Fished Carneros yesterday and did pretty good. Between the four of us (Zach, Brian #2, Daniel and I) we had about 10 legal fish, and a mess of shorts. I met Zach there today, and we started working the same shoreline of tullies with senkos and roboworm worms and reepers in aaron's magic. Zach got a couple and I got one legal on the reeper. My waders have huge leaks in both feet, and after awhile the duct tape was beginning to cut off circulation to my right foot, so I got out of the water and took it off, and tried to put on some more, looser, but I ended up not having enough, and it leaked a bunch, so I fished from shore for awhile. After about half an hour I got two little bass on a little grub, then I hooked what I thought was a bigger bass. I got it to shore and it looked like a crappie. I'd never caught one before. I went to lip it, and it had TEETH. Do crappies have teeth??? I couldn't even lip it, they were so sharp. From the crappies I've seen, this one seemed to be slightly "blunter" or more bass shaped, and seemed to have a darker, pattern with larger black blotches. The mouth was fairly large, but not as large as a bass. Any ideas? I'm calling it a mutated Carneros crappie. There were a couple Mexican guys fishing next to me on the shore, who looked like they were straight out of the fields. They were obviously fishing for food for their families, as they were sitting on buckets, so I decided to give the mutant crappie to them. I figure if they want to kill something, it's better than a bass. I felt kind of guilty, because it was the first "crappie" I'd seen in Carneros, but I figure even if I'd let it go, there probably isn't enough of them to have a sustainable fishery. Plus, they're eating the bass fry!!! I felt justified knowing that those guys would go home with food though.
-Brian

Might it have been a Sacramento Perch? I know they have teeth occasionally large enough to be a pain. How big was it? and why no Pixs?

Tight lines,
Wade

Maybe it was an aku? Dean at Margarita had one in the fridge that someone had caught. Looked like a crappie kinda and had some big fangs. Any pictures? Sounds like the bass bite was hitting pretty good.

Didn't bring a camera (it's carneros for god's sake). It was about 10 inches long, sort of the shape between a crappie and a bass. Had the fins of a bass, more of a crappie like body shape. It didn't have noticable fangs like a sheephead or anything, but it had some sharp teeth, more like a calico, or one of those gnarly reef sand buggers we were catchin.
-Brian

Hey Swimbait,

I am pretty sure that you mean Pacu. It is a relative of the Pirhana(sp?) and is also a pretty common Tropical fish. These end up in our local lakes as they get to big for their aquariums. I live in Modesto and there is a little lake here that one was caught out of and they made a huge deal about it. This was 3 or 4 months ago and the lake is still completely fenced off.(we are talking about 8' hurricane fences.) They were concerned that it MAY be a Pirhana. The pacu has some big a$$ teeth but is primarily a vegetarian eating seeds and such. They also can grow to be over 30lbs. I have caught them in Florida and they fight like bulldogs. Anyway, just FYI..


Tight Lines,

Clay

Here fishy, fishy, fishy......

Clay

I was thinking Pacu also or at least some kind of aquarium fish that someone threw in there. I've been fishing there since 1981 and have never seen anything like what Brian described (in fact I've never caught a crappie there either).

Brian - how was the water clarity? I guess it's not that thick pea soup like stuff like it has been the past few years in the fall. Maybe the colder summer has stunted the algea bloom this year.

It's lookin the best it's looked all summer. Water level's way down, but it seems to be positioning the fish better. We've been getting lots of fish off the tullie bank between the bridge and the island channel opening, and a few off the wood in that cove by the bridge. Much different than last year.
-Brian

All the pictures I found of pacu's look nothing like the fish I caught. The pacu seemed to look very close to a pirhanna. The fish I caught looked almost exactly like a crappie, or had the body shape of a bass like creature. I'm becoming afraid of the unknown waters of Lake Los Carneros... Who knows what lurks in the depths...
-Brian

Brain:
Sounds like a Pacu. The guy at the baitshop at Margarita told me they are catching lots of them up there. Crappies do not have teeth, and are not scary looking.

I am glad you feed it to the locals. Through them on the banks for the raccoons! See you at Lopez.

Hey there Dave. I think you've got your Brian's mixed up (Kettler is Brian #2), but you'll see him at lopez... The mystery of the carneros monster continues.
-Brian

Nope, wasn't a Sacramento Perch. I finally was able to find some decent pix of some, and it was definitely not that fish. Much darker and thicker, like a bass.
-Brian