I have been in west TX for the last few days visiting family and I decided to see if the Pecos river was holding any fish. Turns out that its swarming with the little guys below. I caught about 70 of them in about 2 hours and they averaged around 4 inches. I was using ultra light gear with a chartuse/tan grub on a 1/16 jig head. I also used a green mini spinner. The wind was gusty so I used a slow to medium retrieve and they attacked the jig like a pack of piranhas. All were CPR, and will fight another day. Even though the Pecos is practically a steam at this point, its good to know that there's life in it.

Great report and pics! What kinda fish are those?

Those fish need to get bigger! Also would love to know what kind of fish those are? It is one of my favorite things to do is to fish a new body of water and to explore it. Thanks of sharing.

ummmmmm


pupfish (thus the title, unless they are killifish....)

not sure which species of pupfish though. The Pecos Pupfish is endangered (actually, critically endangered).

Thanks for the answer. "Pupfish" Learn something new every day. This is yet another super reason to read the TFF.

Thanks for sharing!

I have been trying to figure out what type of pupfish they are but I haven't had much luck. I would be interested to find out what kind they are and how big they get, so I can hunt down another trophy fish.

WOW talk about a flashback, I spent many a summer day swimming there as a kid, we used to drive from Odessa down there. Back in the day if you went upstream from the bridge there was a REAL DEEP hole, we used to jump from the bank down about 14 feet to the water, never touched the bottom, not even the adults.

Look like gulf killifish to me based on lack of patterning and size. Different family than pupfish, but fairly closely related. Cool catch nonetheless.

I hadn't even heard of this fish until AJ posted his pics and report. I've been doing some reading on them on-line and they are a very intriguing specie group. Thanks for broading my horizons; that's why I love the TFF and this board in particular!

That does look more like the pic on TX State U's website. More research!

These look very similar to the mud minnows I catch/fish with in the marshes/bays.

Thanks everyone for all the great replies. I did some more research and Catfish_hunter and Kyle46N got it right. They are Gulf killifish AKA "Mud minnow" or "Chub".
They were introduced into the Pecos, Bravos, and Rio Grande. They can live in salt or freshwater, and are pretty hardy.
Apparently I caught a state record and didn't even know it. The biggest gulf killifish caught in salt water was 6.15" and only 3.75" in freshwater. My two biggest are below and are 6.25" & 5.75".

You could still submit the pics for c&r records!
Good catches!

Boy those pics bring back memories we used to catch tons of those with a cast net as kids to use for bait .. hmm that was back in 75 in a small rasaca by Gladys Porter Zoo in Brownsville Texas .. have to go back and try that place again