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Re: NFC: Memorial weekend collecting
This is a great collecting report . A good read and
loaded with information .
--- Ipchay61 at aol_com wrote:
> Dustin Smith, Dick Norwood and his daughter Emily,
> Dan Hagley (from
> Riverbanks Zoo), Ed (a guy that works with Dustin
> whose last name I can't
> recall), my daughter Stephanie and myself went out
> collecting Friday
> afternoon (May 24). Our main target was to get some
> Elassoma boehlkei for
> the zoo's species maintenance program. We were
> hoping to find some new
> locations for them so that we didn't over collect
> from the
> spot we usually visit. Our first stop was at Scape
> Ore Swamp at Hwy 34. We
> were denied access from one side of the road but,
> the landowner from the
> other side, upon hearing the man tell us no, says
> "y'all can go on down from
> my side. I don't mind". I think he and the other
> guy are feuding.....lol.
> We thanked him and promised to stop by on our way
> out to show him some of the
> fish we were looking for. He also told us there was
> a 7 or 8ft gator down
> there from time to time. Thankfully, we didn't see
> it. At this spot we
> found these fish:
> Eastern Mosquitofish (Gambusia holbrooki)
> Lined Topminnow (Fundulus lineolatus) the most
> attractive I've ever seen
> Mud Sunfish (Acantharcus pomotis)
> Bluespotted Sunfish (Enneacanthus gloriosus)
> Blackbanded Sunfish (Enneacanthus chaetodon)(juv)
> Banded Pygmy Sunfish (Elassoma zonatum)
> Pirate Perch (Aphrododerus sayanus)(juv)
> Swampfish (Chologaster cornuta)(juv)
> Sawcheek Darter (Etheostoma serrifer)
> Redfin Pickerel (Esox americanus)
> Eastern Mudminnow (Umbra pygmaea)
>
> We left this spot and, after showing the landowner
> the fish and thanking him
> for the accesss, he told us of another spot we
> should try. Dustin and I have
> it marked for a visit at a later date. Our main
> goal here was to get Mud
> Sunfish for a few people that had requested some.
> Also, I should note, was
> the large number of juvenile swampfish we found. At
> times we had two or
> three in one dip.
>
> From here we went to a spot on Big Pine Tree Creek,
> upstream of our normal
> spot. Here the current was very fast and the water
> deep so we didn't find
> very much. Our only specimens here were a Chain
> Pickerel (Esox niger) and a
> Speckled Madtom (Noturus insignus). So, we headed
> on to the next spot.
>
> This site is a small tributary of Big Pine Tree
> Creek. There was much
> roadside litter here but it was still a better site
> than the previous one.
> This is what we found:
> Everglades Pygmy Sunfish (Elassoma evergladei)
> Ironcolor Shiner (Notropis chalybaeus)
> Chain Pickerel (Esox niger)
> Bluespotted Sunfish (Enneacanthus gloriosus)
> Mud Sunfish (Acantharchus pomotis)
> Sawcheek Darter (Etheostoma serrifer)
> Eastern Mudminnow (Umbra pygmaea)
> Pirate Perch (Aphrododerus sayanus)
>
> We left this spot, mainly because we still had not
> found any E.boehlkei and
> Dan needed some for the zoo. He was like a kid in a
> toy store. He was
> keeping both types of pickerel, Bluespotted Sunfish,
> Lined Topminnows and was
> really getting into the collecting. We may wind up
> having a new NANFA
> member. I let him look at my new AC and he really
> enjoyed it. Anyway, we
> went down to the spot at Big Pine Tree Creek at Hwy
> 34 where we always find
> E.boehlkei. This is what we found:
> Carolina Pygmy Sunfish (Elassoma boehlkei)
> Lined Topminnow (Fundulus lineolatus)
> Eastern Mudminnow (Umbra pygmaea)
> Bluespotted Sunfish (Enneacanthus gloriosus)
> Pirate Perch (Aphrododerus sayanus)
> Redfin Pickerel (Esox americanus)
> Swampfish (Chologaster cornuta)
> Flier (Centrarchus macropterus)
> Eastern Mosquitofish (Gambusia holbrooki)
>
> After we left, Dan, who was riding with me, was
> talking about some of the
> fish he would like to have at the zoo and mentioned
> Bowfin. I told him I had
> one and would give it to them. We arranged for me
> to take it to them the
> next day (Saturday). Stephanie and I took my Bowfin
> to Dan at the zoo the
> next day. He took us in and showed us around,
> behind the scenes. While we
> were there he fed their Pacific Giant Octopus and
> let Steph touch it or
> should I say let it touch her. He then took us into
> the Galapagos Tortoise
> exhibit and let Steph rub the big ones neck. He
> spent alot of time showing
> her around and she was having a ball. Stephanie and
> I spent about 4 hrs
> there. He gave me some free zoo passes to use and
> said he would like to go
> with us again sometime. Sounds like we've got him
> hooked!
>
> Monday (Memorial Day), I went with Fritz Rohde. We
> had initially planned on
> going towards Canadys and looking for Bannerfin
> Shiners (Cyprinella leedsi)
> in the Edisto River but changed our plans and
> decided to initially look for
> Broadtail Madtoms (Noturus spp.) in the South Fork
> Edisto. Fritz's backpack
> shocker wasn't working, a fact we didn't discover
> until we got to the second
> spot. We kind of suspected this but weren't sure at
> the first site. Anyway,
> we put the canoe in at the public boat ramp on the
> South Fork Edisto at hwy
> 39 around 8:30am. From there we paddeled upstream
> for about a quarter mile
> (seemed alot farther). We tried to shock on various
> settings but didn't get
> anything other than Grass shrimp. We finally decided
> to seine down stream,
> kick seine and toss seine. This is what we got:
> Blackbanded Darter (Percina nigrofasciata)
> Tessellated Darter (Etheostoma olmstedi)
> Sailfin Shiner (Pteronotropis hypselopterus)
> Dusky Shiner (Notropis cummingsae)
> Coastal Shiner (Notropis petersoni)
> Bannerfin Shiner (Cyprinella leedsi)
> Pugnose Minnow (Opsopoedus emeiliae)
> Chain Pickerel (Esox niger)
> Redfin Pickerel (Esox americanus)
> Largemouth Bass (Micropterus salmoides)
> Speckled Madtom (Noturus insignus)
>
> Fritz was glad to find the Bannerfin Shiner (we
> only got one and it was a
> female) but was dissapointed that we didn't get at
> least one Broadtail
> Madtom. From here we headed to the North Fork
> Edisto at hwy 3. There wasn't
> much to be found here. We discovered the shocker
> wasn't working when we
> couldn't stun Gambusia at the ramp. It seemed like
> they just laughed at us.
> They must have thought we were training them to go
> through the hoop. This is
> what we found here:
> Eastern Mosquitofish (Gambusia holbrooki)
> Blackbanded Darter (Percina nigrofasciata)
> Tessellated Darter (Etheostoma olmstedi)
> Largemouth Bass (Micropterus salmoides)
> Speckled Madtom (Noturus insignus)
>
> We headed on to our last spot from here. It was at
> Bull Swamp Creek on a
> side road off of SSR 73. There was some road
> construction going on nearby,
> but the side we sampled was clear and had a good
> sandy bottom in most areas.
> Here we got the following:
> Dusky Shiner (Notropis cummingsae)
> Coastal Shiner (Notropis petersoni)
> Pugnose Minnow (Opsopoedus emeiliae)
> Blackbanded Darter (Percina nigrofasciata)
> Tessellated Darter (Etheostoma olmstedi)
> Speckled Madtom (Noturus insignus)
>
> The Bannerfin Shiner from the first site, while it
> was nice looking, was
> larger than I had expected and all of the shiners,
> at the last spot, were
> pretty good sized for those types. I told Fritz of
> our trip on Friday and,
> when I told him about all the swampfish, he said he
> wished he had told us
> sooner that he had some people who want some to try
> and breed. He thinks the
> small ones would adjust to captivity better. Guess
> that means we'll be going
> back sometime...I showed him the site on the map and
> told him which side to
>
=== message truncated ===
=====
Bill Hoppe
Yellville Arkansas
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