After reading up on the cold river having longnose suckers as do some of its tributaries I decided to sample seeking them out. I didn't find any but instead found the most species diverse sampling area I have yet to find in my state.

The water level in the old river was low. The river bottom was mainly smaller rocks perfect for kick netting. This spot wasn't very far from where it met the connecticut (up the side road a bit from the main highway, the rivers met a little past the main highway).



I crossed the river which started as cool but got colder heading towards the other side (but also had warm sections oddly). In face the mix of temperatures in different areas of the river and the mix of habitats many left behind by lowering water levels likely are what made this location so diverse.

In the rocky run shown in this picture I got my first fish. A white sucker.



A bit further down a gravel bar split the river into two small fast riffles.



The picture fails to show how much it narrows on the other side a bit further down. Sampling just before the riffles I got two tesselated darters. I took a picture of the first one.



Heading into the right hand riffle I was surprised my first catch had legs, a small salamander.



I then headed over to the left hand branch with no luck as I followed it a ways down, so I went back to the right and saw some fish fleeing, I netted one. A small blacknose dace. It looks like a young one but it seems too early for their to be young of the year.



From this point I started working my way back upstream on the left side.

On the way upstream in the faster areas of the riffles i got my first longnose dace of this river. Odd as alot of the habitat I sampled before seemed suitable for them.



on the way back to where i had my bag with my camera in it I saw a small crayfish. It started to swim away and I put my net in front of it capturing it.



On the other side from where the camera rested their was a small puddle connected to the main river by a tiny channel. I was curious if this drying puddle left behind by lowering water level could possibly hold any fish. yes it did, one banded killifish.



I worked my way up beyond the bridge where I started seeing a few fish who eluded capture. At one point their was a large dead fish in the water. I couldn't ID and didn't want to touch it to see the features that would make it identifyable. No luck heading upstream I went back down seeing a small calm channel cut off from the main current. Netting in their I got a small shiner with an oddly purple color. I couldn't make out details in the field but looking at photos it's bullet shaped head and white eyes makes me think fallfish.



it definately has a chub feel to it



Though its body IS a bit chubbier than most chubs I seen.

I also got a larger crayfish.



I have no idea how to ID crayfish sadly.

I decided to head back down to the right hand riffle where I got my first longnose dace and got a more colorful one with gold sides and red patches. I wonder if the warm spring has lead to an early spawn.



The most impressive sight of the trip was neither captured or photographed sadly. I saw splashing on the far riffles as if something big was crossing the shallows with its back exposed. Approaching the area I saw three big white suckers (I saw their face well enough to rule out long noses). They were not the dull silvery I am used to but darker with a lighter stripe on their side and pinkish tinges along the lateral line. They looked surprisingly majestic. I got within four feet of them before they swam off. (yes, I was debating trying to net one even though they were about a foot long). Getting closer to the riffles I saw two or three more swim quickly by.

I forgot to add, shortly after I got my first tesselate I got a second one in the faster water just before the riffles. I also got some eggs (about the size of the ones the bullhead spit out when I was in Mass with Justin only these were clearish white not yellow). Not sure what kind of eggs they were but i released them without photographing in hopes I didn't interfere with any spawn. I wondered if the tesselate captured in this same netting was eating the eggs.

Sorry none of my fish was pretty enough to earn any comments. I swear at times we have the worst mix of the tropical fans "OOH PRETTY FISH!" Attitude and the sport fishermans "who cares about them, they are just trash fish" attitude.

This is a fine trip report and you managed to catch a nice group of fish especially considering it looks like you had only a dip net.
It's really hard to compete with Tennessee shiners spawning in a truck rut
That's a fine looking Rhinichthys but really....trip reports from Kentucky have the rest of the country drooling at this time of year.
Keep up the trip reports.

Yes, I have yet to switch over to a seine as a main tool as it is a bit more awkward and bulky to use solo. Really I need more practice, in my experience I seen experienced seiners out perform dip netters, but inexperienced dip netting trumps inexperienced seining so I mainly use seines to corral schools.

Phillip Kukulski gave an excellent "how to" on one man seine construction. I've been using a similar device for years with great success. It's worth the time to build one since cost is little factor with these small nets.

Don't feel bad, no one has commented on my spider pictures either. I was at least hoping for an id on one of them.

The crayfish pretty much has to be Orconnectes since the 4 species of crayfish native to New Hampshire are all Orconnectes.

I'm almost positive that's it's not virilis or rusticus which leaves limosus or immunis. I can't tell from the photos if the crayfish have little spikes on it's cheeks or not which would identify it as limosus(spiny cheeked crayfish).

http://iz.carnegiemn...ewhampshire.htm

Edited by davidjh2, 19 April 2012 - 02:38 PM.

FWIW, I enjoyed your trip report. That's an impressive number of species for one outing. Thanks for posting.

Creek chub (most likely) or pearl dace are my guesses for the "chub".

Sorry I didn't comment sooner, but I was out of town for a few days. I like to see any trip reports, and for my 2 cents, I like the less colorful fish.

Great stuff, especially the long nosed dace. One of my favorites.

Keep them coming.

Creek chub (most likely) or pearl dace are my guesses for the "chub".

Sadly their is no pearl dace in my state *glances over at Maine with envy*. I assume either creek chub or fallfish for the chub. The fuirst pic looked very creek chubby, the second more like what it was when I saw it. Sadly i cannot make out a dorsal spot (best way to tell them apart, not the only but the best (fallfish also tend to have a slightly deeper and more pointed tail fork, and are more likely to be silver (though both can be) and tend to not have a dark dorsal spot (though some have slight pigmentation in that area) I know fallfish also tend to have bullet heads and "white eyes" (not really white, just light looking like this fishes eyes) but am unsure if creek chubs have those).