What is this fish?

I escaped from work this afternoon and spent a few hours on the Willamette.  A great day to be on the water. 

The sturgeon must not be happy that I signed up for AOTY because they would have nothing to do with me today.  But this ugly little guy below and his buddies were nibbling at my bait all afternoon. 

I was lucky to hook one considering they are not much bigger than my bait.  It's not a pikeminnow, which I have also caught nibbling at my dino bait before.  If I was in salt water, I would guess a juvi lingcod.  But I wasn't. 

So any ideas?  Whatever it is, I demand it be an AOTY category, and that it be measured round and round like a corkscrew, but only on Tuesdays. 

Seriously.  Anyone know?

And I was surprised to see a large sea lion upriver this early in the year.  I don't remember seeing them in the willy until the springers are really running hard.  Anyone know about this too?

PS.  The beer in the shot is for you Jself. I know you appreciation good kayak beer holding.

looks like some kind of Sculpin, brian would know better.

I'm not familiar with all the various species in the area, but like Roy said this is some sort of fresh water sculpin (a relative of the cabezon).

Bullhead

sculpin (stickleback I think).  It was a great day to be on the river, I was upriver from there working on some steelhead action, none today, but the weather made up for the slow fishing.  There are at least 3-4 sea lions between that area and the falls. I have watched them several times in the last week or so targeting and catching sturgeon, not a ton salmon around yet so I guess they eat what is around.  At least one of them has been here since late December

I'm thinking Seakitten maybe?

Good call Spot.

It is a Bullhead and I used to catch them as a kid and then use them as bait.

a bullhead is a sculpin...

Actually in most of the United States a bullhead is a type of small catfish.

Actually in most of the United States a bullhead is a type of small catfish.

Yea, i've always called these sculpins bullheads in Cali. Never heard the term for catfish until i moved up here.

bullhead they are  called here as well. Sculpin they are truly.
 I have spent my time catching a handfull of those to fillet out as Cutthroat bait.
 used extensively here on the Chetco and surrounding rivers for this purpose.
 I have seen them all the way down at the mouith of the river in the salt water and way up river in the 8-10 mile range from the mouth.
 if yer catching bullhead, yer probably fishing on a large rock bottom area. Is that condusive to Sturgeon?

I know this isn't what it is...but it looks alot like the toad fish we used to catch in florida...don't wanna get near the little spines on a toad fish lol...luckily we never touched the first few we caught cause we didn't know what they were

This northwesterner calls that a bullhead.  Looks to be the typical ones I've seen in freshwater.

-Allen

It's a sculpin.

The bullheads I've seen (in the mid-West) are little catfish, with nasty spines.

It's a sculpin.

The bullheads I've seen (in the mid-West) are little catfish, with nasty spines.

Yes, the fish-nerd-wannabe in me knows it's a sculpin.   

We have bullheads (the catfish kind) in some lakes in Washington.

-Allen