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Re: NFC: New Fishy Observations
hmm welaka you say....
Did I say thats my other old fav :)
Robert Rice NFC President
Save those Fishes, Join the Native Fish Conservancy
http://www.nativefish.org
On Tue, 13 Mar 2001 22:03:42 -0600 archimed at netdoor_com writes:
> Well, the weather being favorable, I did what any native fish guy
> should be doing in the Spring. A few people responded to my last
> post and wanted this or that fish, so I set out to collect some. My
>
> first destination was an unnamed stream in south Mississippi
> where I hoped to collect some flagfin shiners. The water was much
> higher than in times past due to heavy rainfall this year (makes up
>
> for the two years of dry weather), but it looked collectable. This
>
> particular creek is typical signipinnis habitat - dark stained and
> full
> of tape grass. Normally I can simply take a swipe at the grass and
>
> pull up several nice signipinnis. Not so this time! I made
> several
> attempts with my dipnet and came up empty. Finally I spotted
> several dark shapes hovering near a submerged stump. A quick
> swoosh, and in half a heartbeat I realized that the net was teeming
>
> with welaka! At least 20 in one netful. Now, I wasn't totally
> surprised to find welaka there, as BG and I had set out on a quest
> to find this spot last year, but were forced to conclude that for
> whatever reason the welaka were not to be found. I had previously
> sampled this stream twice and come up with plenty of flagfins but
> no bluenose. Neither did BG and I find any. But during a later
> trip
> that same year, I netted a juvenile that looked very much like the
> fish in question, and had that ID confirmed at the museum - it was
> a teeny tiny bluenose.
>
> But this year, two dipnets provided me with about 3 dozen welaka.
> Not a bad bonus, but I still didn't have any flagfins. A similar
> stream about a mile down the road (BG will remember it as the
> notti spot) also disappointed me. Well, I really needed those
> flagfins, so, even though it was not in my original itinerary, I
> drove
> down to Angie (across the LA state line) to what we call the "trash"
>
> creek. There being no animal carcasses of recent deposition, I
> waded on in. Now, this spot has produced year after year, and I
> knew I would not be disappointed. But I was skunked again! Not
> one fish did I find. I was at least pleased to see that the golden
>
> club (a really awesome emergent plant which reminds me of Hosta)
> was growing quite well. I made an abortive attempt to uproot a
> small specimen, and resolved to return another day with a shovel. I
>
> REALLY want a couple of those plants!
>
> Well, anyway, I was 0 for 3, and stopped at one spot just before
> crossing back into MS, where I finally hit the jackpot. No adults,
>
> but hordes of juvenile signipinnis and the attendant cherryfins
> (Lythrurus roseipinnis, which seem to be found always with
> Pteronotropis spp.).
>
> Thus satisfied, I had one more stop to make - you guessed it,
> Westville Creek. A couple of people had graciously offered to send
>
> me some silverjaw minnows (Ericymba buccata), which I declined
> as I had not really given any real effort to collecting them. Now,
> it
> happened that I was looking for E. stygmaeum (for Klaus) this
> time, but I was delighted to net 3 buccata (VERY COOL FISH!), as
> well as a couple of Notropis longirostris (common in that drainage,
>
> but an interesting minnow). The stygmaeum were showing more
> color than last time, and I kept about a dozen, included two
> colorful
> males. I also lucked upon a big-@ss logperch, and a blackside
> darter. To top it all off I packed out three nice, solid pieces of
>
> driftwood, suitable for a 20-30 gallon tank. Not a bad day at all.
> I
> found everything I was looking for, and then some.
>
> So, those of you who wanted fish, look for them next week. I'm
> shipping Monday. And BG, I did see sheriff one-eye, but he didn't
> bother me today :-)
>
>
>
> Prost,
>
> Martin
> Jackson, MS
> -----------------------------------------------------------
> Whenever I see an old lady slip and fall on a wet sidewalk,
> my first instinct is to laugh. But then I think, what if
> I was an ant, and she fell on me. Then it wouldn't seem
> quite so funny.
>
Robert Rice NFC President
Save those Fishes, Join the Native Fish Conservancy
http://www.nativefish.org