Whitefish
Prosopium Williamsoni
Timothy Kusherets
Whitefish are freshwater fish of North America with a European Whitefish cousin.
The North American version has a bronze dorsal are with a white underbelly that
has a blue hue. The nose is slightly blunted with an overhanging kype (upper
jaw, or maxillary) and receding mandible (lower jaw). This species of fish can
attain weights up to three and six pounds on average with larger catches reported.
The European version has a brown dorsal area with graying sides and opaque underbelly.
The nose is slightly blunted but is turned up slightly. This fish averages in
weight of four to seven pounds with slightly higher weights on occasion.
The North American distribution is wide and varied throughout the northern latitudes
beginning with the northern states of the U.S. into Canada and up towards Alaska.
Many of these fish are caught in lakes and cold clear streams where they can
be drift-fished with flies, corkies, spinners, and jigs.
European whitefish are found in lakes, ponds, and streams of the U.K. into Europe,
and over towards the Black Sea of the Ukraine. Thought these fish are smaller
than the American species they too can be drift-fished with corkies, flies,
spinners, and jigs.
These fish may appear to be skittish but are not. Found along the bed of rivers
and lakes they will hold in one place when pressure from anglers is on. They
frequent on and around boulders and will take offerings refused by salmon, steelhead,
and trout. Ironically, when fishing for either species of fish what they’ll
strike versus what they won’t is a good template to record for future
fishing trips.
Whitefish are denser than the Salmonid species. Due to their heavier bodies,
per size measurements, they don’t have to fight as hard and constantly
trick anglers into thinking their catch is bigger on the basis of line pull.
Depending on what region a fisherman finds himself in, they can be considered
a nuisance fish since they'll bite into the same offering time and again. When
releasing this fish it’s best to walk it downstream away from holds where
bigger fish are. When biting fish compete they will be the first to strike.
© Timothy Kusherets 2004/08
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