Last week I went up to sunapee. Sadly my camera messed up just before reaching my destination (took pictures of geese and pheasants on the way) and has decided to eat batteries after so I have no pictures from this trip.

First stop was Trask Stream to get a few more redbelly dace. I found alot but mostly smaller ones which I put back. I got three decent sized ones. I also got a common shiner, a couple possible blacknose dace, and alot of small creek chub. (I have yet to see a large creek chub on this side of the Appalachians).

The red bellied dace were so dark in coloration their twin stripes were impossible to see until I got them home. They were only distinguishable from the blacknose due to darker coloration. When placed in a tank at home their double stripes soon became apparent.

I was also suprised that both offsilver colored creek chubs and brown with a black stripe colored ones inhabit the same area. I thought for sure different habitats would link to the different colors.

I also netted a frog in a very cold inlet stream so slowed down from the cold it could only slowly move one forelimb.

I then went to cast a line into the harbor lake sunapee to see what I can catch.

So I went to the lake with nothing icthylogically special about it. (you can dive in and survey the fish their if you want, nothing their worth naming after it). And fished from the dock.

I was catching rock bass left and right but rockbass unlike any I have ever seen. They were much more basslike than any rockbass I saw. They were bigger (6-10 inches rather than the 4-6 I seen elsewhere), longer in body, and most impressively large in mouth than the connecticut river rock bass I am used to. The average rock bass I seen before had a mouth only slightly larger than a similar sized lepomis sunfish. But these ones had huge gaping mouths like a crappie does.

Apparently these rock bass are a problem in Sunapee as they are devouring the invertebrates and smelt that the lake trout and salmon usually eat impacting things negatively. Oddly enough this problem has yet to happen in similar lakes which makes these rock bass's impact a bit of a puzzle. I wonder if it is feeding on lake trout food that effects the growth and proportions of these rock bass. (note how no one ever asks whose food the lake trout were eating as they were introduced and harmful as well).

Apparently lake sunapee has a yearly fishing tournament to control the rock bass population. (given the lakes record I am suprised no one dumped something more voracious in their to do the job).

But catching these jumbo rock bass was very fun and they were unlike any rock bass I caught.

Sounds like a good time even if the camera didn't work. Those sound like the rock bass that I catch around here. I've caught them up to 10" or so, some even bigger than that. I went to set the minnow trap one time and after looking looking around to find the best looking underwater terrain and a school of minnows I decided to set the trap. Just before it touched the water I noticed a huge, fat, smiling rock bass amidst all those minnows just where I planned on setting the trap. I let him have it and found a different place. Maybe it was just seeing it through the water, but it looked every bit a foot long or more and appeared to be the fattest one I've seen. The ones around here also have very large mouths, and like you mentioned, a lot of fun to catch.

Congratulations on your catches and collections. Sounds like a successful trip and a good time. Thanks for sharing.

Steve.

It sounds more like a Warmouth than a Rock Bass. They have huge mouths, infact mine ate a Logperch it's same size this morning!

It sounds more like a Warmouth than a Rock Bass. They have huge mouths, infact mine ate a Logperch it's same size this morning!

according to Peterson's guide, warmouth do not occur in the NH area unless they were introduced. The fish desribed sounds just like every rockbass I have ever seen. On Green Lake (here in WI) You can catch rock bass 12-16" regularly when the smallmouth are on the beds in 20' of water. I have never seen a rockbass with a mouth similar sized to sunfish.

according to Peterson's guide, warmouth do not occur in the NH area unless they were introduced. The fish desribed sounds just like every rockbass I have ever seen. On Green Lake (here in WI) You can catch rock bass 12-16" regularly when the smallmouth are on the beds in 20' of water. I have never seen a rockbass with a mouth similar sized to sunfish.

Wow, that's HUGE! The biggest rock bass I've ever caught was MAYBE 8 inches!

it's annoying catching those rockbass though because if you can get the females that are ready (plumper than the thanksgiving turkey) you have some really large fish on your hands.. but you normally only get 1-3 HUGE female smallies daily and like 10-12 rockbass as described.. still a GREAT day of fishing, but sucks because we just want to catch the smallies (everything in my family fishing is catch and release, no one keeps fish to eat or do this with them )

(I have yet to see a large creek chub on this side of the Appalachians).

I've caught some large chubs in some ponds in northern Maine that rivaled the size of the brook trout in them. If my memory serves me correct up to 10 inches. One pond and inlet and outlet stream were so littered with them it was impossible to catch a brook trout. We caught them on panfish jigs of all things.

This was in Piscataquis County not too far from Nahmakanta Lake.

Sadly we saw a float plane come in and watched the anglers that came off the plane on the Rainbow Deadwaters using minnows for live bait. Illegal there and we reported it to our resort owner on Nahmakanta Lake. I think they were using dace for bait which may be native (we saw some dead ones on the ground where that had fished), but it's still illegal.

Edited by az9, 19 October 2011 - 06:05 AM.

I've caught some large chubs in some ponds in northern Maine that rivaled the size of the brook trout in them. If my memory serves me correct up to 10 inches. One pond and inlet and outlet stream were so littered with them it was impossible to catch a brook trout. We caught them on panfish jigs of all things.

So far every large chub in my area I saw was a fallfish. the biggest creek chub i seen wild around here is two inches. though they could grow bigger as one in my tank grew four inches before it was moved and mauled.

Seems my sunapee trip got me two more small creek chub (focusing on fish too dark to see markings has disadvantages when markings appear later in a tank). This is potentially a problem as they will grow big enough to eat my minnows in my 29 while still small enough to be mauled in my 55. That's what happened with my last creek chub and my small rock bass.

do you have any pictures of the little monsters?

do you have any pictures of the little monsters?

From my last trip? no, my camera has issues. From my tanks as they currently are? I took a few pictures a couple weeks ago but only one or two came out. (I miss my good camera, lost two in one year). I haven't uploaded them yet.