Inside a whitefish

[MichaelAngelo]

This post is mainly for Eli because he had asked me to discover the stomach contents of my late catches.

I opened up two whitefish I had caught two weeks ago in a northern lake quite a ways away. Their stomach contents were quite surprising. What was most surprising is that the two fish had completely different stomach contents even though they were in the same group and were caught back-to-back.

Here are their stomach and intestines laid out on the cutting board. Both fish were female. The top fish was the "fatter" of the two even though both of them were the same length. On the left of the picture are the stomach contents for each fish and on the right are the intestinal contents.



Here are the stomach contents of the "fatter" fish. They appear to be some kind of moss or aquatic plant.




Intestinal contents:



Here are the stomach contents of the other fish. They appear to be some kind of dried berry. Perhaps someone's chum? I have no answer for this nor do I have an answer for why two fish in same school would have completely different stomach contents.




Also note the lacerations in the stomach lining. Whatever these things are, it appears they caused some damage to the stomach.

Intestinal contents:



After all those gross pictures, here's the yummy part of both fish

[OldTimer]

YUCK!

.................. big pause..............

YUCK!

It's obviously raisinettes.............. or fubar zebra mussels and algae.

YUCK!.............. damn.

..smile

OT

[MuskieBait]

1) You should fish with an algae fly

2) You should fish with raisins

3) You need a sharper knife

4) The whitie I took home had almost nothing in the stomach except for a few bits of bottom detritus and nothing looked edible or nutritious at all. There was a lot of poop so it had to be eating sometime in the past...

I have no answer why two traveling companions on the same road trip would have one preferred McDonald's while the other preferred Nutella, humus and red kidney beans...

At the end of the day, I think Eli figured out what they wanted. Congrats Eli! Where's the fish porn?

[MichaelAngelo]

(03-17-2014 07:19 PM)MuskieBait Wrote:  At the end of the day, I think Eli figured out what they wanted. Congrats Eli! Where's the fish porn?

Way to spill the beans Ken! I've been waiting anxiously for a report, checking Roughfish as well as here.

[Eli]

Pics are in my contest thread.

...and thanks! One thing that's obvious from your photos is that they are (at least in that lake) pure bottom feeders. That, combined with having had a first-hand look at the positioning of their mouth has me thinking I know exactly how to get them next time...

[mcfly]

(03-18-2014 12:06 AM)Eli Wrote:  Pics are in my contest thread.

...and thanks! One thing that's obvious from your photos is that they are (at least in that lake) pure bottom feeders. That, combined with having had a first-hand look at the positioning of their mouth has me thinking I know exactly how to get them next time...

wonder if they can be had with a hair rig!? lol

[Occidio]

I'm glad you followed those pictures with the cleaned fish. YUCK!

[MichaelAngelo]

(03-18-2014 10:51 AM)mcfly Wrote:  

(03-18-2014 12:06 AM)Eli Wrote:  Pics are in my contest thread.

...and thanks! One thing that's obvious from your photos is that they are (at least in that lake) pure bottom feeders. That, combined with having had a first-hand look at the positioning of their mouth has me thinking I know exactly how to get them next time...

wonder if they can be had with a hair rig!? lol

But remember that they can be aggressive as well. All the local guys rip buckshot spoons like they're madmen. Perhaps they're snagging them.

[David Chong]

All the Whitefish that we've been catching this winter have been chock full of Zebra Mussels & Gobies! As they say Mother Nature always finds a way!