VA / NC trip part 2 - Dan & Roanoke drainages

Day two put us in the Dan River and Roanoke River drainages. Our first stop was a small stream going through a public park. A footpath bridge made the perfect microfishing spot. It was a sunny day, and tons of minnows were hanging out in the pool beneath the bridge. When the reach of the 12 foot crappie pole isn't necessary, I switch to my 5 foot ultralight. Just like the day before, the new lifers came in one after another!

Mountain Redbelly Dace (Chrosomus oreas) - new hook & line species #122


Rosyside Dace (Clinostomus funduloides) - new hook & line species #123


Crescent Shiner (Luxilus cerasinus) - new hook & line species #124


We then headed to a dam on the Pigg River with a small stream flowing in downstream. Miciah headed to the stream, and I fished above and below the dam. Bryce, who had done most of the driving on the trip, took a nap in the car. I used a size #10 Octopus hook with my ultralight, and quickly caught the larger chub and shiner species hanging out below the dam.

Bluehead Chub (Nocomis leptocephalus) - new hook & line species #125


White Shiner (Luxilus albeolus) - new hook & line species #126


Crescent Shiner (Luxilus cerasinus) - adults at this spot, the previous ones were juveniles


I also tied on a small Mepps spinner and caught this nicely colored brown trout above the dam.

Brown Trout (Salmo trutta)


After catching more of the same, I made my way down to the small creek to see how Miciah was doing. He said that he was catching mostly juvenile shiners and chubs, but had also caught a fantail darters. I knew that the fantails on the east coast have been in the process of being split into new species, so I was excited to catch one. After a while looking through the rocks in the creek, I found a few! They certainly look different than the striped fantail darters we have in Illinois.

Chesapeake Fantail Darter (Etheostoma humerale) - new hook & line species #127


Back at the dam, we continued fishing as the sun began to set. The fish we caught began to change, and we each caught a fish that we weren't expecting, cutlips minnow!

Cutlips Minnow (Exoglossum maxillingua) - new hook & line species #128


These guys had really interesting mouths.



As it got darker, we began catching nothing but rock bass. We photographed each one, hoping for Roanoke bass, but apparently we were in a part of the drainage where rock bass are more dominant.

Rock Bass (Ambloplites rupestris)

VA / NC trip part 1 - Potomac drainage

Last week was the most intense species fishing trip I've been on to date. My friends Miciah and Bryce and I had been toying with the idea of an east coast trip for a while. With the week free for all of us, we hit the road from Michigan to D.C. in search of new species.

Our first priorities were northern snakehead and American eel in the Potomac drainage. Unfortunately, the government shutdown prevented us from accessing the spots on the Potomac where friends of ours had caught snakehead and eel in the past. After catching a few sunfish and catfish at a couple potential spots, we switched things up by microfishing an urban stream. With this being my first time fishing the east coast, I was able to rack up quite a nice lifer count right away! All of the fish below were caught with a 12 foot crappie pole rigged with a Tanago Half Moon hook, baited with a small piece of nightcrawler.

Eastern Mosquitofish (Gambusia holbrooki) - new hook & line species #115


Mummichog (Fundulus heteroclitus) - new hook & line species #116


Eastern Blacknose Dace (Rhinichthys atratulus atratulus) - new subspecies


Satinfin Shiner (Cyprinella analostana) - new hook & line species #117


Swallowtail Shiner (Notropis procne) - new hook & line species #118


Redbreast Sunfish (Lepomis auritus) - new hook & line species #119


Banded Killifish (Fundulus diaphanus) - new hook & line species #120


Each night we hit the road in order to put ourselves close to the next days' fishing spots. Along the way to our motel, we stopped at a small mill pond by the side of the road. We fished close to vegetation in hopes of flier and other small sunfish. Miciah caught a bluespotted sunfish right away, and not long after Bryce and I each had one as well!

Bluespotted Sunfish (Enneacanthus gloriosus) - new hook & line species #121


The next bluespotted on the end of my line was probably the smallest sunfish I've caught hook & line. We were all pretty entertained with how tiny it was.



What a great first day of fishing!

Rain, paddlefish, buffalo, and drum

In need of a vacation day, I took a three day weekend trip to Wisconsin to spend time on the Wisconsin River at the Prairie du Sac dam. Rain was in the forecast, but I figured the fish wouldn't mind. Being the lucky guy that I am, Ruoxi agreed to be my fishing companion. We drove up Friday afternoon, and since the rain hadn't started I set up the bank rods before worrying about our other gear. A few minutes after putting a nightcrawler on the bottom, the bell at the end of my rod was ringing, and I had a heavy fish on the line.



I knew that I'd have to get in the water to negotiate around snags, so I already had my waders on. There are a lot of sharp rocks in the water, especially where the shallow flat drops off into the main channel carved out by the dam discharge. After a few brief hangups, I guided the fish into the shallows. To my surprise, it came in tail first! On the end of my line was an American paddlefish, a state threatened fish in Wisconsin. My line was wrapped once around his tail, and to be honest I'm surprised he stayed on.



I unwrapped the line from the its tail, and lifted it half out of the water for a quick photo. It's important to handle these fish correctly, or you can get in trouble with the DNR. They would prefer that the paddlefish are not fully removed from the water, and they especially do not want them picked up by the snout, gill flaps, or tail. These large animals are not designed to support their own weight out of the water, so picking them up incorrectly can cause permanent damage.

American Paddlefish (Polyodon spathula)


After smiling for the photo, the paddlefish headed back to the main channel.



The rest of the afternoon was pretty slow. We lost a lot of rigs to the snags, and the only bites we had on the bottom were small freshwater drum. They're cool fish, but you do get tired of seeing them when they're all that's biting!

Freshwater Drum (Aplodinotus grunniens)


Ruoxi took one of the poles set up with a 2-hook Sabiki rig and fished closer to the dam discharge. While I was unhooking another small drum, I heard her shout that she caught a fish, and she didn't know what it was. She had caught a mooneye, one my of my favorite Wisconsin River fish!

Mooneye (Hiodon tergisus)


On Saturday we headed up to the same spot, determined to lose less rigs to snags and find more fish than the day before. We set up our awning closer to the discharge. It was nice to have when the rain picked up.



The first fish of the day was a pleasant surprise, my second ever smallmouth buffalo, and my first from Wisconsin. It was caught on one of my heavier rods, so it wasn't able to put up much of a fight.  It would have been a blast on light tackle I'm sure.

Smallmouth Buffalo (Ictiobus bubalus)




Mid-day the bite began to pick back up, and we caught a few more species, including this walleye and a several small smallmouth bass.

Walleye (Sander vitreus)


Ruoxi did her share of reeling in drum. I swear we must have been putting our bait right in the middle of a huge school of them.

Freshwater Drum (Aplodinotus grunniens)


Ruoxi managed to catch three new lifers over the weekend, completing her trio with this walleye.

Walleye (Sander vitreus)


Eventually the rain and snags convinced us to head back to Madison and spend the rest of the weekend indoors. The Prairie du Sac dam can be a tough place to fish, but every time I visit there's at least one big surprise!

Sandy Creek, IL

With the warm weather ending soon, I spent one of my free days this weekend revisiting a few spots that have been on my mind lately. The first was Sandy Creek, which has an incredible number of fish species.  On this visit I caught 27 species and took the opportunity to photograph a few that I have not been able to catch hook & line for my lifelist.

I was especially happy to find and identify mud darters, which inhabited the transition from riffles to pools, usually in among leaf litter and submerged sticks.  It was also nice to find banded darters, which I had previously only found in Wisconsin and Ohio.  Darters become difficult to catch hook & line in the fall, so I'll wait until next spring to pursue them hook & line.  They should have better colors then as well, so that will be an added bonus.

Red Shiner (Cyprinella lutrensis) - caught hook & line


Suckermouth Minnow (Phenacobius mirabilis)


Mud Darter (Etheostoma asprigene) - male


Mud Darter (Etheostoma asprigene) - female


Banded Darter (Etheostoma zonale)

Logperch (Percina caprodes)


Northern Clearwater Crayfish (Orconectes propinquus)


Not bad for a creek in the middle of farm country!  Here's the full list of species caught and seen:

1. Quillback (Carpiodes cyprinus)
2. Highfin Carpsucker (Carpiodes cyprinus)
3. Northern Hogsucker (Hypentelium nigricans)
4. Golden Redhorse (Moxostoma erythrurum)
5. Shorthead Redhorse (Moxostoma macrolepidotum)
6. Central Stoneroller (Campostoma anomalum)
7. Red Shiner (Cyprinella lutrensis)
8. Spotfin Shiner (Cyprinella spiloptera)
9. Emerald Shiner (Notropis atherinoides)
10. Sand Shiner (Notropis stramineus)
11. Suckermouth Minnow (Phenacobius mirabilis)
12. Bluntnose Minnow (Pimephales notatus)
13. Creek Chub (Semotilus atromaculatus)
14. Blackstripe Topminnow (Fundulus notatus)
15. Western Mosquitofish (Gambusia affinis)
16. Green Sunfish (Lepomis cyanellus)
17. Bluegill (Lepomis macrochirus)
18. Smallmouth Bass (Micropterus dolomieu)
19. Mud Darter (Etheostoma asprigene)
20. Rainbow Darter (Etheostoma caeruleum)
21. Fantail Darter (Etheostoma flabellare)
22. Johnny Darter (Etheostoma nigrum)
23. Orangethroat Darter (Etheostoma spectabile)
24. Banded Darter (Etheostoma zonale)
25. Logperch (Percina caprodes)
26. Blackside Darter (Percina maculata)
27. Channel Catfish (Ictalurus punctatus)

On other occasions I've also seen largemouth bass, white bass, smallmouth buffalo, common carp, and grass carp.  They were probably still there, but the lack of rain has caused the water to get more murky in the deep pools.

Embarras River and Salt Fork Creek, IL

Yesterday I explored several spots along the Embarras River and one on the Salt Fork Creek in eastern Illinois. The Embarras has been on my mind lately because it has several species that would be new hook & line catches for me, in particular brindled madtom, slenderhead darter, and dusky darter.

At the first Embarras River spot (downstream of the Charleston dam), I left my net in the car so that I could focus on microfishing. I've found that my patience with hook & line fishing decreases substantially when I have a net available nearby. The Embarras along this stretch was mostly sandy flats and pools with submerged wood, but after a hike I was able to find one nice rocky riffle. Within minutes of finding the spot I found a madtom willing to bite. I was pleasantly surprised to find it was a mountain madtom!

Mountain Madtom (Noturus eleutherus) - new hook & line species #114






So far I've avoided using photo tank pictures for my hook & line lifelist. I'm not exactly sure why I prefer a "fish in hand" or "fish on the ground" picture, but I do. Photo tank pictures are great for IDing fish, but for whatever reason I don't want them in my lifelist album. I chose the last photo above for my lifelist.

The riffle was also full of slenderhead darters, but they were unwilling to play. They spooked easily, and unlike other darter species that will move only a couple feet away, the slenderheads would continue bolting until they were out of sight. Maybe in the spring they'll be braver and stick around. On the hike back I found some eastern sand darters on a shallow flat. They were really cool, but again were completely unwilling to play. I'll be back in the spring looking for them as well.

The Embarras was full of monster mussels. There were a couple different species. Someday I'll have to learn what they are. This one was nearly 7 inches across.



The Embarras River dam in Charleston wasn't flowing, so I continued upstream to a spot where the river is substantially smaller. I did not stay long because I was concerned about possibly being on private property. I did see quite a few grass pickerel, as well as bluegill, blackstripe topminnow, western mosquitofish, spotfin shiner, redfin shiner, emerald shiner, greenside darter, slenderhead darter, logperch, and several others that I couldn't recognize without catching them.

Next time I'll find a spot that I'm confident is public property so I can look for creek chubsuckers and spotted suckers.

At the Salt Fork I didn't feel like messing with the rod & reel, so I netted a few fish to see if I could find anything new. I found quite a few brindled madtoms, which will be a future microfishing target. It would be fun to come back to this spot at night with a headlamp and see if they are cruising around.

Brindled Madtom (Noturus miurus)




I also netted this dusky darter, which is the first I've encountered. Another springtime target for microfishing!

Dusky Darter (Percina sciera)

New lifer hunting in Illinois

This is a post I never took the time to write, so I'll post something temporary as a placeholder.  I've been continuing my new lifer search in central Illinois.  A good spot I found is Sandy Creek, which is across the Illinois River from the town of Henry.  I've caught and seen dozens of species in this creek, and recently I caught my first smallmouth buffalo from one of the deeper pools.  It was quite a fight on my 12 foot crappie pole rigged with 4 lb line.  Expect to see a few more lifers from Sandy Creek in the future, because I know they're in there!

Smallmouth Buffalo (Ictiobus bubalus) - new hook & line species #112


My other adventures have taken me to the eastern side of the state.  My micro searches have been tough with the hot weather and stagnant murky water that often occurs as a result of it.  Periodic rain is crucial for keeping these streams clean and clear.  One of my trips took me close to Kickapoo State Park, where redear sunfish have been stocked in some of the strip mine ponds.  I found a nice quiet spot on a side channel of Sportsman Lake to fish for sunfish.  After a few expected bluegill, I caught my first redear!

Redear Sunfish (Lepomis microlophus) - new hook & line species #113

More exciting material coming in future posts!

Illinois River backwaters

And we're back!  I've moved to Peoria, IL to start a new job.  I'll miss Madison and the fishing around south central WI, but now it's time to look forward to what's next.  Peoria sits on the Illinois River, which is in rough shape but also offers some new opportunities.

Illinois River cons - Asian carp invasion (silver, bighead, common, grass), perpetually muddy water, and limited shore access, especially at its lock and dams.

Illinois River pros - Cool backwater spots, good populations of species that will be new for me (smallmouth buffalo, black buffalo, longnose gar, skipjack herring, gizzard shad, river carpsucker, highfin carpsucker, grass carp, goldeye, redear sunfish), and a DNR that has a positive view of native species and is currently reintroducing alligator gar and redspotted sunfish (among others) to the river.

Today I met up my friend Brad from work to check out some Illinois River backwaters south of Peoria.  I was hoping to encounter some of the species listed in the pros section above, especially the buffalo and gar.  We encountered muddy water, some amount of submerged wood, little to no vegetation, and lots of mosquitofish and minnows hanging around the shoreline.  Every so often we would see a gar surface for a breath of air.  They looked like shortnose and spotted, not longnose or alligator.  Fishing was slow.  Worms on the bottom produced one bluegill and one largemouth bass.  A small silver and orange Mepps spinner caught this small spotted gar.

Spotted Gar (Lepisosteus oculatus)

Unfortunately, despite a few hits and momentary hookups, Brad wasn't able to get a gar to shore.  Expect to see a picture of him holding one in the future though!  On the way home, we stopped at the Powerton Cooling Lake in Pekin.  I set up Brad with my micro gear and he quickly caught a big female mosquitofish.  He is now officially a microfisherman, haha.

Western Mosquitofish (Gambusia affinis)