On Wed, 6 Aug 2008 23:34:05 -0400, "jack" wrote:

I see there are fishermen here, so maybe someone can identify a fish for me.
This morning in Canandaigua Lake (Western NY) I saw a fish that was over 2
feet long and maybe 8 inches wide. It was purple/gray in about 2 feet of
water. It was swimming along the shore line, apparently digging something
out of the mud, because it stirred up a lot of mud.

Never seen anything like it before.

Burbot. Possibly a bullhead, but that's unlikely at that length.