The temp was about middle 50's and no wind. Spotty rain and full cloud cover. I'm alone so my cummings dip net was my best friend today. With winter in full now, the weeds have died back for the most part but a few remained.
Once I pulled up to the site, I immediately noticed a very large ball of minnows about 10' in diameter. They noticed me as well, avoiding me with great speed. I decided to work around the ball of fish just watching them as I sampled.
I worked what little solid cover existed (fallen trees and cypress knees). These areas produced the most killifish while the old vegetative masses made the best Elassoma hideouts. I began to work deeper water (always frightened of alligators even though it's winter) carefully. Pretty soon I found a great many hogchoker. I've sampled this area few times and never found any here. Once I found they seemed to prefer the sand/mud transition I was able to determine this place is loaded with them. With that ball of minnows still in sight I decided to see if my little dip net might be able to secure a couple of photos of this mystery fish. As luck had it I was able to trick a few by driving them to shore. Two guys and a seine would have made short work of them but patience allowed me my first photo of what I believe to be pugnose minnow.
Opsopoeodus emiliae (Pugnose Pinnow)
Noturus gyrinus (Tadpole Madtom)
Fundulus chryostus (Golden Topminnow)
Fundulus nottii (Bayou Topminnow)
Fundulus blairae (Western Starhead Topminnow)
Heterandria formosa (Least Killifish)
Gambusia ??
Enneacanthus gloriosus (Bluespotted Sunfish)
Lepomis macrochirus (Bluegill)
Lepomis microlophus (Redear Sunfish)
Etheostoma fusiforme (Swamp Darter)
Elassoma zonatum (Banded Pygmy Sunfish)
Trinectes maculatus (Hogchoker)
The sun would not cooperate today so the photos are quite blurry.
As always, please let me know if my ID's are wrong. I'll use the "I'm on the road" excuse
![:lol:](http://forum.nanfa.org/public/style_emoticons/default/icon_lol.gif)
![Opsopoeodus_emiliae.jpg](https://forum.nanfa.org/uploads/monthly_01_2007/post-4-1170214831.jpg)
![Opsopoeodus_emiliae__1_.jpg](https://forum.nanfa.org/uploads/monthly_01_2007/post-4-1170214857.jpg)
![Noturus_gyrinus_.jpg](https://forum.nanfa.org/uploads/monthly_01_2007/post-4-1170214868.jpg)
![Fundulus_chryostus.jpg](https://forum.nanfa.org/uploads/monthly_01_2007/post-4-1170214876.jpg)
![Fundulus_nottii.jpg](https://forum.nanfa.org/uploads/monthly_01_2007/post-4-1170214883.jpg)
![Enneacanthus_gloriosus.jpg](https://forum.nanfa.org/uploads/monthly_01_2007/post-4-1170214900.jpg)
![Lepomis_macrochirus.jpg](https://forum.nanfa.org/uploads/monthly_01_2007/post-4-1170214914.jpg)
![Etheostoma_fusiforme.jpg](https://forum.nanfa.org/uploads/monthly_01_2007/post-4-1170214932.jpg)
![Elassoma_zonatum.jpg](https://forum.nanfa.org/uploads/monthly_01_2007/post-4-1170214950.jpg)
![Trinectes_maculatus.jpg](https://forum.nanfa.org/uploads/monthly_01_2007/post-4-1170214962.jpg)