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White River 2K12

Started by Guest_Jdan_* , Mar 14 2012 06:53 PM

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#1 Guest_Jdan_*

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Posted 14 March 2012 - 06:53 PM

Hello, I am new to the site. I decided to start a thread on the West Fork White river recovery since the fish kill of 1999. I moved from out of state to the river in 2004 so I was not here during the fish kill.

I am an avid angler and recently started a native fish tank to learn more about them and explore small non game species. I was hoping to get some participation and feedback from fellow members that fish or collect/examine from the river. What species they have observed since the recovery. What species are no longer present or scarce. I would also like assistance identifying species.

I will kick it off with some pictures of fish I caught with pole and cast net below Claire/Strawtown dam.

Please id. I really wanted to put this one in my tank but could not make a positive id.
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Redhorse sucker?
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White sucker
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Please id. I get a lot of these and just call them river minnows.
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My first attempt sampling and this floats up to me dead. Turtle must have taken a swipe.
Highfin?
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All of these fish were released. Sorry for the bad pics. It's tough with wader, pole and by yourself on the caught. I did have some help on the netted fish. Please feel free to comment or correct id.

#2 Guest_Jdan_*

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Posted 14 March 2012 - 07:06 PM

Continued from todays catch
Caught 3 smallmouth. This one looked like it has a touch of whirling. I see a lot of that on Geist buy not too much on the river.
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Another small mouth
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Caught about 10 black crappie. They have made a good comeback in my area.
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Caught about 12 rock bass. They are very abundant in my area.
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Not a bad day. If anyone in the area would like to help me collect some fish let me know. I have small boat, canoe, casting net and minnow traps. I do not currently have a seine net and need a helper when when I buy one. I would like to try some feeder creeks for darters and other small species.

#3 Michael Wolfe

Board of Directors

North Georgia, Oconee River Drainage

Posted 14 March 2012 - 07:11 PM

First one (well two pics) looks like a logperch (great aquarium fish)
Next one is a hogsucker (not a good beginner fish)
I will let some others more experienced try at the next few...

Either write something worth reading or do something worth writing. - Benjamin Franklin

#4 Guest_fundulus_*

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Posted 14 March 2012 - 07:14 PM

The fish in your first two pictures is a logperch, a big darter. The following photo under "Redhorse sucker?" is a hogsucker, and the one after that really is a redhorse, I'd guess a black redhorse in particular.

#5 Guest_Jdan_*

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Posted 14 March 2012 - 07:46 PM

I was also thinking logpearch and just looked it up. It isn't endagered here. Greater redhorse are endagered so I didn't want to chance it. Thanks for the replies

Jim

#6 Guest_crazyboutfish77_*

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Posted 14 March 2012 - 10:18 PM

nice fish you caught there, i need to go fishing some where else in indiana or use different bate cus i am always catching black crappie and its starting to annoy me a little

Edited by crazyboutfish77, 14 March 2012 - 10:18 PM.

#7 Guest_Jdan_*

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Posted 14 March 2012 - 10:29 PM

nice fish you caught there, i need to go fishing some where else in indiana or use different bate cus i am always catching black crappie and its starting to annoy me a little

I have a freezer full of crappie. I like stock up on them when the water is cold.

#8 Guest_Jdan_*

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Posted 14 March 2012 - 10:39 PM

Some of my tank residents.
Golden shiner close to 8"
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Pumpkinseed
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Black crappie
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Blacknose crappie
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Rusty crawfish ?
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Some yoy rockbass and bluegill...bad pic!
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#9 Guest_octavio_*

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Posted 14 March 2012 - 11:48 PM

Your tanks look real nice, what size are they? Would like to see full shots of them.

Edited by octavio, 14 March 2012 - 11:49 PM.

#10 Guest_gerald_*

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Posted 15 March 2012 - 09:13 AM

The redhorse might be black, golden, silver, possibly others. A white sucker would have scales behind the head 1/2 as large as those on the rear half of body. On your fish the anterior scales are only slightly smaller than the posterior scales. --> redhorse. For redhorse ID, always get a close-up pic of the lips, preferably with the mouth relaxed/closed, in addition to a side-view shot

The shiner looks like possibly an emerald or silver, and the carpsucker might be either highfin or quillback.

Weird pigment on that crappie. Reminds me of a tropical leaffish.

Edited by gerald, 15 March 2012 - 09:15 AM.

#11 Guest_Drew_*

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Posted 15 March 2012 - 09:34 AM

smbass has a redhorse cheat sheet somewhere, couldn't find it... but here is another thread with a cheat sheet: http://forum.nanfa.o...sheet-downloads

#12 Guest_VicC_*

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Posted 15 March 2012 - 11:40 AM

West Fork White river recovery

"Because they cannot tolerate siltation and move out of water that becomes tainted with pollutants, hogsuckers are considered indicators of good water quality."

http://fishandboat.c...ap13suckers.htm

#13 Guest_Jdan_*

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Posted 15 March 2012 - 03:19 PM

Your tanks look real nice, what size are they? Would like to see full shots of them.

That is a 46 bow front with HOB 300gph filter. I haven't decorated it much. Working on agression combinations before I fill it with more rock, driftwood and possibly some native plants. Much easier to net them out this way. I have a 100 gal rubbermaid in my shop with a 950 gph diy filter system. The collected fish are quarineteened in the 100 g. Then I can rotated them to find different combinations in the 46b. It is also much colder which keeps agression down. I also have a 5 gal grow out tank for the little rockbass and gills. I will update full tank views soon. Then eventually, I plan on building a plywood/epoxy/glass river system with darters and other nongame small species. My well water matches ph of river so it will have a constant drip/siphon water change system.

#14 Michael Wolfe

Board of Directors

North Georgia, Oconee River Drainage

Posted 15 March 2012 - 05:40 PM

I love your crappie... I grew up fishing for them with my dad... how have you found them as far as temperment and feeding? Have heard before that they are not as likely to switch to pellets or anything...

Either write something worth reading or do something worth writing. - Benjamin Franklin

#15 Guest_Jdan_*

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Posted 15 March 2012 - 09:04 PM

I love your crappie... I grew up fishing for them with my dad... how have you found them as far as temperment and feeding? Have heard before that they are not as likely to switch to pellets or anything...

You would think crappie would be aggresive they way they attack minnows. Actually they just mosey about until I drop a minnows in. Sometimes they are gone before I can figure out who got them. Sometimes they just sneak up an bam! The first one and biggest was a little pushy when I put the smaller black nose in. Now they hang out and mind their own business. The gills and pumpkinseed try to bully them but they hold just kinda brush them off.

I have tried starving them to get them to eat pellets but it hasn't worked. Every once in a while they will take a flake. They say it can be done.....time will tell. My gills will just spit the pellets. They will eat bread, bugs and worms. I roll some bread with flakes into small dough balls to resemble pellets and give them some vitamins and vegies. The golden shiner loves pellets. You can hear him smacking the top after lights out like he is mad and wants more.

The new crawfish pounced on a minnow tail for the first verified meal. The interaction between him and gills/pumpkinseed is epic!

#16 Guest_Jdan_*

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Posted 15 March 2012 - 09:38 PM

"Because they cannot tolerate siltation and move out of water that becomes tainted with pollutants, hogsuckers are considered indicators of good water quality."

http://fishandboat.c...ap13suckers.htm

I kinda had this in mind when I started this thread. When I first moved here I did a lot of research on the fish kill and restocking. The privately funded stocking reports were mostly gamefish. Smallmouth, sauger, channels, rockbass and a few suckers if memory serves me correctly. My curiousity said what about the non game total package. I figure the fish kill was in december. Feeder creeks were uneffected that would hold some of the smaller fish and some yoy. Some of these fish would migrate to the main river system. Then they would return to their home water to spawn. Finding suckers, shiners, darters and other non game fish that were not stocked at a dam that is nearly inpassable on the main system during pre spawn tells me good news.

#17 Guest_Jdan_*

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Posted 16 March 2012 - 09:33 PM

Another great day on the river. Girlfriend and her daughter each caught a new species for the tank. I am waiting for them to settle down and color up before I snap some pics. Sunfish family.

I caught 30 plus rockbass. Here is a fat 11 inch female.
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Caught 3 smallmouth. Lost 3 hogs. Barbless hooks and a jumping headshake will do it everytime. Here is a nice 15 in.
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A 17 inch largemouth.
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Redhorse with mouth shot. She missed the tail.
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I also caught 10 or so crappie. Still to come in this thread to make game species complete are sauger, channel catfish and flatheads. There are some bullheads but hard to find. It used to contain grass pickerel and perch from what the locals tell me but I have never caught one. I also can't remember catching a redear but I'm pretty sure they're in there.

Edited by Jdan, 16 March 2012 - 09:46 PM.

#18 Guest_Yeahson421_*

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Posted 16 March 2012 - 10:12 PM

That "Redhorse" is another Hogsucker. The easiest way to tell the difference is how far protruding the mouth of the Hogsucker is.

#19 Guest_Jdan_*

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Posted 16 March 2012 - 10:20 PM

Well the new tankmates will not cooperate. Here is the best shot I could get.
Girls green sunfish
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Girlfriends longear (don't think it's northern) My new pride and joy.
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The girl caught the first fish of the day which was the green. Girlfriend caught her's as we were about to leave. You should have seen their faces light up when I told them this was one of species we were after.

Edited by Jdan, 16 March 2012 - 10:36 PM.

#20 Guest_Jdan_*

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Posted 16 March 2012 - 10:56 PM

That "Redhorse" is another Hogsucker. The easiest way to tell the difference is how far protruding the mouth of the Hogsucker is.

Thank you. I kept asking myself why no one called the previous posted one a hogsucker. I did't realize they got that big. I have been snagging them by accident while jigging because they are so numerous.