I went out a twice today. Once to check the minnow traps i set out last night, and once to try and sample in Concord.

The other night I searched online for info on minnow trap baits. I found alot of suggestions on various forums and decided to try three that were mentioned. Dog food, Crackers (I used ritz), and juicyfruit gum. I hoped this time Perry brook wouldn't foil me.

Today I checked and the one with the gum only had a crayfish and a newt. The one with the dogfood only had 1 common shiner, and a few crayfish. The one with the crackers had 5 minnows (1 jumped out before I identified it), 4 common shiners and a fallfish.

I have no pictures of these as I forgot my camera.

It rained so I started home, but by the time I got home the rain stopped so I grabbed my camera and headed to concord.

Why concord? To get tadpole madtoms.

Lake Penacook aka Long Pond in Concord was the introductory spot for tadpole madtoms in the Merrimack river drainage. They were mixed into a batch of bullhead fingerlings stocked in the lake and they quickly spread.

I called Bumpylemon to see if he wants to go as this is his goal fish, but got no reply. I decided to go anyway, this is the source of them after all, and maybe just maybe I can grab in a day what Bumpy has been striving for for a week.

I also went to Concord to check out the fish and game main offices to inquire about a lifetime fishing licence (not available in the local offices) and possible locations of creek chubsuckers. The main offices were closed but i looked around outside at the artificial wildlife attracting habitat (it had no fish in the pond), the river out back (it was below a dirt cliff so I couldn't sample their), the last remaining stretch of the concord pine barrens (the most deciduous looking forest i ever seen, the tall trees were pines, but none of the short ones, so all i saw were oak and beech branches when inside of it). And the fish and game vehicals (mostly trucks, with a couple cars and vans, and amazingly two dump trucks, mostly green with 1 or 2 grey and tan ones). But interestingly enough was the game fish restoration vehical. Boy, one of these would be useful for carrying fish caught on sampling trips.



But enough on the fish and wildlife headquarters, lets get to the fish.

Penacook lake had a big problem. The outlet area was fenced off with a sign saying it was the town water supply.

I found another access point at the back of the lake that wasn't fenced but it had signs warning it was a public water supply and not for recreational use.



(signs are not visible in this pic as they are just to the right and left of it)

The opposite side of the road had a smaller, more marshy pond



But looking in the lake I saw a few sunfish nests and a school of fish.




The fish were small and were sunfish and perch, the sunfish positioned ahead of the perch closer to the pipe.

A pipe? Yes a cement colvert linking the lake and the swampy pond.

The swampy pond WITHOUT signs warning that it is off limits as a city water supply.

So I went to that pond and started dip netting. In less than ten dips I got this fellow.



Yep, the little backswimmer bug.... oh and a tadpole madtom too.

I tried a few other spots but none were accessible (I couldn't find a way to reach turtletown pond, a way down to the merrimack, or a way down the cement wall that seperated a slow stream choked with lillypads and pickerel weed from the road so I went home.

At home I tried setting up a crude phototank, my pics didn't come out good, my best one from it is this one and it isn't very good.



Tadpole Madtom, a refreshingly easy fish to find and catch.

Oh bumpy, if you want the madtom I can give it to you the next time we meet.

Edited by FirstChAoS, 27 June 2010 - 10:07 PM.

Cool.That is a fine lookin' madtom.

awesome Josh!!! dude i woulda came with you but my wife was having her college graduation party yesterday! nice catch! and I've been trying for over a year Josh not a week!! hahah....But my goal although was to catch a Tadpole madtom, i have to catch it in MA. In MA its very hard to find....just like you i went to the original pond that it was found in when they dumped them thinking they were bullhead fingerings. where did you scoop him up in? weeds? maybe ill go out today and try a little harder this time at the original pond. you have inspired me.

awesome Josh!!! dude i woulda came with you but my wife was having her college graduation party yesterday! nice catch! and I've been trying for over a year Josh not a week!! hahah....But my goal although was to catch a Tadpole madtom, i have to catch it in MA. In MA its very hard to find....just like you i went to the original pond that it was found in when they dumped them thinking they were bullhead fingerings. where did you scoop him up in? weeds? maybe ill go out today and try a little harder this time at the original pond. you have inspired me.

I scooped him in leaves, i was scooping in a grassy area and each scoop had my net full of leaves and other dead plant debris.

I would like to hear where others find theres.. I have yet to find any in weeds, only in bank undercuts and under rocks. I think its awesome you even found a young adult!

I would like to hear where others find theres.. I have yet to find any in weeds, only in bank undercuts and under rocks. I think its awesome you even found a young adult!

Interesting. I assumed it was an adult as it was a few inches long. How could you tell it was a young adult?

Also, to Bumpy. I am suprised that bullhead dumping event happened multiple times. I just assumed that it only happened in NH and when they spread downstream to the merrimack river they eventually worked their way to mass through the nashua river and such.

Interesting. I assumed it was an adult as it was a few inches long. How could you tell it was a young adult?

Also, to Bumpy. I am suprised that bullhead dumping event happened multiple times. I just assumed that it only happened in NH and when they spread downstream to the merrimack river they eventually worked their way to mass through the nashua river and such.

Nope. They are only in the french river drainage. It shows them going all th way to chicopee. I'm going to research a little more. There are 3 spots within 10 min from me where they are including the original spot of introduction. So if I set one day and focus only on the madtom I should get one. Right now I'm focusing on chain pickerel and redfin pickerel for some members.

Interesting. I assumed it was an adult as it was a few inches long. How could you tell it was a young adult?

Also, to Bumpy. I am suprised that bullhead dumping event happened multiple times. I just assumed that it only happened in NH and when they spread downstream to the merrimack river they eventually worked their way to mass through the nashua river and such.

I assume its a young adult. I have one that is 4" and its clearly adult, but I have some that are 2-2.5" that just got the yellow coloration, and my smaller ones are all dark brown, so I assumed that it recently must have gotten its yellow coloration and reached/reaching maturity. I have been working with some people on planet catfish to see if there is a color difference in maturity, or if it is just individuals (as with what I just stated above, seems to be true with some canadian ones and some in europe as well.)

i must say i think ive been catching tadpole madtoms...now i just have to be able to tell a tadpole madtom from a bullhead juvenile

i must say i think ive been catching tadpole madtoms...now i just have to be able to tell a tadpole madtom from a bullhead juvenile

awesome, congrats on the catch. I found they had a different tail fin that goes up their back a bit, sort of like a tadpole tail. (hence the name I guess)

bullheads will have a audal peduncle where as madtoms have a continuous fin.

Essentially the bullheads should have 3 "fins" across the top including the tail, and tadpole madtoms have 2 (just the typical dorsal and an extremely long and extended tail.)

well after three years of searching...(search my thread on my search for the madtoms)i present to you....

very nice!! I would guess male, but without venting, i couldn't be 100%

Congrats. These guys are funny. Until you find them they're a most obscure fish, but once you have you find they're pretty common. I went far and wide looking but eventually found them within a mile of my home. Enjoy it spending 99.99% of its time under logs and rocks in your aquarium.

Congrats. These guys are funny. Until you find them they're a most obscure fish, but once you have you find they're pretty common. I went far and wide looking but eventually found them within a mile of my home. Enjoy it spending 99.99% of its time under logs and rocks in your aquarium.

Mine are always out when food it present and then sit out for a while before returning to hiding.

I'm still kicking myself because a couple of years ago I decided to explore a small stream named Bear Creek that runs alongside my apartment complex. As I wandered down the stream I picked up some wide mouth beer bottles hoping to find a crayfish inside. Everytime I picked up a bottle there would be what I assumed was a small Bullhead catfish inside. I even caught one in a minnow trap(the only thing I ever caught in it) This was before I joined NANFA and found that there was such a thing as a Madtom. I'm about 99% sure I caught and released 3-4 Tadpole Madtoms. Of course now when I go there I don't even see one.

I'm still kicking myself because a couple of years ago I decided to explore a small stream named Bear Creek that runs alongside my apartment complex. As I wandered down the stream I picked up some wide mouth beer bottles hoping to find a crayfish inside. Everytime I picked up a bottle there would be what I assumed was a small Bullhead catfish inside. I even caught one in a minnow trap(the only thing I ever caught in it) This was before I joined NANFA and found that there was such a thing as a Madtom. I'm about 99% sure I caught and released 3-4 Tadpole Madtoms. Of course now when I go there I don't even see one.

There are times when I go out and do not see a single one, then the next time in the exact same stretch of 50' I can catch 10-15 of them. I would guess if you found the same type of structure in the stream, you would find them again. I find mine where there is an undercut in the bank, just blow tall grasses on the shore.