interesting to see what is reported!

Craig,

This may be a silly question, but do we have Freshwater Drum in any Kansas waters? The reason I ask is that I was fishing Lake Afton today (far northwest finger, north side of bridge) and caught something I'd never seen before. Now, I've never caught a Wiper, White Bass, Striped Bass, etc. before, but I've seen pictures and even carry around the KDWP's fish gallery pics (laminated) in my kayak. I've caught plenty of Largemouth, but it didn't resemble anything in the bass family as far as I could tell.

Unfortunately, I didn't get a picture; couldn't get my phone out in time without keeping the fish out of water too long. The fish was about 15-16" long, was nearly all pale white/light gray with grayish fins. I didn't really see any stripes on him, even faint stripes. And I remember it had a strange looking mouth and lips, like nothing I'd seen before.

I found a picture online that looks pretty much identical to what I caught.

Originally Posted by yakpilot

Craig, This may be a silly question, but do we have Freshwater Drum in any Kansas waters?.....

yakpilot, Yes, freshwater drum are widespread across Kansas and are commonly caught by anglers. If your fish looked like the picture you provided then yes you caught a drum.

Wow! I had no idea, so thanks for the quick reply. Any guesses if FWDrum are legal to keep? Good eating? I haven't seen any reference to them on the KDWP fishing links of all the waters I fish (creel limits, etc. No mention of them.).

Originally Posted by yakpilot

Wow! I had no idea, so thanks for the quick reply. Any guesses if FWDrum are legal to keep? Good eating? I haven't seen any reference to them on the KDWP fishing links of all the waters I fish (creel limits, etc. No mention of them.).

yakpilot,

Yes, drum are legal for harvest in Kansas. There are no length or creel limits. Drum do have white meat that is good eating although many anglers consider the drum a 'trash fish'.

I know of a few anglers that target drum and will also prep them for the table.

Great, thank you, Craig!

Hi Craig,

I know this may show some "newb-ness", but I have to ask. Can you tell me what kind of fish this is? I have looked through the fish ID gallery on the KDWPT web site and can't find a match. Thanks in advance!

Eric