what is this fish?

GSFx??
Any way to get a pic of bottom fins? Looks mostly GSF..

Looks like GSF to me Zep.

They taste pretty good, though that is a pretty small one. Been filleting a bunch of them around 9" long. Wife has been canning some along with the BG/GSF hybrids and RES/GSF hybrids. Kind of like canned tuna fish only milder.

They love fish food and grow fast on it. At least mine do. I been culling and filleting them to make more room for my BG. The ones I catch around the feeder always have their bellies packed full of pellets.

Interestingly we noticed when cleaning them they have smaller scales and a more tender skin than a BG. Easier when striping the fillet off the skin to tear the GSF skin. A little finer texture meat than a BG. I love the hybrids though. They eat pellets like hogs, get big, produce lots of meat and if nothing else is biting the GSF and hybrids will nearly always oblige. When I start fishing for BG I nearly always catch a few GSF and GSF hybrids first. Then when I get a few of them cleared out of the way the BG start getting a chance at the bait.

Thanks Guys....wife caught it and threw it back in....I guessed golden shiner...but knew that probably wasn't right.

Next one she catches that size or smaller, if you have big bass in the pond, clip its fins off so it can't swim too good (scissors work good), put it on the end of a hook with bobber, and catch a big bass.

We caught two bass, a 3# LMB and about a 1.5# SMB, both at the same time fishing with big hunks of cut sunfish bait while fishing the bottom for CC (no bobber). When we clean fish we throw some of the cleanings back in the pond for the CC. I guess the bass must have gotten used to eating the fish off the bottom. Surprised the heck out of us when we pulled in the line with bass on the end.

Will do snrub....sounds like a good idea....wouldn't mind catching a big old catfish that way too.

ZEP, I hope you don't mind me asking about a fish I would like to ID in my pond since you brought up fish ID. Problem is I don't have a picture but just a sighting. Yesterday while at the pier I saw a big (to me ) panfish swimming around. This panfish was 3 to 4 fingers wide across the back. Or lets say 3 to 4" thick and would guess it to have been 12 to 13" long. The tail was tipped red in color. Many of my CNBG are white tipped at the tail and this one was red tipped around the tail fin. Any guess what this fish is? Pond was stocked with CNBG and RES.

Tracy could it be a tilapia that didn’t die?

Tracy, like you. No idea.

Pat, I thought the same thing. Tp was the only thing/fish that I could think of that has that look, the red tipped tail. Tp have been added to the pond on two occasions last year. I guess it is possible the Tp survived this past mild winter. Ponds are a learning experience each and every day.

My wife has been studying and thinks this fish she caught was a "Rock Bass".

She asked me if I ever stocked Rock Bass and I haven't, but no telling what the previous property owner put in pond.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rock_bass

Yes it is quite possible that a tilapia found a thermal refuge and survived winter at your location.

Rock Bass, Ambloplites rupestris


Physical Description:
Compressed, stocky body
Large, terminal mouth
Dark-edged anal fin
Large cheek scales
Rounded pectoral fin
Almost straight-edged tail fin
Red eye
Olive-brown peppering on body
5 anal fins

Similar species:
Roanoke bass (Ambloplites cavifrons)
Ozark bass (Ambloplites constellatus)

Mean body size:
Adults are 110-200 mm standard length

Habitat:
Clear, moderate-gradient, cool to warm streams and rivers, usually around cover
Avoid areas of heavy to moderate siltation and turbidity


Food Habits:
Young eat microcrustaceans, insects, and other invertebrates
Juveniles and adults eat crayfish, fish, insects, and other invertebrates

Reproductive Habits:
Mature in 3 years
Spawning occurs April to early June in water that is 15.6-26�C
Males fan out circular nests in shallows on coarse sand to gravel and defend the nest
Fecundity is 2,000-11,000 eggs per female

Eric, second sighting and yes it is a nice sized Tp. I am betting two lbs +-. Threw me for a loop when I saw this fish because I did not expect it to be a Tp. It would be nice if another or second one female also survived. He is hanging around one of the feeders.

Way to go Pat, good call

Can I get some help on this little fella?

Looks like a mosquito fish, or Gambusia.

Looks like a Gam to me also.

Mine have survived surprisingly well in my SMB/RES pond and have lots of fun playing tag with my fingerling SMB. I don't think the gams get to be "it" very often though.

Hum I have no clue where those came from. Iv never stocked those in my pond before.glad to have them anyway. Thanks for the replys.

Female gam .... is there more than one? And smaller ones? I love those little things

Theres lots them around the edges of the pond.

Look in about any ditch or concrete culvert that is within a mile of a creek or any place that holds water most of the year and I bet you will find them. At least that is the way it is in my neck of the woods. Find them in places you just scratch your head and wonder how they survive or establish there.

Mother nature works in strange ways sometimes.

I got them in my RES/SMB pond right away. Never stocked any but I am almost positive I carried them in on some water primrose I transferred from my sediment pond. Either eggs or some tiny fish I suspect were caught up in the water primrose. Other than that, I have no idea how they got there because they were there in the first year.

The picture you posted in the OP definitely isn't a Rock Bass. From that view, it looks like a green sunfish to me. They seem to have a knack for finding their way into about any body of water.