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Comment by Mike Stacy on May 7, 2011 at 11:43pm

I had always thought [no research behind this] That the males were the larger, more colored fish... and the females were the more silver sided version, with less of a frankenstein forehead. The eggs seem to come from those fish, but I have been surprised on a few occasions. They're probably pretty variable... evolution has favored the stealth approach with many species of fish. Males can get by more dominant males by APPEARING female, and females could gain advantage, theoretically, by appearing more male... and possibly holding territory more easily. There were no eggs or milt in either fish when I cleaned them, but they had plenty of fat in the meat: my knife felt greasy. They're fat!
I usually feed crickets slices of apple to keep them frisky and alive, but in this dark tea colored water, I thought that something stinky might make a difference. It's an experiment. Bread isn't good: they gorge and die. No crickets at the pet store today, but they promise to have some in the morning. I'll post the results. I've had crickets go un eaten in this lake... I'm going to try for a surface presentation and see if that works, possibly on a popper, for added visual presence. The big one I saw was feeding actively on the surface... I'm hoping it's a bream, but who knows what aquarium fish have been dumped in this FLORIDA lake! Might be an Oscar, or a big ciclid... I saw it hit twice... and I want to see it better... in my cooler!

Comment by David, aka, "McScruff" on May 7, 2011 at 4:59pm

I thought the difference in gill tab size was a way to distinguish male from female. Larger for the male...

 

As for the garlic - you toss it whole to 'em? Now that's interesting......

Comment by Mike Stacy on May 7, 2011 at 9:04am

Thanks Jim! I wanted to show the difference in gill tabs on those two fish. Twins in size and color, caught in the same hour, but one has a big longear type tab and the other is kinda' tiny. I thought it was neat.

And the hooks go on eBay any day! No good bream hooks in my inventory yet, but the box I'm starting from had 750+ FINE bass hooks in it, mixed in with a few thousand other hooks, mostly salt water types. I've been teasing out bass hooks 2 and 3 at a time for months, but now I've got them all out and bagged. 10 to a package. I don't want to abuse the privilege of enjoying this wonderful site, but I'll try to mention the day when I FINALLY get my project on line. 

But today... I'm obsessing on CRICKETS! I saw a HUGE bream surface feeding in the dusk last night, and again at dawn. It wasn't interested in the bread that the other fish like so much... SO, I've got to drive to the only place for miles that sells crickets [pet store: lizard food] and put some bugs on the water. I'll give them a nice juicy clove of garlic to munch on, and try to keep them on the surface...

Comment by clint johnson on May 7, 2011 at 8:27am

Good luck with the hook business I will have to take a look on ebay at them when you get up and goin.

Comment by Jim Gronaw on May 7, 2011 at 6:31am

Great photo!