Hello,
I recently went took a short trip to a Lake Erie tributary with fellow NANFA
Northwestern Ohio PIckerel Hunt
Started by
Guest_NateTessler13_*
, Aug 15 2010 01:13 PM
16 replies to this topic
#2
Guest_NateTessler13_*
Guest_NateTessler13_*
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Posted 15 August 2010 - 02:24 PM
Hello,
I recently went took a short trip to a Lake Erie tributary with fellow NANFA
^^^ Sorry about that...I cannot edit this original post for some reason...Oh well.
Hello,
A few days ago, I joined schambers (Susan) and star5328 (Nate) for a short trip in northwestern Ohio in the Lake Erie drainage. Nate had contacted me asking if I could show him some streams that contained Grass Pickerel (Esox americanus vermiculatus) and various darter species. With that in mind, I decided that we should go to the Blanchard River near Findlay, OH. The Blanchard is a river that has (in parts) great riffle-run-pool sequences that attract many of the areas' darter species. Also, some of the lower gradient streams/ditches that flow into the Blanchard provide ample habitat for Grass Pickerel.
Here's how the stop at the Blanchard River shaped up;
Date: August 12, 2010
Location: Blanchard River in Findlay, OH
Water Levels: Discharge was 80 cfs. Normal discharge is 15 cfs. Rain the previous day caused the flashy river to rise to 200 cfs, only to fall quickly throughout the day.
Water Quality: The previous day's rain left the Blanchard turbid.
Substrate: Pools and runs contained limestone bedrock and cobble. Gravel and sand bars occurred in some areas too. The differing size substrate is likely a reason many darter species can coexist here.
Collected:
Bluntnose Minnow (Pimephales notatus)
Spotfin Shiner (Cyprinella spiloptera)
Redfin Shiner (Lythrurus umbratilis) - most common. These were in every pool.
Channel Catfish (Ictalurus punctatus) - caught one small one in a riffle.
Yellow Bullhead (Ameiurus natalis)
Brindled Madtom (Noturus miurus) - despite extensive effort, we only caught one young-of-year fish.
Tadpole Madtom (Noturus gyrinus)
- found one adult buried deep in tree rootwads. I was surprised to find this species here, as the Brindled Madtom usually occupies this stretch of stream.
Grass Pickerel (Esox americanus vermiculatus) - likely a wash out from a nearby ditch from the previous day's rain.
Blackstripe Topminnow (Fundulus notatus)
Largemouth Bass (Micropterus salmoides)
Rock Bass (Ambloplites rupestris)
Bluegill (Lepomis macrochirus)
Green Sunfish (Lepomis cyanellus)
Northern Longear Sunfish (Lepomis megalotis peltastes)
- caught a few large adults along the tree roots and rootwads. The males looked as if they were in breeding condition still.
Logperch (Percina caprodes)
- caught one very large one (~6") at the tail-out of a riffle.
Blackside Darter (Percina maculata)
Greenside Darter (Etheostoma blennioides)
Rainbow Darter (Etheostoma caeruleum)
- found various age classes throughout the riffles.
Johnny Darter (Etheostoma nigrum)
Fantail Darter (Etheostoma flabellare) - caught one adult at the head of one of the larger riffles in swift water.
After our time there, Susan had to depart, but Nate and I went to a nearby ditch in search of Grass Pickerel. In our first pull of the seine, we captured a few. About an hour of sampling in the ditch turned up these species;
Bluntnose Minnow (Pimephales notatus)
Creek Chub (Semotilus atromaculatus)
White Sucker (Catostomus commersonii)
Creek Chubsucker (Erimyzon oblongus) - found a couple large adults along with a few young of year. I've been coming back to this ditch for years now and I'm pleased to see that this population of these fish is remaining intact here.
Yellow Bullhead (Ameiurus natalis)
Grass Pickerel (Esox americanus vermiculatus) - caught a few young of year, along with some smaller adults.
Central Mudminnow (Umbra limi)
Blackstripe Topminnow (Fundulus notatus)
Rock Bass (Ambloplites rupestris) - caught a couple large adults that seemed out of place.
Green Sunfish (Lempomis cyanellus)
Bluegill (Lepomis macrochirus)
Northern Longear Sunfish (Lepomis megalotis peltastes)
Orangethroat Darter (Etheostoma spectabile) - found these in all the shallow gravel and sand runs.
Johnny Darter (Etheostoma nigrum)
All in all, it was a very successful trip. We caught everything we were looking to find. I had a great time meeting up with Susan and Nate and look forward to future trips.
#7
Guest_kwheeler91_*
Guest_kwheeler91_*
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Posted 18 August 2010 - 05:07 PM
any tips on darter collecting with the seine? i tried when i was in mohican last week but had better luck just spotting them among the rocks and coaxing them into the handnet, not that that was all that successful either.
#8
Guest_uglykiddon_*
Guest_uglykiddon_*
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Posted 22 August 2010 - 10:59 PM
Grass pickerel are great pets I got a lot in my koi pond I did not intentionally put them there but luckily they only eat the bait fish and chud young in there the chuds I also did not put in they just appeared also I live in swamp land and when it floods i guess thats how they got in my pond the grass pickerel i keep as pets in my fish tanks the chud pike fishermen buy off me for $6 each depending on size biggest was a 18 incher ... noone wanted that one though too big.
#9
Guest_star5328_*
Guest_star5328_*
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Posted 22 August 2010 - 11:04 PM
have someone hold the seine on the bottom and tilted back a couple feet below a riffle, have someone else start a few feet behind the riffle, and slowly walk shuffling your feet side to side and stomping around toward the seine. When you get to the seine, make sure to shuffle and kick around very good, all the way up to the weights on the seine. Quickly lift the seine and examine said darters. 
#10
Guest_Skipjack_*
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Posted 23 August 2010 - 08:46 PM
Grass pickerel are great pets I got a lot in my koi pond I did not intentionally put them there but luckily they only eat the bait fish and chud young in there the chuds I also did not put in they just appeared also I live in swamp land and when it floods i guess thats how they got in my pond the grass pickerel i keep as pets in my fish tanks the chud pike fishermen buy off me for $6 each depending on size biggest was a 18 incher ... noone wanted that one though too big.
Chud? Is that what we call a chub around here? So many different local names, it is hard to keep up. I grew up calling green sunfish- rockbass.
#13
Michael Wolfe
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- Board of Directors
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- North Georgia, Oconee River Drainage
Posted 24 August 2010 - 08:37 AM
I'm a Native Elitist... maybe shouldnt have a koi pond. (see you didn't even need the rest of the sentence).Maybe shouldn't have a koi pond that floods so high fish could escape to the swamp?
Either write something worth reading or do something worth writing. - Benjamin Franklin
#15
Guest_NateTessler13_*
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Posted 24 August 2010 - 11:01 AM
I'm noticing that pictures that I edit look quite a bit different based on the contrast I see on different computer monitors. Do these pictures look dark to most people? Perhaps I need to adjust the contrast on my laptop...?
#16
Guest_schambers_*
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Posted 24 August 2010 - 05:26 PM
I'm noticing that pictures that I edit look quite a bit different based on the contrast I see on different computer monitors. Do these pictures look dark to most people? Perhaps I need to adjust the contrast on my laptop...?
They do seem just a little dark on my laptop.
#17
PBK
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- NANFA Guest
- Ohio
Posted 24 June 2020 - 10:03 PM
I fished this river in early fall in Mt. Blanchard and seined orangethroat darters, black stripe topminnows, northern sunfish, numerous brindleds, tadpole madtoms, a silver shiner and a 5lb-ish flathead catfish. The water was low and there were leaves in the water under which both types of madtoms were hiding. The darters were in the narrow gravel sections while the northern sunfish were hiding in cover along the banks. I returned to this spot twice after when the water was higher and didn’t catch much other than black stripe topminnows.
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