# Goldfish in the creek?!



## Athens_Smallmouth (Jun 12, 2013)

So I was wading yesterday and a bright gold shape in a small pool caught my eye. At first I thought it was a piece of trash but when I moved closer it started to swim. I'm not sure exactly what it was as it swam away, but it looked unmistakably like a very big gold fish. It was probably 8-10 inches long and entirely gold. My next guess would be a koi. I'm thinking someone tossed the fish in for kicks as I have never seen a fish like that in local waterways. Anyone else seen something like this before?


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## bigticket (Jun 24, 2009)

Yep, I see at least one just about every year. I've seen them in the Scioto and the Olentangy. Anyone's guess how many really get released. I know that a lot of people have little garden ponds with koi/goldfish and they have to drain them in the winter, so they release the fish into the rivers. I saw a post on mad river outfitters page last winter of a guy catching one on a fly. Pretty cool.


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## Deazl666 (Mar 30, 2012)

Presumably dead goldfish flushed down the toilet end up in creeks all the time, especially in southern Ohio where people run their sewage lines directly into the waterways...


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## jcotsmallie (Nov 1, 2009)

.


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## seang22 (Mar 3, 2014)

jcotsmallie said:


> View attachment 187746
> 
> Found this in a creek few years back. Alive.


What did it hit on


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## BottomBouncer (Jan 20, 2005)

I saw a nice one swimming among the carp below Griggs. If I remember correctly, several years back, someone on here posted a picture of a very large one they caught somewhere in the Scioto around Columbus.


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## JimmyMac (Feb 18, 2011)

Pretty common, I mean a lot of guys use goldfish for bait and toss their bait off, change out for a more lively piece or just dump them before they leave. From what I understand they will even breed with carp. I was told from a few fellow carp anglers that this little fella I caught was a carp x goldfish hybrid.


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## Noah F. Doak (Jun 8, 2015)

On my farm, there's some old concrete spring-fed troughs for cattle, and these old abandoned ones have a bunch of real big goldfish in them. So, being the opportunistic angler I am, I brought down an ultralight, a size 12 hook, and some crawlers, and actually caught several of them. They put up a surprisingly good fight, haha. Rather catch a goldfish than a freakin' bluegill any day.


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## Flathead76 (May 2, 2010)

Most would be surprised at the size of the goldfish that we see while bow fishing. Some pushing 2 pounds.


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## canoe carp killer (Apr 2, 2014)

Flathead76 said:


> Most would be surprised at the size of the goldfish that we see while bow fishing. Some pushing 2 pounds.


I wanna go Bowfishing with u!


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## Flathead76 (May 2, 2010)

canoe carp killer said:


> I wanna go Bowfishing with u!


Were leaving tomorrow for Missouri to fish the Bass Pro Shops US Bow fishing Open. Five lakes and 275 teams. It will be epic.


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## canoe carp killer (Apr 2, 2014)

Flathead76 said:


> Were leaving tomorrow for Missouri to fish the Bass Pro Shops US Bow fishing Open. Five lakes and 275 teams. It will be epic.


So jealous!!!!


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## CarpFreak5328 (Aug 16, 2004)

that jimmy I think is a quail back ive caught them below delware res. before. Could be wrong


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## canoe carp killer (Apr 2, 2014)

CarpFreak5328 said:


> that jimmy im pretty sure is a quail back ive caught them below delware res. before.


I thought so too


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## bigticket (Jun 24, 2009)

CarpFreak5328 said:


> that jimmy I think is a quail back ive caught them below delware res. before. Could be wrong


 No, it has similar scales but the mouth is clearly a carp. The mouth of a quillback is clearly located on the underside of the head, behind the protrusion of the nose. This is a quillback, notice the placement of the mouth (also, in regards to this thread topic, I saw a nice sized goldfish last night wading the scioto.)


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## CarpFreak5328 (Aug 16, 2004)

ill be damned ur right mouth is dead give away


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## tedtami (Apr 14, 2014)

I see them from time to time around chillicothe in lakes and scioto.


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## maxpower (Jul 2, 2008)

I snagged this koi in 2007 and again in 2009 as it was spawning with the resident carp along the shoreline. The goldfish was 16" from tip to tail, with the tail itself being about 4". I'm sure it was a pet release. I don't know what that would translate to in weight. Maybe the bow fishermen could weigh in with their estimates.

JimmyMac - very interesting specimen there...the body shape of a carp, but without the barbels.


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## SMBHooker (Jan 3, 2008)

Spotted a huge one on the river end of last year from the kayak. They are always neat to see.



When I was a wee lass back in the day we would see decent sized ones in the creek and catch them. We would ride our bikes with them in a bucket to the pet store. They’d give us a couple bucks for them.


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## Soggyfeet (Jan 7, 2016)

They're pretty common in Lake Erie tributary mouths, where they breed successfully and hybridize with carp. Most are a bland "carpy " color, while some are bright orange. Easy way to tell the difference is that carp have barbels, and goldfish don't.


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## Shortdrift (Apr 5, 2004)

We see a lot of orange colored "goldfish" when bass fishing in the Cleveland harbors during the Spring. I gave away my patio pond goldfish which I had for ten years and had raised from feeder fish size. They ranged in size from two pounds to ywo and a half pounds. They are now in my friends one third acre lake and I'm sure they will continue to grow in size.


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## ChromeBone (Oct 3, 2011)

I've used to catch at least one a year in the Scioto, I've got them on minnow on the bottom going for eyes. I've accidentally snagged a few bass fishing. There a few ponds in Dublin that have Koi around 30 pounds I've seen. I've only seen the regular goldfish get around 5 pounds max. They get pretty fat an round but less then 2 foot long.


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## MIGHTY (Sep 21, 2013)

I've seen one in 2 separate creeks that I fish in and like was mentioned, figured they were either bait or someone's pet at one time. The first one was probably around 4 pounds and the second one I saw in big walnut was bigger.


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## MassillonBuckeye (May 3, 2010)

Athens_Smallmouth said:


> So I was wading yesterday and a bright gold shape in a small pool caught my eye. At first I thought it was a piece of trash but when I moved closer it started to swim. I'm not sure exactly what it was as it swam away, but it looked unmistakably like a very big gold fish. It was probably 8-10 inches long and entirely gold. My next guess would be a koi. I'm thinking someone tossed the fish in for kicks as I have never seen a fish like that in local waterways. Anyone else seen something like this before?


Thats flatty bait buddy.


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## allbraid (Jan 14, 2012)

About 28 years ago I was wading and fishing Alum creek south of Columbus in the area that is now 3 rivers park. The carp were spawning and there were literally hundreds of them rolling over and around each other in what could only be described as a breeding frenzy. In this mass of carp was one common carp with a bright orange patch on its side about the size of a playing card. I also fish a quarry that for the last 6 years has had a orange and white carp that has grown from about 10 inches to now being 24 plus inches. Sticks out like a sore thumb in that clear water. Lastly here is a pic of a butterfly carp that I caught a few winters ago in a central Ohio River. Very gold fish like in IMO.


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## Deazl666 (Mar 30, 2012)

MassillonBuckeye said:


> Thats flatty bait buddy.


Yep. R&R sells them. I figure a small percentage get loose or are released. 

A friend of mine who used to post here stocked his apartment pond with caught bass and fed them with goldfish. Anyway, several years after he moved out we hit his pond and I caught one of the survivors. Goofy-ass looking thing: it had grown into the size and shape of one of those small plastic footballs. 

Carry on.


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## fvogel67 (Nov 15, 2010)

I see them in the Great Miami all the time.


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## Snyd (May 5, 2004)

Yip - Every now and then I see one - The last one I saw was in Alum Creek.


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