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South Central KY 4-15-12

Started by Guest_jblaylock_* , Apr 15 2012 07:37 PM

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#1 Guest_jblaylock_*

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Posted 15 April 2012 - 07:37 PM

Wow, what a day! This was nearly a perfect day. The weather was perfect, the water levels were perfect, and it was breeding time in KY. We had a great day and saw a lot of beautiful fish. On to the photos, and remember I'm not Uland or Lance...

Our day started on the Green River. The spot I usually visit was better than ever. We mostly focused on the riffle areas, but did hit a few runs. Here's the species list

Orangefin Darter
Rainbow Darter
Banded Darter
Speckled Darter
Logperch
Greenside Darter
Fantain Darter
Rosyface Shiner
Striped Shiner
Scarlet Shiner
Central Stoneroller
Elegant Madtom

Orangefin Darter
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Rainbow Darter & Orangefin Darter
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Banded Darter
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Our next stop was in the Upper Fishing Creek headwaters. Fishing Creek is part of the Cumberland River watershed. This is a nice headwater creek with a few nice species, but the main attraction is the Orangethroat Darter:

Orangethroat Darter
Southern Red-Belly Dace
Scarlet Shiner
Striped Shiner
Central Stoneroller
Northern Studfish

Orangethroat Darter
Posted Image

#2 Guest_fundulus_*

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Posted 15 April 2012 - 07:57 PM

It looks like it was a good trip. It's hard to explain to people who have never seen it just how deep, but bright, the green on male banded darters can be.

#3 Guest_jblaylock_*

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Posted 15 April 2012 - 08:18 PM

Location 3 was Lower Fishing Creek. This was THE spot. I mean.....WOW! I was in for a surprise right where we walked into the water

Liquid Sunshine! These Tennessee Shiners were all worked up, videos to come.
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Species List:
Redline Darter
Eastrim Darter
Rainbow Darter
Orangethroat Darter
Scarlet Shiner
Spotfin Shiner
Tennessee Shiner
Rosyface Shiner
Central Stoneroller
Striped Shiner

Redline Darter
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Eastrim Darter
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Tennessee Shiner
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#4 Guest_jblaylock_*

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Posted 15 April 2012 - 08:18 PM

After spending a bit of time at Fishing Creek, we moved a little west over to Buck Creek. Buck Creek is another tributary to the Cumberland drainage. This was our last stop of the day, and just as eventful.

Species List:
Bluebreast Darter
Bloodfin Darter
Speckled Darter
Greenside Darter
Rainbow Darter
Striped Shiner
Rosyface Shiner
Northern Studfish
Central Stoneroller

Buck Creek:
Posted Image

Bloodfin Darter
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Speckled Darter
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Rosyface Shiner
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More photos can be found here:
http://gallery.nanfa...aylock/4-15-12/

This was a terrific day, possibly one of the best in KY I've ever had. It was great to see all the fish in breeding colors, just wish I could do that everyday.

#5 Guest_jblaylock_*

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Posted 15 April 2012 - 08:38 PM

A few video's of the Tennessee Shiners. Caution, they are a little shaky

#6 Guest_farmertodd_*

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Posted 15 April 2012 - 09:56 PM

Really nice stuff Josh! I believe that stigmaeum sp cf. is referred to as the longhunt darter, nice to finally seem them in color. Much more orange than I would have expected. I've never been able to get a TN shiner to stay in color long enough to get a photo, they must have been jacked! Those spectabile are wild too. Are those what are referred to as the thoroughbred darter?

Todd

#7 Guest_Doug_Dame_*

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Posted 15 April 2012 - 11:52 PM

Super !!!!

#8 Guest_jblaylock_*

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Posted 16 April 2012 - 08:47 AM

Really nice stuff Josh! I believe that stigmaeum sp cf. is referred to as the longhunt darter, nice to finally seem them in color. Much more orange than I would have expected. I've never been able to get a TN shiner to stay in color long enough to get a photo, they must have been jacked! Those spectabile are wild too. Are those what are referred to as the thoroughbred darter?

Todd

You're right Todd, that stigmaeum is the Longhunt Darter. We only found 3 of those, one was a small male with a little color and the other wasn't showing any color. That last one was awesome! Those TN Shiners were really pumped. They were in about 4-5 inches of water and I'm sure there were several hundred of them. There were also Striped Shiners & Scarlet Shiners in breeding colors with them, but they would run when we were nearby, but the TN Shiners didn't care how close we were.

That spectabile is not the Thoroughbred Darter. I'm hoping to go out this week and photo a few of the Thoroughbreds. Those spectabile are extremely blue and are found in the upper Fishing Creek and upper Buck Creek. Spectabile is crazy, I can find 5 very different variants within a 50 mile radius from my house (that one above, thoroughbred, headwater, sheltowee, and another O-throat in Madison County KY)....nuts

#9 Guest_farmertodd_*

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Posted 16 April 2012 - 09:33 AM

You might forward those pics along to Pat Ceas. I don't know if they fall into the distribution of highland rim darters or not. Is that in the Barren? That doesn't look like the headwater darters that I've looked at, although I admit my experience with them is very limited.

Cool stuff

#10 Guest_jblaylock_*

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Posted 16 April 2012 - 09:51 AM

Do you have Pat's contact info, and I'll send it to him. We were in the Cumberland drainage for those, so we were way away from the Barren. And, it doesn't look like any Headwater I've seen either.

#11 Guest_blakemarkwell_*

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Posted 16 April 2012 - 01:16 PM

I think I'm seeing a white belly, which would match Etheostoma cf. spectabile, the Ihiyo Darter best, but you'd need to look at extent of breast scalation to verify that (and a publication or two....). I know the Ihiyo Darter is found in the Caney Fork and the rest of the Cumberland in Tennessee, but I haven't come across anything discussing/assigning populations of E. cf. spectabile in the Upper Cumberland (KY). Still gobs of work to be done on E. spectabile. Tackling any Etheostoma with an expansive distribution and such intra- and interspecific variation is no small task! I'd feel sorry for Ceas if they weren't so dang cool.

#12 Guest_Casper_*

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Posted 16 April 2012 - 01:35 PM

That is why you need a wetsuit!
I think something was going on ahead of that mass of Tennessee Shiners.
Chub nest?
Redhorse wallow?
Excellent post. Im glad to see so many fishheads out enjoying the fine weekend.
I hit several creeks heading north out of Chattanooga. Some had already gone funky green in the early spring and lack of flushing rain. One stream was pretty sweet though. Still gotta sort pics. Nice darters. My tattered 2/3 suit was kinda chilly. I only lasted about 4 hours.

#13 Guest_farmertodd_*

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Posted 16 April 2012 - 02:26 PM

I think snorkeling in that mass would leave a permanent kink in your neck. That's like Chrosomus plus!

Todd

#14 Guest_jblaylock_*

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Posted 16 April 2012 - 02:41 PM

Not to mention it's hard to snorkel in 4inches of water. At that location, you can pull right down to the creek bank. People drive their 4wd and atv's across the creek to the other side for mudding or something. It appeared that the fish were settling in the ruts created by the tires of the atv's.

#15 Guest_Casper_*

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Posted 16 April 2012 - 02:52 PM

Go upstream or downstream... often you can find the action apex in a deep enough pool to snorkel in.
But spawning in 4WD ruts...

Maybe so!
A trick for your jarring video... find a good spot. turn the camera on and plant it in the gravel... let in film for a couple minutes.
No jarring. Works pretty good.

#16 Guest_blakemarkwell_*

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Posted 16 April 2012 - 03:47 PM

I got side-tracked by the E. cf. spectabile, and forgot to say thanks for posting! Looks like y'all had a great time. Glad to see the N. rubellus fired up down there -- should only be a couple weeks before they start going at it up here (which are now N. percobromus). Man, that is one robust Bloodfin Darter! Great stuff with the 'Liquid Sunshine' as well.

#17 Guest_scottsquatch_*

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Posted 16 April 2012 - 08:25 PM

wow...now I understand what you guys mean by "liquid sunshine". Nice...really really nice. thanks for posting the great pics.

#18 Guest_Mike_*

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Posted 16 April 2012 - 09:11 PM

Sounds like an incredible time, the colors on all those darters & shiners are amazing!

#19 Guest_Uland_*

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Posted 17 April 2012 - 06:06 AM

Josh,
Thanks for sharing. That is a spectacular group of fish and a stunning E. spactabile-ish darter. I've never seen anything like that one.
And the video of the N.leuciodus are insane! I have to see a group of them spawning before I kick the bucket.
Thanks for taking the time to record and post this.

#20 Guest_GreenRiverKY_*

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Posted 17 April 2012 - 10:19 AM

Wow, that Eastrim is lit up like a Christmas tree! Great pictures! I need to get out and net just to check out the colors even though there is no vacancy sign on my aquariums.