Re: NFC: Memorial weekend collecting

[robert a rice <robertrice at juno_com>]

WOWOWOWOWOWWOW.............

Any chance I can get some ennecanthus ? In my new houses fish room Id
like to keep single species tanks of all of them...ALSO Joe Tommelerri
wants a Mud Sunfish to draw...trade/buy/borrow or steal :)

On Wed, 29 May 2002 17:36:03 EDT Ipchay61 at aol_com writes:
> 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 
> go down on. We did have a pretty good time, even though we didn't 
> get the 
> stuff he wanted. I brought home some Sailfin and Dusky Shiners along 
> with one 
> Pugnose Minnow and a couple of Blackbanded Darters. We were 
> surprised that we 
> didn't find any type of sunfish, a fact Fritz mentioned quite a few 
> times.  
> Luckily, we didn't see any snakes or gators either.  
> 
> Chip Rinehart
> South Carolina
> 


Robert Rice - NFC president   www.nativefish.org