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Dickrep
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Posted: Sun Feb 3rd, 2008 02:55 am |
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OK, I hope to hear from some experts on this one. The water in the bay outside of Pilar was as flat as a lake this evening, and I observed quite a few fins of big fish about 50 yards offshore. I jumped in the kayak and spent 45 minutes casting 4 different types of lures (Rapala style, etc) to these fish and they were not the least bit interested.
1/the fish were perhaps 2-3 feet long..maybe a couple at 4 feet.. and had a normal looking tail...not too thin and not too thick. Perhaps closest to a dorado. The dorsal fin was a bit unique and the leading edge was round and thick..and perhaps 4-8 inches long, and most of the time it laid back on the top of the fish. You might have guessed these at small marlin if it were not for this unique dorsal fin. Unfortunately, I never saw a head or the full outline of the fish.
What kind of fish is this? (I have checked jacks, milkfish, trevally, and none of those fit. And clearly they were not yellowtail or corvina.)
2/I observed maybe 15-20 of these fish in a relatively small area, sometimes alone and some in groups of 3-4...and there was zero interest in my best looking lures. They moved around lethargically at fairly slow speeds and seemed to be going no where in particular. Why weren't they feeding? (my guess is that this was a spawning ritual similar to when salmon stop biting).
Dick
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Dickrep
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Posted: Sun Feb 3rd, 2008 02:08 pm |
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Let me add that a friend saw this same school of fish closer to Miramar a few days ago and had no success in hooking them either.
Also, I would like to clarify that the dorsal fin edge was straight (not curved) and sort of like a round cylinder of perhaps .75-1.5 inches in width. Nothing like I have ever seen before in my 30 years of San Carlos experience.
Dick
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No Sniveling
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Posted: Sun Feb 3rd, 2008 03:17 pm |
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Sounds silly to ask, but roosterfish? It's the only thing I know of with a dorsal with a really thick leading ray...Vince has seen bigger ones diving near Window Rock (I think that's where he said)
.
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Dickrep
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Posted: Sun Feb 3rd, 2008 03:45 pm |
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Craig, it may not be impossible, but if they were roosterfish their behavior was very strange. I agree that the front dorsal fin seems thicker on the rooster, but these fish never raised their fin to the point at which I could see the long stringy parts of a roosterfish fin...which would have been a sure identification point.
The tail on the rooster also looks a bit thinner than what I observed. Another person on a kayak saw one of these strange fish this morning...and I hope to get some pictures later today if I can find them again.
I would dearly love to idenify these as roosterfish, even if they are not currently interested in my lures!
Dick
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No Sniveling
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Posted: Sun Feb 3rd, 2008 04:40 pm |
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If you have 3'-4' roosterfish in your back yard, I coming for a visit!! Hope you can get a picture!!
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racer59
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Posted: Mon Feb 4th, 2008 12:16 am |
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| ok fishermans it roosterfish
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HOOKED UP
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Posted: Mon Feb 4th, 2008 02:28 am |
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| Sounds like the Kings- Roosterfish to me. They do not raise the dorsal fin like you described unless the are in a feeding frenzy and are running the bait or going up on shore. Sounds as tho they were fat, full and lazy. Probably saved you alot of $ in tackle tho! They can rip lines and lures like cottoncandy when they are active!
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Dickrep
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Posted: Mon Feb 4th, 2008 01:36 pm |
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Stay tuned until I can get a picture. Went out yesterday on the kayak but couldn't find them. I'm still not convinced because the behavior was so strange and this dorsal fin was wierd looking. For example, can you imagine seeing a roosterfish swimming around so slowly on the surface that only his dorsal fin was showing and not even moving as my rapala went by? And IF these are roosterfish, there were 2-3 grandaddies (front edge at least 1 inch cylinder) that would have busted any tackle...including my light spinning rod!
Dick
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Stuart
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Posted: Mon Feb 4th, 2008 03:53 pm |
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Dickrep wrote: For example, can you imagine seeing a roosterfish swimming around so slowly on the surface that only his dorsal fin was showing and not even moving as my rapala went by?
Dick
Maybe they're cold and heading south.
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racer59
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Posted: Tue Feb 5th, 2008 12:54 am |
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| I HAD 35 YEARS AS FISHERMAN IS ROOTERFISH ALWAYS GOING TO FIND ON SANDYS BOTTOM AND SHORE LINE LOOKING FOR BAIT FISH SARDINES THERE ARE 100 PS.
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FLYNHI
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Posted: Mon Feb 11th, 2008 02:55 pm |
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BY CHANCE ARE THESE TARPON ? I WOULD NOT THINK SO IVE NEVER SEEN TARPON IN SC BEFORE BUT I ALSO NEVER SEEN BONEFISH IN SC BEFORE EITHER BUT THERE IS.
TOM
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Dickrep
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Posted: Mon Feb 11th, 2008 09:08 pm |
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| Milkfish? The fish are in such cold water. I swear I snorkeled around a fish that looked like a 30# tarpon off the Cape in May. I've windsurfed over a few yellowtail on the surface in the bay. I've seen some 20+# jacks float in in the spring. As for now they'll ramain a mystery.
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FLYNHI
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Posted: Tue Feb 12th, 2008 01:49 pm |
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A FEW YEARS AGO WE WERE IN THE CAYNAN ISLANDS SNORKLING AND ABOUT 6 TO 10 TARPON CAME OUT OF NO WERE AND WERE SWIMMING ALL AROUND US THEY WERE ABOUT 4 TO 6 FT. LONG IT WAS AN EXPERIANCE ILL NEVER FORGET MY BUDDY WAS SCARED TO DEATH THEY SURE ARE BIG FISH.
TOM
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Vince Radice
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Posted: Thu Feb 14th, 2008 02:02 am |
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If you ever get some pics let me know and I will forward them to my buddy L.T. Findley, co-author of Reef of the Sea of Cortez. L.T. is sure to know.
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repsilon
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Posted: Thu Feb 14th, 2008 04:07 am |
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I just saw the pics. I looked through every MexFish photo of members of the jack family - none matched. On the left was a link to Gordo Banks Pangas and the bottom picture show a guy holding up the same fish. None of the MexFish photos showed this fish. It looks just like an Ulua - the Giant Trevalle (GTs). I have no explanation for them being there but I have seen two in recent years and one washed up this week. While I don't think they're pushing the 40# mark here, they're definitely coming close to 30#. I will be on the kayak tomorrow with the Yozuri crystal minnow for positive identifcation.
My father will have the pictures up by the afternoon. These things have fins! There is no mistaking that they are jacks (not Toros - jack crevalles). I am going to take a peek at what a permit looks like again. There were several groups of them today right off Pilar. Why they are spawning here is still a total mystery to me.
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repsilon
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Posted: Thu Feb 14th, 2008 04:20 am |
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| No, not a permit or a GT. I'll have to e-mail Eric at Gordo Banks Pangas to find out.
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repsilon
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Posted: Thu Feb 14th, 2008 08:35 pm |
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| I saw a dead baby getting pulled to shore by a gull today. The fins were definitely longer than the mature fish. I couldn't identify this one either. I'm leaning towards members of the pompano family as the fin appears to be more in the middle of a quickly rising back I thought that these were all warm water fish?
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Stuart
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Posted: Thu Feb 14th, 2008 11:40 pm |
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Sounds like African Pompano. Juveniles do have long top and bottom fins that disappear as they get older. I've caught some real biggies off Cabo in February before. They were great eating! Pictures will definitely solve the mystery!
Did they look like this link (adult) or this link (juvenile)?
Last edited on Thu Feb 14th, 2008 11:44 pm by Stuart
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repsilon
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Posted: Fri Feb 15th, 2008 06:50 pm |
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| Amazing change. I'm leaning towards something else. I'll have to look at my dad's photos again and he should put them up soon. One guy saw the pangeros catch one in their nets. I might have to go visit the camp.
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Divecoz
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Posted: Fri Feb 15th, 2008 07:40 pm |
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This shows some more pix's and a healthy bit of info
http://www.fishsniffer.com/guest/roosterfish.html
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