A handful of local trips

I decided to make a trip report out of my handful of aquatic photography expeditions I had since June.

Due to a few different locations I hadn't given a name reflecting a single place to this post.

My first trip was Cass Pond in Richmond. This one was cut short due to my underwater camera running out of battery charge. I took a few more above water pics with a normal camera.

I stepped foot into the water and stumbled to get flippers on my feet, this stumbling stirred up dirt that quickly brought a school of yellow perch to my feet as they gathered around me. This could only mean on thing. I HAVE AN ARMY OF AQUATIC MINIONS TO WAGE WAR ON THE SURFACE DWELLERS WITH!... wait, you mean they are just after bugs stirred up in the dirt?

I found that by stirring up dirt with my hands i could make them gather around me, and after they leave I can call them back by shuffling my feet. It felt cool being able to call the creatures of the deep to my presence.

My second trip was the ashuelot river in Winchester. Sadly few pics from this trip turned out well. I tried putting my camera in snorkle mode and sadly it made all the pictures red in this shallow water. (due to pics not coming out this trip is more trip report than photo gallery) The place I swam was above a little mill dam, it wasn't a pond making dam as much as it was a submerged, river slowing, waterfall making dam.

The first thing I saw looked like a big (2-3 inch) leech waving it's narrow end from under a rock, i tried to move quickly past it, and instead of drinking my blood like a vampire worm would, it slid under the rock to hide. With that scare out of the way I continued upstream to where a stream flowed into the river. The first fish I saw was a shiner than swam away before i could photo it, then I saw a few smalls sunfish (no sunfish pics came out), Closer to theriver as i headed back downstream from the tributaries I saw pumpkinseed with bright blue cheek lines. sadly silt stirs up fast in rivers and soon engulfed them ruining the pics. *I still have no clue how to deal with river silt*

So I drifted downstream and soon had a huge school of tiny blacknose dace and a few small whitwe sucker fry around me.





With time left I went to Forest Lake in Winchester and photographed mussels and bluegill, The bluegill were skittish at first and tried to avoid photgraphs but soon I managed to get them by staying still until they got close to me.

For my next trip I returned to cass pond. This time with a good battery.

As with before the first fish I seen were yellow perch





I also saw a few bluegill which was disappointing as last i knew they were not introduced in this pond yet. So far they seem a small population compared to pumpkinseed.



I swam to a grassy point seen in this pic (taken on a day I didn't swim due to a storm rolling in) as experience showed me their was good fishing their. This was my first time seeing it under water,



On the way over I saw a fingerling largemouth bass who I termed little big mouth for his obnoxious habit of swimming behind me when I aim the camera at him, and occasionally swimming right up to the lense when I finally get it aimed at him.





This pic is a bit blurry but it shows him opening his not so large mouth. With this pose he looks ready to hang on a miniature plaque on a wall.



By the time I reached the point the dirt stirred up swimming lured in pumpkinseed and perch, so I decided to keep stirring up more dirt to get more fish,





Soon a large school of golden shiners joined the fray

Soon the commotion started luring in predators. The firtst was a chain pickerel that swam off to the edge of visual range when I saw it. And kept doing so until it dove into the weeds. Their I snapped this pic, and when I tried getting closer it swam off. Odd how skittish it is, small chain pickerel are so oblivious I never thought a big one would be skittish.

I soon stumbled across a pumpkinseed on the nest. The only one I saw with a nest. He sat here and let me take photos due to the situation while he chased off the fish who came near. Especially largemouth bass. Oddly enough the other lepomis hung behind me and didn't approach the nest.







The big schiool of fish still swirled around me and around the nest, about this time largemouth bass started moving in









including a big one he chased off



The first of two turtles (and the only one I photographed) a painted turtle arrived, and quickly fled when I looked at it.



The next turtle I didn't photograph as I fled. A big snapper approached me, I backed off and it kept coming, I backed to deeper water and it swam upwards towards me, so I decided to turn and swim as fast as I could for five to ten feet. I turned around looking at the dirt I stirred up and breathed a sigh of releif when he didn't come behind me, just to notice movement below me. He was right under me, catching up and keeping pace as I swam away. Thankfully he turned and swam away from me. After stirring up the foodchain to the point I was potentially on the menu I decided it was time to leave.

Next I went back to the Ashuelot river, this time in keene, the river level was low and obscuring silt got stirred up with every move. I was hoping to see some tesselated darters as I netted them in this area but saw none.

The first fish I saw were a school of minnow fry. Tough to ID species, at least one looks like a blacknose dace.





Under the bridge their were redbreast sunfish, they were very skittish at first and took a while to get them to not swim off when I photograph them.

M

y next fish I saw was a small (about four inches) fish with a dark lateral band, However none of my photos of it came out and my goggles were fogging up so I didn't get an ID.

Next I found a few fallfish (normally very skittish) being brave enough to approach. It is amazing how well a silvery fish blends in with the bottom. I wonder if the silver scales reflect the bottom providing camoflage.

My final trip had no photos, it made me wish I brought a net. I went up to Rye and hoped to photo fish among the eelgrass beds at the pistatiqua river mouth, Sadly the water was full of stirred up dirt and debris and visibility sucked. As much as a camera is the ultimate in catch and release I discovered sometimes you need a net.

However for non fish wildlife I did photograph some barn swallows on a branch by a pond on the trail down their.

Nice report. I love the Lepomis nest pictures and account. Thank you much for sharing.