113 replies to this topic

[keepnatives]

Well, made the 10 hour drive home and only lost 1 female redline darter. All target fish found. Great getting together old friends and new, excellent speakers wish they all had more time. Great food, great time another great conference. Thanks Drew, Casper, Tom, Fritz and Gerald and the other trip leaders, Phil and his runners, John and Andrew, all the speakers and all those behind the scenes I'm not aware of.

[Mike]

I had a great time at my first convention, I am so glad I went.

It was great meeting all of you & I look forward to the next one.

Attached Files

•  torrentsucker.jpg   72.93KB   17 downloads

[pylodictis]

As this was my first convention and exposure to NANFA and it's members at large, I must say I was exceedingly impressed. First of all, all of the folks were awfully knowledgeable, friendly and helpful, all of the speakers were capital and the trips were well planned, executed and exposed me, at least, to fishes I've never had the opportunity to view. I'd make a list of people to thank, but at the risk of excluding someone I didn't meet or someone working behind the scenes I'll just say this: Thank you to all that made the 2011 NANFA convention possible as well as the NANFA organization at large. As I just joined, I have not received my first issue of American Currents, however I was able to pick up several back issues and have been thoroughly impressed with the quality of the articles and photographs.

Andrew

[AussiePeter]

Andrew and his helpers did a great job of running another great nanfa convention. It was a blast to catch up with old faces and to get out and seine up some new fishes. Several species that we collected east of Roanoke on Saturday were really fired up and looked amazing. Thanks to Mark Binkley, Nick Zarlinga and Tom Watson for being great seining buddies!

Thanks too for Casper who arranged the Sunday canoe trip on the New River. It was a wonderful day gently paddling down the river with its big cliffs, caves and a red caboose.

Cheers
Peter

Fairly long time NANFA, member, but this was my first convention. Was great putting faces to the names I have known. Thanks to my friend Drew, and his wife( I would spell her name, but would butcher it), and all the others who made it happen. Special thanks to Fritz for his diligent search for elusive fish. I had a great time, might have missed some time bull crapping with you all, due to camping, but made up for it by camping with my old friend Uland. Thanks to all, and hope to see you again. Matt

[farmertodd]

Thanks Drew and Fritz for doing all the organizing and un-fun work, I really appreciate it, I know it was a lot of work. Great to catch up with old friend and find some new. We managed to hit the candy machine on Saturday before heading onward... Thanks so much to Mike Pinder for taking us out to view such a spectacular animal and all the great discussion we had in a very very very cold stream!

 candysm.jpg   251.29KB   22 downloads

[harryknaub]

.. Thanks so much to Mike Pinder for taking us out to view such a spectacular animal and all the great discussion we had in a very very very cold stream!


I am just mesmerized looking at that photo.

I too, would like to thank every one who had a hand in putting this convention together. Start to finish, the weekend was just great. I met some people that I only knew from the forum. And got to see some old faces again. And for that, I thank you all.

Harry Knaub

[farmertodd]

I was wiped out when I put this together last night... Also a great amount of thanks to Jamie Roberts for taking us around the Roanoke before we wandered off to snorkel. The Goose Creek site was totally cool, loved the torrent suckers, new species for me. The falls worked out pretty nice for us too, I don't know who thought they were "Dismal"

[Fishwhisperer]

I had a blast. Collected all of my target fish and learned a lot. Thanks to all that worked so hard to put this together.

[travishaas]

Amazing photo, Todd. Wish I could have been there.

[bflowers]

I have been away from the forum for awhile, but decide to come back to thank all that put on the convention this year. THANKS!!!!!
I have three new species of fish to breed and looks like one is starting to cooperate already. One of the male Saffron is colored up and chasing all of the females. He seems to be especially interested in one female for sure.

Thanks again for the great convention.
Bill F.

[Irate Mormon]

Wish I could have been there. Too bad more folks don't camp.

[farmertodd]

Hmmm... This photo didn't take to my earlier post. Here's what they call Dismal Falls. That's Micheal Wolfe waiting for Jeremy Monroe to come up for air

 dismal.jpg   210.66KB   18 downloads

[Casper]

Wonderful Candy Todd.

There were many fish i did not get to see and i must return soon to snorkel the clear waters of Virginia. Percina REX would be a touchstone of Logperchdom.

I rediscovered this Virginia Virtual Aquarium site which adds to my confusion and takes away my confidence... perhaps i was seeing more new fishes than i initially thought. I should have studied this while planning and well before i left Tennessee.
Check the website out...

http://www.cnr.vt.edu/efish/

Those Torrent Suckers sound ideal for aquaria noting their limited size. Check out the site's full finage pic of a Torrent. I sure wish i had braved the bone chilling 55 degree Goose Creek and seen them swimming free.

We had a fine time and perfect weather while Canoeing, Snorkeling & Seineing the New and happened upon a Chub nest in a shallow cobbled side channel. What i thought was a Striped Shiner, typical to my area, could well have been a new one for me. 3 similiar Shiners are found in the New River... Crescent, Striped and White. So which is in the pic? My guess is the White from the red dorsal fin coloration.
The Chub must have been a Blue Chub but sure looked like a River to me in those fleeting glances. According to the VA site River Chubs are not there, so... Perhaps Bob, Michael or Tim has a good shot. I sure dont recall a blue head but plenty of tubercules were arming the fat headed beastie. We also saw rose headed shiners swarming over the Chub nest. The consensus at the time was Redlip Shiners but other possibilities include the Tennessee and Rosyfaced Shiners. Now i am thinking Rosyfaced.

Of course our mascot, those MRBD are absolutely beautiful and common though i never saw any red coloration. I sure would like to see a school of them all jazzed up over a graveled nest. Michael L, Scott and i came across a nice spot just a wee bit from the Holiday Inn early Thursday morning, 220 South?

Confusion over Gilts male vs female while in the New but the stacking resolved the question, matching characteristics. Those Gilts look different to me everywhere i go.

Fine trip to new waters. I would really like to return and focus on the Roanoke area snorkeling in clear water. Needed more time!

Attached Files

•  WhiteShiners.JPG   51.82KB   16 downloads
•  BagofMRBD.JPG   70.13KB   18 downloads
•  StackedGilts.JPG   71.22KB   16 downloads

Edited by Casper, 27 May 2011 - 09:02 PM.

[Drew]

Casper, let me know when you want to get back in the area. I'm always down for a weekend trip.

I believe your Luxilus are white shiners. You don't start seeing the striped until you get closer to WVA. Also, your darters are roanoke darters. I've never seen them that big myself and never in that much color. I'm glad the canoe trip worked out.

We saw MRBD in deep color off of 220 and a bit west. Someone told me after the fact that they saw some spawning action. I wish I had known or I would have tried to grab some video.

[nativeplanter]

Ditto with Drew. Casper, any time you want to come up just let us know. I still intend to get contact lenses so I can try snorkeling! I tried it in salt water recently without lenses, and was less than successful.

It was great seeing everyone and I had an absolutely fabulous time. The talks were excellent - I was mesmerized the whole day on Friday. Great time splashing around with old friends and folks I have typed with but hadn't met in person before. I forgot how absolutely wiped out one can be the following Monday!!!

[Michael Wolfe]

We had a fine time and perfect weather while Canoeing, Snorkeling & Seineing the New and happened upon a Chub nest in a shallow cobbled side channel. What i thought was a Striped Shiner, typical to my area, could well have been a new one for me. 3 similiar Shiners are found in the New River... Crescent, Striped and White. So which is in the pic? My guess is the White from the red dorsal fin coloration.
The Chub must have been a Blue Chub but sure looked like a River to me in those fleeting glances. According to the VA site River Chubs are not there, so... Perhaps Bob, Michael or Tim has a good shot. I sure dont recall a blue head but plenty of tubercules were arming the fat headed beastie. We also saw rose headed shiners swarming over the Chub nest. The consensus at the time was Redlip Shiners but other possibilities include the Tennessee and Rosyfaced Shiners. Now i am thinking Rosyfaced.

Looking into my old Fishes of Virginia and cross referencing to my new Peterson's... I think they were Bigmouth Chubs (Nocomis platyrhynchus) which look very similar to river chubs and are native to the New River. Here is one with a studded-up Central Stoneroller.


and here is another view... I told y'all there were two male chubs lurking near this one nest!


here the stoned one takes center stage... I have to figure out how to send this one to Nick...


and yes, there were plenty of shiners there as well... on these I will let someone else make the positive I.D.


and a parting shot from the big male shiner

[keepnatives]

Those smaller shiners look like rosyface shiners.

[gerald]

I agree with ID on white shiners; they look virtually identical to common shiner, but I dont think commons are in the New. The James R supposedly has both and they're hard to separate. Chub is NOT a bluehead so must be bigmouth (native) or river (introduced). The smaller shiners do look like rosyface (the New R ones have a different name now, micropteryx i think) but might also be Tennessee shiners. Awesome roanoke darters.

If anybody wants another long weekend in VA mtns (Aug 19-22, James basin north of Buena Vista) you might be interested in VA Nature Camp's Adult Session: http://naturecamp.ne...ssion-programs/

Big Marys Creek through camp has loads of MRBD, rosyside & blacknose dace, torrent suckers, fantail darter, native brookies, etc., and South River nearby has many additional spp including longfin darters. Some neat salamanders there too.

[AussiePeter]

Here is a MRBD that we collected in a small trib by the James River. That was a while after he was captured, thus not at his best. Tom Watson took the picture.

Cheers
Peter

Attached Files

•  Mt_R_B_D_Male.jpg   509.8KB   31 downloads

Edited by AussiePeter, 30 May 2011 - 04:08 PM.