Ontario Shore Fishing Forum

Here we go ... again ... happily in Ontario this time around.

Out of nothing more than my own curiosity, I scrolled through my lifelist and counted my lifetime species caught within Ontario borders ... it was 34 ... so I'm setting that as my goal for the 2018 OSF Multi-Species Challenge (minimum of course).

I have more fishing plans for the year than I do days and I hope to catch 10 standard sized lifers in 2018 and attempt microfishiong for the first time, hopefully adding another 10 micro lifers to the total (or zero depending how bad I am at it). Now that I've said that I can't take it back, success or failure you'll all see how close I'll get.

Good luck to all this year.

Game on ...


1) Rainbow Trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss) - April 1, 2018 - Zone 17

[attachment=1625]


2) Brook Trout (Salvelinus fontinalis) - May 4, 2018 - Zone 17

[attachment=1634]


3) Atlantic Salmon (Salmo salar) - May 5, 2018 - Zone 17

[attachment=1635]


4) Northern Pike (Esox lucius) - May 13, 2018 - Zone 20

[attachment=1642]


5) Creek Chub (Semotilus atromaculatus) - May 14, 2018 - Zone 16

[attachment=1643]

6) Common Shiner (Luxilus cornutus) - May 14, 2018 - Zone 16

[attachment=1644]


7) Round Goby (Neogobius melanostomus) - May 14, 2018 - Zone 16

[attachment=1645]


8) River Chub (Nocomis micropogon) - June 8, 2018 - Zone 16

[attachment=1662]


9) Shorthead Redhorse (Moxostoma macrolepidotum) - June 8, 2018 - Zone 16

[attachment=1663]


10) Black Bullhead (Ameiurus melas) - June 10, 2018 - Zone 16

[attachment=1664]

11) Common Carp (Cyprinus carpio) - June 10, 2018 - Zone 16

[attachment=1665]


12) Brown Bullhead (Ameiurus nebulosus) - June 10, 2018 - Zone 16

[attachment=1666]


13) Yellow Perch (Perca flavescens) - June 16, 2018 - Zone 16

[attachment=1680]


14) Western Blacknose Dace (Rhinichthys obtusus) - June 17, 2018 - Zone 16 (LIFER!)

[attachment=1681]


15) Smallmouth Bass (Micropterus dolomieu) - July 20, 2018 - Zone 16

[attachment=1682]

16) Green Sunfish (Lepomis cyanellus) - July 20, 2018 - Zone 16 (LIFER!)

[attachment=1683]


17) Pumpkinseed (Lepomis gibbosus) - July 20, 2018 - Zone 16

[attachment=1684]


18) Rock Bass (Ambloplites rupestris) - July 20, 2018 - Zone 16

[attachment=1685]


19) Spotfin Shiner (Cyprinella spiloptera) - July 20, 2018 - Zone 16 (LIFER! #150)

[attachment=1686]


20) Muskellunge (Esox masquinongy) - July 29, 2018 - Zone 15

[attachment=1691]

How sure are you on the black bullhead Nick? The barbels I can see in the pic look pretty light. Maybe it's a yellow bullhead???

Hey Fossil Fish,

I am fairly confident ... not without a doubt however...

I was paying special attention to all the bullhead I caught that day as I had caught all three species in a single day two years ago on that particular waterbody and was hoping for a repeat. No Yellow Bullhead to my knowledge ... the species I was most hoping for.

I do agree with you that those largest two barbels appear uncharacteristically light, didn't pay much attention to that as I was using the four lower barbels for ID purposes.

The lower barbels were pale at the base and faded to a gray. All Yellow Bullhead I have caught prior had pale barbels from base to tip.

[attachment=1692]

I also found the olive colouration, dusky fin membranes and pale bar at the base of the tail indicative of Black Bullhead (at least in this waterbody).

[attachment=1693]

And just as some anecdotal evidence here are pictures of my Yellow Bullhead and a more definitive Black Bullhead from this exact spot two years ago.

[attachment=1695]
Yellow Bullhead

[attachment=1694]
Black Bullhead

Not saying I am 100% correct, but I am fairly sure. Happy to hear of any further distinguishing features either way. Can always learn a bit more ...

---

21) Largemouth Bass (Micropterus salmoides) - July 29, 2018 - Zone 15

[attachment=1696]

Not doubting you as all I've ever caught were browns, just trying to learn a bit myself. In a recent conversation with Muskiebait about a very dark brown bullhead I caught, he told me to count the anal fin rays. Blacks will have 15-21 rays, browns have 21-24 and yellows have 24-27. Before he mentioned it, I didn't know there were differences.