Here’s an interesting critter that most folks have never encountered: The Sacramento Splittail. Even if you live in its home range of Nor Cal’s Central Valley and Delta regions, it’s not a fish commonly encountered. Part of that is due to the fact that Splittail aren’t considered a gamefish and their relative obscurity is also a function of them not being present in large numbers anymore. Sure, there are isolated populations of these guys but they’re nowhere near as abundant as they were before the valley’s rivers were dammed.
These cyprinids prefer to spawn on flood plains, but with reservoirs controlling the flow of the Sacramento and her tributaries, the flooded spawning habitat they prefer occurs only intermittently these days.
While they kinda look like a mountain whitefish crossed with a pike minnow, Splittail are actually kinda cool looking beasts when you get ’em up close. The oversized upper lobe of the caudal fin for which they’re named give’s them a bit of a “brown bonefish” vibe. Unfortunately, splitties can’t burn line like the bones of the flats, but they can actually put up a decent scrap on light gear.
Splittail once ranged from San Francisco Bay to Redding but now are most commonly found in the Delta and the Sacramento’s lower reaches…up to about the town of Verona, at the confluence of the Feather and Sacramento rivers. He’s a greedy little bugger that mainly feeds on the bottom on clams, crustaceans, and insect larvae, though I’ve seen them take insects off the surface in the early mornings and I’m pretty sure they also eat small fish.
In the winter, they’ll migrate upstream and look for flooded areas in which to spawn (typically in March).
Search Results for: name that fish
Fishing with a True American Hero: Major General Erbon Wise
To commemorate Memorial Day, here’s a salute to one of the true heroes of this country: Major General Erbon W. Wise, 90, of Sulphur, Louisiana…a man I feel extremely privileged to have been able to spend some time with (I guided him two seasons in Alaska).
General Wise has lived a life that makes me feel like I’ve accomplished absolutely nothing. He put in 29 years of service defending this country — including slogging his way ashore and up Utah Beach under heavy enemy fire as a twenty-something year-old Army Captain during the invasion of France in June 1944. He was also active during the Korean War and Vietnam. Because of guys like General Wise, we are able to live the lives we have today and for that, we are forever in his debt. Click here to read more…
Fishing for Science: Tagging Fall-Run Chinook Salmon
In the March 2011 issue of Salmon Trout Steelheader Magazine, I did a photo essay of the spring-run Chinook tagging project I was involved with last year (and again coming up this year as well). The basic gist of the whole deal was: Capture kings, quickly outfit them with acoustic tags and then let ’em go. At that point, biologists could track the fish as they moved upstream, providing them with lots of good data about the migration habits of the fish. We also captured and tagged fall-run fish last year as well. Here’s a little look into the project…
Light Tackle Shark Fishing!
Fishing Trivia: Impress the Ladies with these nuggets!
Okay, so in this age of informational overdose, you probably already have way too much stuff rattling inside in deep recesses of your brain and don’t need anything else jammed in there, but I’m going to load you up with a good dose of totally useless and random fish trivia anyway.
I guess “useless” may be a little strong of a word — you may be able to impress the ladies at cocktail party by busting out one of these little nuggets (highly unlikely) or perhaps at least make your fishing pals think you’re smart (didn’t work for me, but give ‘er a go anyway).
So, without further adieu, here are some things you may or may not already know…Click here to read more…
- « Previous Page
- 1
- 2
- 3
- 4
- 5
- 6
- …
- 19
- Next Page »