Why do some fish ssem to have a reddish hue in their tails? I've only noticed this in fish I've caught in fresh water.

you're lucky i didn't enter that tourney. took 2 28#ers that same night.... :devil:

Another

We now have large numbers of adult male Striped Bass exhibiting varying signs of starvation, and most of the fish examined internally have had empty stomachs and have had no abdominal fat. A general observation could be made that a higher than normal percentage of these fish appear to be extremely undernourished. Observations of damage caused by several types of parasites, in the form of small openings primarily on their fins and tail, do not appear to heal. These openings become infected and in many fish the tail has numerous small red sores. These sores were present in approximately 20% of the fish caught by hook and line, during the Summer/Fall 1997 Striped Bass season in the Choptank River and Chesapeake Bay. More serious skin problems were found in 12% of the population of Striped Bass over 16" in total length. The skin abnormalities ranged in size from small round pinpoint sores to large areas of the fish covered with red sores up to ½" in diameter.

LOOKS LIKE A SKIN DISEASE

Salt water

mike, the 2 fish my friends and i killed this year on the river turned red, too. one had its tail get all red, the other turned red head to tail. i gave my fillets away. the guy that ate them is still ok as far as i can tell. weird, though.

another salty

Another fresh water

It could be sores, but I've noticed that a majority of the freshwater stripers I catch have this red tint. You can definitely see the difference in variation in those pictures. I ate em all. They tasted the same/:confused:

Oh yeah, sure you did Toby. I'm fishin on Rizzo's team next year!:laughs:

i have pics but i can't give away my location like you did in yours. :p

Yeah, for like the seven people in western MA who go on this board. The majority of people on here live @ fish and would never drive out to the armpit of the east coast to wet a line. I think my secrets are pretty safe. Let's wrestle!:peessed:

Originally posted by Rappin Mikey
The majority of people on here live @ fish and would never drive out to the armpit of the east coast to wet a line. good plan. make them think it is Jersey... :laughs:

:laughs: Sneaker heads make me laugh (no offense Jimbo)

quick decision, were did you get that info? i thought it had to do with them tiring themself's out and like a rainbow trout the colors get brighter

but i am not sure

bob

Originally posted by Rappin Mikey
Yeah, for like the seven people in western MA who go on this board. The majority of people on here live @ fish and would never drive out to the armpit of the east coast to wet a line. I think my secrets are pretty safe. Let's wrestle!:peessed:


Everybody should experience the Brian Beru at least once.:D

The tails will turn red if you don't bleed them. I kill my fish and bleed them immediatly and ice them. They don't turn red. There may be other reasons but I don't know them yet. You see the red-tail a lot in trophy fish 'cos the fisherman don't want to lose any weight in his trophy. My .02

alot of times its blood rushing down to the tail for being hung up sidedown or another wierd way or the way it was placed in the cooler.alot of 50+lbers have the red tail beacause the fisherman does not want bleed the fish it makes the fish lose weight. it happens with keeper sized stripers alot too

The red tail could be correlated to the blood that runs from the head along the lateral line that ends at the tail.

When the fish swims hard (due to the fact that fresh water is not as boyant) there is a sort of whip lash in the tail. Therefore the force will push the fluid (blood ) to the rear of the tail making it red.


The above has not be checked for accuracy just a possibility.

This being said, looks more likely to be that skin disease as quick decision indicated above.

The Brian Beru! Been there, done that:D Stay out of that place man! The current is absolutely kickin where I catch most of my river fish. Some of those fish take at least 15 minutes to land. So that would make sense about the color change being attributed to exhaustion. Hmmm

maybe you made them blush??? I mean wouldnt you be imbarrased if you were caught??

Originally posted by tlapinski
you're lucky i didn't enter that tourney. took 2 28#ers that same night.... :devil:

you BOTH are lucky I didnt enter the tourney :devil:

next year i'll be looking for both of your trucks.....

I think it is photoshoped. J/K. Dirty Water? CT River.

I would disagree with the previous post suggesting that the reddish tails and fins come from some sort of malnourishment or skin disease. You will find this condition in many many pics of large since the invent of colored photos. The answer I beleive is that the condition comes from oxygen depletion. fish comes out of water and attempts to breath. It can not and becomes stressed. Blood pumps faster and faster trying to extract the last bit of qxygen and then....reddness in the extremities sets in...the condition varies in severity depending on how fast the fish dies. Gut hooked fish and fish that have cut gills will die faster and not show this condition.

Just my opinion, but that opinion is based on talking to many.

Hey Mikey
Whats up bro??? That pic under the bridge looks real familiar...hmmmm...wonder where that is;) How ya been?
You all need to worry, cause I am going to enter the tourney next year and WIN it:cool: :cool: :cool: Ya Right...sure I am...oh well it's nice to dream.
Brandon

A lot of the fish i caught in the salt this season had red tails. I think its just from the fight. The fish probally bashes its tail against rocks repeatedly when getting reeled in , causing abrasions and bruises.

I wonder if their (FW stripers) diet consists of larger numbers of mysid shrimp or copepods with higher canthaxanthincontent (whether direct or indirect through smaller baitfish gut contents).

But this reddening of the caudal fin occurs post-mortem, right?

Originally posted by quick decision
Everybody should experience the Brian Beru at least once.:D


Yes they should>>>>>:gu:

Pre-mordom actually.