The white bass, silver bass, or sand bass is a freshwater fish of the temperate bass family Moronidae. commonly around 12-15 inches long. The species' main color is silver-white to pale green. Its back is dark, with white sides and belly, and with narrow dark stripes running lengthwise on its sides. It has large, rough scales and two dorsal fins. They are widely distributed across North America, inhabiting large reservoirs and rivers. When mating in the spring, they are more often found in shallow rivers, creeks, and streams. They have been introduced in some places as sport fish and also to predate on nuisance fish, such as gizzard shad. It is the state fish of Oklahoma.
The white perch is not a true perch but is a fish of the temperate bass family, Moronidae, notable as a food and game fish in eastern North America. In some places it is referred to as "Silver Bass".
The largemouth bass is a carnivorous freshwater ray-finned fish in the Centrarchidae (sunfish) family, native to the eastern and central United States, southeastern Canada and northern Mexico. It is known by a variety of regional names, such as the widemouth bass, bigmouth bass, black bass, bucketmouth, largie, Potter's fish, Florida bass, Florida largemouth, green bass, bucketmouth bass, green trout, Gilsdorf bass, Oswego bass, LMB, and southern largemouth and northern largemouth.
Crappies are two species of North American freshwater fish of the genus Pomoxis in the family Centrarchidae (sunfishes). Both species of crappies are popular game fish among recreational anglers.
The bluegill, sometimes referred to as "bream," "brim," "sunny," or, as is common in Texas, "copper nose", is a species of North American freshwater fish, native to and commonly found in streams, rivers, lakes, ponds and wetlands east of the Rocky Mountains. It is the type species of the genus Lepomis, from the family Centrarchidae in the order Perciformes.
The word panfish, also spelled pan-fish or pan fish, is an American English term describing any edible freshwater fish that usually do not outgrow the size of an average frying pan. It is also commonly used by recreational anglers to refer to any small catch that can fit wholly into a pan but still large enough to be legal. The fish species that match this definition and usage vary according to geography. According to the Oxford English Dictionary, the term was first recorded in 1796 in American Cookery, the first known cookbook written by an American author.
The pumpkinseed, also referred to as pond perch, common sunfish, punkie, sunfish, sunny, and kivver, is a small/medium-sized North American freshwater fish of the genus Lepomis, from family Centrarchidae in the order Perciformes.
The white crappie is a freshwater fish found in North America, one of the two species of crappies. Alternate common names for the species include goldring, silver perch, white perch and sac-a-lait. USS Goldring is named for the fish. The genus name Pomoxis refers to crappies' sharp operculum, while the species name annularis means 'having rings', i.e., it has vaguely vertical bars on the body.
The warmouth is a freshwater fish of the sunfish family (Centrarchidae) that is found throughout the eastern United States. Other local names include molly, redeye, goggle-eye, red-eyed bream, and strawberry perch.
The shoal bass is a species of freshwater fish in the sunfish family (Centrarchidae) of order Perciformes. One of the black basses, it is native to waters in Florida and Georgia. It is also occasionally found in rivers and streams of East Alabama where it has been declared an endangered species and cannot legally be kept if caught by fishermen. Of typical size for a black bass, M. cataractae reaches a maximum recorded length of 24 inches (61 cm) and a maximum published weight of 8 pounds, 12 ounces.
The yellow perch, commonly referred to as perch, striped perch or preacher is a freshwater perciform fish native to much of North America. The yellow perch was described in 1814 by Samuel Latham Mitchill from New York. It is closely related, and morphologically similar to the European perch ; and is sometimes considered a subspecies of its European counterpart.
The Australian bass is a small- to medium-sized species of primarily freshwater fish found in coastal rivers and streams along the east coast of Australia. A member of the genus Macquaria from the family Percichthyidae, the Australian bass is an important member of the native fish assemblages found in east coast river systems. It is a native predatory fish and an extremely popular game fish species among anglers. The species was simply called perch in most coastal rivers where it was caught until the 1960s, when the name "Australian bass" started to gain popularity.
The black bullhead or black bullhead catfish is a species of bullhead catfish. Like other bullhead catfish, it has the ability to thrive in waters that are low in oxygen, brackish, turbid and/or very warm. It also has barbels located near its mouth, a broad head, spiny fins, and no scales. It can be identified from other bullheads as the barbels are black, and it has a tan crescent around the tail. Its caudal fin is truncated. Like virtually all catfish, it is nocturnal, preferring to feed at night, although young feed during the day. It generally does not get as large as the channel or blue catfish, with average adult weights are in the 1-to-2-pound range, and almost never as large as 4 pounds (1.8 kg). It has a typical length of 6–14 inches (15–36 cm), with the largest specimen being 24 inches (61 cm), making it the largest of the bullheads. It is typically black or dark brown on the dorsal side of its body and yellow or white on the ventral side.
The yellow bass is a member of the family Moronidae. This species is a deep bodied fish that possesses five to seven dark stripes laterally along the sides, the lowest few of these are often broken or disrupted anterior to the origin of the anal fin. This species is somewhat similar to two other species in the family Moronidae, the white bass and the striped bass. The yellow bass is distinguishable from both of these species by having the offset lateral stripes above the anal fin and from not possessing tooth patches on the tongue. The yellow bass differs further from the white bass by having nine to ten anal rays in comparison to eleven or thirteen. The back of the fish is usually a dark olive green, and the abdomen and sides are often a silvery yellow.
A hybrid striped bass, also known as a wiper or whiterock bass, is a hybrid between the striped bass and the white bass. Hybrid striped bass are considered better suited for culture in ponds than either parent species because they are more resilient to extremes of temperature and low dissolved oxygen, although they gravitate toward areas of moving water within impoundments.
The little tunny, also known as the false albacore, little tuna, bonita, or erroneously as the blue bonito, is a species of tuna in the family Scombridae. It can be found in the Atlantic Ocean and the Mediterranean and Black seas; in the western Atlantic, it ranges from Brazil to the New England states. The little tunny is a pelagic fish that can be found regularly in both offshore and inshore waters, and it is classified as a highly migratory species. The little tunny is best identified by the "worm-like" markings on its back and the dark spots appearing between its pectoral and ventral fins.
The brook stickleback is a small freshwater fish that is distributed across the US and Canada. It grows to a length of about 2 inches. It occupies the northern part of the eastern United States, as well as the southern half of Canada. Small populations are scattered throughout the Mississippi-Great Lakes basin extending to Colorado, New Mexico, Kentucky, Tennessee, etc., though some of these areas are not native to the species. This small fish inhabits clear, cool streams and lakes. They eat small invertebrates, algae, insect larvae, and occasionally their own eggs. They are also preyed upon by smallmouth bass and northern pike. Feedin time is usually dawn and sunset. The brook stickleback does have active competition mostly from minnows, but feeding times are different, along with diet. Spawning occurs in midsummer. Males secure a territory, build a nest, and mate with females. Males provide protection for the eggs, ward off predators, and usually die later in the season. This is considered an annual species. The nests are built out of aquatic grasses. Though the brook stickleback is not considered a threatened species, deforesting and changing waters are altering ecosystems of the species. Harvesting of trees around riparian environments is having a large effect of the stream ecosystem where the brook stickleback resides.
Fishing in Colorado has brought in a large amount of revenue for the state. In 2019 Colorado Parks and Wildlife estimated outdoor recreation contributed roughly 62 billion dollars to the state economy. Fishing was reported to be the 5th most popular outdoor activity and 110, 511 fishing and hunting combination licenses were sold. Ice fishing makes up part of this total fishing revenue and is a common annual sport for Colorado residents and out-of-state visitors. There is no legal definition of ice fishing season. Rather, people begin to ice fish once the lakes freeze over with thick enough ice. Colorado Parks and Wildlife also recommend that people always ice-fish with another person. Typically, this starts in December and ends in April for Colorado. Lakes size, depth, elevation, and seasonal weather can cause variance to the season. Once the lakes freeze over with thick enough ice, anglers go out onto the ice, drill holes through the ice, and fish for a variety of species.
