Checklist

[mixxedbagg]

I know a few of you keep life lists. Has anyone actually created or found a decent Minnesota fish checklist?

[Slabasaurus]

Nothin too fancy, just something in the same excel workbook I keep my daily fishing log detail in, just in a separate sheet "behind" the daily log data.

EX: Sheet 1 is my 2010 summer seasonal stats (dates, weather, species and numbers caught, etc) while sheet 2 is my trophy list, and sheet 3 is my life list.... as best I could put it together. Naturally it's always growing as I learn more about fish and different regions.

[mixxedbagg]

Cool. I'll bet we could make a comprehensive list of catchable Minnesota fish species right here so somebody with sweet word processing skills could make a checklist to share. Anybody in?

[Schollmeier]

I've actually been meaning to get one of these together myself. I'd gladly share it, once it is finished.

The big question: My copy will include all species. It wouldn't be hard for me to save a copy before I add all the minnows but that raises one question.

What to leave out? There are a lot of border line species that some people would count and others would not (ex: creek chubs, stone cats, orangespotted sunfish, etc)

[Slabasaurus]

Schollmeier, you should just say your location is the state of Jefferson... hehe. Although I'm not sure how much of Nebraska was in Jefferson. I digress.. now where were we? Ahh yes.

Will you have the species listed and then list subspecies under that? Or will this be an overall list?

I've got mine in excel as mentioned, the first column is species, the second is subspecies. However, I only update this as i Catch them, nothing too "proactive" so to speak, it's not all inclusive i guess, it's just as i catch something new, I'll update it and write a note about the memory.

I'd say if you're categorizing it to some extent, leaving all fish you can think of on a master list would be just fine. Otherwise I can see how it'd be cluttered and confusing.

[maj330]

The wiki entry of fish in MN (includes warm water and cold water sportfish, other sportfish, and non-gamefish) is pretty easy to transfer to a spreadsheet. Here's a link: wiki mn fish

[bassmann77]

There are a lot of fish in MN that one cannot catch with a rod. If you want to have a list of fish that can be taken by a rod, take the MN state record fish list and print it off. I started this year, and I have a photo album with pictures of what species and where I caught them. Some of those fish are going to be a challenge to catch (eel, warmouth, atlantic salmon). Starting this made me realize that I don't take enough pictures of the fish that I have caught in the past. I just caught a redhorse (going to ID it tomorrow) and a white sucker today. Two more off the list!!!

[mixxedbagg]

That's a good idea Bassman!

[tjbassmaster]

Yes, the state record list is good, but if you really want to get every fish you could take by a rod and real you would have to do more research. Here is a list I came up with after a 40 minutes of research. The list has a total of 72 different fish species 27 of which I know for a fact that I have caught. So I still got a ways to go.

List

Atlantic salmon, Brook trout, Brown trout, ,Cisco "tulibee" or "lake herring" ,Chinook salmon ,Coho salmon ,Lake trout ,

Lake whitefish ,Pink salmon ,Rainbow smelt ,Rainbow trout, Black bullhead,Black crappie, Bluegill ,Brown bullhead

Burbot, Channel catfish, Flathead catfish, Green sunfish, Lake sturgeon,Largemouth bass, Longear sunfish,Muskellunge

Northern pike ,American paddlefish,Pumpkinseed ,Rock bass ,Sauger,Shovelnose sturgeon,Smallmouth bass ,Walleye

Warmouth ,White bass ,White crappie,White perch,Yellow bass ,Yellow bullhead ,Yellow perch,American eel,Bigmouth buffalo

Black buffalo,Black redhorse ,Bowfin,Common carp ,Creek chub,Freshwater drum ,Gizzard shad ,Golden redhorse ,Goldeye

Goldfish ,Greater redhorse ,Highfin carpsucker ,Longnose gar ,Longnose sucker ,Mooneye ,Northern hogsucker ,Quillback

River carpsucker ,River redhorse ,Shorthead redhorse ,Shortnose gar ,Silver redhorse ,Smallmouth buffalo ,Spotted sucker

White sucker ,Common Shiner,Golden Shiner,Hornyhead chub,Orangespotted sunfish, Madtom

Here are a couple more that could be caught, but would be hard to get.

Pirate Perch,Trout Perch,Blue Catfish,Blue sucker

[Schollmeier]

Talked recently with anordqu42. He has checklist started so we should be able to piece one together pretty easy. A few side notes:

-paddlefish probably aren't catchable on hook and line (unless you count snagging)

-Pretty much all the tiny minnows are catchable, provided you have some tiny fly hooks but they certainly aren't exactly rod-bending fish.

-I think if you count the tiny fish MN is in the 140+ range for species

-don't bring up the blue catfish in the cat forum... that's pretty widely recognized as an error - no blue cats anywhere near MN

Oh and I am currently living/working in what was once the Jefferson Territory but even then I'm not far from what was once the Nebraska territory... it certainly looks very nebraksa-ish here...

[Schollmeier]

Ok, using anordqu42's list - with the addition of paddlefish. I come up with 72 species, counting only gamefish and baitfish that can exceed 1 pound in weight.

There are an additional 4 or so Cisco species that may or may not actually be unique species, that is still in dispute and may well stay that way for a while.

Currently it is just a simple check list. For my own purposes I'm going to add the "tiny" fish and sort by order and native versus exotic (OCD?? yes I am). But that may wait until winter, too much going on right now.

[Schollmeier]

Link to the spreadsheet - I think every one should be able to access it and either download it or copy it. Let me know if anyone has trouble with it.

MN Fish Species - Over 1Lb - Alphabetized by Common Name

I figure that for most people this list will fit what they want. There are some "disputed species" listed at the bottom, and some (like the various asian carps) are included even though their exact status is foggy.

Don't thank me, ANordqu42 did most of it.

This winter I'll make another copy with the tiny species and everything organized taxonomically. I'll post that too (when I'm done) in case anyone wants it.

[tjbassmaster]

I like the idea of putting only fish that can exceed 1 pound on the list, but what about maybe go with fish that exceed 3 to 4 inches. This would add the more easily caught minnows and chubs to the list. And like you said people can freely add and take fish out as they please.

About the blue catfish I have read the topics about them and only put them in the list because it is really not know if they can be found in minnesota. Maybe there are a few but most likely not.

I to will do some more work on my list and when it is complete I will post it. So everyone can compare ideas.

[StillwaterAaron]

I have 154 on my list including minnows and some obscure fish most people would never know.

[Schollmeier]

I have 154 on my list including minnows and some obscure fish most people would never know.

Are you willing to share your list Aaron? That would save me a bundle of time on compiling my own.

[StillwaterAaron]

No prob Scholl Shoot me a pm somewhere or if yu have my email shoot me a message and I will forward it to you. It also includes some lampreys so there are more than the 154 listed. I rarely come on this board.

[MinnesnowtaWild]

Dude post that list up!

[mixxedbagg]

I created one that I think is pretty sweet, but I can't upload it here. I tried putting it on Google Docs, but Google screwed up the formatting. Is there a way I can just upload it direct?

[MinnesnowtaWild]

Nevermind I would rather have pics of the girl in your avatar instead.

[pureinsanity]

I created one that I think is pretty sweet, but I can't upload it here. I tried putting it on Google Docs, but Google screwed up the formatting. Is there a way I can just upload it direct?

Email it to me. I can get it up for you.

[PurpleFloyd]

I have 154 on my list including minnows and some obscure fish most people would never know.

Where I live in south central Mn there is a creek a relative owns that has Johnny Darters and mudminnows among others. generally I thought they were only found in the southeast part of the state,

[Schollmeier]

Finally finished my MN species list - organized by native or exotic and then by family-->genus-->species. I included max length (some of those are questionable but published) and drainages present. More detailed than many would like but easier to cut out what you don't want. Next I gotta work on my WI one...

here it is:

https://spreadsheets.google.com/ccc?key=...uthkey=CJf3udQE

My primary sources were:

http://www.journal.mnmas.org/03_ANewDistributionListOfMNFisheries.htm

and this one (which is a great checklist on its own)

http://www.journal.mnmas.org/03_ANewDistributionListOfMNFisheries_Figure1.pdf

O4L provided a nice spreadsheet that helped as well and I checked a few things (primarily length) in the Peterson Guide.