The winners at The 7th Annual Perch and Eelpout contest was a 1.36 lb. perch and a 4.6 lb. Pout!
Below was a picture of the pout that Hook caught during this day! It was a cold morning at 8 below zero and a light NW wind that was a bit on the cold side. We only managed a couple little perch in our group.
Check out this “little pout” that Hook caught…….
Here is another pic of our group!
Oh…ya thats Hook with a big bottle of Mudslide…..
Here is a picture of the crowd at the drawings held after the weigh-in was complete! George Nitti from Hunters Point Resort told the crowd that he had only sold around 350 buttons prior to Friday……..They sold around 700 more before the drawings were held at 2pm Saturday! They had a number of last minute entry’s…..
The big winner in our group was Mike Lyon winning a 32 inch TV!!!!!!!! 
Mike!
Hook didn’t catch a micro ‘Pout – He caught a trophy Mottled Sculpin.
This is a very interesting observation. I have not seen one of these before. It does seem to have a down-turned mouth. I will see what I can find online.
Here is what I found. I do not think it is the same thing that Hooks is holding.
What’s In a Name?
Mottled sculpin: sculpin comes from the Latin word for “sea scorpion” and mottled refers to the dark blotches on the body
Cottus (Kot´-tus) means “the bull’s head” referring to an old name for freshwater European sculpins
bairdi (baird´-ee) named after the first U.S. Fish Commissioner, Spencer F. Baird
Where Do They Live?
Mottled sculpins occur primarily in the Rainy River, Lake Superior, St. Croix River, and Mississippi River (upper and lower) drainages. They also are known from the Otter Tail and Clearwater rivers in the Red River drainage. In streams they inhabit small, clear streams and large lakes that have rocky shores. They occupy both riffle and pools over sand, gravel, boulders, or limestone. Mottled sculpins favor clear water with some form of shelter (for example boulders or vegetation) to use as hiding spots. Common associates of mottled sculpins include white suckers, creek chubs, brook sticklebacks, and pearl dace, to name a few.
How Big Do They Get?
How Long Do They Live?
Minnesota mottled sculpins can get as big as 130 mm (about 5 in), but lengths of 75-90 mm (3-3.6 in) is more typical. Both sexes reach the age of 3 years. Very rarely one makes it to 4 years old.
What Do They Eat?
Since this fish is commonly a benthic (bottom dweller), they eat things that are found on the bottom. Diets vary from streams to lakes. In streams, aquatic insect larvae and sideswimmers are more common. In lakes, copepods, waterfleas, leeches, and algae are added. Occasionally, fish eggs and even small fish are found in mottled sculpin stomachs.
What Eats Them?
In trout streams, mottled sculpins are frequently eaten by large brook trout and brown trout. In other streams, they are eaten by young northern pike. They are eaten by smallmouth bass and walleye in northern lakes. American mergansers also prey on them. Humans do not eat them, but some anglers use them as bait.
How Do They Reproduce?
Mottled sculpins breed at water temperatures of 5-16° C (63-74° F), which is April and May depending on how far north the population is. Spawning takes place in cavities that males fan out beneath rocks, ledges, or logs. Males attract females through courtship displays of headshaking, headnodding, gillcover raising, and other body movements. The spawning pair turns upside down, and the female lays clusters of eggs on the underside of the rock or log. More than one female is likely to spawn with the male. The male protects the nest, keeps it clean, and eats dead, fungus-covered eggs (which are really embryos). A single female lays 100-600 eggs in a season, depending on her size. Embryos hatch in about 5-7 days.
Conservation and Management
Mottled sculpins are the most common (and probably abundant) sculpin in Minnesota. They have no special conservation status. Some biologist consider sculpin to be major predators of trout eggs, but their overall impact is probably small.
from
Natural History of Minnesota Fishes
Photograph by John Lyons WiDNR
Text by Nicole Paulson & Jay T. Hatch in cooperation with
the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources’ MinnAqua Aquatic Program
Yup… not a pout for sure. I’ve caught a couple of those little buggers up their in the winter off Sloppy Joes but the ones I caught were much darker… nearly black. I also used to see and catch them by hand in the trout streams in SE MN and Missouri by turning over larger rocks. They’re common in some streams but my guess is they’re on the rare side in the lakes.
Definitely a face only a mother could love.
Quote:
Hook didn’t catch a micro ‘Pout – He caught a trophy Mottled Sculpin.
Hey, with a little Mudslide!. That baby looked like a pout too me.
Very interesting info here, he did watch it on the camera for some time prior to catching it. It would just move in and out of the rocks, not much swimming motion…kind of a hop! weird!
Important point here: “Only Hook could catch something as weird as this baby” 
Yep,
Perseverance paid off again!
I wasn’t quiting until I figured out how to hook this thing. It wouldn’t swim more than 6 inches off the bottom, so the only way I could get it to bite was to rock the bait on the bottom. It would dart around in the rocks crawling with its front fins. Those fins are lined with prickly spines that I’m sure are a great defense mechanism. It had no problem with other fish around, nothing seemed to bother it, unless I set the jig down on it from behind.
Another one of life mysteries solved.
I was out with the man upstairs last night and he was commenting that this species is a sign of a healthy lake. 
I got an e-mail response from the DNR in Aitkin on that little creature.
“It is for sure not a burbot (‘pout), but the photo is not quite good
enough to say for sure whether it is a slimy sculpin (Cottus cognatus)
or mottled sculpin (C. bairdi). They are almost idendtical and not
readily seperable at a glance. Both species have been found in Mille
Lacs, and reports by winter anglers catching sculpin are not that
uncommon.”
Rick Bruesewitz
You beat me to the sculpin info. I catch them this time of year up there fishng for perch. Why can’t Willow cats be like them? Painless, yet deadly bait?
Tuck
crazy. i was out at center bar on the south end this year and i cought a few of those. i had no idea they were not pout.
Sculpin…..They can be mistaken for the Round Goby also. I sent one to the DNR a few years ago to make sure it was a Sculpin and not a Goby.
You must be logged in to reply to this topic.
