I tried posting this last night in the photo section but it said I could not post photos from that location (NANFA gallery) so I am posting it in sampling and collecting as I know that works and general fish watching was one of the things included here.

What was going to be my sturgeon quest ended up becoming a visit to the Holyoke fishway. (I felt lazy and not like swimming, especially in the main current of a river as big and strong as the Connecticut. my swimming in the Connecticut last year was in a weaker eddy current.).

When I got their I saw an impressive site. A wide river full of exposed rock piles that I would love to sample in some time. It looks very fish worthy. Note the two white dots on a tree in the back ground, those are eagles.



Sea lampreys tended to stay close to the window making them easy to photograph.





According to the guy their, when the lamprey enter freshwater their body starts to decline and rot, they go blind, and waste away dying after they spawn.

American Shad were very common but were tougher to photograph. I took alot of photos until I got a decent one.



For some reason some of the shad looked beat up or diseased. Not many, but some had injuries.

A few smallmouth went by the window too.



and a rock bass. It's photo didn't some out very well though and it didn't stick around for more.



I also took photos of the salmon and shad migration charts.





Though I didn't upload them I did take alot of pictures of the fish ID chart their. I was amazed at all the species on it not found in NH such as tiger musky, burbot, bluntnose minnow, central mudminnow, green sunfish, and channel catfish. The fish ID chart was just a few papers (almost brochure like) showing fish of Mass. But it beats the Vernon Vermonts old ID plaques with the hand drawn lamprey picture between them. (for some reason the vernon fish ladder, my closest one, never opened last year).

Afterwards I took advantage of free fishing weekend and went fishing, all I got was a bluegill. But I was amazed by all the people striper fishing, that far inland. It was odd to see striper fishing not in the ocean. I never realized Mass could be different fish wise. But between the species chart and inland stripers it was.

Sea lampreys are very interesting fish. One thing that makes them interesting is that they are jawless,and also that they latch onto other fish. What species of sturgeon are you looking for?

Sea lampreys are very interesting fish. One thing that makes them interesting is that they are jawless,and also that they latch onto other fish. What species of sturgeon are you looking for?

Shortnose, apparently they are found in the area. I want to see one as sturgeon grow huge and I thought they'd be impressive to photograph. I brought an underwater camera and was in no mood to swim.

Sometimes I wonder if agnathans only count as fish as technicalities. They are too primitive for jaws and true gills (the guy their told me that, the gill holes they have evolved before real gills) and hagfish have it worse (if I remember my old vertebrate zoology class) as they have no vertebrae. Hagfish are the only craniate (creature with a cranium) that is not a vertebrate. I'd ask if an aquatic craniate without tetrapod ancestry is a good definition for a fish or not, but if I remember college right their are several competing classification methods and this would be a big argument. Besides in some cladistic models all creatures evolved from a branch are included in a branch as each division is marked by the appearance of certain traits making us all more or less highly modified fish in some classification models that reflect evolutionary changes (thus my recent joke on a frog in a recent trip report). If people argue the definition of North American here the definition of fish would likely be a more complex argument depending on classification method used.

Edited by FirstChAoS, 07 June 2011 - 12:33 AM.

ive been searching for bald eagles for about 3 months to photography. went out to basha kill a few weeks ago with no luck either. im going to holyoke today to take some pics. hopefully ill see one.

ive been searching for bald eagles for about 3 months to photography. went out to basha kill a few weeks ago with no luck either. im going to holyoke today to take some pics. hopefully ill see one.

cool, tell me if you see any. and if you get any fish their as well.