First Native tank: Help needed!

Yup, year-round collecting in the Carolinas. However, I avoid collecting where there's ice because I've seen fish get crushed or injured badly by thin sheets of ice when you lift the net out of water. Either lift the ice out while the net is stil partly under water, or scoop the fish out from under the ice in the bigger net using a small aquarium net.

Fish do much better coming out of 6 deg. C water than they do from 24 deg. C; now's the best time to collect fish. This assumes you have waders, of course, but then, who doesn't?

Oh yeah that reminds me I don't. Seems mine were drying in the back yard this summer and the neighborhood boy mowing my lawn accidently ran over my waders. Oh well trying times just help build character?

Harry Knaub

Waders...I should get some of those. Either that or just deal with the cold.

Waders...I should get some of those. Either that or just deal with the cold.

Looks like your mean average temps. for this time of year are around 50F. your water temperature probably isn't too far off. I usually start using waders when the water gets below 60F around here. Even a cheap pair of non-insulated waders can go a long way in protecting you. Stay warm, stay longer, and have more fun.

Steve.

I don't have waders. If you just use coveralls and pants that are thick and fairly snug with hiking boots once the water next to your skin warms up the wetness actually helps insulate you. It works a lot like a wetsuit that keeps you warm in cold water, not by keeping water out, but by keeping the water that gets in warmed by your body heat. Wading in waders starts out more comfortable, but for me within an hour or so I always feel warmer with just good fitting wet cloths and coveralls. Just make sure the water only seeps through the cloths rather than allowing an unwarmed water flow direct access to your skin. Minimize flow rate to your skin, the wetsuit principle. A thin layer of synthetics, such as plastics or nylon, nearest your skin also helps a lot, and the thickness of cloths is just to keep water replacement rates low and the air out of the water from sucking the heat from the water next to your skin. The dead air space between the coveralls and the cloths is also an important insulation factor. The same set of cloths can warm or freeze you just by the order in which they are put on.

You guys are all making me jealous! Talk of collecting and it's almost DECEMBER!?!?! I wish I lived in a warmer climate!

Gezzzzzz... and I was just sitting here waiting for it to cool off a bit more before I went on another collection trip! Thinking of February... seriously.

By the way, RisiganL, this is specifically the thing I was trying to point to earlier with the link to the Division of Water Quality. http://h2o.enr.state...2009Version.xls It turns out that it's possible to copy and paste the link to the excel file. I didn't know that, so I linked to the page as a whole.

The link died AGAIN. Grrr. So here's the active link:
http://ncdenr.gov/we.../bau/nativefish
And here's the actual file. I don't trust its hyperlink anymore.  freshwater fish of north carolina.xls   102.5KB   2 downloads