I caught a crappie the other day in Montana and it had red dots on both sides of the gills. What kind of crappie was it? Just trying to find out
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I caught a crappie the other day in Montana and it had red dots on both sides of the gills. What kind of crappie was it? Just trying to find out
Is this what you caught?Quote:
Originally Posted by lovetofishMT
http://www.suttlefish.com/redear.htm
if that was the fish you caught love to fish the It wasn't a crappie, but a red-ear--a.k.a. shellcracker.
sounds like a shellcracker to me too.
But why would those be in a lake in higher elevations in mT?
The shellcracker, to the best of my knowledge is a warm-climate fish. I've never heard of any living in anywhere with a mentionable winter, let alone montana
for various reasons unknown to man some way fish have a way to populate lakes. how do trout get into landlocked lakes? same way the shell cracker did.
The winter gets prety cool here in Kentucky. Shellcrackers are in just about every water that I know of in Western Kentucky.
Montana has NO ESTABLISHED RECORD for Redear Sunfish !!!Quote:
Originally Posted by lovetofishMT
http://landbigfish.com/staterecords/...ords.cfm?ID=32
Did the fish look like this : (pic of Redear Sunfish)
http://www.iowadnr.com/fish/iafish/images/rder.gif
If, in fact, your fish was a Redear Sunfish (aka Shellcracker) ... it's well outside of its normal distribution range. It was possibly transported or transplanted. Check the "distribution charts" on this site :
http://www.natureserve.org/explorer/...IS+MICROLOPHUS
If it does verify as a Redear Sunfish ..... you may have caught a "state record", if MT recognizes it as a viable species for such a record. Although, as far out of its normal range, as it is, it may well be catagorized as an "exotic" ... and, as such, may not be considered. In either case, and especially if you still have the fish, your F&W/DNR people may still be interested in it. ... cp :cool:
ok....umm since we're all talking about redear...has anyone ever had the problem of these fish pooping on you when you take the hook out....because....they always do that to me..and its only the redear that do it....i was just wondering if this is common