I decided to try my luck on a tributary of the Ashuelot River called the Ashuelot River South Branch. Why a tributary is named for a river is beyond me.

My first thought was to sample a small pool connected to the main river that looked like it could be a perfect fish trap. But as you can see another fisherman was already their and I didn't want to disturb him.



So I went to the river itself. My trip was short due to a combination of arriving late (at 5 PM) and the foot eating mud made every step a pain both figuratively and literally. (my muck shoes cutting against my ankles as I struggled out of it).



I actually debated whether or not this trip would be worth reporting as the fish selection was about the same as yesterdays. Alot of minnow fry (maybe fallfish, I know this river has fallfish and commons), chain pickerel, and a darter.

My second seining revealed an interesting catch, predator and potential prey in one net.



Suprisingly, despite the numerous minnow fry I seen no adult minnows here. The same thing I saw yesterday. This gap didn't dawn on me until now though.

Their were several chain pickerel captured today.



this one even shows the odd brown patch on the head i noticed yesterday. (I caught a few pickerel last year including one by mistake when i walked with my dipnet in the water, and didn't notice it until now. I assume this disappears in adult specimens as I doubt I was that neglectful of markings in all my years fishing).



I got one darter here with a deformed looking back. I was suprised to have caught a darter this far from the main ashuelot. Having sampled at a location upstream of here last year with no luck I assumed darters just didn't go that far.



As with all the fish I caught during my time off I released the darter, so now he can swim back to Notre Dame and ring the bells again.

Tomarrow I got back to the weekly grind and fishing becomes wishing until the weekend.

What kind of darter is it?