I fished access 5 the other day and ran into a pod of fish. My heart skipped a beat in anticipation due to their number and size. I had never before seen such a concentrated group of large fish. There must have been 8+ fish. They were holdin IN a riffle - very unusual for trout in my experience. Of course I had to cast to them - they didn't look like spawning trout to me... After ~ 10 casts, I set the hook one of the larger fish. He fought pretty well for ~ 2 minutes and then I brought him to net. A pikeminnow! Biggest one I have every caught. 20+ inches. Now I know what I've seen down in Lake Solano while kayaking. I've seen some big ones shooting by. Their dark lateral stripe gives them away...
Has anyone else seen them up at or beyond access 5? My first time...
I've caught small ones in the slow water above Shon's riffle (marker 54?) as far back as the early to mid 90's, But never anything close to that size.
I always thought they were competitive with or predatory to trout but never gave it much thought. A quick Google search seems to be a little ambiguous. I believe Dawn from NCFFB was the local expert on them but haven't heard from her in years. Perhaps Steve Karr has the skinny?
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Here is an old thread of my first sucker on Putah. They probably come out of Lake Solano to spawn in March and April. Back then I thought it was a carp.
Your pic and the pic Otter posted are 2 totally different fish, not sure what Otters fish is but Pike Minnow and Squawfish are the same thing. Otters fish has a different bottom feeder type of mouth.