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Author Topic: Sculpins + Crocs  (Read 3751 times)

Ben!

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Sculpins + Crocs
« on: August 11, 2009, 06:13:50 PM »

I had a sculpin chase my 1/8oz croc to the surface the other day. After the lure was out of the water, the fish looked confused. It just floated there and slowly sank down...

Has this happened to anyone else before? Is this common?
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rhino

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Re: Sculpins + Crocs
« Reply #1 on: August 11, 2009, 06:54:55 PM »

i caught one on my pink lure yesterday. aggressive and I think they will try to eat anything the feel they can fit in their mouth. the got sharp fins. be careful

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Rodney

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Re: Sculpins + Crocs
« Reply #2 on: August 11, 2009, 07:55:48 PM »

Pacific staghorn sculpin is a pretty aggressive predator and will attack any moving objects in the water as mentioned. I've caught them on spoons, spinners and flies from time to time. I've only seen one chasing the spoon to the surface and slowly sinking like what Ben has described, which was actually really funny to see and took a few seconds for me to clue in what was happening. I've also had flounders on the spoon. Actually, this morning in West Vancouver, we had a big sculpin and a big starry flounder attacking the spinner.

The more time you spend spinning in the Fraser River, the more interesting sightings you will come across. You'll start seeing pikeminnows, bull trout, cutthroat trout chasing your spoons and spinners. You'll see pinks and coho salmon do that too.

EZ_Rolling

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Re: Sculpins + Crocs
« Reply #3 on: August 11, 2009, 08:04:42 PM »

funny you mention this 2 weeks ago we were fishing the Stave and my buddy got a @3 lb carp on a spoon had no idea carp were in the stave or that they would hit a spoon.
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Nitroholic

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Re: Sculpins + Crocs
« Reply #4 on: August 11, 2009, 10:52:17 PM »

Caught a nice bullhead on a rodney special the other day  ;D
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Rodney

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Re: Sculpins + Crocs
« Reply #5 on: August 12, 2009, 12:01:23 AM »

Which special is that? ;)

My favorite down around here is definitely the 1/8oz green bladed spinner. That lure seems to get everything, bull trout, cutthroat trout, coho, pikeminnow, bullhead and even greenling. ;D



Just need the water to be a big clearer now. I was rather disappointed when driving over the bridge and seeing the water clarity today.

Nitroholic

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Re: Sculpins + Crocs
« Reply #6 on: August 12, 2009, 11:15:18 AM »

It was a 1/4oz silver with red stripe spoon ;) Was fishing for pinks in furry creek
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clarki

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Re: Sculpins + Crocs
« Reply #7 on: August 14, 2009, 11:42:51 AM »

Aggressive is right. Have even had them break the surface as I lifted the spoon from water
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clarki

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Re: Sculpins + Crocs
« Reply #8 on: August 14, 2009, 07:33:10 PM »

Learned something else interesting about the diet of bullheads today

Landed a large one (10") with a bulging belly and a couple of crab legs in its' throat sticking out of its' esophagus. I was intrigued enough to do a shoreside dissection and pulled out the two crab legs with the attached knot of cartilage. 3.5" of crab down his throat. Not sure how he was planning to digest it to fit other food down there.

Aggressive...and apparently not too selective either.
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Rodney

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Re: Sculpins + Crocs
« Reply #9 on: August 14, 2009, 10:05:32 PM »

You caught the Homer Simpson of the sculpin family, Clarki. ;) What I want to see is a bull trout puking up a small sculpin one day.

Ben!

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Re: Sculpins + Crocs
« Reply #10 on: August 14, 2009, 11:05:07 PM »

I wouldn't mind fishing a homer simspon of any fish family =)

But yes, a 10" sclupin would have to be one of the biggest sclupin around. Last time I was at London Landing, some kid caught one around that size.
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Brian

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Re: Sculpins + Crocs
« Reply #11 on: August 15, 2009, 04:14:55 AM »

Anybody try eating one of these things?  I think I've seen them for sale in the chinatown fish markets?

Every time I catch one I put it back.  My son always wants an aquarium on the boat and these make pretty sturdy aquarium fish, even if it's only for a few minutes before we release them.
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Brian

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Re: Sculpins + Crocs
« Reply #12 on: August 15, 2009, 04:51:14 PM »

Actually my other friend tried to but found a lot of visible parasites after gutting the big ones(10-12"). It looks like white lumps under their ribs and some were actually moving.

ewww.

I figured they might be good for soup stock or similar.
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fishingbuddha

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Re: Sculpins + Crocs
« Reply #13 on: August 15, 2009, 09:42:09 PM »

i have caught huge bullheads over by the ferry terminals in delta buzz bombing for coho.
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