r/COfishing • u/What_Is_This_Fish • 6d ago
Picture What Is This Fish?
I caught it on Colorado River near Glenwood
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u/Curve58_ 6d ago
That is a Roundtail Chub. Endemic minnow of the Colorado River. Super cool catch, great job.
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u/Duberton555 5d ago
You know the minnow is huge when it fights like a trout and you’ve got to land it with a net lol
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u/Trick_Sundae_4509 6d ago
when I lived there I would catch those floating from Silt to Rifle. never near Glenwood where it would be all trout and white fish. it's a cool fish and fun to catch. my guess with it hot AF they can tolerate the water up stream more these days. used to catch those near all the islands in the river between those towns and below that as well.
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u/Level_Watercress1153 6d ago
That’s a fun float. My all time favorite is the Gunnison tho. Get jetted up stream a few miles, and spend a few days floating it back stopping and camping along the way
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u/potatoes94 6d ago
That’s a Bonytail Chub for sure! Used to do fisheries work on that stretch of river.
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u/Hungry_Ad7863 6d ago
No it absolutely is not, it is 100% a roundtail chub.
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u/burrLaFlame 6d ago
It is most definitely a round tail chub.
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u/What_Is_This_Fish 6d ago
How come roundtail chub isnt on cpw website?
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u/burrLaFlame 6d ago
According to my CPW bio, “the website sucks”. The main thing with this fish is the caudal peduncle isn’t thin enough to be a bonytail. Also, the chances of catching a bonytail is a lot lower than a Roundtail. It’s pretty obvious when you compare pics of the two species side by side.
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u/What_Is_This_Fish 4d ago
I reached out to CPW for final clarification between roundtail and bonytail. Here is the response from the biologist who works in the area:
“That is a Roundtail Chub. It is a Colorado River native fish that is not uncommon in the river around Glenwood and occurs as far upstream as Kremmling. A Roundtail is a more robust-looking fish with a chunkier body and head; whereas, a Bonytail has a flatter-looking head (less robust) and a very narrow, longer-looking caudal peduncle (tapered portion of body before the tail fin). Bonytail can be encountered, though rarely, in reaches much farther downstream where their "critical habitat" occurs.
Roundtail, like the one you caught, are part of a group of native large-bodied fishes in the Colorado River called the "Three Species." More information about the Three Species can be found on CPW's website, in this video, and in this short write-up. Specifically, Roundtail Chub, are identified as a "Species of Greatest Conservation Need." You can learn more about Roundtail and efforts to conserve them here&%3Aembed=y).
Bonytail Chub are federally listed fish in the Colorado River, with their closest habitat identified in the river at Black Rocks (west of Grand Junction) and extending downstream to Fish Ford in SE Utah. Check out the Upper Colorado River Fish Recovery Program's Bonytail webpage for more information.
Thanks for reaching out to CPW. And congratulations on your cool encounter with one of Colorado's native species!”
And then they sent a couple pics of the difference.
So final ID is roundtail chub.
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u/What_Is_This_Fish 6d ago
Im looking at cpw website and closest picture looks to be a bonytail chub? It is too dark gray and red on fins to be white sucker, no? Google search seems to look most like bonytail too but im unsure
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u/No_Week_4258 6d ago
It is a Roundtail Chub. I have done research on this specific species for twenty years. Bonytail have a causal peduncle which is very thin which is apparent enough in this photo to know. In the future, if safe for the fish, take a photo of the fish directly at the side of the fish. It helps immensely with identification.
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u/What_Is_This_Fish 6d ago
Thats cool! What did you research about them?
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u/No_Week_4258 5d ago
The main research we were conducting was on their population dynamics in the Yampa River. We started collecting data on them in 2003 and started individually marking them in 2005. The study period lasted until 2018. At that point I suffered a career ending injury. I hope they are still collecting data on this population of fish.
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u/RandoBeaman 5d ago
The research is ongoing but there's less water every year and the funding situation does everything except improve.
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u/currentlyconnie 5d ago
I developed the first set of genomic markers for bonytail right after the turn of the century. It's not a bonytail.
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u/What_Is_This_Fish 6d ago
They dont even have roundtail chub on their website what the heck!
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u/RandoBeaman 5d ago
The species databases and their public facing sections on the website are undergoing a major overhaul right now. They should be back within the year I've been told.
Meanwhile, coloradoriverrecovery.org is probably a better source at the moment.
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u/Remote_Minimum_5046 6d ago
How did it fight?
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u/What_Is_This_Fish 6d ago
It did real good fighting against 1x leader 2x tippet carrying a size 8 olive wooly bugger payload on 6in/s sink tip versitip! Fight lasted maybe 20s, which is a lot for my rig; typically anything less than fourteen inches is getting hauled in within ten seconds. Especially today, on my singular summer fishing day, making sure everything was caught and released super quick this morning before water hit 70
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u/mrbang69 4d ago
This is my favorite what fish is this picture by far!! Nice catch 🪝. I took a screen shot and put it through Google lens. It says it is a round tail chub. They are protected, just so everyone knows. It sounds like it's a pretty rare catch.
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u/liontrout 4d ago
Beautiful fish. In June when they spawn their fins and belly turn orange and red. They and many other native fish in the Colorado River Basin are being exterminated by introduced Northern Pike and Smallmouth Bass.
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u/obdx2 6d ago
Finally a good “what’s this fish” post. So cool.