The biologist I filmed a segment about sculpin with said they need a lack of particulate sediment to thrive...the cobbles that form the river bed need to be loose and free of sediment filling between them. Fast flowing water with spring flushes help them do well.
Remember having a blast catching sculpin like that when I was a youngster. There was a deep hole in the creek by my house and if you put a tiny chunk of nightcrawler on a hook you could catch them all day. Usually could catch a few on the same small chunk of worm.
These look some much like a lingcod that I thought they were some freshwater version. Just caught one in my crawdad trap couple days ago. My 11 year old daughter thought it was the ohhh so cutest little fish. She loves unique looking creatures.
They do have really similar features to Lingcod, where I am we have Cabezon which is a large species of sculpin, people often confuse the two. Im up in Washington state, Seattle area, so I fish the puget sound and some of the rivers that drain into it. What I find interesting is how similar the smaller species of salt water sculpin and fresh water sculpin are in size and look and behave, makes me wonder how far back it was they branched off and adapted to being fresh water species. In some of the deeper lakes not too far away, some of which actually feed into the same tributaries that connect to the rivers I catch the freshwater sculpin in, there are burbot which are essentially freshwater lingcod. They are the only gadiform (cod-like) freshwater fish. The physical similarities between the sculpin/cabezon & lingcod/burbot as well as them living in connecting networks/bodies of water makes me think they had to have evolved almost simultaneously.
Streamer or wet fly for sure, and do whatever you have to do to ensure your offering is as tight as possible to the bottom. Sculpins "walk" on the bottom more than they swim, and they don't even have a swim bladder so they sink.
Very effective species to imitate with a streamer pattern here in central Pennsvania. In fact almost all of my 20" or larger trout in the last couple months have come on one
Super easy, find a hole/calm part of a river/creek, drop in a chunk of (or a small one) nightcrawler, weightless, let it sink and wait. They also tend to bite after sunset
Goshh these fish are shit heads! In Labrador we get these all the time, from as small or even smaller those are to bigger than your thigh! Scary friggers, will go after even the shittiest hooks from way down even 60ft deep theyll chase the hook as far as they can up
Basically if a Mottled Sculpin are in the stream, it's a very clean water system
The biologist I filmed a segment about sculpin with said they need a lack of particulate sediment to thrive...the cobbles that form the river bed need to be loose and free of sediment filling between them. Fast flowing water with spring flushes help them do well.
Caught 20+ of these fishing for trout and they drew in my keeper trout. Crazy looking fish and they bite a plain worm and hook all day.
Remember having a blast catching sculpin like that when I was a youngster. There was a deep hole in the creek by my house and if you put a tiny chunk of nightcrawler on a hook you could catch them all day. Usually could catch a few on the same small chunk of worm.
Are you sure they weren’t gobies?
Where about in Colorado can you catch Sculpin????
We don't have a complete list but this was filmed on the middle Colorado River and we know they exist in the Roaring Fork as well.
These look some much like a lingcod that I thought they were some freshwater version. Just caught one in my crawdad trap couple days ago. My 11 year old daughter thought it was the ohhh so cutest little fish. She loves unique looking creatures.
They are cool little fish, and we agree they do look link tiny lingcod, gobies, or even s blennies.
They do have really similar features to Lingcod, where I am we have Cabezon which is a large species of sculpin, people often confuse the two. Im up in Washington state, Seattle area, so I fish the puget sound and some of the rivers that drain into it. What I find interesting is how similar the smaller species of salt water sculpin and fresh water sculpin are in size and look and behave, makes me wonder how far back it was they branched off and adapted to being fresh water species. In some of the deeper lakes not too far away, some of which actually feed into the same tributaries that connect to the rivers I catch the freshwater sculpin in, there are burbot which are essentially freshwater lingcod. They are the only gadiform (cod-like) freshwater fish. The physical similarities between the sculpin/cabezon & lingcod/burbot as well as them living in connecting networks/bodies of water makes me think they had to have evolved almost simultaneously.
Brand new to fishing here. I was wondering if these are rigged as a wet or dry fly? Should a I put a split-shot a foot up the line?
Streamer or wet fly for sure, and do whatever you have to do to ensure your offering is as tight as possible to the bottom. Sculpins "walk" on the bottom more than they swim, and they don't even have a swim bladder so they sink.
Awesome information!Thank you!
You should do a video on how to identify these vs gobeys
cool i have these in my creek along with trout.
I was fishing for these guys in my creek today, just with a hook and worm.
Very effective species to imitate with a streamer pattern here in central Pennsvania. In fact almost all of my 20" or larger trout in the last couple months have come on one
I caught a sculpin today on a trout hook with a worm
Are these motted or prickly?
mottled sculpin
@@FishfulThinker thank so much!
Caught one of these ice fishing today with a micro jig lol
Is there a good way to catch these without electricity
Never tried but I'd assume they could be netted with a dip net.
Prestons adventures They also bite my worms when perch fishing. Just using a crappie rig. Closer to the bottom the better
Ive caught a few fishing with worms.
I spear them with a gig
Super easy, find a hole/calm part of a river/creek, drop in a chunk of (or a small one) nightcrawler, weightless, let it sink and wait. They also tend to bite after sunset
Im not sure about other areas but don't fish for these in Michigan they're endangered
I live in boise. I have an aquarium with these guys in it.
Are they poisonous?
No
Is that not a gobey? I’m gonna have a hard time to define these between gobeys luckily I’ve never caught a gobey yet in my stream yet
While they look very similar, sculpins and gobys are different species. Sculpins are native to Colorado.
Goshh these fish are shit heads! In Labrador we get these all the time, from as small or even smaller those are to bigger than your thigh! Scary friggers, will go after even the shittiest hooks from way down even 60ft deep theyll chase the hook as far as they can up
These look exactly like gobeys I’ve killed these before because I’ve thought there gobeys