Cayuga fish I D

[bondouley]

yeah definitely not chrome enough to be a bow   looks like a small king to me

[143447]

Caught a bunch of smaller kings with the 16footer .. a small king I think too but no expert here. I don't get rainbow on this one?? Black mouth that back pattern looks king

[143447]

Cool hope they get big in there too love Cayuga!!

[BSmaster]

If it is a king there is no logical means (for me anyways) for that fish to have migrated there even though other species have.  I say this based on what I think I know about their life cycle and how they behave in that life cycle.  I would sooner assume that someone placed parr in the lake.  It is a fairly quick drive from several small tribs to the North and based on water temps in April and May, I think this would be the most reasonable.

 

Noted the fact that I am not very good at telling salmonids, I see a king then I look at it again and see a bow.  I would believe either.  It is a cool catch. 

[stinger]

Interesting thread. Thought I'd add my $.02.  I'm thinking it's a rainbow. Caught these rainbows in Cayuga Lake in different years. A lot of similarities even thought the angles don't prove anything. Other than the big difference in the color of the pectoral fins these fish are close. The lighting and angles in all  pics are different so features will come off differently. The intensity of color does vary from fish to fish also.

 

 

 

 It will be interesting to hear what DEC has to say.

[Sk8man]

Can't really tell by the dark pectorals I have some bows that appear almost clear to some that are quite dark on the bows. If we could have seen the anal fin extended to count the rays we'd have a much better idea

Edited July 29, 2015 by Sk8man

[Iron Duke]

1st pic zoomed in pic Rainbow caught the same day within a hour of the other "Fish"

2nd pic zoomed of fish in question.. black gums large teeth

Mike

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[blueghost1]

and very much like a king few spots below lateral line

[blueghost1]

mixed in a batch of stocked browns maybe?

[Iron Duke]

One other I might add and I'm not sure exactly how the hatchery are clipping now but no clipped fins either. .

Mike

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[Sk8man]

A couple of things of interest in Mikes pic above.....I zoomed in on the adipose fin of each fish and in the first one (definite bow) there are spots on the adipose fin yet on the questionable fish there are none in evidence. Secondly although not much of the anal fin is visible on the fish in question what does show in the pic looks darker than the rainbow taken from the same water (different strains or different species?)

Edited July 29, 2015 by Sk8man

[Iron Duke]

A couple of things of interest in Mikes pic above.....I zoomed in on the adipose fin of each fish and in the first one (definite bow) there are spots on the adipose fin yet on the questionable fish there are none in evidence. Secondly although not much of the anal fin is visible on the fish in question what does show in the pic looks darker than the rainbow taken from the same water (different strains or different species?)

Good look Les I honestly didn't even notice that...

Mike

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[Frogger]

Agree good point Les, the only other odd feature to give it a possible sickly fish or hybrids is the eye. Seems rather out of place for the chinook, they tend to be smaller not like the typical trout eye. The other feature you mentioned Les were the anal rays. Would of been interested in how many there were.

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[Iron Duke]

Well the verdict is in but I'm not sure the jury is 100% sure either.. Here are the emails we received back this morning. .

Mike

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Edited July 30, 2015 by Iron Duke

[ontherise]

Soooo,,,, what do I win??ðŸ˜.... If the prize is a swift kick in the a** then I'll pass...

[ifishy]

after many years as an aquarium hobbyist the black gums look more the result of some disease process either infection or even fungus.  the whole fish looks sligtly off as well.  the head is two big for body but that could just be the angle of the pic.  i think this fish is or at least recently was pretty sick or even wounded.  fish diseases can disfigure them to a point.  in the wild these fish dont often survive for long but in the aquarium world they do and I have seen far more dramatic changes to body shape and color pattern as a result.  if this fish is in recovery mode the next time it is caught it may be much easier to identify but still have black gums.  cool catch though nice to be able to make a lot of LOU regulars scratch there head and go maybe.

[Iron Duke]

After those responses I wrote a response asking if they were aware of any Chinook ever actually being caught or on record in the Finger Lakes before and they sent me this response which definitely tells me there are some at Dec that believe we may have caught something special possibly a once in a lifetime thing. .. I would love for someone to hook up with that fish down the road and because it was released there's always a chance just like there is a chance this fish was a Chinook. . Thanks for all the replies guys .. We have not come to a conclusion but we all sure had a whole lot of fun discussing this... here's Brad Hammers email back to me this afternoon

Mike,

This fish has definitely made for some interesting discussions. Both R7 and R8 staff initially came to the consensus that it was an odd looking rainbow trout. Some others have since observed the photos and think it may be a chinook. Unfortunately the picture angle and the inability to view all of the fins as well as the overall shape and coloration of the entire fish, definitely leave room for some subjective ID interpretation. Without having the actual fish in our hands we will never know for any certainty. We do know that chinook salmon have never been stocked into the Finger Lakes region and it is extremely unlikely that they were introduced inadvertently when stocking Atlantic salmon as these fish are raised at different facilities. It is also unlikely that this fish traversed the myriad of obstacles on the way from Lake Ontario to Cayuga Lake. I am unaware of reports of any “Pacific salmon†being caught in any of the Finger Lakes after the introduction of these salmon into Lake Ontario by either anglers or DEC staff during sampling. I am forwarding this message to R7 to see if they have ever had any such reports.

With that being said, I have learned to be very careful when saying the word “neverâ€. If in fact it was a chinook salmon, the most likely scenario is that it was stocked by an angler to see what could happen by stocking Pacific salmon into a Finger Lake. The source would likely be Lake Ontario. Illegal introductions of fish species, unfortunately with all of the negative publicity, still occur.

So, the bottom line is we may never know. Both you and Matt had the best look at the fish and would therefore have the best chance at determining what it was. Maybe if someone out there is lucky enough to catch it again, we could potentially solve the mystery.

If you have any other questions or concerns, please let me know!

Hope you continue to have some great fishing out on the Finger Lakes!

Brad

Brad Hammers

Aquatic Biologist, Division of Fish, Wildlife, and Marine Resources

New York State Department of Environmental Conservation

6274 East Avon-Lima Rd, Avon, NY 14144

P: 585-226-5344 | F: 585-226-6323 | [email protected]

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[Sk8man]

I've had contact with Brad both by email and talked with him in person in the past as well as recently and he is a very knowledgeable guy. It looks as though at present at least we may still have a puzzle with some missing pieces.....pretty cool topic that generated a lot of interest and fun debating about it anyway. Maybe the future will hold a clearer answer and supply the missing pieces of the puzzle.  Thanks for the fun Mike.

Edited July 31, 2015 by Sk8man

[Reelfanatic]

Pretty damn cool, thats what it is! Nice catch!

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[alex1young]

Cool that you sparked a convo and confused some biologists.

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