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Orange Spotted sunfish


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#1 Guest_nativecajun_*

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Posted 21 January 2007 - 07:05 PM

I noticed that someone put a link for natureserve. It shows what fish is in which watershed by a clickable map. This map says that Orange Spotted sunnies are suposed to be in the Chickamagua watershed (creek)
What is the type of habitat to look for them in. I have someone willing to send me some but the fun of this is knowing you can go out and collect them yourself. So what habitat do you find them in. Chickmagua creek is a large creek which I would clasify as slow moving.

#2 Guest_ashtonmj_*

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Posted 21 January 2007 - 07:26 PM

I've done a considerable amount of electrofishing in S. Chickmauga Creek in 2005 and did not collect any, though I was targeting darters. They maybe in the watershed, but possibly not in the creek proper. It is still a pretty good sized stream right when you cross into Georgia at a mill dam where I stoped my sampling. Quite a bit of water quality problems below there too that make the fish community locally spotty. I'd check the upper reaches of the creek proper, in GA, or some of the other smaller tributaries.
If you go back to that website and click on the active link for the species there is ecological data such as habitat type.

#3 Guest_smbass_*

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Posted 21 January 2007 - 08:48 PM

They maybe in the watershed, but possibly not in the creek proper. It is still a pretty good sized stream right when you cross into Georgia at a mill dam where I stoped my sampling. Quite a bit of water quality problems below there too that make the fish community locally spotty. I'd check the upper reaches of the creek proper, in GA, or some of the other smaller tributaries.


This seems opposite of what orangespotted sunfish habitat is. In my experience they are in the largest mainstem rivers and seem most abundant in more turbid streams. I am not familiar with this drainage but in Ohio I have rarely found any orangespots in smaller streams they are only in the main rivers and the largest of creeks that are fairly turbid.

#4 Guest_edbihary_*

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Posted 22 January 2007 - 12:24 AM

... in Ohio I have rarely found any orangespots in smaller streams they are only in the main rivers and the largest of creeks that are fairly turbid.

Will we be in such a place in the March collecting trip, where we can find some of these?

#5 Guest_smbass_*

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Posted 22 January 2007 - 12:47 AM

definately they are probably the most abundant sunfish in the maumee river

#6 Guest_ashtonmj_*

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Posted 22 January 2007 - 09:33 AM

Well unfortunately the lower 7 to 8 miles of South Chickamauga Creek, where it is about 50 to 60 feet across, is impounded by the Tennessee River and is almost completely private land, except maybe right around the mouth. Some of the pools from about RM 8-12 (Chattanooga Greenway) may hold them, but like I said, there weren't too many species I didn't collect any in 2005. I didn't collect in greater than meter deep, but that covers most of the pool habitat in the unimpounded section.

#7 Guest_smbass_*

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Posted 22 January 2007 - 11:15 AM

That just sounds like too small of a stream for them, rarely over 1m deep and only 60feet wide. They are very abundant at the grand rapids dam in the Maumee, above the dam the river is about a quarter mile wide (thats a guess may be wider) and almost always very turbid. I'm not surprised at all from your description that you didn't find any there. Myabe in the downstream impounded section that you talked about, but it seems that is not an accessable area. I have also found them in a few lakes in Ohio but they are always the ones that have a lot of boaters, which means a lot of shoreline erosion and more turbid water. If your familiar with the state Atwood, and Saltfork are two I remember catching them in.

#8 Guest_ashtonmj_*

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Posted 22 January 2007 - 02:06 PM

Okay, I was curious, so I went and looked at the interactive HUC map and it is actually the Middle Tennessee River-Chickamauga drainage. As the name suggests that includes the Tennessee River from the Watts Bar downstream to Chickamauga Dam. There are quite a few embayments in that stretch like north of Harrison or near Soddy Daisy which fit the turbid, wide, sluggish conditions. I checked some of the other drainages and they seem to only show up in the impounded sections of the Tennessee River. I then checked Fishes of Tennessee and there are collection recofds from the Harrion embayment, the embayment near Dayton, and embayments south and north of Spring City. That embayment in Harrison is relatively close to you nativecajun, correct?

#9 Guest_nativecajun_*

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Posted 21 February 2007 - 03:49 PM

Okay, I was curious, so I went and looked at the interactive HUC map and it is actually the Middle Tennessee River-Chickamauga drainage. As the name suggests that includes the Tennessee River from the Watts Bar downstream to Chickamauga Dam. There are quite a few embayments in that stretch like north of Harrison or near Soddy Daisy which fit the turbid, wide, sluggish conditions. I checked some of the other drainages and they seem to only show up in the impounded sections of the Tennessee River. I then checked Fishes of Tennessee and there are collection recofds from the Harrion embayment, the embayment near Dayton, and embayments south and north of Spring City. That embayment in Harrison is relatively close to you nativecajun, correct?


If you are speaking of Harrison Bay yes it is close to me. I would like further info on where to look for them around there. I have fished that area a lot and have never seen an O-Spot in my life. Would be nice if I found a place around Harrison Bay to catch them. I am sorry but embayment, drainages, watersheds are not in my vocabulary as of yet. If one says the Tennessee watershed are they saying anything that drains into the Tennessee river???

#10 Guest_blaze88_*

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Posted 26 February 2007 - 10:30 PM

You are probably best off find a stream with known orange populaitons. The think with almost any sunny is that they either overpopulate a stream or are not there at all.

Also when you look I have heard that side pool type things that are contacted to the moving water is where they breed and live.




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