PICKAWAY – “Wow really? Ive never heard of them being in Deer Creek State Park,” said Marty Lundquest from ODNR Division of Wildlife.
Rick Colliflower 31, caught the Ohio Freshwater Lamprey in Deer Creek Park on Christmas Eve. Deer Creek is located 20635 State Park Road in Mt. Sterling. He said, ” I caught it around 8pm on a red and white jig i was fishing for Saugeye fish. I’ve never seen one in my life and I’ve fished deer creek my whole life. I’m 31, and none of my friends or family has ever seen one. I went fishing on Christmas Eve because I do not have any kids or a girl and i like to hunt and fish.”
The Ohio Lamprey is actually a Endangered Species. It is a parasitic species of fish, they rarely kill the host fish. ODNR says,”They pose no threat to sport fish.” Found mostly in free fast flowing waters buried in substrate. As babies they mostly filter feed on algae, plankton and other organic matter. Only the adults are parasitic on larger fish species.
ODNR Division of Wildlife Marty Lundquest says,” We see them in Madd river occasionally. They really like good quality water, cooler waters, and sediment/sand. Its a good sign that Deer Creek is getting cleaner as this species cannot survive in poor water conditions. We would ask if anyone catches rare and endangered species to contact us as we like to track locations of these fish.”
I hope he turned it loose back into Deer Creek..?
yes it was returned
Thats good that it was released back into the water…Where in Maine did you live?? My husband is from Portland
Eastern Maine small town called princeton
I saw them in my small stream a couple of years ago. I thought they were leeches until I came home and looked them up.
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